Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 28, 2025
It was imperative that the terror should plunge below without losing a moment. Yet Robur seemed to have no thought of doing so. No! He preserved his haughty attitude as of a man who in his immeasurable pride, believed himself above or beyond humanity. Seeing him thus I asked myself with almost superstitious awe, if he were not indeed a demoniac being, escaped from some supernatural world.
Such were the outfit and stores of the aeronef in addition to the famous trumpet. There was besides a light india-rubber boat, insubmersible, which could carry eight men on the surface of a river, a lake, or a calm sea. But were there any parachutes in case of accident? No. Robur did not believe in accidents of that kind. The axes of the screws were independent.
And, in fact, the "Albatross" was falling fast. As with the telegraph wires on land during a storm, so was it with the accumulators of the aeronef. But what is only an inconvenience in the case of messages was here a terrible danger. "Let her down, then," said Robur, "and get out of the electric zone! Keep cool, my lads!" He stepped on to his quarter-deck and his crew went to their stations.
The sense of their powerlessness, the ironical disdain with which Robur treated them, the brutal remarks he indulged in all contributed towards intensifying the aggravation which daily grew more manifest. This very day something occurred which gave rise to another most regrettable altercation between Robur and his guests.
Then to our universal astonishment, the "Albatross" shot down after her rival, not to finish the work of destruction but to bring rescue. Yes! Robur, forgetting his vengeance, rejoined the sinking "Go-Ahead," and his men lifted Mr. Prudent, Mr. Evans, and the aeronaut who accompanied them, onto the platform of his craft.
The fugitives were seen. At the same instant an order was given by Robur, and the suspensory screws being slowed, the cable was hauled in on board, and the "Albatross" sank towards the ground. At this moment the voice of Phil Evans was heard shouting, "Engineer Robur, will you give us your word of honor to leave us free on this island?" "Never!" said Robur.
Quercus Robur offers a familiar illustration of the manner in which one form may in the course of time become separated into two or more distinct ones. To Linnaeus this common oak of Europe was all of one species. But of late years the greater number of European botanists have regarded it as including three species, Q. pedunculata, Q. sessiliflora, and Q. pubescens.
It may be that Robur considered it more difficult to keep a watch on his prisoners while he was crossing Europe, and he knew that they had made up their minds to get away. But any attempt to have done so would have been simply committing suicide.
Robur, seeing that the president and secretary of the Weldon Institute had directed their attention to the external arrangements of the "Albatross," walked up to them and said: "Well, gentlemen, do you believe in the possibility of aerial locomotion by machines heavier than air?" It would have been difficult not to succumb to the evidence. But Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans did not reply.
Anyhow the bird-like Robur was not seeking his nest on the northern frontier of Africa. By the end of the day he had traversed Tunis from Cape Bon to Cape Carthage, sometimes hovering, and sometimes darting along at top speed.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking