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+\chapter{At a Venture}
+
+The voyage of the Abraham Lincoln was for a long time marked
+by no special incident. But one circumstance happened which showed
+the wonderful dexterity of Ned Land, and proved what confidence
+we might place in him.
+
+The 30th of June, the frigate spoke some American whalers,
+from whom we learned that they knew nothing about the narwhal.
+But one of them, the captain of the Monroe, knowing that Ned Land had
+shipped on board the Abraham Lincoln, begged for his help in chasing
+a whale they had in sight. Commander Farragut, desirous of seeing
+Ned Land at work, gave him permission to go on board the Monroe.
+And fate served our Canadian so well that, instead of one whale,
+he harpooned two with a double blow, striking one straight to the heart,
+and catching the other after some minutes' pursuit.
+
+Decidedly, if the monster ever had to do with Ned Land's harpoon,
+I would not bet in its favour.
+
+The frigate skirted the south-east coast of America with great rapidity.
+The 3rd of July we were at the opening of the Straits of Magellan, level with
+Cape Vierges. But Commander Farragut would not take a tortuous passage,
+but doubled Cape Horn.
+
+The ship's crew agreed with him. And certainly it was possible
+that they might meet the narwhal in this narrow pass.
+Many of the sailors affirmed that the monster could not pass there,
+``that he was too big for that!''
+
+The 6th of July, about three o'clock in the afternoon, the Abraham Lincoln,
+at fifteen miles to the south, doubled the solitary island,
+this lost rock at the extremity of the American continent, to which
+some Dutch sailors gave the name of their native town, Cape Horn.
+The course was taken towards the north-west, and the next day the screw
+of the frigate was at last beating the waters of the Pacific.
+
+``Keep your eyes open!'' called out the sailors.
+
+And they were opened widely. Both eyes and glasses, a little dazzled,
+it is true, by the prospect of two thousand dollars, had not
+an instant's repose.
+
+I myself, for whom money had no charms, was not the least
+attentive on board. Giving but few minutes to my meals,
+but a few hours to sleep, indifferent to either rain or sunshine,
+I did not leave the poop of the vessel. Now leaning on the netting
+of the forecastle, now on the taffrail, I devoured with eagerness
+the soft foam which whitened the sea as far as the eye could reach;
+and how often have I shared the emotion of the majority of the crew,
+when some capricious whale raised its black back above the waves!
+The poop of the vessel was crowded on a moment. The cabins
+poured forth a torrent of sailors and officers, each with heaving
+breast and troubled eye watching the course of the cetacean.
+I looked and looked till I was nearly blind, whilst Conseil kept
+repeating in a calm voice:
+
+``If, sir, you would not squint so much, you would see better!''
+
+But vain excitement! The Abraham Lincoln checked its speed and made
+for the animal signalled, a simple whale, or common cachalot,
+which soon disappeared amidst a storm of abuse.
+
+But the weather was good. The voyage was being accomplished under
+the most favourable auspices. It was then the bad season in Australia,
+the July of that zone corresponding to our January in Europe,
+but the sea was beautiful and easily scanned round a vast circumference.
+
+The 20th of July, the tropic of Capricorn was cut by 105d of longitude,
+and the 27th of the same month we crossed the Equator on the 110th meridian.
+This passed, the frigate took a more decided westerly direction,
+and scoured the central waters of the Pacific. Commander Farragut thought,
+and with reason, that it was better to remain in deep water, and keep
+clear of continents or islands, which the beast itself seemed to shun
+(perhaps because there was not enough water for him! suggested
+the greater part of the crew). The frigate passed at some distance from
+the Marquesas and the Sandwich Islands, crossed the tropic of Cancer,
+and made for the China Seas. We were on the theatre of the last diversions
+of the monster: and, to say truth, we no longer LIVED on board.
+The entire ship's crew were undergoing a nervous excitement, of which I
+can give no idea: they could not eat, they could not sleep--twenty times
+a day, a misconception or an optical illusion of some sailor seated
+on the taffrail, would cause dreadful perspirations, and these emotions,
+twenty times repeated, kept us in a state of excitement so violent that a
+reaction was unavoidable.
+
+And truly, reaction soon showed itself. For three months,
+during which a day seemed an age, the Abraham Lincoln furrowed
+all the waters of the Northern Pacific, running at whales,
+making sharp deviations from her course, veering suddenly
+from one tack to another, stopping suddenly, putting on steam,
+and backing ever and anon at the risk of deranging her machinery,
+and not one point of the Japanese or American coast
+was left unexplored.
+
+The warmest partisans of the enterprise now became its most
+ardent detractors. Reaction mounted from the crew to the captain himself,
+and certainly, had it not been for the resolute determination on the part
+of Captain Farragut, the frigate would have headed due southward.
+This useless search could not last much longer. The Abraham Lincoln
+had nothing to reproach herself with, she had done her best to succeed.
+Never had an American ship's crew shown more zeal or patience;
+its failure could not be placed to their charge--there remained nothing
+but to return.
+
+This was represented to the commander. The sailors could
+not hide their discontent, and the service suffered.
+I will not say there was a mutiny on board, but after a reasonable
+period of obstinacy, Captain Farragut (as Columbus did)
+asked for three days' patience. If in three days the monster did
+not appear, the man at the helm should give three turns of the wheel,
+and the Abraham Lincoln would make for the European seas.
+
+This promise was made on the 2nd of November. It had the effect of
+rallying the ship's crew. The ocean was watched with renewed attention.
+Each one wished for a last glance in which to sum up his remembrance.
+Glasses were used with feverish activity. It was a grand defiance
+given to the giant narwhal, and he could scarcely fail to answer
+the summons and ``appear.''
+
+\begin{equation}
+E=mc^2
+\end{equation}
+
+Two days passed, the steam was at half pressure; a thousand
+schemes were tried to attract the attention and stimulate
+the apathy of the animal in case it should be met in those parts.
+Large quantities of bacon were trailed in the wake of the ship,
+to the great satisfaction (I must say) of the sharks.
+Small craft radiated in all directions round the Abraham Lincoln
+as she lay to, and did not leave a spot of the sea unexplored.
+But the night of the 4th of November arrived without the unveiling of
+this submarine mystery.
+
+The next day, the 5th of November, at twelve, the delay would
+(morally speaking) expire; after that time, Commander Farragut,
+faithful to his promise, was to turn the course to the south-east
+and abandon for ever the northern regions of the Pacific.
+
+The frigate was then in 31@ 15' N. lat. and 136@ 42' E. long.
+The coast of Japan still remained less than two hundred miles to leeward.
+Night was approaching. They had just struck eight bells;
+large clouds veiled the face of the moon, then in its first quarter.
+The sea undulated peaceably under the stern of the vessel.
+
+At that moment I was leaning forward on the starboard netting.
+Conseil, standing near me, was looking straight before him.
+The crew, perched in the ratlines, examined the horizon which
+contracted and darkened by degrees. Officers with their night
+glasses scoured the growing darkness: sometimes the ocean sparkled
+under the rays of the moon, which darted between two clouds,
+then all trace of light was lost in the darkness.
+
+In looking at Conseil, I could see he was undergoing a little
+of the general influence. At least I thought so. Perhaps for
+the first time his nerves vibrated to a sentiment of curiosity.
+
+``Come, Conseil,'' said I, ``this is the last chance of pocketing
+the two thousand dollars.''
+
+``May I be permitted to say, sir,'' replied Conseil, ``that I never reckoned
+on getting the prize; and, had the government of the Union offered a hundred
+thousand dollars, it would have been none the poorer.''
+
+``You are right, Conseil. It is a foolish affair after all, and one upon
+which we entered too lightly. What time lost, what useless emotions!
+We should have been back in France six months ago.''
+
+``In your little room, sir,'' replied Conseil, ``and in your museum, sir; and I
+should have already classed all your fossils, sir. And the Babiroussa would
+have been installed in its cage in the Jardin des Plantes, and have drawn
+all the curious people of the capital!''
+
+``As you say, Conseil. I fancy we shall run a fair chance of being
+laughed at for our pains.''
+
+``That's tolerably certain,'' replied Conseil, quietly; ``I think
+they will make fun of you, sir. And, must I say it---?''
+
+``Go on, my good friend.''
+
+``Well, sir, you will only get your deserts.''
+
+``Indeed!''
+
+``When one has the honour of being a savant as you are, sir, one should
+not expose one's self to---''
+
+\begin{equation}
+E=mc^2
+\end{equation}
+
+Conseil had not time to finish his compliment.
+In the midst of general silence a voice had just been heard.
+It was the voice of Ned Land shouting:
+
+``Look out there! The very thing we are looking for---on
+our weather beam!''
+
+