Page:Works of Jules Verne - Parke - Vol 7.djvu/91

Rh mortality of human creatures. I did not think it worth while to discuss the point with him, so I let him have his say. Whilst we paced backwards and forwards, the Doctor talking, and I listening, I noticed that the carpenters on board were busy repairing the battered stem. If Captain Anderson did not wish to arrive in New York with damages, the carpenters would have to hurry over their work, for the Great Eastern was rapidly speeding through the tranquil waters; this I understood from the lively demeanor of the young lovers, who no longer thought of counting the turns of the wheels. The long pistons expanded, and the enormous cylinders heaving on their axle-swings, looked like a great peal of bells clanging together at random. The wheels made eleven revolutions a minute, and the steamship went at the rate of thirteen miles an hour. At noon the officers dispensed with making an observation; they knew their situation by calculation, and land must be signaled before long.

While I was walking on deck after lunch, Captain Corsican came up. I saw, from the thoughtful expression on his face, that he had something to tell me. "Fabian," said he, "has received Drake's seconds. I am to be his second, and he begs me to ask you if you will kindly be present on the occasion. He may rely on you?"

"Yes, captain; so all hope of deferring or preventing this meeting has vanished?"

"All hope."

"But tell me, how did the quarrel arise?"

"A discussion about the play was a pretext for it, nothing else. The fact is if Fabian was not aware who Harry Drake was, it is quite evident he knew Fabian, and the name of Fabian is so odious to him that he would gladly slay the man to whom it belongs."

"Who are Drake's seconds?" I asked.

"One of them is that actor"

"Doctor T?"

"Just so; the other is a Yankee I do not know."

"When are you to expect them?"

"I am waiting for them here."

And just as he spoke I saw the seconds coming towards us. Doctor T cleared his throat; he undoubtedly thought a great deal more of himself as the representative