It is hot a sailing vessel, neither can it be a steamer.

Yet it is incontestably propelled by some powerful machine.
There are none of the noises, nor is there the trembling that accompanies the working of steam engines.

The movement of the vessel is more continuous and regular, it is a sort of direct rotation that is communicated by the motor, whatever the latter may be.

No mistake is possible: the ship is propelled by some special mechanism.

But what is it?
Is it one of those turbines that have been spoken of lately, which, fitted into a submerged tube, are destined to replace the ordinary screw, it being claimed that they utilize the resistance of the water better than the latter and give increased speed to a ship?
In a few hours' time I shall doubtless know all about this means of locomotion.
Meanwhile there is another thing that equally puzzles me.