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"You are never out of temper, always calm; you would return thanks
before grace, and die of hunger rather than complain!"

Time was getting on, and we were fearfully hungry; and this
time the steward did not appear. It was rather too long
to leave us, if they really had good intentions towards us.
Ned Land, tormented by the cravings of hunger, got still
more angry; and, notwithstanding his promise, I dreaded an
explosion when he found himself with one of the crew.

For two hours more Ned Land's temper increased; he cried, he shouted,
but in vain. The walls were deaf. There was no sound to be heard
in the boat; all was still as death. It did not move, for I should have
felt the trembling motion of the hull under the influence of the screw.
Plunged in the depths of the waters, it belonged no longer to earth:
this silence was dreadful.

I felt terrified, Conseil was calm, Ned Land roared.

Just then a noise was heard outside. Steps sounded on the metal flags.
The locks were turned, the door opened, and the steward appeared.

Before I could rush forward to stop him, the Canadian had thrown him down,
and held him by the throat. The steward was choking under the grip
of his powerful hand.

Conseil was already trying to unclasp the harpooner's hand from
his half-suffocated victim, and I was going to fly to the rescue,
when suddenly I was nailed to the spot by hearing these words in French:

"Be quiet, Master Land; and you, Professor, will you be so good
as to listen to me?"



CHAPTER X

THE MAN OF THE SEAS

It was the commander of the vessel who thus spoke.

At these words, Ned Land rose suddenly. The steward,
nearly strangled, tottered out on a sign from his master.
But such was the power of the commander on board, that not
a gesture betrayed the resentment which this man must have felt
towards the Canadian. Conseil interested in spite of himself,
I stupefied, awaited in silence the result of this scene.

The commander, leaning against the corner of a table with his arms folded,
scanned us with profound attention. Did he hesitate to speak?
Did he regret the words which he had just spoken in French?
One might almost think so.

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