Page:Kéraban the Inflexible Part 1 (Jules Verne).djvu/17

Rh after all we have come wrong, and that is the Thames yonder, and not the Golden Horn in the Bosphorus. That mosque yonder may be St. Paul's instead of St Sophia. This Constantinople? Never. It is London!"

"Be quiet, Bruno. Moderate your spirits, you are much too volatile for a native of Holland. Be calm, patient, phlegmatic, as I am, and never be surprised at anything. We left Rotterdam, as you know—"

"Yes, yes," assented Bruno, shaking his head in a melancholy manner.

"We came by way of Paris, St Gothard, Italy, Brindisi, and the Mediterranean, and yet you would have me believe that the Messageries steamer landed us at London Bridge after eight days' steaming—and not at Galata at all!"

"Nevertheless—" began Bruno.

"I trust," continued Van Mitten, “that you will not give way to these little eccentricities before my friend Kéraban. He might take such joking in ill part, and begin to argue in his obstinate way."

"I will take care, sir," replied Bruno. "But though one cannot obtain any refreshment, I suppose it is permissible to light a pipe. Do you see any objection to that, sir?"

"None whatever," replied his master. "In my capacity of tobacco importer, nothing pleases me more than to see people smoking. Indeed, I am extremely sorry that nature has only endowed each individual with one mouth. It is true we can consume snuff by the nose."

"And by the teeth in chewing," added Bruno.

So saying, he pulled out an enormous pipe of painted porcelain, and, having lighted it, puffed it contentedly and with evident satisfaction.

But at this moment the Turks who had so emphatically protested against the abstinnce of the Ramadan, reappeared upon the quay, and the individual who had been indulging in the cigarette, at once perceived Bruno smoking his pipe. "By Allah!" he exclaimed, "here is one of those accursed Franks defying ihe ordinances of the Koran. I cannot suffer it."

"At least put out your own cigarette," said his companion.