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half mile, broke the darkness of the waters. It was the lantern of the Nautilus. Before twenty minutes were
over we should be on board, and I should be able to breathe with ease, for it seemed that my reservoir
supplied air very deficient in oxygen. But I did not reckon on an accidental meeting which delayed our arrival
for some time.
I had remained some steps behind, when I presently saw Captain Nemo coming hurriedly towards me. With
his strong hand he bent me to the ground, his companion doing the same to Conseil. At first I knew not what
to think of this sudden attack, but I was soon reassured by seeing the Captain lie down beside me, and remain
immovable.
I was stretched on the ground, just under the shelter of a bush of algae, when, raising my head, I saw some
enormous mass, casting phosphorescent gleams, pass blusteringly by.
My blood froze in my veins as I recognised two formidable sharks which threatened us. It was a couple of
tintoreas, terrible creatures, with enormous tails and a dull glassy stare, the phosphorescent matter ejected
from holes pierced around the muzzle. Monstrous brutes! which would crush a whole man in their iron jaws. I
did not know whether Conseil stopped to classify them; for my part, I noticed their silver bellies, and their
huge mouths bristling with teeth, from a very unscientific point of view, and more as a possible victim than as
a naturalist.
Happily the voracious creatures do not see well. They passed without seeing us, brushing us with their
brownish fins, and we escaped by a miracle from a danger certainly greater than meeting a tiger full-face in
the forest. Half an hour after, guided by the electric light we reached the Nautilus. The outside door had been
left open, and Captain Nemo closed it as soon as we had entered the first cell. He then pressed a knob. I heard
the pumps working in the midst of the vessel, I felt the water sinking from around me, and in a few moments
the cell was entirely empty. The inside door then opened, and we entered the vestry.
There our diving-dress was taken off, not without some trouble, and, fairly worn out from want of food and
sleep, I returned to my room, in great wonder at this surprising excursion at the bottom of the sea.
CHAPTER XVII 58
CHAPTER XVII
FOUR THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE PACIFIC
The next morning, the 18th of November, I had quite recovered from my fatigues of the day before, and I
went up on to the platform, just as the second lieutenant was uttering his daily phrase.
I was admiring the magnificent aspect of the ocean when Captain Nemo appeared. He did not seem to be
aware of my presence, and began a series of astronomical observations. Then, when he had finished, he went
and leant on the cage of the watch-light, and gazed abstractedly on the ocean. In the meantime, a number of
the sailors of the Nautilus, all strong and healthy men, had come up onto the platform. They came to draw up
the nets that had been laid all night. These sailors were evidently of different nations, although the European
type was visible in all of them. I recognised some unmistakable Irishmen, Frenchmen, some Sclaves, and a
Greek, or a Candiote. They were civil, and only used that odd language among themselves, the origin of
which I could not guess, neither could I question them.
The nets were hauled in. They were a large kind of "chaluts," like those on the Normandy coasts, great
pockets that the waves and a chain fixed in the smaller meshes kept open. These pockets, drawn by iron poles,
swept through the water, and gathered in everything in their way. That day they brought up curious specimens
from those productive coasts.
I reckoned that the haul had brought in more than nine hundredweight of fish. It was a fine haul, but not to be
wondered at. Indeed, the nets are let down for several hours, and enclose in their meshes an infinite variety.
We had no lack of excellent food, and the rapidity of the Nautilus and the attraction of the electric light could
always renew our supply. These several productions of the sea were immediately lowered through the panel to
the steward's room, some to be eaten fresh, and others pickled.
The fishing ended, the provision of air renewed, I thought that the Nautilus was about to continue its
submarine excursion, and was preparing to return to my room, when, without further preamble, the Captain
turned to me, saying:
"Professor, is not this ocean gifted with real life? It has its tempers and its gentle moods. Yesterday it slept as
we did, and now it has woke after a quiet night. Look!" he continued, "it wakes under the caresses of the sun.
It is going to renew its diurnal existence. It is an interesting study to watch the play of its organisation. It has a
pulse, arteries, spasms; and I agree with the learned Maury, who discovered in it a circulation as real as the
circulation of blood in animals.
"Yes, the ocean has indeed circulation, and to promote it, the Creator has caused things to multiply in
it--caloric, salt, and animalculae."
When Captain Nemo spoke thus, he seemed altogether changed, and aroused an extraordinary emotion in me.
"Also," he added, "true existence is there; and I can imagine the foundations of nautical towns, clusters of
submarine houses, which, like the Nautilus, would ascend every morning to breathe at the surface of the
water, free towns, independent cities. Yet who knows whether some despot----"
Captain Nemo finished his sentence with a violent gesture. Then, addressing me as if to chase away some
sorrowful thought:
"M. Aronnax," he asked. "do you know the depth of the ocean?"
"I only know, Captain, what the principal soundings have taught us."
CHAPTER XVII 59
"Could you tell me them, so that I can suit them to my purpose?"
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