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"Oh, Major, she is charming," exclaimed Paganel, "a thousand times too charming, and if I must tell you all, she would please me better if she were less so. I wish she had a defect!" "Be easy on that score," replied the Major, "she has, and more than one. The most perfect woman in the world has always her quota. So, Paganel, it is settled then, I suppose?" "I dare not."
He called to mind the peculiarities of the "tui" of the natives, sometimes called the mocking-bird from its incessant chuckle, and sometimes "the parson," in allusion to the white cravat it wears over its black, cassock-like plumage. "The tui," said Paganel to the Major, "grows so fat during the Winter that it makes him ill, and prevents him from flying.
The Dutch navigator concluded that these islands were adjacent to the islands of the same name on the east of Terra del Fuego, at the southern point of the American continent. He thought he had found "the Great Southern Continent." "But," said Paganel to himself, "what a seventeenth century sailor might call a 'continent' would never stand for one with a nineteenth century man.
"And now, friends," said Paganel, "let's have one good hearty shake of the hand all round, to last us till we get to the shores of the Atlantic." This was not much to ask, but he certainly got strong enough grips to go some way towards satisfying his desire. All went on deck now, and the seven explorers left the vessel.
Here they are, and here are the charts. Let us take up each point in succession through which the 37th parallel passes, and see if we come across any other country which would agree with the precise indications of the document." "Nothing can be more easily and quickly done," replied Paganel; "for countries are not very numerous in this latitude, happily."
"I am delighted to hear we come number four," said McNabbs. "That only proves you are insipid," retorted Paganel, with an air of disdain. "I am delighted to be insipid," was the Major's reply. "Well, it is humiliating enough," said the intractable Paganel. "The white man proclaimed himself chief of the human race; but Mr. Jaguar is of a different opinion it seems."
If the BRITANNIA was wrecked on those rocky shores, she was as much cut off from all chance of help as if she had been lost on the inhospitable shores of Africa." "But what has become of my father there, then, all these two years?" asked Mary Grant. "My dear Mary," replied Paganel, "you have not the least doubt, have you, that Captain Grant reached the Australian continent after his shipwreck?"
Even these petty ills of life could not ruffle the Major's equanimity; but Paganel, on the contrary, was perfectly exasperated by such trifling annoyances. He abused the poor mosquitoes desperately, and deplored the lack of some acid lotion which would have eased the pain of their stings.
"Saved!" exclaimed young Robert, his very life hanging on the lips of the Sergeant. Yes; delivered out of the hands of the Indians." Paganel struck his forehead with an air of desperation, and said at last, "Ah! I understand. It is all clear now; everything is explained." "But what is it?" asked Glenarvan, with as much impatience.
He stumbled and fell, accidentally catching hold of a rope with both hands in his fall. Suddenly a tremendous explosion was heard. The forecastle gun had gone off, riddling the quiet calm of the waves with a volley of small shot. The unfortunate Paganel had caught hold of the cord of the loaded gun. The geographer was thrown down the forecastle ladder and disappeared below.
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