Treasure Hunt Tales: The Star of the South & Captain Antifer. Жюль Верн

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СКАЧАТЬ said Nanon; “and when my brother gets ah idea into his head—”

      Juhel did not speak. He strode about the room crossing and uncrossing his arms, opening and shutting his hands. Suddenly he exclaimed,—

      “After all he is not master! I have no need of his permission to marry. I am of age—”

      “But Enogate is not,” said the bargeman. “And as her guardian he can object.”

      “Yes, and we are all dependent on him,” added Nanon, bowing her head.

      “My advice,” said Tregomain, “is not to oppose him directly. It is not impossible that this mania will pass away, particularly if we seem to give in to him.”

      “You ought to be right,” said Enogate. “We shall gain more by gentleness than violence, at least I hope so.”

      “Besides,” said the bargeman, “he has not got the millions yet.”

      “No,” said Juhel; “and in spite of his latitude and his longitude, he may come to grief before he lays his hands on them. It will take a good deal of time.”

      “A good deal!” murmured the girl.

      “Yes, dear Enogate, and there may be delays! Ah! the confounded uncle.”

      “And the confounded brutes who have come from the confounded Pasha!” growled Nanon. “I should have welcomed them with the broomstick.”

      “They would have managed to see him, all the same,” said Juhel, “and this Ben Omar, who has a commission on the business, would never have left him alone.”

      “Then uncle is going away?” asked Enogate.

      “Probably,” said Tregomain, “now he knows where the island is.”

      “I will accompany him,” said Juhel.

      “You, Juhel?” exclaimed the girl.

      “Yes, it must be so; I should like to be there to prevent his committing some stupidity, to bring him back if he stays away too long.”

      “Well thought of, my boy,” said the bargeman.

      “Who knows where he may be dragged, running after this treasure, and to what dangers he may be exposed.”

      Enogate felt as sad as ever, but she understood him. Juhel’s resolve was dictated by good sense; perhaps the length of the voyage might be shortened by it.

      The young captain did his best to console her. He would write to her often; he would tell her all that happened; Nanon would not leave her, nor would Tregomain, who would see her every day, who would teach her resignation.

      “Depend on me, my girl,” said the bargeman, much moved. “I will teach you not to dwell on it too much. You don’t know the adventures of the Charmante Amélie!”

      No, Enogate did not know them, for he had not yet dared to recount them for fear of Captain Antifer.

      “Well. I will tell you them. They are very interesting. The time will pass. Some day we shall see our friend return with his millions under his arm—or the bag empty—and our brave Juhel, who will take but one jump from the house to the Cathedral. I will not stop you. If you like, I will have my new coat made while they are away, and wear it every morning.”

      “Below there! Bargeman!”

      The well-known voice made the whole company start.

      “He calls me,” said Tregomain.

      “What does he want with you?” asked Nanon.

      “That is not the way he speaks when he is angry,” suggested Enogate.

      “No,” said Juhel. “There is more impatience than anger in the tone.”

      “Tregomain—will you come?”

      “I am coming,” said Tregomain. And the stairs began to groan as the bargeman went up them.

      A minute afterwards Antifer had pushed him across the room, and locked the door. Then drawing him before the table on which the atlas was open, he held a pair of compasses out to him.

      “Take this!” he said.

      “These compasses?”

      “Yes,” said Antifer sharply; “this island—this island with the millions in it—I have been trying to find its place on the map—”

      “And it is not there?” exclaimed Tregomain, in a tone that betrayed less surprise than satisfaction.

      “Who says so?” replied Antifer. “And why is this island not on the map?”

      “Then it is?”

      “If it is. I believe that it is; but I am so nervous, my hand shakes, the compasses burn my fingers, I cannot touch the map with them.”

      “And you want me to do it?’

      “If you are able to.”

      “Oh!” said Tregomain.

      “Well, try and we shall see. Hold the compasses and run the point along the fifty-fourth meridian, or rather the fifty-fifth, for the islet is fifty-four degrees, fifty-seven minutes—”

      The figures began to trouble the worthy man’s head.

      “Fifty-seven degrees, fifty-four minutes?” he repeated, blinking his eyes.

      “No—animal!” exclaimed Antifer. “It is the contrary. Go on.”

      Tregomain put the compasses on the western side of the map.

      “No!” roared his friend. “Not west! East, understand, you duffer! East, east, east!”

      Tregomain, deafened by these recriminations and objurgations, was incapable of doing the work properly. His eyes became veiled in a mist, drops of perspiration rolled down his forehead, and the compasses shook like the clapper of an electric bell.

      “Touch the fifty-fifth meridian,” vociferated Antifer. “Begin at the top of the map, and move down till you cut the twenty-fourth parallel!”

      “The twenty-fourth parallel!” stammered Tregomain.

      “Yes! the idiot! Yes, and the point where they cross is the position of the island.”

      “The position—”

      “Well. Go on down.”

      “I am going down!”

      “Oh! the noodle! You are going up!” The truth is that the bargeman did not know where he was, and was no fitter than his friend to solve the problem.

      Both of them were greatly agitated, and their nerves were vibrating like the strings СКАЧАТЬ