Adrift in Pacific and Other Great Adventures – 17 Titles in One Volume (Illustrated Edition). Jules Verne
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" that is a steamer's smoke."
In that direction the land was too far off for the smoke from the camp to be seen.
Immediately Briant climbed to the mast-head.
" A ship ! A ship! " he shouted.
The ship was soon in sight from the deck. It was a steamer of about eight hundred tons, approaching at the rate of eleven knots an hour.
There were cheers from the sloop, and some of the guns were fired. She was sighted, and ten minutes afterwards she was alongside the Grafton, bound to Australia.
Captain Long, of the Grafton, was immediately told of the wreck of the schooner, the news of which had been very widely spread in England and America, and at once took the sloop's passengers on board. He even offered to take them on direct to Auckland, which would not be very far out of his road, for the Grafton's destination was Melbourne, in the south of Australia.
The voyage was a quick one, and on the 25th of February the steamer cast anchor in Auckland Harbour.
Within a few days two years had elapsed since the fifteen pupils from Charman's School had been cast adrift in the Pacific.
We need not dwell on the joy of the families to whom the boys came back. Of all who had been carried away that long eighteen hundred leagues from New Zealand, not one was missing. When the news spread that the Grafton was in the harbour with the boys on board, the whole town turned out to welcome them.
And how every one longed to hear in detail all that had passed on Charman Island! And curiosity was soon gratified. Donagan gave a few lectures on the subject, and the lectures were a great success; and Donagan was very proud indeed of their success. Then the log which had been kept by Baxter—almost hour by hour, we might say—had been printed, and hundreds of copies were sold. And the newspapers " reviewed " the journal so as to give all that was interesting in it with the least trouble to themselves; and, in short, the whole of Australasia became interested in the story of the strange adventure. And Gordon's prudence, Briant's unselfishness, Donagan's courage, and the true manliness of all became the themes of general admiration,
Kate and Evans had, of course, a grand reception. A public subscription was started, and a ship was bought and named the Char man, of which Evans was to be owner and captain, on condition that Auckland remained her head-quarters. And when she returned from her voyages, Evans always met with the warmest of welcomes from his friends the boys.
What was to be done with Kate ? The Briants, the Garnetts, the Wilcoxes, and many of the others wanted to secure her services for life. Finally she decided on entering the service of Donagan's family, for it was his life that had been saved by her care.
And now to conclude. Never before had schoolboys passed their holidays in such a way. But—as all boys ought to know—with method and zeal and courage there is no position, however dangerous, from which there may not be an escape. Our heroes had passed through a severe apprenticeship; their characters had been strengthened by bitter experience; the little ones Had become big, and the big ones had become almost men during the two years they were Adrift in the Pacific.
Michael Strogoff: or, The Courier of the Czar
TRANSLATOR: W. H. G. KINGSTON
Chapter I: A Fete at the New Palace
Chapter II: Russians and Tartars
Chapter III: Michael Strogoff Meets the Czar
Chapter IV: From Moscow to Nijni-Novgorod
Chapter V: The Two Announcements
Chapter VI: Brother and Sister
Chapter VII: Going Down the Volga
Chapter VIII: Going Up the Kama
Chapter IX: Day and Night in a Tarantass
Chapter X: A Storm in the Ural Mountains
Chapter XI: Travelers in Distress
Chapter XIII: Duty Before Everything
Chapter XV: The Marshes of the Baraba
Chapter II: Correspondents in Trouble
Chapter IV: The Triumphal Entry
Chapter V: “Look While You May!”
Chapter VI: A Friend on the Highway
Chapter VII: The Passage of the Yenisei
Chapter VIII: A Hare Crosses the Road
Chapter XIII: The Czar’s Courier