V devet hodin tri pratele zaujali sva mista v kosi; doktor zapalil horak a zesilil plamen, aby teplota rychle stoupala. Balon, ktery se udrzoval v dokonale rovnovaze nad zemi, zacal za nekolik minut stoupat. Namornici musili trochu odvinout lana, ktera balon zadrzovala. Kos stoupl do vyse sesti metru.
"Pratele," zvolal doktor, stojici mezi obema spolecniky s kloboukem v ruce, "dejme nasi vzdusne lodi jmeno, ktere ji prinese stesti. Necht je nazvana jmenem Viktoria!"
Ozvalo se hromove hura.
"At zije kralovna! At zije Anglie!"
V teto chvili pocala nesmirne stoupat nosna sila balonu. Fergusson, Kennedy a Joe posilali pratelum posledni pozdravy.
"Pustte vse!" zvolal doktor.
Viktoria se vznesla rychle do vzduchu, zatimco ctyri lita dela na Resolute hrmela na jeji pocest.
Jules Verne: Pet nedel v balonu (1863)
At nine o’clock the three travellers got into their car. The doctor lit the combustible in his cylinder and turned the flame so as to produce a rapid heat, and the balloon, which had rested on the ground in perfect equipoise, began to rise in a few minutes, so that the seamen had to slacken the ropes they held it by. The car then rose about twenty feet above their heads.
“My friends!” exclaimed the doctor, standing up between his two companions, and taking off his hat, “let us give our aerial ship a name that will bring her good luck! let us christen her Victoria!”
This speech was answered with stentorian cheers of “Huzza for the Queen! Huzza for Old England!”
At this moment the ascensional force of the balloon increased prodigiously, and Ferguson, Kennedy, and Joe, waved a last good-by to their friends.
“Let go all!” shouted the doctor, and at the word the Victoria shot rapidly up into the sky, while the four carronades on board the Resolute thundered forth a parting salute in her honor.
Jules Verne: Five Weeks in a Baloon (1863)