Chapter 3 Chapter 3 As Your Husband Wills

Three seconds before I received Minister Hobertson's letter, I was as reluctant to chase sea unicorns as I was to travel to the Arctic Ocean.It took me three seconds to read the letter from the Secretary of the Navy before I realized that my true vocation, the sole purpose of my life, was to capture and rid the world of this rambunctious monster. But I've just come back from a long journey, and I'm very tired and in desperate need of rest.I just want to go back, to my motherland, to see my friends, my little house in the botanical garden and my collection of precious specimens.But nothing can stop me now.I forgot everything, my weariness, my friends, my treasures, and I accepted the invitation of the American government without hesitation.

Moreover, I still have this idea that there are all roads to return to Europe, and the sea unicorn may politely lead me to the coast of France!This famous animal-maybe I like it-if I want to catch it in the European sea, then I have to bring at least half a meter of halberd to the Natural Science Museum. However, at present, I have to go to the northern part of the Pacific Ocean to find this sea unicorn, which runs counter to my going back to France. "Conseil!" I called in an impatient voice. Conseil is my servant.He always travels with me.This honest young man is a Flemish, I like him very much, and he is very kind to me.He was a cold, orderly, and always earnest man, unsurprised by life's surprises, dexterous with his hands, capable of anything, although his name was Conseil ("advise") ), but he never expressed his opinion when people did not ask him.

Conseil gradually learned something because of his frequent contact with academics in the botanical garden.I can say that he is simply an expert. He is very familiar with the classification of biology. , counting down to the last category.But his knowledge is limited to taxonomy.Classification was his life, and he knew nothing else.He has a lot of research on the theory of classification, but lacks practice. I think he can't even tell the big head whale from the fin whale!In short, he was a man of integrity. For ten years, until now, Conseil has followed me wherever I have gone for science.The length or fatigue of the journey never occurred to him himself.No matter how far away, no matter where he went, to China or to the Congo, he always picked up his suitcase and set off immediately, no matter where he went, without even asking.He was healthy, muscular, indifferent to disease, not at all neurotic, but seemed unable to use his brain, let alone his ability to think.

The man was twenty years old, and the ratio of his age to his master's was fifteen to twenty.Forgive me, the reader, for saying that I am now forty. But Conseil has a shortcoming, he is too polite. He always talks to me in the third person, which sometimes even makes people bored. "Conseil!" I called again, busy with my packing for departure. Of course, I have confidence in such a faithful servant.Usually I never ask him if he would like to travel with me, but this trip is a bit different, an expedition whose duration can be extended indefinitely, a risky adventure, a pursuit that can sink a ship like a walnut shell Animals on the second-tier battleship: even the most insensitive people, you have to think about this issue!What would Conseil think?

"Conseil!" I called him for the third time. Conseil came out. "Call me, sir?" he said as he entered. "I called you. Get ready for me, and get ready yourself. We're leaving in two hours." "As you please, sir," Conseil replied quietly. "Don't miss any time. All travel gear, clothes, shirts, socks, don't need to be counted." Take as much as you can, put them in my big box, hurry, hurry! "What about the specimen, sir?" Conseil said. "I'll sort it out later." "What about Mr.'s strange animals, plants, big horses, big snakes and other skeletons?" They are temporarily stored in the hotel. "

"Where's the live wild boar, sir?" "It will be fed while we are away. And our herd will be transported back to France." "Aren't we going back to Paris?" Conseil asked. "Of course... I have to go back..." I replied vaguely, "but I have to make a detour." "Sir, do you like this bend?" "Oh! That's nothing! It's just a not-so-straight road. We're going on the Lincoln." "As long as the master thinks it is suitable." Conseil replied calmly. "Friends, you know, it's about that monster...that famous narwhal...that we're going to get rid of from the sea! . Had to set off with Commander Farragut. It's an honorable mission, but... a dangerous one! We don't know where we're going! The monster may be capricious! But we're going anyway! We have a keen eye on board Captain!..."

"I will do what my master does," replied Conseil. "Think about it, because I'm not hiding anything from you. This trip may be the last, and maybe I won't say it!" "As you please sir." A quarter of an hour later Conseil had the boxes in order, and I was sure that nothing would be missing, since this man sorted shirts and clothes as well as he sorted birds or mammals. The elevator in the hotel took us to the lobby on the second floor.I walked a few steps to the ground floor, and at the big counter, often surrounded by a large crowd, I settled my account and paid.I asked someone to transport bundles of packed animal and plant specimens back to Paris (France), and left a sum of money to feed my wild boars.Laussel followed me out of the hotel and into a carriage.

The carriage went from Broadway Road to Unity Square, then passed through the intersection of No. 4 Road and Bovary Street, and then went to Jialin Street and stopped at Pier 34. The fare for this trip was 20 francs.Dockside, plus Lin Ferry to take us (man, horse and cart) to Brooklyn.Brooklyn is a district of New York, located on the left bank of the East River. After a few minutes of walking, we arrived at the pier where the Lincoln was moored. The two funnels of the Lincoln were spewing thick black smoke. Immediately our luggage was carried onto the deck of a large ship.I hurried on board, and asked where Commander Farragut was.A sailor led me to meet him on the poop.The officer looked very well, and he held out his hand to me, and said to me:

"Pierre, Monsieur Aronnax?" "Yes," I replied, "are you Commander Farragut?" "Yes. Welcome, Professor. Your cabin is waiting for you." I saluted and asked the commander to make preparations for sailing, and someone else led me to the cabin prepared for me. The Lincoln was chosen and equipped for her new purpose.It is a generally fast second-class warship, equipped with a high-pressure steam engine that can increase the air pressure to seven atmospheres.Under this pressure, the Lincoln can reach an average speed of 18.3 knots. This is a very fast speed, but it is not enough to fight that huge cetacean.

The equipment inside the battleship fully meets the requirements of this nautical mission.I was very pleased with my cabin, which was aft of the ship, with the door looking onto the officers' mess. "Our cabin is very comfortable," I said to Conseil. "Don't be offended, sir," replied Conseil, "living here is as comfortable as a hermit crab living in a conch shell." I left Conseil to settle our boxes, and went up on deck alone to watch the preparations for sailing. At this time, Captain Farragut was about to untie the last few chains that tied the Lincoln to the bollards of the Brooklyn pier.It seemed that if I was late for a quarter, a quarter of an hour, the ship would have departed, and I would have been unable to take part in this strange, mysterious, and unbelievable expedition.Although the history of this expedition is a true record, some people may doubt it in the future.

Captain Farragut did not want to lose a day or even an hour, but he wanted to get the ship into the sea where the animal was.He called the ship's engineer. "Is the steam burning enough?" the captain asked him. "Enough burnt, Captain," replied the engineer. "Ship!" cried Captain Farragut. The order to sail the ship was transmitted to the machine room through the microphone, and the engineer personnel received the order and immediately started the wheels.Steam poured into the half-open mechanism; there was a whistling sound.Rows of pistons rattled, pushing the levers of the crankshaft.The propeller blades churned the water at ever increasing speed, and the Lincoln moved majestically forward amidst the hundreds of ferries and launch boats packed with spectators to bid farewell. The Brooklyn piers and the entire New York area along the East River were packed with curious people.The cheers emanating from the hearts of fifty million people shook the heavens and the earth.Thousands of handkerchiefs were unfurled over the heads of the tightly packed crowd, saluting the Lincoln until the ship reached the mouth of the Hudson River, the tip of the long peninsula on which New York City sits, and the crowd gradually dispersed. "At this time, the big ship was sailing along the coast of New West State. There were villas on the right bank of the river. When passing through the middle of the fort, the fort fired a salute to the big ship. The Lincoln saluted them and hoisted the American flag three times. + Nine stars on the mizzen. Glittering on the transom. Then the ship changed direction and entered the buoyed channel. The ship skimmed the sandbar, where thousands of spectators cheered the ship for the last time. The ferries and motorboats escorting the big ship always followed closely, and they didn't leave the big ship until near the lightship, where there were two lights marking the exit of the New York route. It was three o'clock in the afternoon.The pilot disembarked from the ship, got into his skiff, and sailed to a small clipper waiting for him to leeward.The coal fire was added, and the engine wheels churned the water more urgently. The big ship sailed along the low yellow coast of Long Island. On the Mercedes.