Page:Works of Jules Verne - Parke - Vol 5.djvu/46

26 "That's tolerably certain," replied Conseil quietly; "I think they will make fun of you, sir. And—must I say it?———"

"Go on, my good friend."

"Well, sir, you will only get your deserts."

"Indeed!" "When one has the honor of being a savant as you are, sir, one should not expose one's self to———"

Conseil had not time to finish his compliment. In the midst of general silence a voice had just been heard. It was the voice of Ned Land shouting:

"Look out there! the very thing we are looking for—on our weather beam!"

CHAPTER VI AT FULL STEAM this cry the whole ship's crew hurried toward the harpooner commander, officers, masters, sailors, cabin-boys; even the engineers left their engines, and the stokers their furnaces.

The order to stop her had been given, and the frigate now simply went on by her own momentum. The darkness was then profound; and however good the Canadian's eyes were, I asked myself how he had managed to see, and what he had been able to see. My heart beat as if it would break. But Ned Land was not mistaken, and we all perceived the object he pointed to. At two cables' lengths from the Abraham Lincoln, on the starboard quarter, the sea seemed to be illuminated all over. It was not a mere phosphoric phenomenon. The monster emerged some fathoms from the water, and then threw out that very intense but inexplicable light mentioned in the report of several captains. This magnificent irradiation must have been produced by an agent of great shining power. The luminous part traced on the sea an immense oval, much elongated, the center of which condensed a burning heat, whose overpowering brilliancy died out by successive gradations.

"It is only an agglomeration of phosphoric particles," cried one of the officers.

"No, sir, certainly not," I replied. "Never did