Page:Works of Jules Verne - Parke - Vol 7.djvu/13

 A DANGEROUS MOMENT. Then was a moment of anxiety impossible to describe: everyone was silent, and each watched fearfully the arch described by the projectile. Nothing could be done to escape it, and in a few seconds it fell with a frightful noise on the foredeck of the Dolphin. The terrified sailors crowded to the stern; no one dared move a step. The fuse burned with a brisk crackle.

But one brave man alone among them ran up to the formidable weapon of destruction. It was Crockston; he took the shell in his strong arms, whilst showers of sparks were falling from it; then, with a super-human effort, he threw it overboard.

Hardly had the shell reached the surface of the water when it burst with a frightful report.—Page 150. Vol. 7.