The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-10-02

| loon things were different. ThoSt stories were "extravagant fancies. filled with "pseudo-science" and hi: Around the World in Eighty Days was declared to be highly ingenious but. of course. absurd" A man who could not today beat Phileas Fogg's . record for round-the- world trip would be a loiterer and sluggard. The world | owes great deal to Jules Verne, 8 debt which, curiously enough, 1t seems loath to acknowledge. Not a successful submarine boat today but what Is built on the principles of the Nautilus though 1t Is like pulling teeth to get an inventor of submarines to admit 1t Verne was honored as literary man and his works were crowned by the . French academy, but he was much dis 1 appointed at the persistent way in | which credit for the science which he | had clothed in the light garb of fiction was withheld from him. He was a | scientist, naturalist. an inventor. and as such he desired to be known. But he was pioneer. a man ahead of his times, belonging rather to the times which were Just dawning when he passed away Perhaps he will never | receive his just need of appreciation. k remarkable incident. mysteri- \ A ous and inexplicable phenomenon. strange sea monster appeared first in one ocean and then in another. It was described as an enormous thing, a long. spindle shaped object. occasion ally phosphorescent, infinitely larger and more rapid in its movements than a whale. Scientists all over the world began to quarrel over 1t after the man of lrir cterl ed it; some collided with 1t and suffered some damage Superior persons denied that any such thing existed-and proved it. But as 1t was considered by seafar ing men as a menace to navigation the United States frigate Abraham Lincoln was sent out to capture or destroy 1t.
 NJ. Aronnax, professor in the Museum of Paris, a celebrated writer on marine fauna and flora, was offered passage on the frigate and accepted. He took along with him his Flemish valet. Con sell, a faithful fellow who had followed his master all over the world and had become an expert in classifying fish and marine vegetation. Among the crew of the frigate was one Ned Land, Canadian by brith and hunter of whales by profession, the best handler of harpoon that could be found He was afterward to play an important part in the wonderful voyage of 10000 leagues under the sea which was taken involuntarily by the professor.
 It was in the Pacific ocean, about 20e miles off the Japanese coast. that the Abraham Lincoln first sighted the sea monster. Night had just fallen when the { lookout gave warning of the approach of the very thing they were searching for. i The monster emerged from the deep, and then threw out that very intense but in applicable light which had been mentioned in the reports of several sea captains This magnificent iradiation was evidently produced by some agent of great shin ing power. The luminous part traced in the sea an immense oval, much eion- gated, the center of which condensed light whose overpowering brilliancy died out by successive gradations Then the leyiathan moved. It came straight toward the ship, which was going at II knots, and then began circling around 1t as if the frigate had been standing still The frigate fired at the monster, but the shot fell harmless from its rounded sides and the leviathan retaiiated by ramming and carrying away the frigate's rudder Then 1t came around under the frigate's s bows, and Ned Land, who was in the martingales, cast his deadly harpoon at 1t.
 Professor Aronnax and Consell were leaning over the bows watching. As Ned Lands harpoon struck the mysterious creature two great columns of water arose from 1t, delugng with an immense flood the forepart of the frigate and sweeping the professor. conser and Land into the sea. The frigate drifted from their view, helpless upon the waters. For hours Aronnax and Consell swan through the night sea. helping each other as re- quired and cutting off each others cloth Ing to allow greater freedom of move ment and lessen the weight At last thinking their strength could last no longer, they cried wildly instinctively for help. human voice replied, and soon before them they saw the mon ster, lying motionless upon the waves and Ned Land upon its back. He had
 
 had swept him from the frigate.
 They scrambled. helped by Land. to the back of what they now found to be curious whaleback boat, with Httle platform along the top of It. The rest of the night they clung- there wonder ing at their strange fate. Early in the morning sliding panel was drawn aside a man appeared, uttered a strange cry and disappeared. Then came eight men with masked faces and the eastaways were taken down into the interior of this formidable and mysterious machine It was submarine boat on which they found themselves that famous Nautilus of the present day. They were kept in darkness in a closed cabin for a while and then the cabin suddenly became suf- fused with strong electric light ema- mating from a half globe unpublished. set overhead. Then came to them two men, one evidently the commander of the craft, and the other his first lieutenant,
 The captain was man whose age it was impossible to guess-he might haze been 30 or 50. His forehead was high. his nose straight, his mouth clear cut. his teeth beautiful. His hands were small with taper fingers. indicative of a highly nervous temperament. One peculiar fea- ture was his eyes. which were set far apart and which could take in nearly A quarter of the horizon at once. He was tall and altogether a splendid physical