The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rubur the Conqueror, by Jules Verne

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Title: Rubur the Conqueror

Author: Jules Verne

Posting Date: May 28, 2009 [EBook #3808]
Release Date: March, 2003
First Posted: September 19, 2001
Last Updated: April 2, 2005

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RUBUR THE CONQUEROR ***

Produced by Norman Wolcott.

ROBUR THE CONQUEROR

By

Jules Verne

Contents

I Mysterious sounds
II Agreement Impossible
III A Visitor is Announced
IV In Which a New Character Appears
V Another Disappearance
VI The President and Secretary Suspend Hostilities
VII On board the Albatross
VIII The Balloonists Refuse to be Convinced
IX Across the Prairie
X Westward--but Whither?
XI The Wide Pacific
XII Through the Himalayas
XIII Over the Caspian
XIV The Aeronef at Full Speed
XV A Skirmish in Dahomey
XVI Over the Atlantic
XVII The Shipwrecked Crew
XVIII Over the Volcano
XIX Anchored at Last
XX The Wreck of the Albatross
XXI The Institute Again
XXII The Go-Ahead is Launched
XXIII The Grand Collapse

Chapter I

MYSTERIOUS SOUNDS

BANG! Bang!

The pistol shots were almost simultaneous. A cow peacefully grazing
fifty yards away received one of the bullets in her back. She had
nothing to do with the quarrel all the same.

Neither of the adversaries was hit.

Who were these two gentlemen? We do not know, although this would be
an excellent opportunity to hand down their names to posterity. All
we can say is that the elder was an Englishman and the younger an
American, and both of them were old enough to know better.

So far as recording in what locality the inoffensive ruminant had
just tasted her last tuft of herbage, nothing can be easier. It was
on the left bank of Niagara, not far from the suspension bridge which
joins the American to the Canadian bank three miles from the falls.

The Englishman stepped up to the American.

"I contend, nevertheless, that it was 'Rule Britannia!'"

"And I say it was 'Yankee Doodle!'" replied the young American.