Chapter 78
1897 Words
What an indescribable sight! Oh, if only we could share our feelings! Why were we imprisoned behind these masks of metal and glass! Why were we forbidden to talk with each other! At least let us lead the lives of the fish that populate this liquid element, or better yet, the lives of amphibians, which can spend long hours either at sea or on shore, traveling through their double domain as their whims dictate!
Meanwhile Captain Nemo had called a halt. My companions and I stopped walking, and turning around, I saw the crewmen form a semicircle around their leader. Looking with greater care, I observed that four of them were carrying on their shoulders an object that was oblong in shape.
At this locality we stood in the center of a huge clearing surrounded by the tall tree forms of this underwater forest. Our lamps cast a sort of brilliant twilight over the area, making inordinately long shadows on the seafloor. Past the boundaries of the clearing, the darkness deepened again, relieved only by little sparkles given off by the sharp crests of coral.
Ned Land and Conseil stood next to me. We stared, and it dawned on me that I was about to witness a strange scene. Observing the seafloor, I saw that it swelled at certain points from low bulges that were encrusted with limestone deposits and arranged with a symmetry that betrayed the hand of man.
In the middle of the clearing, on a pedestal of roughly piled rocks, there stood a cross of coral, extending long arms you would have thought were made of petrified blood.
At a signal from Captain Nemo, one of his men stepped forward and, a few feet from this cross, detached a mattock from his belt and began to dig a hole.
I finally understood! This clearing was a cemetery, this hole a grave, that oblong object the body of the man who must have died during the night! Captain Nemo and his men had come to bury their companion in this communal resting place on the inaccessible ocean floor!
No! My mind was reeling as never before! Never had ideas of such impact raced through my brain! I didn't want to see what my eyes saw!
Meanwhile the grave digging went slowly. Fish fled here and there as their retreat was disturbed. I heard the pick ringing on the limestone soil, its iron tip sometimes giving off sparks when it hit a stray piece of flint on the sea bottom. The hole grew longer, wider, and soon was deep enough to receive the body.
Then the pallbearers approached. Wrapped in white fabric made from filaments of the fan mussel, the body was lowered into its watery grave. Captain Nemo, arms crossed over his chest, knelt in a posture of prayer, as did all the friends of him who had loved them. . . . My two companions and I bowed reverently.
The grave was then covered over with the rubble dug from the seafloor, and it formed a low mound.
When this was done, Captain Nemo and his men stood up; then they all approached the grave, sank again on bended knee, and extended their hands in a sign of final farewell. . . .
Then the funeral party went back up the path to the Nautilus, returning beneath the arches of the forest, through the thickets, along the coral bushes, going steadily higher.
Finally the ship's rays appeared. Their luminous trail guided us to the Nautilus. By one o'clock we had returned.
After changing clothes, I climbed onto the platform, and in the grip of dreadfully obsessive thoughts, I sat next to the beacon.
Captain Nemo rejoined me. I stood up and said to him:
"So, as I predicted, that man died during the night?"
"Yes, Professor Aronnax," Captain Nemo replied.
"And now he rests beside his companions in that coral cemetery?"
"Yes, forgotten by the world but not by us! We dig the graves, then entrust the polyps with sealing away our dead for eternity!"
And with a sudden gesture, the captain hid his face in his clenched fists, vainly trying to hold back a sob. Then he added:
"There lies our peaceful cemetery, hundreds of feet beneath the surface of the waves!"
"At least, captain, your dead can sleep serenely there, out of the reach of sharks!"
"Yes, sir," Captain Nemo replied solemnly, "of sharks and men!"
END OF THE FIRST PART
*Author's Note: About 106 meters. An English foot is only 30.4 centimeters. *German: "Bulletin." Ed. *Author's Note: A pier is a type of wharf expressly set aside for an individual vessel. *Author's Note: Tenders are small steamboats that assist the big liners. *Author's Note: A Bowie knife is a wide-bladed dagger that Americans are forever carrying around. *Author's Note: A steward is a waiter on board a steamer. *Latin: nemo means "no one." Ed. *Latin: "in a class by itself." Ed. **Author's Note: And sure enough, there's now talk of such a discovery, in which a new set of levers generates considerable power. Did its inventor meet up with Captain Nemo? *Author's Note: "Ladyfingers" are small, thin, white clouds with ragged edges. *Latin: a spigot "just for that purpose." Ed. *Latin: "troubled dreams." Ed. 2 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
8 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
A Runaway Reef · 9
A Runaway Reef · 11
16 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
The Pros and Cons · 17
18 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
As Master Wishes · 19
22 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
As Master Wishes · 23
28 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
Ned Land · 27
30 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
At Random! · 29
· Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
At Random! · 31
32 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
At Random! · 35
At Random! · 37
42 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
At Full Steam · 43
46 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
At Full Steam · 47
52 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
A Whale of Unknown Species · 53
54 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
"m*****s in Mobili" · 54
"m*****s in Mobili" · 53
54 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
60 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
"m*****s in Mobili" · 61
62 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
The Tantrums of Ned Land · 62
The Tantrums of Ned Land · 61
64 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
70 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
The Tantrums of Ned Land · 69
76 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
The Man of the Waters · 77
78 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
80 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
86 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
The Nautilus · 87
94 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
Everything through Electricity · 93
96 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
Some Figures · 96
Some Figures · 95
102 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
Some Figures · 101
Some Figures · 103
112 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
The Black Current · 111
The Black Current ·
114 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
An Invitation in Writing · 113
Strolling the Plains · 121
122 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
Strolling the Plains · 123
124 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
Strolling the Plains · 124
Strolling the Plains · 125
126 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
130 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
An Underwater Forest · 129
94 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas 94 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
131 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
140 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
Four Thousand Leagues Under the Pacific · 139
148 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
Vanikoro · 147
· Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
The Torres Strait ·
The Torres Strait · 149
156 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
The Torres Strait · 155
158 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
Some Days Ashore · 158
Some Days Ashore · 157
168 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
Some Days Ashore · 167
170 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
The Lightning Bolts of Captain Nemo · 170
The Lightning Bolts of Captain Nemo · 169
180 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
The Lightning Bolts of Captain Nemo · 179
182 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
184 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
"Aegri Somnia" · 131
186 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
190 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
"Aegri Somnia" · 189
192 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
The Coral Realm · 193
194 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
198 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
The Coral Realm · 197
SECOND PART
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CHAPTER 1
The Indian Ocean
NOW WE BEGIN the second part of this voyage under the seas. The first ended in that moving scene at the coral cemetery, which left a profound impression on my mind. And so Captain Nemo would live out his life entirely in the heart of this immense sea, and even his grave lay ready in its impenetrable depths. There the last sleep of the Nautilus's occupants, friends bound together in death as in life, would be disturbed by no monster of the deep! "No man either!" the captain had added.
Always that same fierce, implacable defiance of human society!
As for me, I was no longer content with the hypotheses that satisfied Conseil. That fine lad persisted in seeing the Nautilus's commander as merely one of those unappreciated scientists who repay humanity's indifference with contempt. For Conseil, the captain was still a misunderstood genius who, tired of the world's deceptions, had been driven to take refuge in this inaccessible environment where he was free to follow his instincts. But to my mind, this hypothesis explained only one side of Captain Nemo.
In fact, the mystery of that last afternoon when we were locked in prison and put to sleep, the captain's violent precaution of snatching from my grasp a spyglass poised to scour the horizon, and the fatal wound given that man during some unexplained collision suffered by the Nautilus, all led me down a plain trail. No! Captain Nemo wasn't content simply to avoid humanity! His fearsome submersible served not only his quest for freedom, but also, perhaps, it was used in lord-knows-what schemes of dreadful revenge.
Right now, nothing is clear to me, I still glimpse only glimmers in the dark, and I must limit my pen, as it were, to taking dictation from events.
But nothing binds us to Captain Nemo. He believes that escaping from the Nautilus is impossible. We are not even constrained by our word of honor. No promises fetter us. We're simply captives, prisoners masquerading under the name "guests" for the sake of everyday courtesy. Even so, Ned Land hasn't given up all hope of recovering his freedom. He's sure to take advantage of the first chance that comes his way. No doubt I will do likewise. And yet I will feel some regret at making off with the Nautilus's secrets, so generously unveiled for us by Captain Nemo! Because, ultimately, should we detest or admire this man? Is he the persecutor or the persecuted? And in all honesty, before I leave him forever, I want to finish this underwater tour of the world, whose first stages have been so magnificent. I want to observe the full series of these wonders gathered under the seas of our globe. I want to see what no man has seen yet, even if I must pay for this insatiable curiosity with my life! What are my discoveries to date? Nothing, relatively speaking-- since so far we've covered only 6,000 leagues across the Pacific!
- Writer
