Jules Verne

“ When you are pitching half hundreds about you have to be serious! When you wrestle you not only use your arms, but your head! And Cape Matifou has always been wrestling—with misery! And he has not yet been thrown!”
The doctor listened with interest to the brave little fellow who brought no complaint against the fate that had used him so ill. He saw that he possessed as much heart as intelligence, and wondered what he would have become had material means not failed him at the outset of life.
“And where are you going now?” he asked.
“Where chance leads us,” answered Point Pescade. ”

“ The men, numbering about twenty, were dressed like Maltese sailors, with short trousers, sea boots, striped shirts, brown waistbands, red caps and guernseys—on which in white letters there appeared the initials of the schooner's name and that of her proprietor.
But to what port did this yacht belong? On what register had she been entered? In what Mediterranean country did she lay up for the winter? What was her nationality? No one knew, just as no one knew the nationality of the doctor! A green flag with a red cross in the upper corner floated at her gaff. ”

“ You see us two, Cape Matifou and me. We are of the same country, and we ought to be of the same family if we had a family. Two brothers at heart. Cape Matifou could not exist without Point Pescade, nor could Point Pescade without Cape Matifou. Imagine the Siamese twins! You must never separate us, for separation would cost us our lives. We are quite Siamese, and we like you very much, doctor. ”

“ But there could be no doubting that if the smile was not on his lips, it was in his heart.
“My friends,” said he, “yesterday you saved my crew and myself from a great danger. I wished to thank you once more for having done so, and that is why I asked you to come on board.”
“Doctor,” answered Point Pescade, who began to recover some of his assurance, “you are very kind. But what my comrade did any man would have done in his place, if he had had the strength. Wouldn't he, Cape Matifou?” ”

“ I have other vessels ten times faster than this schooner, and generally you will come with me in my visits.”
“That we will, doctor,” said Point Pescade, rubbing his hands.
“Are you afraid of the sea?” asked the doctor.
“Afraid of the sea!” exclaimed Point Pescade. “Children of Provence! Ragamuffins rolling about in the coast boats! No! We are not afraid of the sea, nor of the pretended sickness it yields. ”

“ DOCTOR ANTEKIRTT.
There are people who give a good deal of employment to fame—that woman of a hundred mouths whose trumpets blare forth their names toward the four cardinal points of the earth.
This was so in the case of the celebrated Dr. Antekirtt, who had just arrived in the harbor of Gravosa. His arrival had been signalized by an incident which would have been enough to attract public attention to the most ordinary traveler. And he was not an ordinary traveler. ”

“ Antekirtt a sort of legend in all the legendary countries of the extreme East. Asia from the Dardanelles to the Suez Canal, Africa from Suez to Tunis, the Red Sea along the whole Arab coast, resounded with his name as that of a man of extraordinary knowledge in the physical sciences, a sort of gnostic or taleb who possessed the last secrets of the universe. ”

“ The crew gave a cordial greeting to the new-comers, who had saved them from a terrible accident, and Point Pescade and Matifou had no occasion to grieve for the food they had left behind them.
“You see, Cape Matifou,” said Pescade, “when you are led you will reach everything. But you must be led.” ”

“ As he spoke the doctor became serious again, and Pescade, who was watching him, came to the conclusion that m his past life he had experienced a greater share of grief than usual.
“Sir,” said he after a pause, “from to-day we belong to you, body and soul.”
“And from to-day,” answered the doctor, “you can take possession of your cabin. ”

“ We are used to walk about with our heads down and our heels up, and if the ladies and gentlemen who are inclined to be seasick only had a couple of months of that exercise, they would never want to stick their noses in the basins! ”