Robur the Conqueror by Jules Verne
page 68 of 217 (31%)
page 68 of 217 (31%)
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"Yes," said Phil Evans, "There is the town in its amphitheater, the
hill with its citadel, the Gibraltar of North America. There are the cathedrals. There is the Custom House with its dome surmounted by the British flag!" Phil Evans had not finished before the Canadian city began to slip into the distance. The clipper entered a zone of light clouds, which gradually shut off a view of the ground. Robur, seeing that the president and secretary of the Weldon Institute had directed their attention to the external arrangements of the "Albatross," walked up to them and said: "Well, gentlemen, do you believe in the possibility of aerial locomotion by machines heavier than air?" It would have been difficult not to succumb to the evidence. But Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans did not reply. "You are silent," continued the engineer. "Doubtless hunger makes you dumb! But if I undertook to carry you through the air, I did not think of feeding you on such a poorly nutritive fluid. Your first breakfast is waiting for you." As Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans were feeling the pangs of hunger somewhat keenly they did not care to stand upon ceremony, A meal would commit them to nothing; and when Robur put them back on the ground they could resume full liberty of action. |
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