Chapter 20
The Torres StraitDURING THE NIGHT of December 27–28, the Nautilus left the
waterways of Vanikoro behind with extraordinary speed. Its heading
was southwesterly, and in three days it had cleared the 750 leagues
that separated La Pérouse's islands from the southeastern tip of
Papua.
On January 1, 1868, bright and early, Conseil joined me on the
platform.
"Will master," the gallant lad said to me, "allow me to wish him
a happy new year?"
"Good heavens, Conseil, it's just like old times in my office at
the Botanical Gardens in Paris! I accept your kind wishes and I
thank you for them. Only, I'd like to know what you mean by a
'happy year' under the circumstances in which we're placed. Is it a
year that will bring our imprisonment to an end, or a year that
will see thi
