"
I approached the man on the look-out, and after a minute of silence I
asked him, "Where is the Captain?"
He looked at me through half-closed eyes. He seemed not to understand
me. Yet I knew, having heard him the night before, that he spoke
English. Moreover, I noticed that he did not appear surprised to see
me out of my cabin. Turning his back upon me, he continued to search
the horizon.
I stepped then toward the stern, determined to ask the same question
about the Captain. But when I approached the steersman, he waved me
away with his hand, and I obtained no other response.
It only remained for me to study this craft, from which we had been
repelled with revolver shots, when we had seized upon its anchor rope.
I therefore set leisurely to work to examine the construction of this
machine, which was carrying me--whither? The deck and the upper works
were all made of some metal which I did not recognize. In the center
of the deck, a scuttle half raised covered the room where the engines
were working regularly and almost silently. As I had seen before,
neither masts, nor rigging! Not even a flagstaff at the stern! Toward
the bow there arose the top of a periscope by which the "Terror"
could be guided when beneath the water.
On the sides were folded back two sort of outshoots resembling the
gangways on certain Dutch boats.
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