Page:Works of Jules Verne - Parke - Vol 7.djvu/302

 groups. Banners and steamers floated in the wind. There were shouts in every direction.

"Hurrah for Camerfield!"

"Hurrah for Mandiboy!"

It was a political meeting. At least so Fix thought, and he communicated his ideas to Mr. Fogg, adding, "We will perhaps do well, sir, not to mingle in this crowd. Only hard blows will be got here."

"In fact," replied Phileas Fogg, "blows, if they are political, are not less blows."

Fix could not help smiling at this remark, and in order to see, without being caught in the crowd, Aouda, Phileas Fogg and he secured a place upon the upper landing of a flight of steps reaching to the top of a terrace, situated in the upper end of Montgomery street. Before them, on the other side of the street, between the wharf of a coal merchant and the warehouse of a petroleum dealer, there was a large platform in the open air, towards which the various currents of the crowd seemed to be tending.

Why this meeting? What was the occasion of its being held? Phileas Fogg did not know at all. Was it for the nomination of some high military or civil official, a State Governor, or a member of Congress? It might readily be supposed so, seeing the great excitement that was agitating the city.

At this moment there was quite a movement in the crowd. Every hand was thrown in the air. Some, tightly closed, seemed to rise and fall rapidly in the midst of the cries—an energetic manner, no doubt, of casting a vote. The crowd fell back. The banners wavered, disappeared for an instant, and reappeared in tatters. The surging of the crowd extended to the steps, whilst every head moved up and down on the surface like a sea suddenly agitated by a squall.

The number of black hats diminished perceptibly, and the most of them seemed to have lost their normal height.

"It is evidently a meeting," said Fix; "and the question which has excited it must be a stirring one. I would not be astonished if they were still discussing the Alabama affair, although it has been settled."

"Perhaps," simply replied Mr. Fogg.

"In any event," replied Fix, "two champions are in each