The next day, the 10th of February, we sighted several ships running to
windward. The Nautilus returned to its submarine navigation; but at
noon, when her bearings were taken, the sea being deserted, she rose
again to her waterline.
Accompanied by Ned and Conseil, I seated myself on the platform. The
coast on the eastern side looked like a mass faintly printed upon a
damp fog.
We were leaning on the sides of the pinnace, talking of one thing and
another, when Ned Land, stretching out his hand towards a spot on the
sea, said:
"Do you see anything there, sir?"
"No, Ned," I replied; "but I have not your eyes, you know."
"Look well," said Ned, "there, on the starboard beam, about the height
of the lantern! Do you not see a mass which seems to move?"
"Certainly," said I, after close attention; "I see something like a
long black body on the top of the water."
And certainly before long the black object was not more than a mile
from us. It looked like a great sandbank deposited in the open sea.
It was a gigantic dugong!
Ned Land looked eagerly. His eyes shone with covetousness at the sight
of the animal. His hand seemed ready to harpoon it. One would have
thought he was awaiting the moment to throw himself into the sea and
attack it in its element.
At this instant Captain Nemo appeared on the platform. He saw the
dugong, understood the Canadian's attitude, and, addressing him, said:
"If you held a harpoon just now, Master Land, would it not burn your
hand?"
"Just so, sir."
"And you would not be sorry to go back, for one day, to your trade of a
fisherman and to add this cetacean to the list of those you have
already killed?"
"I should not, sir."
"Well, you can try."
"Thank you, sir," said Ned Land, his eyes flaming.
"Only," continued the Captain, "I advise you for your own sake not to
miss the creature."
"Is the dugong dangerous to attack?" I asked, in spite of the
Canadian's shrug of the shoulders.
"Yes," replied the Captain; "sometimes the animal turns upon its
assailants and overturns their boat. But for Master Land this danger
is not to be feared. His eye is prompt, his arm sure."
At this moment seven men of the crew, mute and immovable as ever,
mounted the platform. One carried a harpoon and a line similar to
those employed in catching whales. The pinnace was lifted from the
bridge, pulled from its socket, and let down into the sea. Six oarsmen
took their seats, and the coxswain went to the tiller. Ned, Conseil,
and I went to the back of the boat.
"You are not coming, Captain?" I asked.
"No, sir; but I wish you good sport."
The boat put off, and, lifted by the six rowers, drew rapidly towards
the dugong, which floated about two miles from the Nautilus.
Arrived some cables-length from the cetacean, the speed slackened, and
the oars dipped noiselessly into the quiet waters. Ned Land, harpoon
in hand, stood in the fore part of the boat. The harpoon used for
striking the whale is generally attached to a very long cord which runs
out rapidly as the wounded creature draws it after him. But here the
cord was not more than ten fathoms long, and the extremity was attached
to a small barrel which, by floating, was to show the course the dugong
took under the water.
I stood and carefully watched the Canadian's adversary. This dugong,
which also bears the name of the halicore, closely resembles the
manatee; its oblong body terminated in a lengthened tail, and its
lateral fins in perfect fingers. Its difference from the manatee
consisted in its upper jaw, which was armed with two long and pointed
teeth which formed on each side diverging tusks.
This dugong which Ned Land was preparing to attack was of colossal
dimensions; it was more than seven yards long. It did not move, and
seemed to be sleeping on the waves, which circumstance made it easier
to capture.
The boat approached within six yards of the animal. The oars rested on
the rowlocks. I half rose. Ned Land, his body thrown a little back,
brandished the harpoon in his experienced hand.
Suddenly a hissing noise was heard, and the dugong disappeared. The
harpoon, although thrown with great force; had apparently only struck
the water.
"Curse it!" exclaimed the Canadian furiously; "I have missed it!"
"No," said I; "the creature is wounded--look at the blood; but your
weapon has not stuck in his body."
"My harpoon! my harpoon!" cried Ned Land.
The sailors rowed on, and the coxswain made for the floating barrel.
The harpoon regained, we followed in pursuit of the animal.
The latter came now and then to the surface to breathe. Its wound had
not weakened it, for it shot onwards with great rapidity.
The boat, rowed by strong arms, flew on its track. Several times it
approached within some few yards, and the Canadian was ready to strike,
but the dugong made off with a sudden plunge, and it was impossible to
reach it.
Imagine the passion which excited impatient Ned Land! He hurled at the
unfortunate creature the most energetic expletives in the English
tongue. For my part, I was only vexed to see the dugong escape all our
attacks.
We pursued it without relaxation for an hour, and I began to think it
would prove difficult to capture, when the animal, possessed with the
perverse idea of vengeance of which he had cause to repent, turned upon
the pinnace and assailed us in its turn.
This manoeuvre did not escape the Canadian.
"Look out!" he cried.
The coxswain said some words in his outlandish tongue, doubtless
warning the men to keep on their guard.
The dugong came within twenty feet of the boat, stopped, sniffed the
air briskly with its large nostrils (not pierced at the extremity, but
in the upper part of its muzzle). Then, taking a spring, he threw
himself upon us.
The pinnace could not avoid the shock, and half upset, shipped at least
two tons of water, which had to be emptied; but, thanks to the
coxswain, we caught it sideways, not full front, so we were not quite
overturned. While Ned Land, clinging to the bows, belaboured the
gigantic animal with blows from his harpoon, the creature's teeth were
buried in the gunwale, and it lifted the whole thing out of the water,
as a lion does a roebuck. We were upset over one another, and I know
not how the adventure would have ended, if the Canadian, still enraged
with the beast, had not struck it to the heart.
I heard its teeth grind on the iron plate, and the dugong disappeared,
carrying the harpoon with him. But the barrel soon returned to the
surface, and shortly after the body of the animal, turned on its back.
The boat came up with it, took it in tow, and made straight for the
Nautilus.
It required tackle of enormous strength to hoist the dugong on to the
platform. It weighed 10,000 lb.
The next day, 11th February, the larder of the Nautilus was enriched by
some more delicate game. A flight of sea-swallows rested on the
Nautilus. It was a species of the Sterna nilotica, peculiar to Egypt;
its beak is black, head grey and pointed, the eye surrounded by white
spots, the back, wings, and tail of a greyish colour, the belly and
throat white, and claws red. They also took some dozen of Nile ducks,
a wild bird of high flavour, its throat and upper part of the head
white with black spots.
About five o'clock in the evening we sighted to the north the Cape of
Ras-Mohammed. This cape forms the extremity of Arabia Petraea,
comprised between the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Acabah.
The Nautilus penetrated into the Straits of Jubal, which leads to the
Gulf of Suez. I distinctly saw a high mountain, towering between the
two gulfs of Ras-Mohammed. It was Mount Horeb, that Sinai at the top of
which Moses saw God face to face.
At six o'clock the Nautilus, sometimes floating, sometimes immersed,
passed some distance from Tor, situated at the end of the bay, the
waters of which seemed tinted with red, an observation already made by
Captain Nemo. Then night fell in the midst of a heavy silence,
sometimes broken by the cries of the pelican and other night-birds, and
the noise of the waves breaking upon the shore, chafing against the
rocks, or the panting of some far-off steamer beating the waters of the
Gulf with its noisy paddles.
From eight to nine o'clock the Nautilus remained some fathoms under the
water. According to my calculation we must have been very near Suez.
Through the panel of the saloon I saw the bottom of the rocks
brilliantly lit up by our electric lamp. We seemed to be leaving the
Straits behind us more and more.
At a quarter-past nine, the vessel having returned to the surface, I
mounted the platform. Most impatient to pass through Captain Nemo's
tunnel, I could not stay in one place, so came to breathe the fresh
night air.
Soon in the shadow I saw a pale light, half discoloured by the fog,
shining about a mile from us.
"A floating lighthouse!" said someone near me.
I turned, and saw the Captain.
"It is the floating light of Suez," he continued. "It will not be long
before we gain the entrance of the tunnel."
"The entrance cannot be easy?"
"No, sir; for that reason I am accustomed to go into the steersman's
cage and myself direct our course. And now, if you will go down, M.
Aronnax, the Nautilus is going under the waves, and will not return to
the surface until we have passed through the Arabian Tunnel."
Captain Nemo led me towards the central staircase; half way down he
opened a door, traversed the upper deck, and landed in the pilot's
cage, which it may be remembered rose at the extremity of the platform.
It was a cabin measuring six feet square, very much like that occupied
by the pilot on the steamboats of the Mississippi or Hudson. In the
midst worked a wheel, placed vertically, and caught to the tiller-rope,
which ran to the back of the Nautilus. Four light-ports with
lenticular glasses, let in a groove in the partition of the cabin,
allowed the man at the wheel to see in all directions.
This cabin was dark; but soon my eyes accustomed themselves to the
obscurity, and I perceived the pilot, a strong man, with his hands
resting on the spokes of the wheel. Outside, the sea appeared vividly
lit up by the lantern, which shed its rays from the back of the cabin
to the other extremity of the platform.
"Now," said Captain Nemo, "let us try to make our passage."
Electric wires connected the pilot's cage with the machinery room, and
from there the Captain could communicate simultaneously to his Nautilus
the direction and the speed. He pressed a metal knob, and at once the
speed of the screw diminished.
I looked in silence at the high straight wall we were running by at
this moment, the immovable base of a massive sandy coast. We followed
it thus for an hour only some few yards off.
Captain Nemo did not take his eye from the knob, suspended by its two
concentric circles in the cabin. At a simple gesture, the pilot
modified the course of the Nautilus every instant.
I had placed myself at the port-scuttle, and saw some magnificent
substructures of coral, zoophytes, seaweed, and fucus, agitating their
enormous claws, which stretched out from the fissures of the rock.
At a quarter-past ten, the Captain himself took the helm. A large
gallery, black and deep, opened before us. The Nautilus went boldly
into it. A strange roaring was heard round its sides. It was the
waters of the Red Sea, which the incline of the tunnel precipitated
violently towards the Mediterranean. The Nautilus went with the
torrent, rapid as an arrow, in spite of the efforts of the machinery,
which, in order to offer more effective resistance, beat the waves with
reversed screw.
On the walls of the narrow passage I could see nothing but brilliant
rays, straight lines, furrows of fire, traced by the great speed, under
the brilliant electric light. My heart beat fast.
At thirty-five minutes past ten, Captain Nemo quitted the helm, and,
turning to me, said:
"The Mediterranean!"
In less than twenty minutes, the Nautilus, carried along by the
torrent, had passed through the Isthmus of Suez.
CHAPTER VI
THE GRECIAN ARCHIPELAGO
The next day, the 12th of February, at the dawn of day, the Nautilus
rose to the surface. I hastened on to the platform. Three miles to
the south the dim outline of Pelusium was to be seen. A torrent had
carried us from one sea to another. About seven o'clock Ned and
Conseil joined me.
"Well, Sir Naturalist," said the Canadian, in a slightly jovial tone,
"and the Mediterranean?"
"We are floating on its surface, friend Ned."
"What!" said Conseil, "this very night."
"Yes, this very night; in a few minutes we have passed this impassable
isthmus."
"I do not believe it," replied the Canadian.
"Then you are wrong, Master Land," I continued; "this low coast which
rounds off to the south is the Egyptian coast. And you who have such
good eyes, Ned, you can see the jetty of Port Said stretching into the
sea."
The Canadian looked attentively.
"Certainly you are right, sir, and your Captain is a first-rate man.
We are in the Mediterranean. Good! Now, if you please, let us talk of
our own little affair, but so that no one hears us."
I saw what the Canadian wanted, and, in any case, I thought it better
to let him talk, as he wished it; so we all three went and sat down
near the lantern, where we were less exposed to the spray of the blades.
"Now, Ned, we listen; what have you to tell us?"
"What I have to tell you is very simple. We are in Europe; and before
Captain Nemo's caprices drag us once more to the bottom of the Polar
Seas, or lead us into Oceania, I ask to leave the Nautilus."
I wished in no way to shackle the liberty of my companions, but I
certainly felt no desire to leave Captain Nemo.
Thanks to him, and thanks to his apparatus, I was each day nearer the
completion of my submarine studies; and I was rewriting my book of
submarine depths in its very element. Should I ever again have such an
opportunity of observing the wonders of the ocean? No, certainly not!
And I could not bring myself to the idea of abandoning the Nautilus
before the cycle of investigation was accomplished.
"Friend Ned, answer me frankly, are you tired of being on board? Are
you sorry that destiny has thrown us into Captain Nemo's hands?"
The Canadian remained some moments without answering. Then, crossing
his arms, he said:
"Frankly, I do not regret this journey under the seas. I shall be glad
to have made it; but, now that it is made, let us have done with it.
That is my idea."
"It will come to an end, Ned."
"Where and when?"
"Where I do not know--when I cannot say; or, rather, I suppose it will
end when these seas have nothing more to teach us."
"Then what do you hope for?" demanded the Canadian.
"That circumstances may occur as well six months hence as now by which
we may and ought to profit."
"Oh!" said Ned Land, "and where shall we be in six months, if you
please, Sir Naturalist?"
"Perhaps in China; you know the Nautilus is a rapid traveller. It goes
through water as swallows through the air, or as an express on the
land. It does not fear frequented seas; who can say that it may not
beat the coasts of France, England, or America, on which flight may be
attempted as advantageously as here."
"M. Aronnax," replied the Canadian, "your arguments are rotten at the
foundation. You speak in the future, `We shall be there! we shall be
here!' I speak in the present, `We are here, and we must profit by
it.'"
Ned Land's logic pressed me hard, and I felt myself beaten on that
ground. I knew not what argument would now tell in my favour.
"Sir," continued Ned, "let us suppose an impossibility: if Captain Nemo
should this day offer you your liberty; would you accept it?"
"I do not know," I answered.
"And if," he added, "the offer made you this day was never to be
renewed, would you accept it?"
"Friend Ned, this is my answer. Your reasoning is against me. We must
not rely on Captain Nemo's good-will. Common prudence forbids him to
set us at liberty. On the other side, prudence bids us profit by the
first opportunity to leave the Nautilus."
"Well, M. Aronnax, that is wisely said."
"Only one observation--just one. The occasion must be serious, and our
first attempt must succeed; if it fails, we shall never find another,
and Captain Nemo will never forgive us."
"All that is true," replied the Canadian. "But your observation
applies equally to all attempts at flight, whether in two years' time,
or in two days'. But the question is still this: If a favourable
opportunity presents itself, it must be seized."
"Agreed! And now, Ned, will you tell me what you mean by a favourable
opportunity?"
"It will be that which, on a dark night, will bring the Nautilus a
short distance from some European coast."
"And you will try and save yourself by swimming?"
"Yes, if we were near enough to the bank, and if the vessel was
floating at the time. Not if the bank was far away, and the boat was
under the water."
"And in that case?"
"In that case, I should seek to make myself master of the pinnace. I
know how it is worked. We must get inside, and the bolts once drawn,
we shall come to the surface of the water, without even the pilot, who
is in the bows, perceiving our flight."
"Well, Ned, watch for the opportunity; but do not forget that a hitch
will ruin us."
"I will not forget, sir."
"And now, Ned, would you like to know what I think of your project?"
"Certainly, M. Aronnax."
"Well, I think--I do not say I hope--I think that this favourable
opportunity will never present itself."
"Why not?"
"Because Captain Nemo cannot hide from himself that we have not given
up all hope of regaining our liberty, and he will be on his guard,
above all, in the seas and in the sight of European coasts."
"We shall see," replied Ned Land, shaking his head determinedly.
"And now, Ned Land," I added, "let us stop here. Not another word on
the subject. The day that you are ready, come and let us know, and we
will follow you. I rely entirely upon you."
Thus ended a conversation which, at no very distant time, led to such
grave results. I must say here that facts seemed to confirm my
foresight, to the Canadian's great despair. Did Captain Nemo distrust
us in these frequented seas? or did he only wish to hide himself from
the numerous vessels, of all nations, which ploughed the Mediterranean?
I could not tell; but we were oftener between waters and far from the
coast. Or, if the Nautilus did emerge, nothing was to be seen but the
pilot's cage; and sometimes it went to great depths, for, between the
Grecian Archipelago and Asia Minor we could not touch the bottom by
more than a thousand fathoms.
Thus I only knew we were near the Island of Carpathos, one of the
Sporades, by Captain Nemo reciting these lines from Virgil:
"Est Carpathio Neptuni gurgite vates,
Caeruleus Proteus,"
as he pointed to a spot on the planisphere.
It was indeed the ancient abode of Proteus, the old shepherd of
Neptune's flocks, now the Island of Scarpanto, situated between Rhodes
and Crete. I saw nothing but the granite base through the glass panels
of the saloon.
The next day, the 14th of February, I resolved to employ some hours in
studying the fishes of the Archipelago; but for some reason or other
the panels remained hermetically sealed. Upon taking the course of the
Nautilus, I found that we were going towards Candia, the ancient Isle
of Crete. At the time I embarked on the Abraham Lincoln, the whole of
this island had risen in insurrection against the despotism of the
Turks. But how the insurgents had fared since that time I was
absolutely ignorant, and it was not Captain Nemo, deprived of all land
communications, who could tell me.
I made no allusion to this event when that night I found myself alone
with him in the saloon. Besides, he seemed to be taciturn and
preoccupied. Then, contrary to his custom, he ordered both panels to
be opened, and, going from one to the other, observed the mass of
waters attentively. To what end I could not guess; so, on my side, I
employed my time in studying the fish passing before my eyes.
In the midst of the waters a man appeared, a diver, carrying at his
belt a leathern purse. It was not a body abandoned to the waves; it
was a living man, swimming with a strong hand, disappearing
occasionally to take breath at the surface.
I turned towards Captain Nemo, and in an agitated voice exclaimed:
"A man shipwrecked! He must be saved at any price!"
The Captain did not answer me, but came and leaned against the panel.
The man had approached, and, with his face flattened against the glass,
was looking at us.
To my great amazement, Captain Nemo signed to him. The diver answered
with his hand, mounted immediately to the surface of the water, and did
not appear again.
"Do not be uncomfortable," said Captain Nemo. "It is Nicholas of Cape
Matapan, surnamed Pesca. He is well known in all the Cyclades. A bold
diver! water is his element, and he lives more in it than on land,
going continually from one island to another, even as far as Crete."
"You know him, Captain?"
"Why not, M. Aronnax?"
Saying which, Captain Nemo went towards a piece of furniture standing
near the left panel of the saloon. Near this piece of furniture, I saw
a chest bound with iron, on the cover of which was a copper plate,
bearing the cypher of the Nautilus with its device.
At that moment, the Captain, without noticing my presence, opened the
piece of furniture, a sort of strong box, which held a great many
ingots.
They were ingots of gold. From whence came this precious metal, which
represented an enormous sum? Where did the Captain gather this gold
from? and what was he going to do with it?
I did not say one word. I looked. Captain Nemo took the ingots one by
one, and arranged them methodically in the chest, which he filled
entirely. I estimated the contents at more than 4,000 lb. weight of
gold, that is to say, nearly L200,000.
The chest was securely fastened, and the Captain wrote an address on
the lid, in characters which must have belonged to Modern Greece.
This done, Captain Nemo pressed a knob, the wire of which communicated
with the quarters of the crew. Four men appeared, and, not without
some trouble, pushed the chest out of the saloon. Then I heard them
hoisting it up the iron staircase by means of pulleys.
At that moment, Captain Nemo turned to me.
"And you were saying, sir?" said he.
"I was saying nothing, Captain."
"Then, sir, if you will allow me, I will wish you good night."
Whereupon he turned and left the saloon.
I returned to my room much troubled, as one may believe. I vainly
tried to sleep--I sought the connecting link between the apparition of
the diver and the chest filled with gold. Soon, I felt by certain
movements of pitching and tossing that the Nautilus was leaving the
depths and returning to the surface.
Then I heard steps upon the platform; and I knew they were unfastening
the pinnace and launching it upon the waves. For one instant it struck
the side of the Nautilus, then all noise ceased.
Two hours after, the same noise, the same going and coming was renewed;
the boat was hoisted on board, replaced in its socket, and the Nautilus
again plunged under the waves.
So these millions had been transported to their address. To what point
of the continent? Who was Captain Nemo's correspondent?
The next day I related to Conseil and the Canadian the events of the
night, which had excited my curiosity to the highest degree. My
companions were not less surprised than myself.
"But where does he take his millions to?" asked Ned Land.
To that there was no possible answer. I returned to the saloon after
having breakfast and set to work. Till five o'clock in the evening I
employed myself in arranging my notes. At that moment--(ought I to
attribute it to some peculiar idiosyncrasy)--I felt so great a heat
that I was obliged to take off my coat. It was strange, for we were
under low latitudes; and even then the Nautilus, submerged as it was,
ought to experience no change of temperature. I looked at the
manometer; it showed a depth of sixty feet, to which atmospheric heat
could never attain.
I continued my work, but the temperature rose to such a pitch as to be
intolerable.
"Could there be fire on board?" I asked myself.
I was leaving the saloon, when Captain Nemo entered; he approached the
thermometer, consulted it, and, turning to me, said:
"Forty-two degrees."
"I have noticed it, Captain," I replied; "and if it gets much hotter we
cannot bear it."
"Oh, sir, it will not get better if we do not wish it."
"You can reduce it as you please, then?"
"No; but I can go farther from the stove which produces it."
"It is outward, then!"
"Certainly; we are floating in a current of boiling water."
"Is it possible!" I exclaimed.
"Look."
The panels opened, and I saw the sea entirely white all round. A
sulphurous smoke was curling amid the waves, which boiled like water in
a copper. I placed my hand on one of the panes of glass, but the heat
was so great that I quickly took it off again.
"Where are we?" I asked.
"Near the Island of Santorin, sir," replied the Captain. "I wished to
give you a sight of the curious spectacle of a submarine eruption."
"I thought," said I, "that the formation of these new islands was
ended."
"Nothing is ever ended in the volcanic parts of the sea," replied
Captain Nemo; "and the globe is always being worked by subterranean
fires. Already, in the nineteenth year of our era, according to
Cassiodorus and Pliny, a new island, Theia (the divine), appeared in
the very place where these islets have recently been formed. Then they
sank under the waves, to rise again in the year 69, when they again
subsided. Since that time to our days the Plutonian work has been
suspended. But on the 3rd of February, 1866, a new island, which they
named George Island, emerged from the midst of the sulphurous vapour
near Nea Kamenni, and settled again the 6th of the same month. Seven
days after, the 13th of February, the Island of Aphroessa appeared,
leaving between Nea Kamenni and itself a canal ten yards broad. I was
in these seas when the phenomenon occurred, and I was able therefore to
observe all the different phases. The Island of Aphroessa, of round
form, measured 300 feet in diameter, and 30 feet in height. It was
composed of black and vitreous lava, mixed with fragments of felspar.
And lastly, on the 10th of March, a smaller island, called Reka, showed
itself near Nea Kamenni, and since then these three have joined
together, forming but one and the same island."
"And the canal in which we are at this moment?" I asked.
"Here it is," replied Captain Nemo, showing me a map of the
Archipelago. "You see, I have marked the new islands."
I returned to the glass. The Nautilus was no longer moving, the heat
was becoming unbearable. The sea, which till now had been white, was
red, owing to the presence of salts of iron. In spite of the ship's
being hermetically sealed, an insupportable smell of sulphur filled the
saloon, and the brilliancy of the electricity was entirely extinguished
by bright scarlet flames. I was in a bath, I was choking, I was
broiled.
"We can remain no longer in this boiling water," said I to the Captain.
"It would not be prudent," replied the impassive Captain Nemo.
An order was given; the Nautilus tacked about and left the furnace it
could not brave with impunity. A quarter of an hour after we were
breathing fresh air on the surface. The thought then struck me that,
if Ned Land had chosen this part of the sea for our flight, we should
never have come alive out of this sea of fire.
The next day, the 16th of February, we left the basin which, between
Rhodes and Alexandria, is reckoned about 1,500 fathoms in depth, and
the Nautilus, passing some distance from Cerigo, quitted the Grecian
Archipelago after having doubled Cape Matapan.
CHAPTER VII
THE MEDITERRANEAN IN FORTY-EIGHT HOURS
The Mediterranean, the blue sea par excellence, "the great sea" of the
Hebrews, "the sea" of the Greeks, the "mare nostrum" of the Romans,
bordered by orange-trees, aloes, cacti, and sea-pines; embalmed with
the perfume of the myrtle, surrounded by rude mountains, saturated with
pure and transparent air, but incessantly worked by underground fires;
a perfect battlefield in which Neptune and Pluto still dispute the
empire of the world!
It is upon these banks, and on these waters, says Michelet, that man is
renewed in one of the most powerful climates of the globe. But,
beautiful as it was, I could only take a rapid glance at the basin
whose superficial area is two million of square yards. Even Captain
Nemo's knowledge was lost to me, for this puzzling person did not
appear once during our passage at full speed. I estimated the course
which the Nautilus took under the waves of the sea at about six hundred
leagues, and it was accomplished in forty-eight hours. Starting on the
morning of the 16th of February from the shores of Greece, we had
crossed the Straits of Gibraltar by sunrise on the 18th.
It was plain to me that this Mediterranean, enclosed in the midst of
those countries which he wished to avoid, was distasteful to Captain
Nemo. Those waves and those breezes brought back too many
remembrances, if not too many regrets. Here he had no longer that
independence and that liberty of gait which he had when in the open
seas, and his Nautilus felt itself cramped between the close shores of
Africa and Europe.
Our speed was now twenty-five miles an hour. It may be well understood
that Ned Land, to his great disgust, was obliged to renounce his
intended flight. He could not launch the pinnace, going at the rate of
twelve or thirteen yards every second. To quit the Nautilus under such
conditions would be as bad as jumping from a train going at full
speed--an imprudent thing, to say the least of it. Besides, our vessel
only mounted to the surface of the waves at night to renew its stock of
air; it was steered entirely by the compass and the log.
I saw no more of the interior of this Mediterranean than a traveller by
express train perceives of the landscape which flies before his eyes;
that is to say, the distant horizon, and not the nearer objects which
pass like a flash of lightning.
We were then passing between Sicily and the coast of Tunis. In the
narrow space between Cape Bon and the Straits of Messina the bottom of
the sea rose almost suddenly. There was a perfect bank, on which there
was not more than nine fathoms of water, whilst on either side the
depth was ninety fathoms.
The Nautilus had to manoeuvre very carefully so as not to strike
against this submarine barrier.
I showed Conseil, on the map of the Mediterranean, the spot occupied by
this reef.
"But if you please, sir," observed Conseil, "it is like a real isthmus
joining Europe to Africa."
"Yes, my boy, it forms a perfect bar to the Straits of Lybia, and the
soundings of Smith have proved that in former times the continents
between Cape Boco and Cape Furina were joined."
"I can well believe it," said Conseil.
"I will add," I continued, "that a similar barrier exists between
Gibraltar and Ceuta, which in geological times formed the entire
Mediterranean."
"What if some volcanic burst should one day raise these two barriers
above the waves?"
"It is not probable, Conseil."
"Well, but allow me to finish, please, sir; if this phenomenon should
take place, it will be troublesome for M. Lesseps, who has taken so
much pains to pierce the isthmus."
"I agree with you; but I repeat, Conseil, this phenomenon will never
happen. The violence of subterranean force is ever diminishing.
Volcanoes, so plentiful in the first days of the world, are being
extinguished by degrees; the internal heat is weakened, the temperature
of the lower strata of the globe is lowered by a perceptible quantity
every century to the detriment of our globe, for its heat is its life."
"But the sun?"
"The sun is not sufficient, Conseil. Can it give heat to a dead body?"
"Not that I know of."
"Well, my friend, this earth will one day be that cold corpse; it will
become uninhabitable and uninhabited like the moon, which has long
since lost all its vital heat."
"In how many centuries?"
"In some hundreds of thousands of years, my boy."
"Then," said Conseil, "we shall have time to finish our journey--that
is, if Ned Land does not interfere with it."
And Conseil, reassured, returned to the study of the bank, which the
Nautilus was skirting at a moderate speed.
During the night of the 16th and 17th February we had entered the
second Mediterranean basin, the greatest depth of which was 1,450
fathoms. The Nautilus, by the action of its crew, slid down the
inclined planes and buried itself in the lowest depths of the sea.
On the 18th of February, about three o'clock in the morning, we were at
the entrance of the Straits of Gibraltar. There once existed two
currents: an upper one, long since recognised, which conveys the waters
of the ocean into the basin of the Mediterranean; and a lower
counter-current, which reasoning has now shown to exist. Indeed, the
volume of water in the Mediterranean, incessantly added to by the waves
of the Atlantic and by rivers falling into it, would each year raise
the level of this sea, for its evaporation is not sufficient to restore
the equilibrium. As it is not so, we must necessarily admit the
existence of an under-current, which empties into the basin of the
Atlantic through the Straits of Gibraltar the surplus waters of the
Mediterranean. A fact indeed; and it was this counter-current by which
the Nautilus profited. It advanced rapidly by the narrow pass. For
one instant I caught a glimpse of the beautiful ruins of the temple of
Hercules, buried in the ground, according to Pliny, and with the low
island which supports it; and a few minutes later we were floating on
the Atlantic.
CHAPTER VIII
VIGO BAY
The Atlantic! a vast sheet of water whose superficial area covers
twenty-five millions of square miles, the length of which is nine
thousand miles, with a mean breadth of two thousand seven hundred--an
ocean whose parallel winding shores embrace an immense circumference,
watered by the largest rivers of the world, the St. Lawrence, the
Mississippi, the Amazon, the Plata, the Orinoco, the Niger, the
Senegal, the Elbe, the Loire, and the Rhine, which carry water from the
most civilised, as well as from the most savage, countries!
Magnificent field of water, incessantly ploughed by vessels of every
nation, sheltered by the flags of every nation, and which terminates in
those two terrible points so dreaded by mariners, Cape Horn and the
Cape of Tempests.
The Nautilus was piercing the water with its sharp spur, after having
accomplished nearly ten thousand leagues in three months and a half, a
distance greater than the great circle of the earth. Where were we
going now, and what was reserved for the future? The Nautilus, leaving
the Straits of Gibraltar, had gone far out. It returned to the surface
of the waves, and our daily walks on the platform were restored to us.
I mounted at once, accompanied by Ned Land and Conseil. At a distance
of about twelve miles, Cape St. Vincent was dimly to be seen, forming
the south-western point of the Spanish peninsula. A strong southerly
gale was blowing. The sea was swollen and billowy; it made the
Nautilus rock violently. It was almost impossible to keep one's foot
on the platform, which the heavy rolls of the sea beat over every
instant. So we descended after inhaling some mouthfuls of fresh air.
I returned to my room, Conseil to his cabin; but the Canadian, with a
preoccupied air, followed me. Our rapid passage across the
Mediterranean had not allowed him to put his project into execution,
and he could not help showing his disappointment. When the door of my
room was shut, he sat down and looked at me silently.
"Friend Ned," said I, "I understand you; but you cannot reproach
yourself. To have attempted to leave the Nautilus under the
circumstances would have been folly."
Ned Land did not answer; his compressed lips and frowning brow showed
with him the violent possession this fixed idea had taken of his mind.
"Let us see," I continued; "we need not despair yet. We are going up
the coast of Portugal again; France and England are not far off, where
we can easily find refuge. Now if the Nautilus, on leaving the Straits
of Gibraltar, had gone to the south, if it had carried us towards
regions where there were no continents, I should share your uneasiness.
But we know now that Captain Nemo does not fly from civilised seas, and
in some days I think you can act with security."
Ned Land still looked at me fixedly; at length his fixed lips parted,
and he said, "It is for to-night."
I drew myself up suddenly. I was, I admit, little prepared for this
communication. I wanted to answer the Canadian, but words would not
come.
"We agreed to wait for an opportunity," continued Ned Land, "and the
opportunity has arrived. This night we shall be but a few miles from
the Spanish coast. It is cloudy. The wind blows freely. I have your
word, M. Aronnax, and I rely upon you."
As I was silent, the Canadian approached me.
"To-night, at nine o'clock," said he. "I have warned Conseil. At that
moment Captain Nemo will be shut up in his room, probably in bed.
Neither the engineers nor the ship's crew can see us. Conseil and I
will gain the central staircase, and you, M. Aronnax, will remain in
the library, two steps from us, waiting my signal. The oars, the mast,
and the sail are in the canoe. I have even succeeded in getting some
provisions. I have procured an English wrench, to unfasten the bolts
which attach it to the shell of the Nautilus. So all is ready, till
to-night."
"The sea is bad."
"That I allow," replied the Canadian; "but we must risk that. Liberty
is worth paying for; besides, the boat is strong, and a few miles with
a fair wind to carry us is no great thing. Who knows but by to-morrow
we may be a hundred leagues away? Let circumstances only favour us,
and by ten or eleven o'clock we shall have landed on some spot of terra
firma, alive or dead. But adieu now till to-night."
With these words the Canadian withdrew, leaving me almost dumb. I had
imagined that, the chance gone, I should have time to reflect and
discuss the matter. My obstinate companion had given me no time; and,
after all, what could I have said to him? Ned Land was perfectly
right. There was almost the opportunity to profit by. Could I retract
my word, and take upon myself the responsibility of compromising the
future of my companions? To-morrow Captain Nemo might take us far from
all land.
At that moment a rather loud hissing noise told me that the reservoirs
were filling, and that the Nautilus was sinking under the waves of the
Atlantic.
A sad day I passed, between the desire of regaining my liberty of
action and of abandoning the wonderful Nautilus, and leaving my
submarine studies incomplete.
What dreadful hours I passed thus! Sometimes seeing myself and
companions safely landed, sometimes wishing, in spite of my reason,
that some unforeseen circumstance, would prevent the realisation of Ned
Land's project.
Twice I went to the saloon. I wished to consult the compass. I wished
to see if the direction the Nautilus was taking was bringing us nearer
or taking us farther from the coast. But no; the Nautilus kept in
Portuguese waters.
I must therefore take my part and prepare for flight. My luggage was
not heavy; my notes, nothing more.
As to Captain Nemo, I asked myself what he would think of our escape;
what trouble, what wrong it might cause him and what he might do in
case of its discovery or failure. Certainly I had no cause to complain
of him; on the contrary, never was hospitality freer than his. In
leaving him I could not be taxed with ingratitude. No oath bound us to
him. It was on the strength of circumstances he relied, and not upon
our word, to fix us for ever.
I had not seen the Captain since our visit to the Island of Santorin.
Would chance bring me to his presence before our departure? I wished
it, and I feared it at the same time. I listened if I could hear him
walking the room contiguous to mine. No sound reached my ear. I felt
an unbearable uneasiness. This day of waiting seemed eternal. Hours
struck too slowly to keep pace with my impatience.
My dinner was served in my room as usual. I ate but little; I was too
preoccupied. I left the table at seven o'clock. A hundred and twenty
minutes (I counted them) still separated me from the moment in which I
was to join Ned Land. My agitation redoubled. My pulse beat
violently. I could not remain quiet. I went and came, hoping to calm
my troubled spirit by constant movement. The idea of failure in our
bold enterprise was the least painful of my anxieties; but the thought
of seeing our project discovered before leaving the Nautilus, of being
brought before Captain Nemo, irritated, or (what was worse) saddened,
at my desertion, made my heart beat.
I wanted to see the saloon for the last time. I descended the stairs
and arrived in the museum, where I had passed so many useful and
agreeable hours. I looked at all its riches, all its treasures, like a
man on the eve of an eternal exile, who was leaving never to return.
These wonders of Nature, these masterpieces of art, amongst which for
so many days my life had been concentrated, I was going to abandon them
for ever! I should like to have taken a last look through the windows
of the saloon into the waters of the Atlantic: but the panels were
hermetically closed, and a cloak of steel separated me from that ocean
which I had not yet explored.
In passing through the saloon, I came near the door let into the angle
which opened into the Captain's room. To my great surprise, this door
was ajar. I drew back involuntarily. If Captain Nemo should be in his
room, he could see me. But, hearing no sound, I drew nearer. The room
was deserted. I pushed open the door and took some steps forward.
Still the same monklike severity of aspect.
Suddenly the clock struck eight. The first beat of the hammer on the
bell awoke me from my dreams. I trembled as if an invisible eye had
plunged into my most secret thoughts, and I hurried from the room.
There my eye fell upon the compass. Our course was still north. The
log indicated moderate speed, the manometer a depth of about sixty feet.
I returned to my room, clothed myself warmly--sea boots, an otterskin
cap, a great coat of byssus, lined with sealskin; I was ready, I was
waiting. The vibration of the screw alone broke the deep silence which
reigned on board. I listened attentively. Would no loud voice
suddenly inform me that Ned Land had been surprised in his projected
flight. A mortal dread hung over me, and I vainly tried to regain my
accustomed coolness.
At a few minutes to nine, I put my ear to the Captain's door. No
noise. I left my room and returned to the saloon, which was half in
obscurity, but deserted.
I opened the door communicating with the library. The same
insufficient light, the same solitude. I placed myself near the door
leading to the central staircase, and there waited for Ned Land's
signal.
At that moment the trembling of the screw sensibly diminished, then it
stopped entirely. The silence was now only disturbed by the beatings
of my own heart. Suddenly a slight shock was felt; and I knew that the
Nautilus had stopped at the bottom of the ocean. My uneasiness
increased. The Canadian's signal did not come. I felt inclined to
join Ned Land and beg of him to put off his attempt. I felt that we
were not sailing under our usual conditions.
At this moment the door of the large saloon opened, and Captain Nemo
appeared. He saw me, and without further preamble began in an amiable
tone of voice:
"Ah, sir! I have been looking for you. Do you know the history of
Spain?"
Now, one might know the history of one's own country by heart; but in
the condition I was at the time, with troubled mind and head quite
lost, I could not have said a word of it.
"Well," continued Captain Nemo, "you heard my question! Do you know
the history of Spain?"
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