Page:Works of Jules Verne - Parke - Vol 7.djvu/271



Voyage of eight hundred miles, undertaken in a craft of twenty tons, and especially in that season of the year, was venturesome. The Chinese seas are generally rough, exposed to terrible blows, principally during the equinoxes, and this was in the first days of November.

It would have very evidently been to the advantage of the pilot to take his passengers as far as Yokohama, as he was paid so much per day. But it would have been great imprudence on his part to attempt such a voyage under such conditions, and it was a bold act, if not a rash one, to go as far as Shanghai. But John Bunsby had confidence in his Tankadere, which rode the waves like a gull, and perhaps he was not wrong.

During the later hours of this day the Tankadere sailed through the capricious channels of Hong Kong, and, in all her movements, from whatever quarter the wind came, she behaved handsomely.

"I do not need, pilot," said Phileas Fogg, the moment the schooner touched the open sea, "to recommend to you all possible diligence."

"Your honor may depend upon me," replied John Bunsby. "In the matter of sails, we are carrying all that the wind will allow us to carry. Our poles would add nothing, and would only interfere with the sailing of our craft."

"It is your trade, and not mine, pilot, and I trust to you."

Phileas Fogg, his body erect, and legs wide apart, standing straight as a sailor, looked at the surging sea without staggering. The young woman seated aft, felt quite affected looking at the ocean, already darkened by the twilight, which she was braving upon so frail a craft. Above her head were unfurled the white sails, looking in space like immense wings. The schooner, impelled by the wind, seemed to fly through the air.

Night set in. The moon was entering her first quarter, and her scanty light was soon extinguished in the haze of the horizon. Clouds were rising from the east, and already covered a portion of the heavens.

The pilot had put his lights in position—an indispensable