Read Online Captain Nemo: The Fantastic History of a Dark Genius by Kevin J. Anderson - Free Book Online Page B

along the docks, brusquely interrogating sailors from one ship and another, asking if a red-headed young man, perhaps accompanied by a dark-haired boy of the same age, had been seen in the vicinity.   Pierre Verne knew that the friends often played down here among the noise and the dirt and the smells.
    Pierre shook his head as he strode along.   Such activities made perfect sense for André Nemo, since his father had been a shipbuilder and the boy could hope for nothing better in his life.   For Jules, though, there could be no benefit in understanding ships if he intended to practice law in Nantes.
    Shielding his eyes from the hot sun and wrinkling his nose at the smell of fish and the sluggish summer river, he saw one of the sailors whose papers he had filed after the Cynthia disaster.   This man had worked with Nemo’s father; perhaps he had seen the two.   Pierre strode up and introduced himself briskly, while the sailor continued to repair frayed rope and lash heavy cords into knots.
    “I remember ye,” the sailor said.
    “And you certainly knew Jacques Nemo, who died aboard the Cynthia .”
    “Aye.   A good man, he was.”
    “And his son.   Do you know his son André, as well?   André Nemo?”
    The sailor turned his head, scratching tangled gray hair on a sunburned scalp, then he reached into his belt to withdraw a long dagger with which he trimmed the rope’s frayed end.   “O’ course.   I was there when André climbed his first ratlines, right to the top o’ the mast.   Boy has spunk and a good head about ‘im.   Even with the world against him, he’ll still make his way, that one.   I wish ‘im all the best, now that he’s gone.”
    “Gone?”   The elder Verne stiffened.   “Where did he go?”
    Surprised, the sailor set the rope in his lap.   “Why, he set sail this mornin’, sir.   Off to sea.   Cabin boy for Captain Grant’s explorin’ ship, the Coralie .”
    Pierre frowned.   He didn’t recall the ship, but then so many came and went in the port.   “What about my son Jules?”   He frowned at the sailor as he tugged on his own grayish sideburns, trying not to show his growing uneasiness.   “A redheaded young man who often plays with the Nemo boy?   They’re also frequently seen with the daughter of that merchant, Aronnax.”
    The sailor blinked at him in perplexity.   “Ye mean ye don’t know, sir?”
    “Know?   Know what?”
    “Shipped out together, as mates, they did.   The two lads sailed off at dawn.”
    Pierre Verne gave a strangled cry.   The sailor bent back to work on the rope to hide a smug grin over this supercilious man’s look of horror.
    #

    Madame Aronnax could not understand why Monsieur Verne, a local lawyer, would be pounding on their door at noon, or why he would insist on speaking with her daughter.   But Caroline answered the summons herself, straight-backed, her mouth a firm line, dressed in the daily finery her mother demanded.
    “My son Jules is gone,” Pierre said, looking into the girl’s blue eyes, shattering the porcelain composure of her expression.   “Did you know that he boarded an English ship, the Coralie ?”
    Caroline drew a deep breath.   “It is possible, Monsieur.   My father arranged for André Nemo to take passage aboard Captain Grant’s ship, and I believe your son joined him.   They told me their intentions last night.”
    “And you didn’t think to inform me , the boy’s own father?   You could have written a message, sent out one of your servants --”
    “It is not my place to tell you, Monsieur.”   She used all the hauteur her mother had taught her.   “It was a matter given to me in confidence.”  
    An appalled Madame Aronnax looked on, but Caroline held her ground.   “Your son and André Nemo talk a great deal and have big ideas.   Jules Verne is known for the stories he likes to tell.”   She sniffed.   “Should I come running to you each time they make up a wild scheme,