Off on a Comet, Jules Verne [10 ebook reader .txt] 📗
- Author: Jules Verne
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“Pay me you shall; yes, by the God of Abraham, you shall pay me.”
“A Jew!” exclaimed Servadac.
“Ay, sir, a German Jew,” said Ben Zoof.
The party was on the point of entering the thicket, when a singular
spectacle made them pause. A group of Spaniards had just begun
dancing their national fandango, and the extraordinary lightness
which had become the physical property of every object in
the new planet made the dancers bound to a height of thirty feet
or more into the air, considerably above the tops of the trees.
What followed was irresistibly comic. Four sturdy majos had
dragged along with them an old man incapable of resistance,
and compelled him, nolens volens, to join in the dance;
and as they all kept appearing and disappearing above the bank
of foliage, their grotesque attitudes, combined with the pitiable
countenance of their helpless victim, could not do otherwise
than recall most forcibly the story of Sancho Panza tossed
in a blanket by the merry drapers of Segovia.
Servadac, the count, Procope, and Ben Zoof now proceeded to make their
way through the thicket until they came to a little glade, where two
men were stretched idly on the grass, one of them playing the guitar,
and the other a pair of castanets; both were exploding with laughter, as they
urged the performers to greater and yet greater exertions in the dance.
At the sight of strangers they paused in their music, and simultaneously
the dancers, with their victim, alighted gently on the sward.
Breathless and half exhausted as was the Jew, he rushed
with an effort towards Servadac, and exclaimed in French,
marked by a strong Teutonic accent, “Oh, my lord governor,
help me, help! These rascals defraud me of my rights;
they rob me; but, in the name of the God of Israel, I ask you
to see justice done!”
The captain glanced inquiringly towards Ben Zoof, and the orderly,
by a significant nod, made his master understand that he was
to play the part that was implied by the title. He took the cue,
and promptly ordered the Jew to hold his tongue at once.
The man bowed his head in servile submission, and folded his hands
upon his breast.
Servadac surveyed him leisurely. He was a man of about fifty, but from
his appearance might well have been taken for at least ten years older.
Small and skinny, with eyes bright and cunning, a hooked nose,
a short yellow beard, unkempt hair, huge feet, and long bony hands,
he presented all the typical characteristics of the German Jew,
the heartless, wily usurer, the hardened miser and skinflint.
As iron is attracted by the magnet, so was this Shylock attracted
by the sight of gold, nor would he have hesitated to draw the life-blood
of his creditors, if by such means he could secure his claims.
His name was Isaac Hakkabut, and he was a native of Cologne. Nearly the whole
of his time, however, he informed Captain Servadac, had been spent upon
the sea, his real business being that of a merchant trading at all the ports
of the Mediterranean. A tartan, a small vessel of two hundred tons burden,
conveyed his entire stock of merchandise, and, to say the truth,
was a sort of floating emporium, conveying nearly every possible article
of commerce, from a lucifer match to the radiant fabrics of Frank-fort
and Epinal. Without wife or children, and having no settled home,
Isaac Hakkabut lived almost entirely on board the Hansa, as he had
named his tartan; and engaging a mate, with a crew of three men,
as being adequate to work so light a craft, he cruised along the coasts
of Algeria, Tunis, Egypt, Turkey, and Greece, visiting, moreover, most of the
harbors of the Levant. Careful to be always well supplied with the products
in most general demand—coffee, sugar, rice, tobacco, cotton stuffs,
and gunpowder—and being at all times ready to barter, and prepared to deal
in sec-ondhand wares, he had contrived to amass considerable wealth.
On the eventful night of the 1st of January the Hansa had been at Ceuta,
the point on the coast of Morocco exactly opposite Gibraltar. The mate
and three sailors had all gone on shore, and, in common with many of their
fellow-creatures, had entirely disappeared; but the most projecting rock
of Ceuta had been undisturbed by the general catastrophe, and half a score
of Spaniards, who had happened to be upon it, had escaped with their lives.
They were all Andalusian majos, agricultural laborers, and naturally
as careless and apathetic as men of their class usually are, but they
could not help being very considerably embarrassed when they discovered
that they were left in solitude upon a detached and isolated rock.
They took what mutual counsel they could, but became only more and
more perplexed. One of them was named Negrete, and he, as having traveled
somewhat more than the rest, was tacitly recognized as a sort of leader;
but although he was by far the most enlightened of them all, he was quite
incapable of forming the least conception of the nature of what had occurred.
The one thing upon which they could not fail to be conscious was that they
had no prospect of obtaining provisions, and consequently their first
business was to devise a scheme for getting away from their present abode.
The Hansa was lying off shore. The Spaniards would not have had
the slightest hesitation in summarily taking possession of her, but their
utter ignorance of seamanship made them reluctantly come to the conclusion
that the more prudent policy was to make terms with the owner.
And now came a singular part of the story. Negrete and his
companions had meanwhile received a visit from two English officers
from Gibraltar. What passed between them the Jew did not know;
he only knew that, immediately after the conclusion of the interview,
Negrete came to him and ordered him to set sail at once
for the nearest point of Morocco. The Jew, afraid to disobey,
but with his eye ever upon the main chance, stipulated that at
the end of their voyage the Spaniards should pay for their passage—
terms to which, as they would to any other, they did not demur,
knowing that they had not the slightest intention of giving him
a single real.
The Hansa had weighed anchor on the 3rd of February. The wind blew
from the west, and consequently the working of the tartan was easy enough.
The unpracticed sailors had only to hoist their sails and, though they
were quite unconscious of the fact, the breeze carried them to the only spot
upon the little world they occupied which could afford them a refuge.
Thus it fell out that one morning Ben Zoof, from his lookout on Gourbi Island,
saw a ship, not the Dobryna, appear upon the horizon, and make quietly
down towards what had formerly been the right bank of the Shelif.
Such was Ben Zoof’s version of what had occurred, as he had gathered
it from the new-comers. He wound up his recital by remarking
that the cargo of the Hansa would be of immense service to them;
he expected, indeed, that Isaac Hakkabut would be difficult to manage,
but considered there could be no harm in appropriating the goods
for the common welfare, since there could be no opportunity now
for selling them.
Ben Zoof added, “And as to the difficulties between the Jew
and his passengers, I told him that the governor general
was absent on a tour of inspection, and that he would see
everything equitably settled.”
Smiling at his orderly’s tactics, Servadac turned to Hakkabut,
and told him that he would take care that his claims should
be duly investigated and all proper demands should be paid.
The man appeared satisfied, and, for the time at least,
desisted from his complaints and importunities.
When the Jew had retired, Count Timascheff asked, “But how in the world
can you ever make those fellows pay anything?”
“They have lots of money,” said Ben Zoof.
“Not likely,” replied the count; “when did you ever know Spaniards
like them to have lots of money?”
“But I have seen it myself,” said Ben Zoof; “and it is English money.”
“English money!” echoed Servadac; and his mind again
reverted to the excursion made by the colonel and the major
from Gibraltar, about which they had been so reticent.
“We must inquire more about this,” he said.
Then, addressing Count Timascheff, he added, “Altogether, I
think the countries of Europe are fairly represented by the
population of Gallia.”
“True, captain,” answered the count; “we have only a fragment
of a world, but it contains natives of France, Russia, Italy, Spain,
and England. Even Germany may be said to have a representative
in the person of this miserable Jew.”
“And even in him,” said Servadac, “perhaps we shall not find so indifferent
a representative as we at present imagine.”
GALLIA’S GOVERNOR GENERAL
The Spaniards who had arrived on board the Hansa consisted of nine
men and a lad of twelve years of age, named Pablo. They all received
Captain Servadac, whom Ben Zoof introduced as the governor general,
with due respect, and returned quickly to their separate tasks.
The captain and his friends, followed at some distance by the eager Jew,
soon left the glade and directed their steps towards the coast
where the Hansa was moored.
As they went they discussed their situation. As far as they
had ascertained, except Gourbi Island, the sole surviving
fragments of the Old World were four small islands:
the bit of Gibraltar occupied by the Englishmen; Ceuta, which had
just been left by the Spaniards; Madalena, where they had
picked up the little Italian girl; and the site of the tomb
of Saint Louis on the coast of Tunis. Around these there was
stretched out the full extent of the Gallian Sea, which apparently
comprised about one-half of the Mediterranean, the whole being
encompassed by a barrier like a framework of precipitous cliffs,
of an origin and a substance alike unknown.
Of all these spots only two were known to be inhabited: Gibraltar, where the
thirteen Englishmen were amply provisioned for some years to come,
and their own Gourbi Island. Here there was a population of twenty-two,
who would all have to subsist upon the natural products of the soil.
It was indeed not to be forgotten that, perchance, upon some remote
and undiscovered isle there might be the solitary writer of the mysterious
papers which they had found, and if so, that would raise the census
of their new asteroid to an aggregate of thirty-six.
Even upon the supposition that at some future date the whole
population should be compelled to unite and find a residence
upon Gourbi Island, there did not appear any reason
to question but that eight hundred acres of rich soil,
under good management, would yield them all an ample sustenance.
The only critical matter was how long the cold season would last;
every hope depended upon the land again becoming productive;
at present, it seemed impossible to determine, even if Gallia’s
orbit were really elliptic, when she would reach her aphelion,
and it was consequently necessary that the Gallians for
the time being should reckon on nothing beyond their actual
and present resources.
These resources were, first, the provisions of the Dobryna,
consisting of preserved meat, sugar, wine, brandy, and other
stores sufficient for about two months; secondly, the valuable
cargo of the Hansa, which, sooner or later, the owner,
whether he would or not, must be compelled to surrender
for the common benefit; and
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