Chapter 19
If Zephyrin Xirdal had been alone, would he have come safely to his destination? Perhaps; for odder things have happened. None the less, one might have wagered against his doing so.
To tell the truth, nobody had laid any bets on the subject, since Zephyrin’s good star had placed him under the safeguard of a mentor, whose practical mind neutralized the whims of this original. Zephyrin had no idea of what the difficulties were attending a journey to polar regions, since Monsieur Robert Lecoeur had contrived to render it as simple as an excursion in the suburbs of Paris. At Havre, whither the express had conveyed them in a few hours, the two travellers were ushered on board a superb steamer, which immediately cast of! from her moorings, and put out to sea without waiting for othe
