Robur the Conqueror

“ President of the Weldon Institute, I very much prefer keeping you alive.”
“To be sure of living yourself. That is wise.”
“Wise or not, it suits me. You are at liberty to think as you like, and to complain to those who have the power to help you—if you can.”
“And that we have done, Mr. Robur.” ”

“ Robur did not even frown. With folded arms he waited bravely till silence was obtained.
By a gesture Uncle Prudent ordered the firing to cease.
“Yes.” continued Robur, “the future is for the flying machine. ”

“ The “Albatross” thus returned to the height she seemed to prefer, and her propellers beginning again, drove her off to the southwest.
“Now, sirs, if that is what you wanted you can reply.” Then, leaning over the rail, he remained absorbed in contemplation.
When he raised his head the president and secretary of the Weldon Institute stood by his side.
“Engineer Robur.” said Uncle Prudent, in vain endeavoring to control himself, “we have nothing to ask about what you seem to believe, but we wish to ask you a question which we think you would do well to answer.” ”

“ A stranger calling himself an engineer, and answering to the name of Robur, a person of unknown origin, of anonymous nationality, had unexpectedly presented himself in the club-room, insulted the balloonists, made fun of the aeronauts, boasted of the marvels of machines heavier than air, and raised a frightful tumult by the remarks with which he greeted the menaces of his adversaries. ”

“ I want to get out! I am not a bird! Boohoo! I don't want to fly, I want to get out!"
Uncle Prudent, as may be imagined, did not attempt to quiet him. In fact, he encouraged him, and particularly as the incessant howling seemed to have a strangely irritating effect on Robur.
When Tom Turner and his companions were getting ready for fishing, the engineer ordered them to shut up Frycollin in his cabin. But the Negro never ceased his jumping about, and began to kick at the wall and yell with redoubled power.
It was noon. The Albatross was only about fifteen or twenty feet above the water. ”

“ For if we were in a boat moored on the Schuyllkill we should have noticed the movement due to the current—”
“That is so; and as we are still in the clearing, I think that now is the time to get away, and we can return later to settle with this Robur—”
“And make him pay for this attempt on the liberty of two citizens of the United States.”
“And he shall pay pretty dearly!”
“But who is this man? Where does he come from? Is he English, or German, or French—”
“He is a scoundrel, that is enough!” said Uncle Prudent. “Now to work.” ”

“ The fugitives had little to fear. Now could Robur get back to the island for three or four hours if his screws were out of gear? By that time the “Albatross” would have been destroyed by the explosion, and be no more than a wreck floating on the sea; those whom she bore would be mangled corpses, which the ocean would not even give up again. The act of vengeance would be accomplished.
Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans looked upon it as an act of legitimate self-defence, and felt no remorse whatever. ”

“ When a wounded bird falls on the waves its wings keep it afloat. For several hours Robur and his men remained unhelped, at first on the wreck, and afterwards in the india-rubber boat that had fallen uninjured. A few hours after sunrise they were sighted by a passing ship, and a boat was lowered to their rescue.
Robur and his companions were saved, and so was much of what remained of the aeronef. The engineer said that his ship had perished in a collision, and no further questions were asked him. ”

“ Only a hundred and eighty miles then separated them from San Francisco, the Californian capital.
At the speed the “Albatross” was going she would be over the dome by eight o’clock.
At this moment Robur appeared on deck. The colleagues walked up to him.
“Engineer Robur.” said Uncle Prudent, “we are now on the very confines of America! We think the time has come for this joke to end.”
“I never joke.” said Robur.
He raised his hand. The “Albatross” swiftly dropped towards the ground, and at the same time such speed was given her as to drive the prisoners into their cabin. ”

“ THE AERONEF AT FULL SPEED
If ever Prudent and Evans despaired on escaping from the “Albatross” it was during the two days that followed. It may be that Robur considered it more difficult to keep a watch on his prisoners while he was crossing Europe, and he knew that they had made up their minds to get away.
But any attempt to have done so would have been simply committing suicide. To jump from an express going sixty miles an hour is to risk your life, but to jump from a machine going one hundred and twenty miles an hour would be to seek your death. ”

“ Hence Robur’s resolve to anchor on the Chatham Islands. There was every opportunity for repairing at least the fore-screw. He had no fear that if the wind were to rise he would be driven to the south instead of to the north. When night came the repairs would be finished, and he would have to maneuver so as to weigh anchor. If it were too firmly fixed in the rocks he could cut the cable and resume his flight towards the equator.
The crew of the “Albatross.” knowing there was no time to lose, set to work vigorously. ”

“ No Atlantic liner could have offered them more comfort. If they did not sleep soundly it was that they did not wish to do so, or rather that their very real anxiety prevented them. In what adventure had they embarked? To what series of experiments had they been invited? How would the business end? And above all, what was Robur going to do with them?
Frycollin, the valet, was quartered forward in a cabin adjoining that of the cook. The neighborhood did not displease him; he liked to rub shoulders with the great in this world. ”

“ These screws were of much larger diameter than the suspensory ones, but could be worked at quite their speed. In fact, the vessel combined the systems of Cossus, La LandeNe, and Ponton d'Amécourt, as perfected by Robur. But it was in the choice and application of his motive force that he could claim to be an inventor.
Machinery.- Robur had not availed himself of the vapor of water or other liquids, nor compressed air and other mechanical motion. He employed electricity, that agent which one day will be the soul of the industrial world. ”

“ Had we remained in the streets of Philadelphia there would have been none of this. Evidently Robur foresaw what would happen at the club, and had placed some of his bandits on guard at the door. When we left Walnut Street these fellows must have watched us and followed us, and when we imprudently ventured into Fairmount Park they went in for their little game.”
“Agreed.” said Evans. “We were wrong not to go straight home.”
“It is always wrong not to be right.” ”

“ It was Frycollin. The Negro had had the same idea as his master and the audacity to start without telling him. But there was no time for recriminations, and Uncle Prudent was in search of a refuge in some distant part of the island when Phil Evans stopped him.
“Uncle Prudent.” said he. “Here we are safe from Robur. He is doomed like his companions to a terrible death. He deserves it, we know. But if he would swear on his honor not to take us prisoners again—”
“The honor of such a man—”
Uncle Prudent did not finish his sentence. ”

“ Was it not necessary that he should again become absolute master of his invention? If he did not recapture the fugitives they world get away home. They would begin inquiring into matters. They might even discover X Island, and there would be an end to this life, which the men of the Albatross had created for themselves, a life that seemed superhuman and sublime.
Tom Turner came up to the engineer. It was a quarter past one. "It seems to me, sir, that the breeze is falling, and going round to the west."
"What does the barometer say?" asked Robur, after looking up at the sky. ”

“ Evidently she was pulled back by the air; some formidable current bad diminished the resistance to the screws. When a steamer travels upstream more work is got out of her screw than when the water is running between the blades. The recoil is then considerable, and may perhaps be as great as the current. It was thus with the Albatross at this moment.
But Robur was not the man to give in. His seventy-four screws, working perfectly together, were driven at their maximum speed. But the aeronef could not escape; the attraction of the cyclone was irrestible. ”

“ They stood staring at the throbbing, quivering engine. Croft straightened and stood, pale of face but with blazing eyes, before them. He had won! Won! Robur's face told him he had won! It was a face filled with a mighty wonder and delight.
And suddenly the crown prince spoke: "Back—back to your work. Work as ye have never worked before. ”

“ But Robespierre, under this railing clamour and abuse, does not stir. There he lies, stretched out motionless, his eyes fixed on the ceiling, the very embodiment of silent scorn. Slowly and without a word, he drinks the cup of bitterness; he will drink it so, to the very dregs. A conqueror, he would have been to them a god; vanquished, they nail him to the pillory. Such is the constant perfidy of human nature! And yet he had been so near success, so near! If the Convention had not proved so cowardly at the sitting, had not succumbed directly before Tallien's attack! ”

“ As to the nature of the latter, he held back the details for the time, and spoke of preparing a fleet of swift motor-driven galleys in which to transport the troops they would raise across the Central Sea when the need should arise.
Robur's eyes sparkled at that. "We shall come upon them ere they dream we can arrive. Jasor, my friend, your name shall be greatest among Tamarizia's men."
"No greater than that of Jadgor," Croft replied. "Rob, your father is a man above other men. None save a man of noble spirit forgets himself to assure his nation's good." ”

“ But then, as the watchman said, he had not killed the victims; his name had not been inscribed on these walls as a term and brand of infamy and hatred.
That writing on the wall seemed to be dancing before his eyes. "Robespierre, assassin; your turn will come!" So this was the cry which rose from every breast! If he was vanquished in the morrow's struggle, if he had to ascend the scaffold without having accomplished the act of social regeneration of which he had so long dreamt, he would leave behind him the execrated memory of a despot and bloodthirsty tyrant! ”

“ Robespierre was grieved and distressed beyond measure. Clarisse did not know what she was saying! How could he stop the tumbrils, arrest that crowd, composed of the very scum of the nation? Why, there was not one self-respecting man among them! Nothing but a mob mad with the lust of blood. The only power they feared or respected was the Terror—the Scaffold! He, Robespierre, their idol? Nay, he was not! Their idol was the executioner! To fight single-handed against such a besotted, blinded rabble would be madness, sheer madness! ”

“ He decided to tell Robur the literal truth. "No, Robur—these things are not mine own. Of Zitu they are—by him permitted for man's use—yet are they things known, and employed daily in the life of men on that star from which I come."
"Earth," said Robur quickly. "These things are known on earth, and the motors, the rifles—"
"Yes," Croft nodded slightly. "And a thousand other things." He took up a final plan. "Rob, what do you think of a device which can lift a man into the air, as a bird rises on its wings?"
"Zitu! Would you fly, Jason of earth!" Robur caught a slightly unsteady breath. ”

“ They looked at him in surprise, trying to divine his meaning, but Robespierre, who was too far off to have heard, continued—
"Frenchmen! if you would triumph over your enemies, be just, give to the Divine Being the only offerings worthy of Him—virtue, compassion, forbearance——"
"With the guillotine!" called the voice in the crowd, with a bitter laugh.
A murmur rose round the man, every one whispering out of respect for Robespierre, who continued his harangue. They questioned the man, threatened him. Voices grew louder. "Silence!" ”

“ The physical strain stirs the tiger in the blood; they conceive a cruel hatred against weakness, just as the heated throng of a Roman amphitheatre turned up their thumbs for the instant despatch of the unfortunate swordsman who had been too ready to lower his arms. The Right, the Plain, even the galleries, despised the man who had succumbed. If Robespierre had possessed the physical strength of Mirabeau or Danton, the Ninth Thermidor would have been another of his victories. ”

“ Thérèse, standing near Olivier, was weeping bitterly and telling him of the efforts Robespierre had made to save them all.
"He?" cried Olivier, still incredulous.
The room filled rapidly from every side with the assailants armed with pikes, swords, knives, and muskets. They rushed in, screaming and shouting "Victory! Victory!" But all drew back on seeing Robespierre stretched on the ground, bathed in blood. A national representative ran to the window and announced the news to the crowd swarming in the Place de la Grêve.
"Citoyens! the tyrant has shot himself! ”

“ The hall was filled with an enthusiastic crowd, exasperated at the partial defeat of their idol at the Tuileries. Robespierre, deeply touched, returned their salutations gratefully, and re-read his speech prepared for the Convention, interrupted at every point by loud approval. In order to stir their minds to the necessary pitch of excitement, he spoke of this as his last testament, and so induced another outburst of extravagant sympathy.
"I will die with you, Robespierre!" called out one deputy.
"Your enemies are the enemies of the whole nation!" ”