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Page 12
But, as we have seen, all the mechanical difficulties had not been
overcome. Many evenings had been devoted to discussing, not the form
of its screw nor its dimensions, but whether it ought to be put
behind, as the Tissandier brothers had done, or before as Captains
Krebs and Renard had done. It is unnecessary to add that the
partisans of the two systems had almost come to blows. The group of
"Beforists" were equaled in number by the group of "Behindists."
Uncle Prudent, who ought to have given the casting vote--Uncle
Prudent, brought up doubtless in the school of Professor Buridan--
could not bring himself to decide.
Hence the impossibility of getting the screw into place. The dispute
might last for some time, unless the government interfered. But in
the United States the government meddles with private affairs as
little as it possibly can. And it is right.
Things were in this state at this meeting on the 13th of June, which
threatened to end in a riot--insults exchanged, fisticuffs
succeeding the insults, cane thrashings succeeding the fisticuffs,
revolver shots succeeding the cane thrashings--when at thirty-seven
minutes past eight there occurred a diversion.
The porter of the Weldon Institute coolly and calmly, like a
policeman amid the storm of the meeting, approached the presidential
desk. On it he placed a card. He awaited the orders that Uncle
Prudent found it convenient to give.
Uncle Prudent turned on the steam whistle, which did duty for the
presidential bell, for even the Kremlin clock would have struck in
vain! But the tumult slackened not.
Then the president removed his hat. Thanks to this extreme measure a
semi-silence was obtained.
"A communication!" said Uncle Prudent, after taking a huge pinch from
the snuff-box which never left him.
"Speak up!" answered eighty-nine voices, accidentally in agreement on
this one point.
"A stranger, my dear colleagues, asks to be admitted to the meeting."
"Never!" replied every voice.
"He desires to prove to us, it would appear," continued Uncle
Prudent, "that to believe in guiding balloons is to believe in the
absurdest of Utopias!"
"Let him in! Let him in!"
"What is the name of this singular personage?" asked secretary Phil
Evans.
"Robur," replied Uncle Prudent.
"Robur! Robur! Robur!" yelled the assembly. And the welcome accorded
so quickly to the curious name was chiefly due to the Weldon
Institute hoping to vent its exasperation on the head of him who bore
it!
Chapter IV
IN WHICH A NEW CHARACTER APPEARS
"Citizens of the United States! My name is Robur. I am worthy of the
name! I am forty years old, although I look but thirty, and I have a
constitution of iron, a healthy vigor that nothing can shake, a
muscular strength that few can equal, and a digestion that would be
thought first class even in an ostrich!"
They were listening! Yes! The riot was quelled at once by the totally
unexpected fashion of the speech. Was this fellow a madman or a
hoaxer? Whoever he was, he kept his audience in hand. There was not a
whisper in the meeting in which but a few minutes ago the storm was
in full fury.
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