Page:Works of Jules Verne - Parke - Vol 1.djvu/251

 "Into the moon?" rejoined Joe; "no, faith, that is too commonplace. Everybody now goes up to the moon. More-over, there is no water there, and one would be obliged to carry a quantity of provisions, and even air in bottles to be able to breathe."

"Well, it would be all right if one could find some grog tip there, "said a sailor who had only lately experienced the taste of that mixture.

"That's enough, my lad, we shall not go to the moon, but we shall sail about amongst the stars in the midst of those beautiful planets of which my master has often spoken to me. We shall commence by visiting Saturn."

"That one with the ring?" asked the quartermaster.

"Yes, a wedding-ring, only no one knows what has become of his wife."

"Hullo! are you going so far as that?" said a cabin-boy, utterly astounded. "Why your master must be the devil in person!"

"The devil! oh dear no; he is too good for that."

"But where are you going after Saturn?" asked one of the most impatient of the audience.

"After Saturn? Well, we shall visit Jupiter, a most extraordinary country, where the days are only nine hours and a half long, which is a great blessing for idle people; and where the years, by-the-by, last as long as twelve of ours, which is a great source of satisfaction to people who have only six months to live. That gives them a little longer lease of life."

"Twelve years!" exclaimed the cabin boy.

"Yes, my boy; so in that country you would not be weaned yet, and that old fellow over there, who is nearly fifty, would be only a child four years and a half old."

"That is not true!" cried all the men.

"Perfectly true!" said Joe, with assurance. "But what can you expect if you will persist in vegetating in this world? You learn nothing, and you remain as ignorant as a porpoise. Come up to Jupiter for a little, and you will see. You must hold on pretty tight up there, for there are satellites knocking about which are occasionally inconvenient."

They laughed at this, but they did not half believe him. Then he spoke to them about Neptune, where sailors were always so well received, and of Mars, where soldiers take