The hair was short and crisp, with a
glitter as of metal in its lights. The huge breast rose and fell like
a blacksmith's forge; and the thighs, the arms and hands, were worthy
of the mighty body. The narrow beard was the same also, with the
smooth shaven cheeks which showed the powerful muscles of the jaw.
And this was Robur the Conqueror, who now stood before me, who
revealed himself to me, hurling forth his name like a threat, within
his own impenetrable fortress!
Let me recall briefly the facts which had previously drawn upon Robur
the Conqueror the attention of the entire world. The Weldon Institute
was a club devoted to aeronautics under the presidency of one of the
chief personages of Philadelphia, commonly called Uncle Prudent. Its
secretary was Mr. Phillip Evans. The members of the Institute were
devoted to the theory of the "lighter than air" machine; and under
their two leaders were constructing an enormous dirigible balloon,
the "Go-Ahead."
At a meeting in which they were discussing the details of the
construction of their balloon, this unknown Robur had suddenly
appeared and, ridiculing all their plans, had insisted that the only
true solution of flight lay with the heavier than air machines, and
that he had proven this by constructing one.
He was in this turn doubted and ridiculed by the members of the club,
who called him in mockery Robur the Conqueror.
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