The Mysterious Island Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Captain Grant's Children

Chapter 115: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (46)
From this day on, no one dared to say where the "Nautilus" was going in the waters of the North Atlantic Ocean. In the hazy sea mist, it always maintained a flying speed.Does it approach the sharp point of Spockberg and the cliffs of New Zambia?Was it sailing through those mysterious White Seas, the Kara Sea, the Gulf of Ob, and the Lyarov Islands?Is it going to those deserted shores of Asiatic coasts?How long this time has passed, I have no idea, the big clock on the ship seems to have stopped.In this extreme northern sea, night and day have lost their regularity.I felt that I had entered a grotesque imaginary world, that strange space where Edgar Poe could move at will.

I made a rough estimate that this rapid run of the Nautilus might extend to fifteen or twenty days.Captain Nemo, his first mate, and other crew members disappeared, only the "Nautilus" kept driving under the water.As it came to the surface to exchange the air, the panels always moved mechanically, opening, closing, and opening again.The first officer no longer recorded the bearing on the map, which made it impossible for me to know where we were.

The Canadian appeared more anxious than ever, and at the end he was confined to the room, unable even to speak a word that Conseil wanted him to do.We feared that he would be suddenly deranged, that he might commit suicide under the influence of a terrible homesickness, and that Conseil would have to be by his side at all times.In this case, we are in a terrible situation.

One morning, I was falling asleep, a sickly kind of lethargy.When I woke up, I saw Ned Land leaning over me. He saw me open my eyes and said to me in a low voice, "Professor, let's run away!"

I stood up and asked, "When are you going to escape?"

"Just this night, the 'Nautilus' is without any management and supervision, and the ship seems to have completely fallen into a state of numbness. Sir, will you be ready for the night?"

"Yes, where is the ship now?"

"We are on the sea where we can see the land. This morning, through the thick fog, I saw land appearing about twenty nautical miles to the east."

"What kind of land is that?"

"I don't know, don't care what kind of land, we just escape there."

"Okay! Ned, if we escape tonight, even if we are swallowed by the sea, we will not hesitate!"

"The sea is very rough and the wind is very strong. We have to row twenty miles in the "Nautilus" in the runabout. It is nothing. We have waited too long for this day. I secretly prepared some Food and fresh water were not noticed by the crew on board."

"Don't worry, Ned, I will act with you."

"Besides," the Canadian continued, "if we were discovered, I would certainly fight back, even if I were killed."

"Keep going like this, we'd rather die than die, and we'll die together, my friend."

I had no scruples and made up my mind to escape.The Canadians went out quietly. When I came to the platform, the wind was so strong that I couldn't stand still. Waves hit me. Such weather made it more difficult to escape.But since there is land hiding behind the fog, there should be no hesitation in fleeing.Now we can no longer delay a day, an hour or even a minute.

I went back to the drawing room, afraid to meet the captain, but I wanted to meet him.What would I say to him if I met him?Can I hide my deep dislike for him!cannot!Then it's better not to see him, forgetting him is a beneficial and harmless thing, in fact, that's all there is to it!

If all goes well, this will be my last day on board the Nautilus. I will be alone, and Ned Land and Conseil will deliberately avoid talking to me for fear of accidents. leaked our plans.Six o'clock is dinner time. I'm not hungry. Although I don't want to eat, I still force myself to eat some. It takes physical strength to escape. At 06:30 Ned Land came into my room and whispered to me:

"Professor, I'll see you when we set off. The time is set at ten o'clock, before the moon has risen. We can escape quietly in the dark. The three of us will meet at the boat at ten o'clock, remember!"

The Canadian left in a hurry after speaking, without even giving me time to answer.

I wanted to reassure the direction of the "Nautilus", so I came to the living room, we were still 50 meters underwater, and we were heading north-northeast at an astonishing speed.

I went to the showroom and took a last look at the heaps of natural wonders, treasuries of art and invaluable private collections, destined to lie with their owners at the bottom of the sea.I want to try my best to remember them and keep them firmly in my mind.An hour passed in this way, and by the light of the electric lamp on the ceiling, I went over the splendid treasures in the glass case, and then I went back to my room.

I changed into sturdy clothes suitable for the sea, and organized my notes, wrapping them tightly and keeping them securely in close-fitting pockets.My heart was beating violently, and I could not restrain my emotions. If Captain Nemo saw me at this time, my attire and nervous mood would arouse his great suspicion.

What is the captain doing at this time?I went to the door of his room and listened carefully. I heard footsteps, and Captain Nemo was inside.He hadn't fallen asleep yet, and when I heard his movements, I thought he was about to come out, and asked me sharply why I ran away!My exaggerated imagination magnified the panic in my heart, and this feeling made me very uncomfortable.I thought to myself, maybe it would be easier to just rush to the captain's cabin, face to face with him, and challenge him with gestures and glances!
It was crazy thinking, luckily I got it under control.I lay in bed trying to calm my body and get some good rest.My nerves are gradually quieting down, but my brain is still running at high speed, replaying my life on the "Nautilus", that is, everything that has happened to me since I left the "Lincoln". There are joys and pains in it, and there are many accidents: underwater hunting, Dolles Strait, natives of Papua, stranded on a reef, coral cemetery, Suez underwater tunnel, Sandorin Island, divers in Crete, Vigo Bay, Atlantis, icebergs, Antarctica, trapped ice, bloody octopuses, storms in the warm Atlantic, "Revenge", and the terrible scene of sinking a battleship!All these things came together, like the background of a stage play, slowly unfolding scene by scene.Finally, Captain Nemo appeared on the stage, and his image came into focus. He is not my kind, he is a man of the water and a god of the sea.

It was 09:30 and my mind was chaotic and running high.I held my head tightly with both hands, fearing that it might burst.I dare not close my eyes, for fear that the scene after scene will disturb my mind again.I don't want to think about it, worrying that this escape plan will be aborted like before, and half an hour seems like a century.At this time, I heard the deep sound of the big organ, which was an indescribably sad music. I gave up four of my five senses, and just listened carefully with my ears, even reducing my breathing to a minimum, like playing a violin. Like the famous Captain Nemo, he was completely immersed in the fascination of the music.

It was not long before a dreadful thought disturbed me again, and terrified me: Captain Nemo had left his room, and he was in the drawing-room, waiting to stop me from escaping, and he wanted to speak to me!I was terrified to the extreme, as if a single gesture from him could fan me into the depths of the sea, preventing me from turning over forever.Fortunately, it was ten o'clock, and I mustered up the courage to leave the room to meet my companions.

At this time, I calmed down instead, without any hesitation, even if Captain Nemo was standing in front of me, I would rush over.I opened the door carefully, walked along the dark passage, groping forward step by step, stopping every step, suppressing my breathing and heartbeat.

I went to the door in the corner of the living room and opened it gently.The hall was completely dark, and the faint sound of the organ showed that Captain Nemo was in the room, and he did not notice me.I think he couldn't see me even under the bright light, because his soul was already attached to the dreamy music.I moved slowly on the carpet, careful not to bump into anything that might make a noise, and it took me five minutes to cross the living room and reach the door of the library.

I was about to open the door when Captain Nemo's sigh pinned me there.I knew he was on his feet, I could even see him, coming towards me with his hands folded, silent, like a ghost.I heard him whisper the following words, which were the last words I heard from Captain Nemo:

"God Almighty! Enough! Enough!"

Is this the remorse and confession from the depths of his conscience?What does he think is enough?Is it an act of revenge?Or our captivity?

Confused, I ran out of the library at a trot.I went up the central staircase, and followed the upper passage to the boat, where my two companions were already.

"Let's go! Go!" I yelled.

"Go now!" replied the Canadian.

Ned Land had a pair of pliers and began to unscrew the boat from the deck of the Nautilus.Suddenly, some voices came from inside the ship, many voices were calling each other urgently, what happened?Did someone notice we escaped?Ned Land took a short knife and put it in my hand.

"Very good!" I whispered, "We are not afraid of death!"

The Canadian had finished his work, when we heard a sentence, repeated many times by the crew, a very dreadful sentence, which explained the true cause of the disturbance on board the Nautilus:

"Storm in the Arctic Ocean! Storm in the Arctic Ocean!" they were shouting.

Arctic Ocean storm?Are we walking in dangerous seas off the coast of Norway? Was the Nautilus swept into the abyss by the storm before our boat left her?
Experienced sailors know that when the tide is high, the sea between the Ferroe Islands and the Lovdan Islands will surge violently and be extremely turbulent.They form dangerous eddies from which no ship can ever escape.At that time, monstrous waves will rush towards your boat from all directions until you are completely overturned, and the attraction of the vortex will extend to fifteen kilometers away.Around the vortex, not only ships, but also whales and polar bears are all sucked in together without exception.

In this way, the "Nautilus" was guided in by the captain intentionally or unintentionally, and it was quickly drawn in, rotating in a spiral shape, and the radius of rotation became smaller and smaller as it went backward.The boat was still attached to the "Nautilus", and it also rotated at an astonishing speed.In our extreme fear, the blood almost stopped, the nerves had already lost the function of controlling the body, and the whole body was covered with cold sweat.All around the flimsy boat was the roar of the storm, and the terrible clatter of the sea breaking against the sharp rocks of the bottom!On these rocks the strongest objects are smashed to pieces, with such force that a Norse idiom describes it, and even great tree trunks are mutilated into "shaggy furs"!
In this extremely dangerous and terrifying situation, the "Nautilus" stood guard like an indomitable fighter, its steel muscles rattling.It straightened up from time to time, and we also stood up with it!

"Hold on!" Ned yelled. "Tighten the screw again. We may be safe with the Nautilus..."

Before he could finish speaking, there was a rattling sound, the screw fell, and the boat was thrown from the restraints like a stone from a trebuchet, thrown into the vortex of the ocean.

My head hit an iron bar, and I lost consciousness immediately under the violent impact.

in conclusion
This is the end of our magical trip to the bottom of the sea. As for the details of that night, such as how our small boat narrowly escaped the vortex of the arctic ocean storm, how Ned Land, Conseil and I escaped from the bottomless Abyss, back to the human world, I can't say yet.Just the second day after I was knocked unconscious by the iron bars, when I woke up, I found myself lying in a fisherman's wooden house on the Lovdan Islands.My two companions were both auspicious and safe. They stood by my side nervously, and when they realized that I was awake, they immediately hugged me tightly.

We can't go back to France right away. There are very few means of transportation in the north and south of Norway, so we can only wait. The steamer for transportation only passes here once in half a month, and then we can leave.

While I was waiting, I went over my notebooks of novelty and adventures on the Nautilus, among the simple natives who took us in and provided us with board and lodging.These chronicles recorded and described the real events that happened before and after, without missing a single fact or exaggerating a single detail.It is a faithful record of a novel expedition in the untouched seabed, unimaginable by most people in this era. When science and technology develop one day in the future, this seabed will become a passage for human beings to come and go freely.

Will people on land believe my detailed records?I have no idea.The world's belief or unbelief doesn't mean much to me.What I know for sure is that I have the right and good reason to tell the story of these oceans that make up 70.00% of the surface of this planet.In less than ten months, my companions and I have sailed [-] miles in these oceans and deep seas, passing through the Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, Red Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Atlantic Ocean, and Arctic and South Arctic Oceans successively. Infinitely magical underwater travel around the world!
What happened to the Nautilus?Has it withstood the onslaught of the great arctic storm?Is Captain Nemo still alive?Would he continue his terrible vengeance under the ocean?Or did he repent in time after the last massacre, just like the last few words I heard, and completely stopped revenge?Will the sea one day bring to the world a manuscript in which his entire life experience is written?Is it still possible for me to know his real name? If the Nautilus can state its nationality, will it also tell us that of Captain Nemo?

I hope that all of the above can be realized, and at the same time, I hope that the powerful diving boat built by Captain Nemo can overcome the terrible abyss in the ocean, set sail again, and continue his ocean dream.I believe that the "Nautilus" can be used in any sea area on the earth, even in the sea where countless ships will sink, it can exist alone!If all this can be as I wish, I hope those past hatreds can be appeased in the depths of his stubborn heart!I hope that the infinite and magical landscape under the sea can extinguish the fire of revenge in his heart!I hope that he, the judge of injustice in the world and the executor, will sneak in front of the warships of mainland countries without a trace!May he, a gifted scholar, continue his peaceful undersea work!His fate is full of ups and downs, but it is also noble and great.Didn't I boast myself that I knew him well?Did I not live with him this supernatural life for ten months?So, to the question posed in the book of Ecclesiastes 6000 years ago: "Who will one day fathom the deepest depths of this abyss?" Now, of all the people in the world, I think only two have the right to answer The question, that is Captain Nemo and me.

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (End)
(End of this chapter)