menu_book Chapter 46

CHAPTER XXII. the last words of captain nemo the panels closed over this frightful view but the lights didn't go on in the lounge inside the nautilus all was gloom and silence it left this place of devastation with prodigious speed one hundred feet beneath the waters where was it going north or south where would the man flee after this horrible act of revenge i re-entered my stateroom where ned and conse were waiting silently captain nemo filled me with insurmountable horror whatever he had once suffered at the hands of humanity he had no right to mete out such punishment he had made me if not an accomplice at least an eye-witness to his vengeance even this was intolerable at eleven o'clock the electric lights came back on i went into the lounge it was deserted

i consulted the various instruments the nautilus was fleeing northward at a speed of twenty-five miles per hour sometimes on the surface of the sea sometimes thirty feet beneath it after our position had been marked on the chart i saw that we were passing into the mouth of the english channel that our heading would take us to the northernmost seas with incomparable speed i could barely glimpse the swift passing of long-nosed sharks hammer-head sharks spotted dog-fish that frequent these waters big eagle rays swarms of sea-horse looking like knights on a chess-board eels quivering like fireworks serpents armies of crab that fled obliquely by crossing their pincers over their carapaces finally schools of porpoise that held contests of speed with the nautilus but by this point observing studying and classifying were out of the question by evening we had cleared two hundred leagues up the atlantic shadows gathered and gloom overran the sea until the moon came up

i repaired to my state-room i couldn't sleep i was assaulted by nightmares that horrible scene of destruction kept repeating in my mind's eye from that day forward who knows where the nautilus took us in the north atlantic basin always at incalculable speed always amid the high arctic mists did it call at the capes of spitzbergen or the shores of novia did it visit such uncharted seas as the white sea the kara sea the gulf of ob the lochof islands or those unknown beaches on the siberian coast i'm unable to say i lost track of the passing hours time was in abeyance on the ship's clocks as happens in the polar regions it seemed that night and day no longer followed their normal sequence i felt myself being drawn into that strange domain where the overwrought imagination of edgar allan poe was at home like his fabled arthur gordon

i expect at any moment to see that shrouded human figure very far larger in its proportions than any dweller among men thrown across the cataract that protects the outskirts of the pole i estimate but perhaps i'm mistaken that the nautilus's haphazard course continued for fifteen or twenty days and i'm not sure how long this would have gone on without the catastrophe that ended our voyage as for captain nemo he was no longer in the picture as for his chief officer the same applied not one crewman was visible for a single instant the nautilus cruised beneath the waters almost continuously when it rose briefly to the surface to renew our air the hatches opened and closed as if automated no more positions were reported on the world map i didn't know where we were i also mentioned that the canadian at the end of his strength and patience made no further appearances conce couldn't coax a single word out of him and feared that in a fit of delirium while under the sway of a ghastly homesickness ned would kill himself

so he kept a devoted watch on his friend every instant you can appreciate that under these conditions our situation had become untenable one morning whose date i'm unable to specify i was slumbering near the first hours of daylight a painful sickly slumber waking up i saw ned land leaning over me and i heard him tell me in a low voice we're going to escape i sat up when i asked to-night there doesn't seem to be any supervision left on the nautilus you'd think a total daze was raining on board will you be ready sir yes where are we in sight of land i saw it through the mists just this morning twenty miles to the east what land is it i've no idea but whatever it is there we'll take refuge yes ned we'll escape to-night even if the sea swallows us up the sea's rough the wind's blowing hard but a twenty-mile run in the nautilus's nimble long-boat doesn't scare me unknown to the crew i've stowed some food and flasks of water inside i'm with you what's more the canadian added if they catch me i'll defend myself i'll fight to the death then we'll die together ned my friend my mind was made up

the canadian left me i went out on the platform where i could barely stand upright against the jolts of the billows the skies were threatening but land lay inside those dense mists and we had to escape not a single day or even a single hour could we afford to lose i returned to the lounge dreading yet desiring an encounter with captain nemo wanting yet not wanting to see him what would i say to him how could i hide the involuntary horror he inspired in me no it was best not to meet him face to face best to try and forget him and yet how long that day seemed the last i would spend aboard the nautilus i was left to myself ned land and kensei avoided speaking to me afraid they would give themselves away at six o'clock i ate supper but i had no appetite despite my revulsion i forced it down wanting to keep my strength up at six thirty ned land entered my stateroom he told me we won't see each other again before we go at ten o'clock the moon won't be up yet we'll take advantage of the darkness come to the skiff conse and i will be inside waiting for you

the canadian left without giving me time to answer him i wanted to verify the nautilus's heading i made my way to the lounge we were racing north-north-east with frightful speed fifty metres down i took one last look at the natural wonders and artistic treasures amassed in the museum this unrivalled collection doomed to perish some day in the depths of the seas together with its curator i wanted to establish one supreme impression in my mind i stayed there an hour basking in the aura of the ceiling lights passing in review the treasures shining in their glass cases then i returned to my stateroom there i dressed in sturdy seafaring clothes i gathered my notes and packed them tenderly about my person my heart was pounding mightily i couldn't curb its pulsations my anxiety and agitation would certainly have given me away if captain nemo had seen me what was he doing just then i listened at the door to his stateroom i heard the sound of footsteps captain nemo was inside he hadn't gone to bed with his every movement i imagined he would appear and ask me why i wanted to escape

i felt in a perpetual state of alarm my imagination magnified this sensation the feeling became so acute i wondered whether it wouldn't be better to enter the captain's stateroom dare him face to face brave it out with word and deed it was an insane idea fortunately i controlled myself and stretched out on the bed to soothe my bodily agitation my nerves calmed a little but with my brain so aroused i did a swift review of my whole existence aboard the nautilus every pleasant or unpleasant incident that had crossed my path since i went aboard from the abraham lincoln the under-water hunting trip the torres strait our running aground the savages of papua the carl cemetery the suez passageway the island of santorini the cretan diver the bay of vigo atlantis the ice bank the south pole our imprisonment in the ice the battle with the devil fish the storm in the gulf stream the avenger and that horrible scene of the vessel sinking with its crew all these events passed before my eyes like back-drops unrolling up stage in a theatre

in this strange setting captain nemo then grew fantastically his features were accentuated taking on superhuman proportions he was no longer my equal he was the man of the waters the spirit of the seas by then it was nine-thirty i held my head in both hands to keep it from bursting i closed my eyes i no longer wanted to think a half-hour still to wait a half-hour of nightmares that could drive me insane just then i heard indistinct chords from the organ melancholy harmonies from some undefinable hymn actual pleadings from a soul trying to sever its earthly ties i listened with all my senses at once barely breathing immersed like captain nemo in this musical trance that was drawing him beyond the bounds of this world then a sudden thought terrified me captain nemo had left his stateroom he was in the same lounge i had to cross in order to escape there i would encounter him one last time

he would see me perhaps speak to me one gesture from him could obliterate me a single word shackle me to his vessel even so ten o'clock was about to strike it was time to leave my stateroom and rejoin my companions i dared not hesitate even if captain nemo stood before me i opened the door cautiously but as it swung on its hinges it seemed to make a frightful noise this noise existed perhaps only in my imagination i crept forward through the nautilus's dark gangways pausing after each step to curb the pounding of my heart i arrived at the corner door of the lounge i opened it gently the lounge was plunged in profound darkness chords from the organ were reverberating faintly captain nemo was there he didn't see me even in broad daylight i doubt that he would have noticed me so completely was he immersed in his trance

i inched over the carpet avoiding the tiniest bump whose noise might give me away it took me five minutes to reach the door at the far end which led into the library i was about to open it when a gasp from captain nemo nailed me to the spot i realized that he was standing up i even got a glimpse of him because some rays of light from the library had filtered into the lounge he was coming toward me arms crossed silent not walking but gliding like a ghost his chest was heaving swelling with sobs and i heard him murmur these words the last of his to reach my ears oh almighty god enough enough was it a vow of repentance that had just escaped from this man's conscience frantic i rushed into the library i climbed the central companionway and going along the upper gangway i arrived at the skiff i went through the opening that had already given access to my two companions let's go let's go i exclaimed right away the canadian replied

first ned land closed and bolted the opening cut into the nautilus's sheet-iron using the monkey wrench he had with him after likewise closing the opening in the skiff the canadian began to unscrew the nut still bolting us to the underwater boat suddenly a noise from the ship's interior became audible voices were answering each other hurriedly what was it had they spotted our escape i felt ned land sliding a dagger into my hand yes i muttered we know how to die the canadian paused in his work but one word twenty times repeated one dreadful word told me the reason for the agitation spreading aboard the nautilus we weren't the cause of the crew's concern maelstrom maelstrom they were shouting the maelstrom could a more frightening name have rung in our ears under more frightening circumstances were we lying in the dangerous waterways off the norwegian coast was the nautilus being dragged into this whirlpool just as the skiff was about to detach from its plating as you know at the turn of the tide

the waters confined between the faro and lothoten islands rush out with irresistible violence they form a vortex from which no ship has ever been able to escape monstrous waves race together from every point of the horizon they form a whirlpool aptly called the ocean's navel whose attracting power extends a distance of fifteen kilometers it can suck down not only ships but whales and even polar bears from the northernmost regions this was where the nautilus had been sent accidentally or perhaps deliberately by its captain it was sweeping around in a spiral whose radius kept growing smaller and smaller the skiff still attached to the ship's plating was likewise carried around at dizzying speed i could feel us whirling i was experiencing that accompanying nausea that follows such continuous spinning motions we were in dread in the last stages of sheer horror our blood frozen in our veins our nerves numb drenched in cold sweat as if from the throes of dying and what a noise around our frail skiff what roars echoing from several miles away what crashes from the waters breaking against sharp rocks on the sea floor where the hardest objects are smashed where tree trunks are worn down and worked into a

shaggy fur as norwegians express it what a predicament we were rocking frightfully the nautilus defended itself like a human being its steel muscles were cracking sometimes it stood on end the three of us along with it we've got to hold on tight ned said and screw the nuts down again if we can stay attached to the nautilus we can still make it he hadn't finished speaking when a cracking sound occurred the nuts gave way and ripped out of its socket the skiff was hurled like a stone from a sling into the midst of the vortex my head struck against an iron timber and with this violent shock i lost consciousness chapter twenty two recording by sherry gardner