Chapter 42
chapter forty-two of twenty thousand leagues under the sea chapter forty-two the devil-fish for some days the nautilus kept veering away from the american ghost it obviously didn't want to frequent the waves of the gulf of mexico or the caribbean sea yet there was no shortage of water under its keel since the average depth of these seas is one thousand eight hundred metres but these waterways strewn with islands and ploughed by streamers probably didn't agree with captain nemo on april sixteenth we raised martinique and guadalupe from a distance about thirty miles for one instant i could see their lofty peaks the canadian was quite disheartened having counted on putting his plans into execution in the gulf either by reaching shore or by pulling alongside one of the many boats plying a coastal trade from one island to another an escape attempt would have been quite feasible assuming ned land managed to seize the skip without the captain's knowledge
but in mid-ocean it was unthinkable the canadian conceal and i had a pretty long conversation on this subject for six months we had been prisoners aboard the nautilus we had fared seventeen thousand leagues and as ned land put it there was no end in sight so he made me a proposition i hadn't anticipated we were to ask captain nemo this question straight out did the captain mean to keep us on board his vessel permanently this measure was distasteful to me to my mind it would lead nowhere we could hope for nothing from the nautilus's commander but could depend only on ourselves besides for some time now the man had been gloomier more withdrawn less sociable he seemed to be avoiding me i encountered him only at rare intervals he used to take pleasure in explaining the underwater wonders to me now he left me to my research and no longer entered the lounge what changes had come over him from what cause i had no reason to blame myself was our presence on board perhaps a burden to him even so i cherished no hopes that the man would set us free
so i begged ned to let me think about it before taking action if this measure proved fruitless it could arouse the captain's suspicions make our circumstances even more arduous and jeopardise the canadian's plans i might add that i could hardly use our state of health as an argument except for that gruelling ordeal under the ice-bank at the south pole we had never felt better neither ned conceal nor i the nutritious food the life-giving air regular routine and uniform temperature kept illness at bay and for a man who didn't miss his past existence on land for a captain nemo who was at home here who went where he wished who took paths mysterious to others if not himself in attaining his ends i could understand such a life but we ourselves hadn't severed all ties with humanity for my part i didn't want my new and unusual research to be buried with my bones i had now earned the right to pen the definitive book on the sea and sooner or later i wanted that book to see the light of day there once more through the panels opening into these caribbean waters ten metres below the surface of the waves i found so many fascinating exhibits to describe in my daily notes
among other zoophytes there were portuguese men-of-war known by the name physalia pelagica like big oblong bladders with a pearly sheen spreading their membranes to the wind letting their blue tentacles drift like silken threads to the eye delightful jelly-fish to the touch-actual nettles that ooze a corrosive liquid among the articulates there were annalid worms one and a half metres long furnished with the pink proboscis equipped with a thousand seven hundred organs of locomotion snaking through the waters and as they went throwing off every gleam in the solar spectrum from the fish branch there were manta rays enormous cartilaginous fish ten feet long and weighing six hundred pounds their pectoral fin triangular their mid-back slightly arched their eyes attached to the edges of the face at the front of the head they floated like wreckage from a ship sometimes fastening on to our windows like opaque shutters
there were american trigger fish for which nature has ground only black and white pigments for the shaped garbies that were long and plump with yellow fins and jutting jaws sixteen decimetre mackerel with short sharp teeth covered with small scales and related to the albacore species next came swarms of red mullet corseted in gold strips from head to tail their shining fins all aquiver genuine masterpieces of jewellery formerly sacred to the goddess diana much in demand by rich romans and about which the old saying goes he who catches them doesn't eat them finally adorned with emerald ribbons and dressed in velvet and silk golden angel-fish passed before our eyes like courtiers in the paintings of veronese spurred gilt-head stole by with their swift thoracic fins thread herring fifteen inches long were wrapped in their phosphorescent glimmers
gray mullet thrashed the sea with their big fleshy tails red salmon seemed to mow the waves with their slicing pectorals and silver moon-fish worthy of their name rose on the horizon of the waters like the whitish reflections of many moons how many other marvellous new specimens i still could have observed if little by little the nautilus hadn't settled to the lower strata its slanting fins drew it to depths of two thousand and three thousand five hundred metres their animal life is represented by nothing more than sea-lilies starfish delightful crinoids with bell-shaped heads like little chalices on straight stems top-shell snails blood-red tooth shells and fissurella snails a large species of coastal mollusk by april twenty we had risen to an average level of a thousand five hundred metres the nearest land was the island group of the bahamas scattered like a batch of cobblestones over the surface of the water there high under water cliffs reared up straight walls made of craggy chunks arranged like big stone foundations
among which their gaped black caves so deep our electric rays couldn't light them to the far ends these rocks were hung with huge weeds immense sea tangle gigantic fucus a genuine trellis of water plants fit for a world of giants in discussing these colossal plants conceal ned and i were naturally led into mentioning the sea's gigantic animals the former were obviously meant to feed the latter however through the windows of our almost motionless nautilus i could see nothing among these long filaments other than the chief articulates of the division brachiora long-legged spider crabs violet crabs and sponge crabs unique to the waters of the caribbean it was about eleven o'clock when ned land drew my attention to a fearsome commotion out in this huge seaweed well i said these are real devil-fish caverns and i wouldn't be surprised to see some of those monsters hereabouts what conceal put in squid ordinary squid from the class cephalopoda
no i said devil-fish of large dimensions but friendland is no doubt mistaken because i don't see a thing that's regrettable conseil answered i'd like to come face to face with one of those devil-fish i've heard so much about which can drag ships down into the depths those beasts go by the name of craic fake is more like it the canady replied sarcastically crackens conceal shot back finishing his word without wincing at his companion's witticism nobody will ever make me believe ned land said that such animals exist why not conceal replied we sincerely believed in masters norwell we were wrong conceal no doubt but there are others with no doubts who believe to this day probably conceal but as for me i'm bound and determined not to accept the existence of any such monster till i've dissected it with my own two hands yes conceal asked me doesn't master believe in gigantic devil-fish yikes who in hades ever believed in them the canadian exclaimed
many people ned my friend i said no fishermen scientists maybe pardon me ned fishermen and scientists why i to whom you speak conceal said with the world's straightest face i recall perfectly seeing a large boat dragged under the waves by the arms of a cephalopod you saw that the canadian asked yes ned with your own two eyes with my own two eyes where may i ask in st marlowe concile returned unflappably in the harbour ned lane said sarcastically no in a church concile replied in a church the canadian exclaimed yes ned my friend it had a picture that portrayed the devil's fishing question oh good ned line exclaimed with a burst of laughter mr conceal put one over on me actually he's right i said i've heard about that picture but the subject it portrays is taken from a legend and you know how to rate legends in matters of natural history
besides when it's an issue of monsters human imagination always tends to run wild people not only claim these devil-fish could drag ships under but a certain olaus magnus tells of a cephalopod a mile long that looked more like an island than an animal there's also a story of how the bishop of trondheim set up an altar one day on an immense rock after he finished saying mass this rock started moving and went back into the sea the rock was a devil-fish and that's everything we know the canadian asked no i replied another bishop pontapidan of bergen also tells of a devil-fish so large a whole cavalry regiment could manoeuvre on it they sure did go on those old-time bishops ned land said finally the naturalists of antiquity mention some monsters with mouths as big as a gulf which were too huge to get through the strait of gibraltar good work men the canadian put in
but in all these stories is there any truth quinceale asked none at all my friends at least in those that go beyond the bounds of credibility and fly off into fable or legend yet for the imaginings of these story-tellers there had to be if not a cause at least an excuse it can't be denied that some species of squid and other devil-fish are quite large though still smaller than cetaceans aristotle put the dimensions of one square of five cubits or three point one meters our fishermen frequently see specimens over one point eight meters long the museums in trieste and montpellier have preserved some devil-fish carcasses measuring two meters besides according to the calculations of naturalists one of these animals only six feet long would have tentacles as long as twenty-seven which is enough to make a fearsome monster does anybody fish for em nowadays the canadian asked if they don't fish for them sailors at least sight them a friend of mine captain paul boss of le havre has often sworn to me that he encountered one of these monsters of colossal size in the seas of the east indies
the mrs sonnachin event which proves that these gigantic animals undeniably exist took place a few years ago in eighteen sixty one what event was that ned land asked just this in eighteen sixty one to the north-east of teneriffe and fairly near the latitude where we are right now the crew of the gunboat alecto spotted a monstrous squid swimming in their waters commander bourgier approached the animal and attacked it with blows from harpoons and blasts from rifles but without much success because bullets and harpoons crossed its soft flesh as if it were semi-liquid jelly after several fruitless attempts the crew managed to slip a noose around the mulloch's body this noose slid as far as the caudal fins and came to a halt then they tried to haul the monster on board but its weight was so considerable that when they tugged at the rope the animal parted company with its tail and deprived of this adornment it disappeared beneath the waters
finally an actual event ned land said an insputable event my gallant ned accordingly people have proposed naming this devil-fish bourgeois squid and how long was it the canadian asked didn't it measure about six metres said conceal who was stationed at the window when examining anew the crevices in the cliff precisely i replied wasn't its head conceal went on crowned by eight tentacles that quivered in the water like a nest of snakes precisely well its eyes prominently placed and considerably enlarged yes conceal and wasn't its mouth a real parrot's beak but a fearsome size correct well with all due respect to master conceal replied serenely if this isn't borgia's squid it's at least one of his close relatives
i stared at conceal ned land rushed to the window what an awful animal he exclaimed i stared in my turn and couldn't keep back a movement of revulsion for my eyes there quivered a horrible monster worthy of a place among the most far-fetched teratological legends it was a squid of colossal dimensions fully eight metres long it was travelling backward with tremendous speed in the same direction as the nautilus it gazed with enormous staring eyes that were tinted sea-green its eight arms or more accurately feet were rooted in its head which has earned these animals the name cephalopod its arms stretched a distance twice the length of its body and were writhing like the serpentine hair of the furies you could plainly see its two hundred and fifty suckers arranged over the inner sides of its tentacles and shaped like semi-spheric capsules sometimes these suckers fastened on to the lounge windows by creating vacuums against it the monster's mouth a beak made of horn and shaped like that of a parrot
open and closed vertically its tongue also of horn substance and armed with several rows of sharp teeth would flicker out from between these genuine shears what a freak of nature a bird's beak on a mollusk its body was spindle-shaped and swollen in the middle a fleshy mass that must have weighed twenty thousand to twenty five thousand kilograms its unstable colour would change with tremendous speed as the animal grew irritated passing successfully from bluish-gray to reddish-brown what was irritating this mollusk no doubt the presence of the nautilus even more fearsome than itself and which it couldn't grip with its mandibles or the suckers on its arms and yet what monsters these devil-fish are what vitality our creator has given them what vigour in their movements thanks to their owning a triple heart sheer chance had placed us in the presence of this squid and i didn't want to lose this opportunity to meticulously study such a cephalopod specimen i overcame the horror that its appearance inspired in me picked up a pencil and began to sketch it
perhaps this is the same as the electos conseil said can't be the canadian replied because this one's complete while the other one lost its tail that doesn't necessarily follow i said the arms and tails of these animals grow back through regeneration and in seven years the tail on bourgeois squid has certainly had time to sprout again anyhow ned shot back if it isn't this fellow maybe it's one of those indeed other devil-fish had appeared at the starboard window i counted seven of them they provided the nautilus with an escort and i could hear their beaks gnashing on the sheet-iron hull we couldn't have asked for a more devoted following i continued sketching these monsters kept pace in our waters with such precision they seemed to be standing still and i could have traced their outlines in miniature on the window but we were moving at a moderate speed all at once the nautilus stopped a jolt made it tremble through its entire framework did we strike bottom i asked in any event we're already clear the canadian replied because we're afloat
the nautilus was certainly afloat but it was no longer in motion the blades of its propeller weren't churning the waves a minute passed followed by his chief officer captain nemo entered the lounge i hadn't seen him for a good while he looked gloomy to me without speaking to us without even seeing us perhaps he went to the panel stared at the devil-fish and said a few words to his chief officer the latter went out soon the panels closed the ceiling lit up i went over to the captain an unusual assortment of devil-fish i told him as carefree as a collector in front of an aquarium correct mr naturalist he answered me and we're going to fight them at close quarters i gaped at the captain i thought my hearing had gone bad at close quarters i repeated yes sir our propeller is jammed i think the horn-covered mandibles of one of these squid are entangled in the blades that's why we aren't moving and what are you going to do rise to the surface and slaughter the vermin a difficult undertaking correct our electric bullets are ineffective against such soft flesh where they don't meet enough resistance to go off but we'll attack the beasts with axes
and harpoons sir the canadian said if you don't turn down my help i accepted mr land we'll go with you i said and we followed captain nemo heading to the central companionway there some ten men were standing by for the assault armed with boarding-axes conceal and i picked up two more axes ned land seized a harpoon by then the nautilus had returned to the surface of the waves stationed on the top steps one of the seamen under the bolts of the hatch but he had scarcely unscrewed the nuts when the hatch flew up with tremendous violence obviously pulled open by the suckers on a devil-fish's arm instantly one of those long arms glided like a snake into the opening and twenty others were quivering above with a sweep of the axe captain nemo chopped off this fearsome tentacle which slid writhing down the steps just as we were crowding each other to reach the platform two more arms lashed the air swooped on the seamen stationed in front of captain nemo and carried the fellow away with irresistible violence captain nemo gave a shout and leapt outside we rushed after him
what a scene seized by the tentacle and glued to its succours the unfortunate man was swinging in the air at the mercy of this enormous appendage he gasped he choked he yelled help help these words pronounced in french left me deeply stunned so i had a full of countrymen on board perhaps several i'll hear his harrowing plea the rest of my life the poor fellow has done for who could tear him from such a powerful grip even so captain nemo rushed at the devil-fish and with a sweep of the axe hewed one more of its arms his chief officer struggled furiously with other monsters crawling up the nautilus's sides the crew battled with flailing axes the canadian conceal and i sank our weapons into these fleshy masses an intense musky odour filled the air it was horrible for an instant i thought the poor man entwined by the devil-fish might be torn loose from its powerful suction seven arms out of eight had been chopped off
brandishing its victim like a feather one lone tentacle was writhing in the air but just as captain nemo and his chief officer rushed at it the animal shot off a spout of blackish liquid secreted by a pouch located in its abdomen it blinded us when this cloud had disappeared the squid was gone and so was my poor fellow-countryman what rage then drove us against these monsters we lost all self-control ten and twelve devil-fish had overrun the nautilus's platform and sides we piled helter-skelter into the thick of these sawed-off snakes which darted over the platform amid waves of blood and sepia ink it seemed as if these viscous tentacles grew back like the many heads of hydra at every thrust ned land's harpoon would plunge into a squid's sea-green eye and burst it but my daring companion was suddenly toppled by the tentacles of a monster he could not avoid oh my heart nearly exploded with excitement and horror the squid's fearsome beak was wide open over ned land the poor man was about to be cut in half i ran to his rescue but captain nemo got there first
his axe disappeared between the two enormous mandibles and the canadian miraculously saved stood and plunged his harpoon all the way into the devil-fish's triple heart tit for tat captain nemo told the canadian i owed it to myself ned bowed without answering him the struggle had lasted a quarter of an hour defeated mutilated battered to death the monsters finally yielded to us and disappeared beneath the waves red with blood motionless by the beacon captain nemo stared at the sea that had swallowed one of his companions and large tears streamed from his eyes chapter forty two
