Little was seen of Robur; since the high words that had been exchanged in the Timbuktu country, the engineer had left off speaking to his prisoners.

Frycollin seldom came out of the cook-house, where Tapage treated him most hospitably, on condition that he acted as his assistant.

This position was not without its advantages, and the Negro, with his master's permission, very willingly accepted it.

Shut up in the galley, he saw nothing of what was passing outside, and might even consider himself beyond the reach of danger.

He was, in fact, very like the ostrich, not only in his stomach, but in his folly.
But whither went the "Albatross ?" Was she in mid-winter bound for the southern seas or continents round the Pole?
In this icy atmosphere, even granting that the elements of the batteries were unaffected by such frost, would not all the crew succumb to a horrible death from the cold?
That Robur should attempt to cross the Pole in the warm season was bad enough, but to attempt such a thing in the depth of the winter night would be the act of a madman.
Thus reasoned the President and Secretary of the Weldon Institute, now they had been brought to the end of the continent of the New World, which is still America, although it does not belong to the United States.
What was this intractable Robur going to do?
Had not the time arrived for them to end the voyage by blowing up the ship?
It was noticed that during the 24th of July the engineer had frequent consultations with his mate.