Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea
dragging these beautiful limpid waters, under which I saw a profusion
of shells, zoophytes, and marine plants. Moreover, it was the last day
that the _Nautilus_ would pass in these parts, if it float in open sea
the next day, according to Captain Nemo’s promise.
I therefore called Conseil, who brought me a little light drag, very
like those for the oyster fishery. Now to work! For two hours we fished
unceasingly, but without bringing up any rarities. The drag was filled
with midas-ears, harps, melames, and particularly the most beautiful
hammers I have ever seen. We also brought up some sea-slugs,
pearl-oysters, and a dozen little turtles that were reserved for the
pantry on board.
But just when I expected it least, I put my hand on a wonder, I might
say a natural deformity, very rarely met with. Conseil was just
dragging, and his net came up filled with divers ordinary shells, when,
all at once, he saw me plunge my arm quickly into the net, to draw out
a shell, and heard me utter a cry.
“What is the matter, sir?” he asked in surprise. “Has master been
bitten?”
“No, my boy; but I would willingly have given a finger for my
discovery.”
“What discovery?”
“This shell,” I said, holding up the object of my triumph.
“It is simply an olive porphyry, genus olive, order of the
pectinibranchidæ, class of gasteropods, sub-class mollusca.”
“Yes, Conseil; but, instead of being rolled from right to left, this
olive turns from left to right.”
“Is it possible?”
“Yes, my boy; it is a left shell.”
Shells are all right-handed, with rare exceptions; and, when by chance
their spiral is left, amateurs are ready to pay their weight in gold.
Conseil and I were absorbed in the contemplation of our treasure, and I
was promising myself to enrich the museum with it, when a stone
unfortunately thrown by a native struck against, and broke, the
precious object in Conseil’s hand. I uttered a cry of despair! Conseil
took up his gun, and aimed at a savage who was poising his sling at ten
yards from him. I would have stopped him, but his blow took effect and
broke the bracelet of amulets which encircled the arm of the savage.
[Illustration] Conseil seized his gun
“Conseil!” cried I. “Conseil!”
“Well, sir! do you not see that the cannibal has commenced the attack?”
“A shell is not worth the life of a man,” said I.
“Ah! the scoundrel!” cried Conseil; “I would rather he had broken my
shoulder!”
Conseil was in earnest, but I was not of his opinion. However, the
situation had changed some minutes before, and we had not perceived. A
score of canoes surrounded the _Nautilus_. These canoes, scooped out of
the trunk of a tree, long, narrow, well adapted for speed, were
balanced by means of a long bamboo pole, which floated on the water.
They were managed by skilful, half-naked paddlers, and I watched their
advance with some uneasiness. It was evident that these Papuans had
already had dealings with the Europeans and knew their ships. But this
long iron cylinder anchored in the bay, without masts or chimneys, what
could they think of it? Nothing good, for at first they kept at a
respectful distance. However, seeing it motionless, by degrees they
took courage, and sought to familiarise themselves with it. Now this
familiarity was precisely what it was necessary to avoid. Our arms,
which were noiseless, could only produce a moderate effect on the
savages, who have little respect for aught but blustering things. The
thunderbolt without the reverberations of thunder would frighten man
but little, though the danger lies in the lightning, not in the noise.
At this moment the canoes approached the _Nautilus_, and a shower of
arrows alighted on her.
I went down to the saloon, but found no one there. I ventured to knock
at the door that opened into the Captain’s room. “Come in,” was the
answer.
I entered, and found Captain Nemo deep in algebraical calculations of
_x_ and other quantities.
“I am disturbing you,” said I, for courtesy’s sake.
“That is true, M. Aronnax,” replied the Captain; “but I think you have
serious reasons for wishing to see me?”
“Very grave ones; the natives are surrounding us in their canoes, and
in a few minutes we shall certainly be attacked by many hundreds of
savages.”
“Ah!” said Captain Nemo quietly, “they are come with their canoes?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Well, sir, we must close the hatches.”
“Exactly, and I came to say to you——”
“Nothing can be more simple,” said Captain Nemo. And, pressing an
electric button, he transmitted an order to the ship’s crew.
“It is all done, sir,” said he, after some moments. “The pinnace is
ready, and the hatches are closed. You do not fear, I imagine, that
these gentlemen could stave in walls on which the balls of your frigate
have had no effect?”
“No, Captain; but a danger still exists.”
“What is that, sir?”
“It is that to-morrow, at about this hour, we must open the hatches to
renew the air of the _Nautilus_. Now, if, at this moment, the Papuans
should occupy the platform, I do not see how you could prevent them
from entering.”
“Then, sir, you suppose that they will board us?”
“I am certain of it.”
“Well, sir, let them come. I see no reason for hindering them. After
all, these Papuans are poor creatures, and I am unwilling that my visit
to the island should cost the life of a single one of these wretches.”
Upon that I was going away; But Captain Nemo detained me, and asked me
to sit down by him. He questioned me with interest about our excursions
on shore, and our hunting; and seemed not to understand the craving for
meat that possessed the Canadian. Then the conversation turned on
various subjects, and, without being more communicative, Captain Nemo
showed himself more amiable.
Amongst other things, we happened to speak of the situation of the
_Nautilus_, run aground in exactly the same spot in this strait where
Dumont d’Urville was nearly lost. Apropos of this:
“This D’Urville was one of your great sailors,” said the Captain to me,
“one of your most intelligent navigators. He is the Captain Cook of you
Frenchmen. Unfortunate man of science, after having braved the icebergs
of the South Pole, the coral reefs of Oceania, the cannibals of the
Pacific, to perish miserably in a railway train! If this energetic man
could have reflected during the last moments of his life, what must
have been uppermost in his last thoughts, do you suppose?”
So speaking, Captain Nemo seemed moved, and his emotion gave me a
better opinion of him. Then, chart in hand, we reviewed the travels of
the French navigator, his voyages of circumnavigation, his double
detention at the South Pole, which led to the discovery of Adelaide and
Louis Philippe, and fixing the hydrographical bearings of the principal
islands of Oceania.
“That which your D’Urville has done on the surface of the seas,” said
Captain Nemo, “that have I done under them, and more easily, more
completely than he. The Astrolabe and the Zelee, incessantly tossed
about by the hurricane, could not be worth the _Nautilus_, quiet
repository of labour that she is, truly motionless in the midst of the
waters.
“To-morrow,” added the Captain, rising, “to-morrow, at twenty minutes
to three p.m., the _Nautilus_ shall float, and leave the Strait of
Torres uninjured.”
Having curtly pronounced these words, Captain Nemo bowed slightly. This
was to dismiss me, and I went back to my room.
There I found Conseil, who wished to know the result of my interview
with the Captain.
“My boy,” said I, “when I feigned to believe that his _Nautilus_ was
threatened by the natives of Papua, the Captain answered me very
sarcastically. I have but one thing to say to you: Have confidence in
him, and go to sleep in peace.”
“Have you no need of my services, sir?”
“No, my friend. What is Ned Land doing?”
“If you will excuse me, sir,” answered Conseil, “friend Ned is busy
making a kangaroo-pie which will be a marvel.”
I remained alone and went to bed, but slept indifferently. I heard the
noise of the savages, who stamped on the platform, uttering deafening
cries. The night passed thus, without disturbing the ordinary repose of
the crew. The presence of these cannibals affected them no more than
the soldiers of a masked battery care for the ants that crawl over its
front.
At six in the morning I rose. The hatches had not been opened. The
inner air was not renewed, but the reservoirs, filled ready for any
emergency, were now resorted to, and discharged several cubic feet of
oxygen into the exhausted atmosphere of the _Nautilus_.
I worked in my room till noon, without having seen Captain Nemo, even
for an instant. On board no preparations for departure were visible.
I waited still some time, then went into the large saloon. The clock
marked half-past two. In ten minutes it would be high-tide: and, if
Captain Nemo had not made a rash promise, the _Nautilus_ would be
immediately detached. If not, many months would pass ere she could
leave her bed of coral.
However, some warning vibrations began to be felt in the vessel. I
heard the keel grating against the rough calcareous bottom of the coral
reef.
At five-and-twenty minutes to three, Captain Nemo appeared in the
saloon.
“We are going to start,” said he.
“Ah!” replied I.
“I have given the order to open the hatches.”
“And the Papuans?”
“The Papuans?” answered Captain Nemo, slightly shrugging his shoulders.
“Will they not come inside the _Nautilus?_”
“How?”
“Only by leaping over the hatches you have opened.”
“M. Aronnax,” quietly answered Captain Nemo, “they will not enter the
hatches of the _Nautilus_ in that way, even if they were open.”
I looked at the Captain.
“You do not understand?” said he.
“Hardly.”
“Well, come and you will see.”
I directed my steps towards the central staircase. There Ned Land and
Conseil were slyly watching some of the ship’s crew, who were opening
the hatches, while cries of rage and fearful vociferations resounded
outside.
The port lids were pulled down outside. Twenty horrible faces appeared.
But the first native who placed his hand on the stair-rail, struck from
behind by some invisible force, I know not what, fled, uttering the
most fearful cries and making the wildest contortions.
Ten of his companions followed him. They met with the same fate.
Conseil was in ecstasy. Ned Land, carried away by his violent
instincts, rushed on to the staircase. But the moment he seized the
rail with both hands, he, in his turn, was overthrown.
“I am struck by a thunderbolt,” cried he, with an oath.
This explained all. It was no rail; but a metallic cable charged with
electricity from the deck communicating with the platform. Whoever
touched it felt a powerful shock—and this shock would have been mortal
if Captain Nemo had discharged into the conductor the whole force of
the current. It might truly be said that between his assailants and
himself he had stretched a network of electricity which none could pass
with impunity.
Meanwhile, the exasperated Papuans had beaten a retreat paralysed with
terror. As for us, half laughing, we consoled and rubbed the
unfortunate Ned Land, who swore like one possessed.
But at this moment the _Nautilus_, raised by the last waves of the
tide, quitted her coral bed exactly at the fortieth minute fixed by the
Captain. Her screw swept the waters slowly and majestically. Her speed
increased gradually, and, sailing on the surface of the ocean, she
quitted safe and sound the dangerous passes of the Straits of Torres.
CHAPTER XXII
“ÆGRI SOMNIA”
The following day 10th January, the _Nautilus_ continued her course
between two seas, but with such remarkable speed that I could not