Chapter 9 Chapter 9 The Albatross flew nearly 10,000 kilometers, and finally ended with an astonishing leap

Uncle Prudden and Phil.Evans was determined to escape.If the eight big men on the boat who deal with them are not all burly, maybe they will really do it.A daring attempt might turn you into the master of a flying machine so you can land somewhere in the United States.But with only two people, Fricoland can only ignore this kind of thing and can only think about it.Since force cannot be used, it should be outsmarted: this will of course be done when the Albatross lands.Phil.Evans tried hard to make this known to his irascible colleague, who was always afraid that Uncle Prudang would push things too fast and mess things up.

Anyway, now is not the time.The aircraft was advancing at full speed over the North Pacific Ocean.The next day, the morning of June 10, the shore was gone.Since the coastline from Vancouver Island to the Aleutian Islands (Note: It used to be Russia's territory in the Americas, which was ceded to the United States in 1867.) is an arc, if the Albatross's course remains unchanged, it is likely to be in line with this line. The ends of the curved shorelines meet. The boundless night is so long for these two colleagues!They can't wait to get out of their cabins.When they came on deck this morning, the eastern light had been illuminating the horizon for hours.Near the summer solstice, in the northern hemisphere, this day is the longest day of the year, but at sixty degrees north latitude, there is almost no night.

As far as Engineer Robier was concerned, there was no haste, whether out of habit or on purpose, from the cabin.After he came out that day, he just greeted the two guests who met him at the stern of the boat. Fricolean's eyes were bloodshot and dull from insomnia, and his legs were trembling.He ventured out of the cabin with the posture of a man who feels the ground unsteady under his feet.His first glance was at the horizontal propellers, which were spinning in a calm, regular and unworrisome manner. After the black man finished reading, he stumbled towards the handrail.In order to maintain his balance, he grasped the handrail with both hands, obviously, he wanted to see with his own eyes the area that was no more than two hundred meters below the Albatross.

Fricolan must have been very annoyed, otherwise he would not have taken such a risk. There is no doubt that it takes great courage to put himself under such a test. Fricoland leaned back first before he went to see if the armrest was strong.Then he stood up straight, then bent down again, and poked his head out again.Needless to say, he performed this series of actions with his eyes closed, and finally he opened them. That cry is really scary!How fast he retreated!My head is almost retracted into my shoulders! At the bottom of the abyss, he saw the boundless sea.If it weren't for the fact that his hair was naturally curly, it would have been frightened to stand on end.

Haihai he yelled loudly. If the chef hadn't caught him with his outstretched arms, he would have fallen face up on the platform. The chef is French.Although the name is Francois.Tapa Day, but he could still be GasconyEven if he is not a Gascon, he must have breathed the Garonne in his childhood. air.Francois.How did Tapa Day become the man of Engineer Robier?What chance had brought him into the Albatross?Everything is unknown.Anyway, this slick guy speaks English like a real Yankee. Hey, stand up straight, stand up straight!As he spoke aloud, he gave the black man a hard blow on the waist to make him stand upright.

Master Tapa Day!said the poor man, looking at the propeller in despair. Speak, Fricoland! These sometimes go bad too, right? It never broke, but it will eventually. Why?Why? Because, like the folks from my hometown say, everything gets old, gets bad, and breaks. But below that is the sea! If you want to fall, it is better to fall into the sea. That's sure to drown! Definitely drowned, but never smashed to pieces!Francois.Tapa Ri spoke word by word. In the blink of an eye, Fricolean was scrambling into his cabin.During the daytime on June 16, the speed of the aircraft was not too fast.It seemed to be flying close to the calm, golden surface, only a hundred feet or so above the surface.

Uncle Pruden and his companion also stayed in the cabin so as not to meet Robier.Sometimes Robier was alone, sometimes with Tom Foreman.Turner together, while smoking, while walking.Only half of the propeller is spinning, which is enough for flying in the lower atmosphere. At this altitude, if the waters of the Pacific Ocean are rich in fish resources, the people of the Albatross can really enjoy the joy of fishing and improve their food.However, only a few whales haunt the surface.This fish has a yellow belly and is twenty-five meters long. They are the most fearsome kind of whales in the northern seas. Their amazing strength even professional whalers dare not mess with.

However, they can be caught without risk if you use ordinary fish darts or whaling gun arrows (such equipment is equipped with aircraft). Why is this senseless massacre necessary?However, perhaps in order to let the two members of the Welton Society show the ability of his flying machine, Robier decided to catch this huge and terrifying whale. Hear the whales!whale!shouts, Uncle Prudang and Phil.Evans walked out of the cabin.Perhaps there were whaling ships nearby, and if that was the case, the two of them would have jumped into the sea and given their lives to a ship that might come to rescue them, provided they could escape the prison-like craft.

All the personnel of the Albatross have lined up on the deck, waiting for orders. That is, we're going to touch them, Captain Robill?Foreman Tom.Turner asked. yes tom.replied the engineer. In the computer room, the mechanic and his two assistants who stick to their posts will operate as long as Robbir gestures.The Albatross immediately lowered its altitude toward the sea and stopped only about fifty feet above the sea. The two companions saw no ships in the sea, nor did they see any land.Otherwise, assuming Robbier didn't try to get them both back, they could swim all the way to land.

Several clusters of mist and water jets from the whale's nostrils indicate that the whale is about to surface to breathe. Tom was standing at the front of the aircraft with the help of a partner.Turner had by hand a California-made whaling gun fired from a musket.It was a metal cylinder-like thing topped by a cylindrical bomb with a pointed barbed metal rod. Robier had just boarded the duty bench at the front, and he commanded the mechanic with his right hand and the helmsman with his left hand.In this way, the movement of the aircraft in any direction, vertical or horizontal, is under his control.The speed and accuracy with which the aerial machine carried out his orders was unbelievable. It was almost an organic whole, and the soul of this whole was Robier.

whale!whale!Tom.Turner yelled again. Sure enough, seven or eight hundred meters ahead of the Albatross, the back of a whale was exposed. The Albatross pursued the whale and stopped only sixty feet from it. Tom.Turner shouldered the musket, which was carried on a fork in the armrest.As soon as the gun went off, the bomb trailed a long trail.A rope attached to the platform hit the whale in the body.The explosive-filled shell exploded, ejecting a small, two-headed swim bladder, which plunged into the whale's flesh. careful!cried Turner. Uncle Prudden and Phil.Although Evans was full of displeasure, he was also interested in the scene in front of him. The badly injured whale flicked its tail violently, causing the sea water to splash all the way to the front of the aircraft. Then, it dived deeply into the water again, and people quickly put down the rope.The rope was coiled in a large wooden barrel, which was filled with water, mainly to prevent friction from starting a fire.The whale surfaced again all of a sudden, and fled northward desperately. One can imagine how fast the Albatross was dragged forward!The propelling propeller of the aircraft has been turned off, allowing the whale to drag forward and only keep in line with it.Tom.Turner watched carefully there, and cut the cable in case the whale dived into deep water again and was in danger. The Albatross was towed like this for half an hour, almost six nautical miles.By this time it was evident that the whale was beginning to lose its strength. Robier immediately made a gesture, and the mechanic's assistant started to reverse the car, and the propeller thrusters began to create a certain resistance to the whale, making it gradually approach. After a while, the craft was only twenty-five feet above the whale.But the whale was still rolling in the water, and slammed its tail against the water surface with incredible force. Suddenly, a huge vortex was stirred up on the water surface. Suddenly, it popped out and plunged headlong into the water with such speed that Tom.It was too late for Turner to let the cable go. The aircraft was pulled to the surface of the sea at once.A vortex formed where the whale disappeared.The sea water like a huge wave beat over the handrail. Thanks to Tom.Turner cut the cable with a single axe, and the Albatross broke free, and rose to a height of 200 meters by increasing the power of the propeller. And Robier commanded the entire aircraft calmly, not panicking at all. A few minutes later, the whale surfaced again, this time dead.Seabirds from all directions fell on its carcass, and their cries were deafening to the ears of all members of Congress. The whale carcass was of no use to the Albatross, which continued westward. At six o'clock in the morning the next day, June seventeenth, the shadow of a landmass appeared on the horizon, the long chain of rocks in Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. The Albatross flew over this barrier.There was a large breeding population of the fine fur seals that the Aleuts hunted for the Russian-American joint company.Catching these six to seven foot long, rust colored, 300 to 500 kg amphibians is a real bargain!Thousands of seals stayed there, endlessly lined up, like soldiers lined up in an orderly forward position. They were not disturbed when the Albatross passed by.It's just that the water birds reacted quickly: they dived into the water one after another, their hoarse calls filled the sky, as if they were threatened by some terrible aerial monster. From the first islands of the Aleutian Islands to the tip of the Kamchatka Peninsula, it took only one day and one night to fly across the 2,000-kilometer Bering Sea.As for Uncle Prudden and Phil.Evans' escape plan, it no longer had favorable conditions for execution: escape from the inhospitable shores of the Far East or the waters of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk was unlikely.It appears that the Albatross is now heading for Japan or China.Although it may not be a good idea to hand over one's fate to the Japanese or the Chinese, the two colleagues are determined to run away whenever the aircraft stops anywhere in the two countries. will it stayIt is not like a bird, which gets tired after flying for too long; nor is it like a balloon, which has to land when it runs out of gas.It has enough supplies for several weeks, and its parts are so strong that there will be no fatigue or failure. During the daytime on June 18, they flew over the Kamchatka Peninsula at once, and the buildings of Petropavlovsk and the Kryuchev volcano were already faintly visible.Then, with another jump, it flew over the Sea of ​​Okhotsk near the Kuril Islands.Each small island is like a dam of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk cut off by a thousand ditches.On the morning of the 19th, the Albatross came to the La Perouse Strait between the northern tip of Japan and Sakhalin Island (Note: Sakhalin Island.), and arrived at the entrance of the Amur River (Note: Heilongjiang), the great river in Siberia. the narrow strait. At this time, the sky was full of dense clouds and fog, and the aircraft had to fly upwards.This is not to say that it has to go above the clouds to see its direction. At this height, it doesn't have to worry about encountering any obstacles. There are no tall buildings in the way, and there are no mountains that will smash it to pieces.There is not much relief in this area.It's just that this thick fog gives people a very uncomfortable feeling, and it makes everything on the boat wet.So, I had no choice but to fly above the thick fog that was three or four hundred meters thick.The propellers turned faster, and the Albatross was again in the sunny sky above the fog. Under such conditions, even if Uncle Prudang and Phil.Evans was able to leave the aircraft, and it was difficult to carry out their escape plan. That day, as he passed them, Robier stopped and said casually: Gentlemen, it is very troublesome if a sailboat or steamboat gets stuck in a thick fog and cannot get out, and it can only sail while honking or blowing a horn, and must slow down.Even if you are careful and careful, you must always worry about the occurrence of collision accidents.The Albatross has no such concerns: since it can get rid of the fog, what can the fog do to it?The whole space belongs to it! Having said this, without waiting for or asking for an answer, Robier resumed his poised walk, the wisps of his pipe disappearing into the blue sky. Uncle Prudang, Phil.Evans said, it looks like this amazing albatross has nothing to fear! Then you have to take a look to find out!replied the president of the Welton Society. On June 19, 20, and 21, the fog lasted for three consecutive days, and it was regrettably stubborn.To avoid Japan's Mount Fuji, they were forced to ascend.However, when the curtain of fog was torn apart, a huge city first appeared before their eyes, with palaces, villas, wooden houses, gardens, and parks in sight.Even without eyes, Robier could identify which city it was just by the barking of countless dogs, the cry of birds of prey, and especially the corpse-like smell emitted into the air by the bodies of those tortured. The engineers took note of these markings for future use when navigating through the fog.At this time, the two colleagues were also on the platform.Robbiel said to them: Gentlemen, I have no reason to keep this secret from you: this city is Kyoto, the capital of Japan. Uncle Pruden did not answer.Upon seeing the engineer, he felt suffocated as if his lungs were not enough to breathe. The scenery of this Kyoto is really interesting.said Robier again. Even if the scenery is more interesting Phil.Evans countered. There is no comparison with Beijing, right?The engineer shot back and said, I thought so too.It won't be long before you have an opportunity to comment. It couldn't be more gracious than that! The Albatross had been flying southeast. At this time, it made a big circle to find a way to go east. At night, the fog lifted.There are various indications that a typhoon is passing by not far away.The barometer dropped rapidly, the fog disappeared, and ellipsoidal clouds floated in the copper-colored sky; a few touches of carmine clearly and longly cut through the blue-gray sky in the west; The sky was very bright; the glass-flat water was scarlet in the evening light. Fortunately, the typhoon is only raging further south.It has no other effect except that the thick fog that has accumulated for three days has been swept away by it. It took them an hour to fly across the 200-kilometer-wide Korean Strait.Then, it flew over the southern tip of the Korean peninsula.When the southeastern coast of China was hit by a typhoon, the Albatross had already flown over the Yellow Sea; on the 22nd and 23rd, it flew over the Bohai Bay; Arrived at the capital of the Great Dynasty. The two colleagues leaned over the platform.As Robbier had told them, they saw this vast city clearly: the city wall separating the entire city into Manchu and Han, the twelve suburban towns around the city, and the wide Roads, temples with yellow-green roofs under the sunlight, gardens in the houses of dignitaries and dignitaries; Huangcheng, which covers an area of ​​668 hectares in the center of Manren City; the White Pagoda, Imperial Garden, artificial lake and overlooking Jingshan of the whole city.The Red City, or the Imperial Palace, located in the center of the Yellow City, is like a jigsaw puzzle embedded in another jigsaw puzzle with its superb and ingenious architecture. At this moment, below the Albatross, the air was filled with a strange harmony, as if an aerial harp concert were taking place.There are hundreds of kites of all kinds flying in the air, some in the shape of palm leaves and some in the shape of pandanus leaves. The upper part is made of light wood like a bow, and a piece of thin bamboo is stretched under the bow. piece.Under the blowing of the wind, these bamboo pieces, like the reeds of a harmonica, emit melancholic low-pitched sounds in different tones—in this environment, the air people breathe seems to be musicalized. On a sudden whim, Robier flew close to the air orchestra.So the Albatross sailed slowly in the sound waves emitted by the kite through the air. In doing so, it immediately had an extraordinary effect on the endless crowd.The sound of drums and other inexplicable instruments among the Chinese instruments, and the sound of hundreds of guns and cannons, all aimed at driving the flying machines away.Even if the Chinese astronomers identified the flying machine as the moving object that had caused countless disputes that day, millions of Chinese subjects, from the humblest commoner to the most prominent officials, would regard it as a place in the world of the Bodhisattva. A monster from the apocalypse of the Bible appeared. The guns couldn't hit the Albatross, so no one cared; it was just that the strings that tied the kites in the Royal Garden were either cut or jerked violently.Some of these light kites made a sharper whistle and fell quickly to the ground; some fell like birds whose wings have been hit by lead bullets, and the music died away with their last breath. At this time, Tom.Turner's sonorous brass horn resounded over the capital, drowning out the last notes of the aerial concert.But this did not silence the sound of gunfire on the ground. A shell exploded only twenty feet from the deck.The Albatross was forced to re-raise to a height out of reach of the guns. What happened in the next few days?Nothing happened that the two captives could take advantage of.Where is the aircraft heading?The aircraft has been flying in a southwest direction.This shows that they have a plan to go to Hindustan.And as the ground continued to rise significantly, the Albatross had to increase its flight altitude as the terrain rose.After leaving Beijing for more than ten hours, that is, Uncle Prudang and Phil.After Evans vaguely saw a section of the Great Wall on the Shaanxi border, in order to avoid the Kunlun Mountains, they flew along the Yellow River valley, and flew out of the Chinese border at the Tibet border. The barren Tibetan Plateau is barren of grass, and is full of snowy peaks, dry valleys, and glaciers.Depressions covered in shiny salt formations and lakes surrounded by lush woods.The winds in this area are often biting. The barometer dropped to 450 millimeters, which indicated that they had ascended to an altitude of 4,000 meters.Even in the hottest months in the northern hemisphere, such high temperatures rarely reach zero degrees; the frigid temperatures and the high speed of the Albatross made it unbearable.Despite the warm travel clothes to keep out the cold, the two colleagues preferred to go back to the cabin. It goes without saying that all horizontal propellers must spin at extremely high speeds in order for the aircraft to maintain the necessary altitude in thin air.In this way, their operation is still so harmonious, and the wings vibrate slightly, making people feel like they are in a cradle. On this day, people in Gyalok, the capital of Gary Kursun District in western Tibet, saw an albatross the size of a homing pigeon flying over them. On June 27, Uncle Prudang and Phil.Evans saw a huge barrier from a distance, blocking their vision, with snow peaks towering above it.The two leaned their bodies against the front cabin hard to resist the instability caused by the excessive speed, and looked at the huge monsters, giving people the feeling that they were rushing towards the aircraft. This must be the Himalayas, Phil.Evans said that this Robier may have just circled the foot of the mountain, and it is impossible for him to try to fly over the top of the mountain to India. deserve it!Uncle Pruden said that in this vast land, maybe we can Unless he bypasses Burma to the east or Nepal to the west. Anyway, I'd like to see how he flies over the top of the mountain! really?a voice answered. The next day, June 28, the Albatross came over the Sangsang area and came before the huge mountain range of the Himalayas.On the other side of the mountain is Nepal. In fact, there are three mountains that cut off the road to India from the north.The two mountain ranges to the north, through which the Albatross had drilled like a ship between giant reefs, were the first two steps of the Central Asian barrier. The first mountain range is the Kunlun Mountains, and the second is the Karakorum Mountains.Between the two mountains is the longitudinal gorge, parallel to the Himalayas, almost to the summit line that divides the valleys of the Indus and Brahmaputra from east to west. What a majestic mountain system!The heights of over 200 mountain peaks have been measured, of which 17 are over 25,000 feet!Standing in front of the Albatross is the 8,840-meter-high Mount Everest; on the right is the 8,200-meter-high Shishapangma Peak; on the left is the 8,592-meter-high Kangchenjunga Peak, until It only took a backseat to second place after the most recent remeasurement of Everest's height. Obviously, Roberl had no luxury of flying over these peaks, but he certainly recognized the various passes in the Himalayas, including the 6,800-meter pass that the Shragintwitt brothers crossed in 1856. Ibigamin Pass.The aircraft was heading firmly towards the mountain pass. Those few hours spent crossing the pass were thrilling, almost unbearable.Although the air was not so thin that special equipment was needed to oxygenate the cabin, the temperature was bitterly cold. Robier, who has been guarding the front of the aircraft, is calmly directing the operations of various departments, with his masculine face exposed under the hood.Tom.Turner held the steering wheel; the mechanic watched closely for the batteries; luckily the batteries were safe from freezing.The propellers were spinning at maximum power, and the sound was getting higher and higher.Even though the air density is extremely low, the sound is extremely loud.The barometer has dropped to 290 millimeters, which means the altitude of the aircraft is around 7,000 meters. This chaotic mountain is magnificent!There are white peaks everywhere.There are no lakes, just glaciers that extend below 10,000 feet above sea level.Except for a few flowering plants near the plant lifeline, there is almost no grass, and there is no such thing as the amazing pines and forests on the mountainside, the thick ferns and the bushes of the tropical jungle. Those parasitic plants that climb from one plant to another, coiled and knotted, are all over the mountains and plains.No animals of any kind: no wild horses, no yaks, and no Tibetan cattle.Occasionally, a lost Tibetan antelope will rush all the way to this high place.Except for a few pairs of small-billed crows flying to this high place where the air is extremely thin, there are no other birds in the air. Finally flew out of the pass, the Albatross began to descend.Out of the mountain pass, outside the forest area is an endless wilderness. At this moment Robier approached his guests, and said politely: Gentlemen, India has arrived.