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

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СКАЧАТЬ voice that sounded as if it came through a speaking-trumpet.

      The young captain appeared almost immediately.

      “What do you want, uncle?”

      “Juhel—where is Kamylk Pasha’s island?”

      “Where the longitude crosses the latitude.”

      “Well, look for it.”

      That was enough for Juhel. His uncle’s agitation told him what had happened. Taking the compasses in a hand which did not tremble, he placed the point where the fifty fifth meridian started from the north of the map and followed it down.

      “Tell me where it passes!” commanded Captain Antifer.

      “Yes, uncle,” said Juhel.

      And thus it was he continued,—

      “Franz Josef Land, in the Arctic Sea.”

      “Good.”

      “Barents Sea.”

      “Well”

      “Novaia Zemlia.”

      “After?”

      “Kara Sea.”

      “And then?”

      “The north of Asiatic Russia.”

      “What towns does it run through?”

      “First, Ekaterinburg.”

      “Then?”

      “Sea of Aral.”

      “Go on.”

      “Khiva in Turkestan.”

      “Are we getting near?”

      “Very soon! Herat in Persia.”

      “Is that it?”

      “Muscat, at the south-east end of Arabia.”

      “Muscat!” exclaimed Antifer, leaning over the map.

      In fact the fifty-fifth meridian and the twenty-fourth parallel crossed on the territory of the Sultan of Muscat, in that part of the Gulf of Oman above the Persian Gulf, separating Arabia from Persia.

      “Muscat!” repeated Captain Antifer.

      “Mascotte?” asked Tregomain.

      “Not Mascotte, but Muscat, you bargee!” roared his friend, shrugging his shoulders up to his ears.

      But this was only approximate, for they had as yet taken no account of the minutes.

      “You are sure it is Muscat?”

      “Yes, uncle, within seventy miles of it.”

      “Can you get any nearer?”

      “Yes.”

      “Then go on, goon—don’t you see I am bursting with impatience.”

      And a boiler worked up as he was, would have been on the point of explosion.

      Juhel picked up the compasses again, and taking account of the minutes in the longitude and latitude, he obtained the position so exactly that he could only be a mile or two out.

      “Well?” asked Antifer.

      “Well, uncle, it is not on the territory of the Sultan of Muscat, but a little to the east of it, in the Gulf of Oman.”

      “To be sure!”

      “Why to be sure?” asked Tregomain.

      “Because if it is an island, it could not be on a continent, you bargeman!”

      This was said in a tone impossible to describe.

      “To-morrow,” added Antifer, “we will begin our preparations for departure.”

      “You are right!” said Juhel, resolved not to withstand his uncle.

      “We will see if there is a ship in the harbour bound for Port Said.”

      “That will be the best, for we have not a day to lose.”

      “No! They shall not steal my island from me.”

      “Oh, it will take a famous thief to do it!” answered Tregomain. And Antifer shrugged his shoulders again.

      “You will accompany me, Juhel.”

      “Yes, uncle,” said Juhel.

      “And you too, Mr. Bargeman.”

      “Me!”

      “Yes. You!”

      These two words were uttered in such a commanding tone, that the worthy man’s head could do nothing but bow in sign of consent.

      And yet he had reckoned on Antifer’s absence to be able to console Enogate, by recounting the adventures of the Charmante Amélie on the fresh waters of the Rance!

      CHAPTER X.

       Table of Contents

      On the 21st of February the steamer Steersman left St. Malo at the morning tide. She was a collier of 900 tons, running direct between Newcastle and Port Said, but on this occasion a slight accident to her engine had made it necessary for her to put into port. Instead of going to Cherbourg, her captain had brought her on to St. Malo in the hope that he might see an old friend. Two days afterwards the steamer was at sea again, and had put Cape Frehel thirty miles behind when we call the reader’s attention to her.

      And why should we call attention to this collier more than to another, considering that hundreds of colliers pass down channel, and that the United Kingdom sends its coal to every part of the world? Why? Because Captain Antifer was on board, and with him his nephew Juhel, and with them their friend Tregomain. And why were they on an English steamer instead of in a railway carriage? When a man is interested in four millions, surely he would take his ease and think nothing of the expense! And this Antifer would have done had not an opportunity offered of travelling under pleasant conditions.

      Captain Chip, who commanded the Steersman, was an old acquaintance of Antifer’s. When the Englishman put in at St. Malo he did not fail to look up his old friend, and was warmly welcomed. When he learnt that Antifer was about to start for Port Said, he offered him a passage on the Steersman on reasonable terms. She was a good ship, capable of nine knots an hour in a calm sea, and taking a fortnight СКАЧАТЬ