Adrift in Pacific and Other Great Adventures – 17 Titles in One Volume (Illustrated Edition). Jules Verne
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their disposal, and perhaps were insufficient. Soun, as one may judge, stopped instantly, and turned round, and sailed off as fast as he could. But the shark caught sight of the voyagers, and started for them. His enormous body, spotted and striped with green, was seen for a moment through the transparent waters. He measured from sixteen to eighteen feet in length, and was a monster. He made a dive at Kin-Fo first, turning half round, as if to snap him up.
Kin-Fo did not in the least lose his presence of mind, but, just as the shark was about to attack him, gave it a blow on his back with his paddle, and with one vigorous effort sailed quickly beyond.
Craig and Fry approached, ready for attack or defence. The shark dived a moment, and then came to the surface, opening his mouth, which was like a large pair of shears provided with four rows of teeth.
Kin-Fo wished to try once more the exploit which had just been successful; but his paddle came into contact with the animal’s jaw, which cut it close off. The shark, which was partly lying on its side, then threw itself on its prey. Immediately streams of blood gushed out, and the sea was tinged with red.
Craig and Fry had increased their blows on the animal; and, hard as its skin was, their long-bladed American knives succeeded in cutting it.
The monster’s jaws then opened and closed with a horrible noise, while its tail beat the water frightfully. Fry received a blow from its tail, which hit him in the side, and threw him back ten feet.
“Fry!” cried Craig, in tones of the deepest grief, as if he had received the blow himself.
“Hurrah!” answered Fry, returning to the onset. He was not wounded; for his rubber cuirass deadened the blow.
The shark was again attacked, and with great fury. He turned round and round; but Kin-Fo succeeded in driving the broken end of his paddle into his eye, and tried, at the risk of being cut in two, to hold it still while Fry and Craig tried to strike the heart. It is to be supposed that the two agents succeeded; for the monster, after making a last struggle, sank in a wave of blood.
“Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!” shouted Fry-Craig, waving their knives.
“Thank you,” was all that Kin-Fo said.
“You are welcome!” Craig replied. “Do you think we would let a mouthful of two hundred thousand dollars go to this fish?”
“Never!” added Fry.
And Soun? Where was Soun? Ahead this time, and already very near the boat, which was not three cables’ length away. The coward had fled by the help of his paddle, but came near getting into trouble.
The fishermen saw him; but they could not imagine that under this sea-dog accoutrement there was a human being, and therefore they prepared to fish for him as they would for a dolphin or seal. As soon as it was within reach, a long rope with a strong harpoon at the end was flung into the sea.
The harpoon struck Soun above the belt of his garment, and, as it slipped off, tore it from the middle of the back to the neck.
Soun, being now kept up only by the air in the lining of the pantaloons, tumbled over, and stood with his head in the water, and legs in the air.
Kin-Fo, Craig, and Fry, just arriving, took the precaution to hail the fishermen in good Chinese.
Imagine the fright of these good men. Seals which talked! They would put on sail, and depart with utmost speed.
But Kin-Fo re-assured them, and made himself and his companions known as men and Chinese like themselves. Shortly after, these terrestrial mammifera found themselves on board.
But Soun was left behind. They hauled him in with a hook: and raising his head above the waters, while one of the fishermen took hold of the end of his braid, they drew him up; but the whole braid came off in his hand, and the poor devil plunged into the water again.
The fishermen then threw a rope around him, and succeeded, after some trouble, in pulling him into the boat.
He was hardly on deck, and had barely time to spurt the salt water out of his mouth, when Kin-Fo approached him, and said in a severe tone,—
“Then it was false?”
“But if it had not been,” answered Soun, “should I, who knew your habits, ever have been able to enter your service?”
And he said this so comically that all burst out laughing.
These fishermen were from Fou-Ning, and less than two leagues off was the very port Kin-Fo wished to reach.
That same evening, about eight o’clock, he landed there with his companions; and, taking off Capt. Boyton’s rubber suits, all four resumed the appearance of human beings.
1 M. Seyferth and M. Silas, the keeper of records of the embassy from France to Vienna, are the inventors of this life-buoy, which is used on every ship-of-war.
CHAPTER XXI.
In Which Craig And Fry See The Moon Rise With Extreme Satisfaction.
“Now to the Tai-ping!”
These were the first words that Kin-Fo spoke the next morning, the 30th of June, after a restful night, which he owed to the two heroes of these singular adventures.
They were at last on the scene of Lao-Shen’s exploits, and the battle was about to begin in earnest; and would Kin-Fo come out of it a conqueror? Yes, no doubt, if he could capture the Tai-ping; for he would pay whatever price Lao-Shen might exact, in order to get his letter. But he would certainly not be the conqueror if a dagger should strike him in the bosom before he even had time to bargain with Wang’s ferocious substitute.
“To the Tai-ping!” answered Fry-Craig, after silently consulting each other with their eyes.
The arrival of Kin-Fo, Fry-Craig, and Soun in their singular costume, and the manner in which the fishermen had taken them from the sea, would tend to create a certain excitement in the little port of Fou-Ning. It would be difficult to escape public curiosity; and they were therefore escorted to the inn in the evening, where, thanks to the money kept in Kin-Fo’s belt and Craig-Fry’s bag, they procured more suitable clothing. If Kin-Fo and his companions had not been surrounded by so many people on the way to the inn, they might have seen a certain Celestial, who kept close in their footsteps; and their surprise, no doubt, would have been great if they had seen him keep watch at the door of the hotel all night. And their mistrust would surely have been excited if they had seen him in the same place in the morning.
But they saw and suspected nothing, and had no reason to be surprised when this suspicious-looking person came up to them as they were about leaving the inn, and offered his services as a guide.
He was a man about thirty years old, who seemed to be very honest.
However, some suspicion was awakened in the minds of Craig-Fry, and they questioned him.
“Why,” they asked him, “do you offer yourself as a guide? and where do you propose to escort us?”
There was nothing more natural than this double question, and nothing more natural than the answer that was made.
“I suppose,” said the guide, “that you intend to visit the Great Wall, as do all travellers who come to Fou-Ning. I am acquainted with the country, so I offer to be your guide.”
“My friend,” said Kin-Fo, interposing, “before making any arrangement, I would like to know if the province is safe?”
“Very safe,” answered