Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea

e steward whom Captain Nemo had placed at my service.

emo was a

id he, "are you

m re

ase to fo

ompanions

een told and

t on our diver's

Manaar Bank; but the boat is ready, and will take us to the exact point of disembarking, which will save

re already there, delighted at the idea of the "pleasure party" which was preparing. Five sailors

e parts of the horizon, from south-west to north west. The Nautilus, having returned during the night up the western coast of Ceylon, was now west of the bay, or rather gulf, formed

n of the boat. The master went to the tiller; his four companions

ds, according to the method generally adopted in the navy. Whilst the craft was running by its own velocity, the liquid drops struck the dark depths of

proaching, and which he found too near to him, contrary to the Canadian's opinio

e mist on the water. At six o'clock it became suddenly daylight, with that rapidity peculiar to tropical regions, which know neither dawn nor twilight. The solar rays pierced the curtain of clouds, piled up on the eastern

rcely ran, for it was little more than a yard deep, and this

s, and these are the waters their divers will ransack so boldly. Happily, this bay is well situated for that kind of fishing. It is sheltered from the

the sailors to put on my heavy sea-dress. Captain Nemo and my companions were al

d to our backs by braces. As to the Ruhmkorff apparatus, there was no necessity for i

ough to light our walk. Besides, it would not be prudent to carry the electric light in these water

and Ned Land. But my two friends had already encased their h

n remained to as

s?" asked I;

a dagger in their hand, and is not steel surer than lead?

re than that, Ned Land was brandishing an enormous harpoon,

were at once in activity. An instant after we were landed, one after the other, in about two yards of water upon an even s

d which might easily be mistaken for a conger eel if it were not for the golden stripes on its side. In the genus stromateus, whose bodies are very flat and oval, I saw some of the most brilliant colours, carrying their dorsal fin l

f these branches I noticed some placenae, with thin unequal shells, a kind of ostracion peculiar to the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean; some orange lucinae with rounded shells; rockfish three feet and a half long, which

s, were layers of clumsy articulates, particularly some raninae, whose carap

t last surveying the oyster-banks on which

ried by his side with some of the finest specimens. But we could not stop. We must follow the Captain, who seemed to guide him self by paths known only to himself. The ground was sensibly rising, and sometimes, on holding up my arm, it was above the surface of the sea. Then

illars, standing broad upon their granite base, like the heavy columns of Tuscan architecture. Why had our incomprehensible guide led us to the bottom of this submarine crypt? I was soon to know. After descending a rather sharp declivity, our feet trod the bottom of a kind of circular pit. There Captain Nemo stopped, and with his hand indicated an object I had not yet perceived. It was an oyster of extraordinary dimensions, a gigantic tridacne, a goblet which could have contained a whole la

a cloak for the creature. There, between the folded plaits, I saw a loose pearl, whose size equalled that of a coco-nut. Its globular shape, perfect clearness, and admirable lustre made it altogether a jewel of inestimable value. Carried away by my curiosity, I stretched out my hand to seize it, weigh it, and touch it; but the Captain stopped me,

to returning. No; by a gesture he bade us crouch beside him in a deep fracture of th

squieting idea of sharks shot through my mind, but I was mistaken; and onc

up successively. A stone held between his feet, cut in the shape of a sugar loaf, whilst a rope fastened him to his boat, helped him to descend more rapidly. This was all his apparatus. Reaching the bottom, a

ail of the fishing? Several times he went up in this way, and dived again. He did not carry away more than ten at each plunge, for he was obliged to pull them from the bank to which they adhered by means of their s

ng, when suddenly, as the Indian was on the ground, I saw him make a gest

unate diver. It was a shark of enormous size advancing diagonally, his e

imself on one side to avoid the shark's fins; but not its t

saw Captain Nemo rise suddenly, and then, dagger in hand, walk straight to the monster, ready to fight face to face with him. The very mom

irable coolness; and, when it rushed at him, threw himself on one side with wonderful quickness, avoidin

I could distinguish nothing more. Nothing more until the moment when, like lightning, I saw the undaunted Captain hanging on to one of the creatur

he water with such fury that the

assistance, but, nailed to the s

which leant upon him. The shark's jaws opened wide, like a pair of factory shears, and it would have been all over with

at them with indescribable fury. Ned Land had not missed his aim. It was the monster's death-rattl

ent straight to the Indian, quickly cut the cord which held him to his stone, t

seconds, saved by a miracle, an

id not think he could succeed. I hoped so, for the poor creature's immersion w

heads leaning over him! And, above all, what must he have thought when Captain Nemo, drawing from the pocket of his dress a bag of pearls, placed it in his hand! This munificent charity

ng the road already traversed, came in about half an hour to

the help of the sailors, got

first word was

Master Lan

ptain," replied Ned La

across the Captain's

autilus,"

gnised the terrible melanopteron of the Indian Seas, of the species of shark so properly called. It was more than twenty-five feet long; its enor

s beasts appeared round the boat; and, without noticing us, threw the

tilus. There I reflected on the incidents which h

o, the other upon his devotion to a human being, a representative of that race from which he fled benea

tion to him, he answered

oppressed country; and I am still, and s