Facing the Flag Page 01
Facing the Flag by Jules Verne
[Redactor's Note: _Facing the Flag_ {number V044 in the T&M listing of Verne's works} is an anonymous translation of _Face au drapeau_ (1896) first published in the U.S. by F. Tennyson Neely in 1897, and later (circa 1903) republished from the same plates by Hurst and F.M. Lupton (Federal Book Co.). This is a different translation from the one published by Sampson & Low in England entitled _For the Flag_ (1897) translated by Mrs. Cashel Hoey.]
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FACING THE FLAG
BY
J U L E S V E R N E
AUTHOR OF "AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS"; "TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA"; "FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON," ETC.
New York
THE F. M. LUPTON PUBLISHING COMPANY
PUBLISHERS
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1897
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CONTENTS
CHAP
I. Healthful House
II. Count d'Artigas
III. Kidnapped
IV. The Schooner "Ebba"
V. Where am I.--(Notes by Simon Hart, the Engineer.)
VI. On Deck
VII. Two Days at Sea
VIII. Back Cup
IX. Inside Back Cup
X. Ker Karraje
XI. Five Weeks in Back Cup
XII. Engineer Serko's Advice
XIII. God Be with It
XIV. Battle Between the "Sword" and the Tug
XV. Expectation
XVI. Only a few more Hours
XVII. One against Five
XVIII. On Board the "Tonnant"
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FACING THE FLAG.
CHAPTER I.
HEALTHFUL HOUSE.
The _carte de visite_ received that day, June 15, 189-, by the director of the establishment of Healthful House was a very neat one, and simply bore, without escutcheon or coronet, the name:
COUNT D'ARTIGAS.
Below this name, in a corner of the card, the following address was written in lead pencil:
"On board the schooner _Ebba_, anchored off New-Berne, Pamlico Sound."
The capital of North Carolina--one of the forty-four states of the Union at this epoch--is the rather important town of Raleigh, which is about one hundred and fifty miles in the interior of the province. It is owing to its central position that this city has become the seat of the State legislature, for there are others that equal and even surpass it in industrial and commercial importance, such as Wilmington, Charlotte, Fayetteville, Edenton, Washington, Salisbury, Tarborough, Halifax, and New-Berne. The latter town is situated on estuary of the Neuse River, which empties itself into Pamlico Sound, a sort of vast maritime lake protected by a natural dyke formed by the isles and islets of the Carolina coast.
The director of Healthful House could never have imagined why the card should have been sent to him, had it not been accompanied by a note from the Count d'Artigas soliciting permission to visit the establishment. The personage in question hoped that the director would grant his request, and announced that he would present himself in the afternoon, accompanied by Captain Spade, commander of the schooner _Ebba_.
This desire to penetrate to the interior of the celebrated sanitarium, then in great request by the wealthy invalids of the United States, was natural enough on the part of a foreigner. Others who did not bear such a high-sounding name as the Count d'Artigas had visited it, and had been unstinting in their compliments to the director. The latter therefore hastened to accord the authorization demanded, and added that he would be honored to open the doors of the establishment to the Count d'Artigas.
Healthful House, which contained a select _personnel_, and was assured of the co-operation of the most celebrated doctors in the country, was a private enterprise.