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

Chapter 75: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (6)
At [-]:[-] in the evening, another electric light lit up on the sea three nautical miles in front of the battleship, still as intense and dazzling as last night.

The narwhal seemed motionless, following the waves of the sea.Maybe I was too tired from running during the day and fell asleep.Captain Farragut felt that this was a good opportunity and decided to make good use of it.

He gave the order.In order not to wake up the opponent, the "Lincoln" reduced its speed and drove cautiously.It was not uncommon to encounter sleeping whales in the sea and succeed in attacking them. Ned Land had harpooned whales more than once when they were asleep.The Canadian was under the bowsprit again, and took up his old post.

The battleship moved forward silently and slowly. When it was about 370 meters away from the monster, the valve was closed, and the ship moved by inertia.The people on board held their breath.There was silence on deck.We were within a hundred feet of the white-hot focal point, whose luminosity grew stronger and dazzled our eyes.

At this time, I leaned on the railing in front of the bow and looked at Ned Land below. He was pulling the sail with one hand and swinging the sharp harpoon in his hand with the other.He was within twenty feet of the sleeping animal.

Suddenly, with a jerk of his arm, he threw the harpoon.I heard the crisp sound of the harpoon, as if it had collided with a hard shell.

The lightning on the opposite side suddenly went out, and two huge water jets sprayed towards the deck of the battleship, like a torrent rushing from the bow to the stern, knocking down the people on board and knocking down the ropes of the parapet mast. broken.

Then, our boat was hit hard, and before I could get my footing, I was thrown over the rail of the boat into the sea.

unknown species of whale

Although I was terrified by the sudden fall, I still remember the feeling very well.

In one fell swoop I was thrown into the depths of the sea about twenty feet.Although I sank in deep water, my mind was very clear.I was a master swimmer, certainly not comparable to a master swimmer like Byron or Eddie Poe.As soon as I pushed hard with my feet, I floated out of the water.

Finding the position of the battleship with my eyes is one of the things I care about most after surfacing.Did the people on the boat know that I was thrown overboard? Did the USS Lincoln change course?Did Captain Farragut put the boat into the sea?Is there any hope for me to be rescued?
It was pitch black all around.I vaguely saw a bunch of dark things slowly disappearing in the east, because I couldn't see its beacon clearly because of the distance.That must be our battleship.I think I'm screwed.

"Help me! Help me!" I yelled loudly, swimming toward the "Lincoln" desperately with both hands.

The clothes on my body were wet and stuck to my body, which was very obstructive, and I couldn't exert myself.I can't breathe!I'm sinking...

"help me!"

This is my last call.I choked a lot of sea water in my mouth.I'm struggling hard, I'm about to be drawn into the abyss...

Suddenly, I felt a strong hand grabbing my clothes, and I was lifted out of the water. I heard voices in my ears. Yes, someone was indeed speaking in my ears:

"It will be a lot easier if the husband is willing to lie on my shoulders."

I seized my faithful Conseil by the arm.

"It's you!" I said, "So it's you!"

"Sir, it is I," Conseil replied, "I am willing to obey the orders of sir."

"Did you be thrown into the sea with me when you were hit just now?"

"That's not it. I jumped off with my husband to serve him!

What a respectable lad, he took it for granted!

"Where did the battleship go?" I asked.

"Where's the battleship?" Conseil turned around while answering, "I don't think you should count on that battleship anymore, sir!"

"What did you say?"

"I mean, as soon as I jumped into the sea, I heard the man at the helm yell, 'The rudder and the propeller are broken.'"

"What? All broken?"

"Yes! It was bitten by the monster's teeth. A little injury to the Lincoln, I think. But it's not a good situation for us, because the ship's rudder is out of order. "

"So we're done!"

"Maybe," Conseil replied very calmly, "However, we can last for a few more hours, and we can do a lot of things in these few hours!"

I was encouraged by Conseil's firm and calm words.I swam more vigorously, but my clothes wrapped me up like a piece of lead, it made my movements impossible, and I found it hard to hold on.Conseil saw this.

"Sir, allow me to cut off your clothes," he said.

He put a knife under my dress and quickly slit it from top to bottom.Then, he nimbly helped me take off my clothes, and I grabbed him and started swimming.

Then, I also took off Conseil's clothes, and we started "sailing" side by side on the water.

However, we are still in a precarious situation.Our disappearance may not have been discovered, and even if we were discovered, it is impossible for the damaged battleship to come back here to rescue us.Now the dinghy on the big ship is our only reference.

Conseil analyzed this assumption soberly, and planned his subsequent plans accordingly.The character of this young man is really strange!He was as calm and calm as if he was in his own home!
He believed that since our only hope now is to hope that the "Lincoln" will drop the boat to save us, so we should find a way and try to persevere as long as possible so that we can wait until the boat arrives.So, in order not to exhaust both of us at the same time, I decided that we should use our strength separately.Here's what we've agreed upon: one of us, arms folded, legs outstretched, lies on his back, afloat, and the other pushes the man forward while swimming.This kind of "tugboat" work can not exceed 10 minutes per person. If we do this alternately, we can float on the water for several hours, maybe until dawn.

This is a matter of luck!But hope is rooted in people's hearts!And, there are still two of us.Finally, I can be sure that although this seems impossible, to break all the illusions in my heart, even if I force myself to "despair", I can't do it now!

The collision between the battleship and the whale happened around eleven o'clock at night.So we had to swim another eight hours before the sun came up.If we alternate swimming in this way, we can definitely continue to swim for eight hours.The sea is calm and calm, which saves us a lot of energy.Sometimes I want to see through this thick darkness with my eyes, but I can't see anything. The only thing breaking the darkness is a little flash of light from the waves stirred up by our movements.I watched the glistening waves as they were broken into spray by my arms, sparkling on the calm sea as if we were swimming in a bath of mercury.

Around one o'clock in the morning, I felt extremely tired.Limbs spasmed violently and became more and more stiff.Conseil had to come to my aid, so the burden of keeping both of us alive fell entirely on his shoulders.After a while, I heard the poor boy begin to gasp, and his breathing became more and more rapid.I understand that he can't support it for too long.

"Let go of me! Leave me alone!" I said to him.

He replied: "It will never be possible for me to abandon my husband! Even if I die, I will die before my husband!"

At this time, a thick cloud was blown eastward by the wind, and the moon emerged from the edge of the cloud.The sea sparkles under the moonlight.This benevolent moon refreshed and strengthened me.I raised my head and looked around.I saw the battleship, about five nautical miles away from us, and from a distance, it was pitch black.However, there was not a single boat!
I want to shout.But at such a distance, what's the use of shouting!And my lips were swollen, and I couldn't make a sound.Conseil was still able to speak, and I heard him shout several times: "Help! Help!"

We stopped moving and listened.Although my ears were buzzing with blood, I felt as if someone was responding to Conseil's call.

"Did you hear that?" I asked weakly.

"I heard it! I heard it!"

Then, Conseil uttered a desperate cry towards the endless sea.

This time, you can't go wrong!Someone is indeed answering our cries!Was it the voice of a victim cast in the sea?Another victim of the collision?Or is it a skiff of the battleship calling to us in the dark?
Conseil exerted his last strength and supported my shoulders. I tried to resist my last convulsions. He raised half of his body to the surface of the water for a look, and then lay down again exhausted.

"Conseil, what did you see?"

"I saw it..." he murmured, "I saw it...let's not talk yet...save some strength..."

What did he see?I don't know why at the time, that monster suddenly flashed in my mind... But what about that voice... It's not Jonah now. Jonah, a prophet in the Bible, met at sea In the wind and waves, he hid in the belly of the whale for three days and was finally rescued.It's time to hide in the belly of a whale to survive!
Conseil was still dragging me forward.From time to time, he raised his head to look ahead, and shouted for help, and the voice that answered him was getting closer.I can hardly hear anything, my strength is exhausted, and my fingers are too stiff to move; my mouth is constantly twitching, and it will be filled with salty sea water when I open it; I feel weak all over .I lifted my head one last time and then sank...

Just then, a hard object touched me and I leaned against it.Then, I felt someone pull me to the surface, my chest stopped swelling, and then, I passed out...

Due to the strong friction of my body, I quickly regained consciousness.I opened my eyes in a daze...

"Conseil!" I murmured.

"Did sir call me?" Conseil asked me.

At this time, the moon was sinking slowly to the west, and under its last ray, it was not Conseil's face that I saw, but I recognized him immediately.

"Ned Land!" I called.

"It's me, sir, who's after his bonus!" replied the Canadian.

"Were you also thrown into the sea when the battleship collided with that monster?"

"Yes, professor, I was a little luckier than you, I stood on a small floating island almost immediately."

"A small island?"

"Yes, or, to put it more plainly, on the great narwhal."

"Please speak clearly, Ned Land."

"Simple. I soon understood why my harpoon couldn't hurt it, why it was blunt when it touched the skin."

"Why? Ned Land, why?"

"Because that thing is made of steel, Professor!"

Hearing this, I tried to pull myself together, recalled those past events, and re-examined my previous thoughts.

The last few words the Canadian said brought about an immediate change in my mind.This creature or object, which is now our temporary refuge, was half submerged in the sea, and I quickly climbed on top of it.I tried to kick it with my foot, and it was obvious that it was a solid, impenetrable hard object, not the soft matter that makes up the bulky bodies of marine mammals.

However, this hard object may be a kind of bony carapace, like the carapace of animals in ancient times. If this is the case, I can classify this monster among amphibious reptiles, such as turtles, crocodiles, remote Dragons and such.

But no!The gray-black back under my feet is shiny and slippery, without scales.What's even more incredible is that when you hit it, it will emit a metallic echo. How should I put it, it seems that this thing... I can only say that it is made of iron plates riveted with screws.

There can be no more doubts!Now it should be admitted that this strange thing, which has puzzled the entire academic world and baffled navigators from both hemispheres, is an even more astonishing phenomenon, a man-made spectacle.

Even when I find the most grotesque, absurd, even mythical creatures, I am not so shocked that it is so common for magical things to come from the hands of their creators.But what a shock it would be to discover, under your noses, an impossibly mysterious thing accomplished by the human hand!
Now there is nothing to doubt.We are now lying on the back of a diving boat that looks, as far as I can tell, like a giant steel fish.Ned Land had already expressed his opinion on this point, and Conseil and I could only agree with him.

"So, there should be a set of driving machines and a group of pilots in this ship?" I asked.

"That's obvious, it must have been," replied the harpooner, "but I've been on this floating island for three hours and it hasn't moved a bit."

"Has the ship never moved?"

"It hasn't moved, Monsieur Aronnax. It's just being moved by the waves, and it doesn't move by itself."

"However, it moves very fast, as we all know. It must have a set of machines and a group of people to operate the machines for it to be able to move so fast. I can deduce from this... that we have been rescued. "

Ned Land said "hmm" with a slightly reserved tone.

Just then, as if to prove my case, the strange thing kicked up a wave behind it, and its propeller, apparently a propeller, began to move.We quickly grabbed the top of it, about eighty centimeters above the water.Fortunately, it's not very fast.

Ned Land said in a low voice: "I don't care a bit if it's always driving on a level surface, but if it suddenly sinks under the water on a sudden whim, I'm afraid my life will be lost!"

Canadians have a good point.Therefore, the most important thing is to quickly find a way to get in touch with the people inside.I searched on its upper layer, trying to find an opening, in technical terms, an "entry hole", but there are rows of clear and uniform screws connecting the steel plates firmly. , can't find a little gap at all.

At this time, the moon also set, and our eyes became dark.It seems that if we want to find a way to enter the interior of this diving boat, we have to wait until dawn.

Thus our fate rests entirely in the hands of the mysterious navigator who directs the machine.If they go down to the bottom of the ocean, we're all screwed!As long as they don't dive, we have a way of contacting the people inside.For, if they cannot make the air themselves, they must constantly come to the surface to renew the composition of their air.In this way, there must be a ventilation hole, so that the interior of the ship can communicate with the outside atmosphere.

As for the idea of ​​hoping that Captain Farragut will come to rescue us, I have completely given up now.We're being taken west by this guy, not fast, but twelve knots an hour I reckon.The propellers of the ship stirred the sea water with regularity, occasionally surfacing, and spraying phosphorescent water jets high into the air.

Shortly before four o'clock in the morning, the ship suddenly picked up speed.The waves beat us like whips, and we were dragged dizzy, and we couldn't hold on any longer.Fortunately, Ned Land's hand touched a large ring nailed to the steel back in a panic, and we held on to it firmly so as not to slip.

The long night is finally over.My memory has been blurred, and I cannot clearly record the impressions of this night.But one small thing I still remember is that when the sea and the wind calmed down for a while, I seemed to hear some indistinct sounds, which were the harmonies of an intangible music coming from a distance, fleeting. , but very pleasing to the ear.People all over the world can't explain what is the secret of underwater navigation?What are the people living in this strange ship like?What kind of machinery makes it have such amazing speed?

The sun is coming out.A morning mist hung over us, but it dissipated quickly.The top of the ship was like a platform. When I was about to take a closer look at the hull, I suddenly felt the ship sinking slowly.

"Hey! What the hell!" Ned Land yelled angrily, kicking the steel plate with his foot. "Open the door and let us in, you inhospitable sailors!"

The sound of the propellers pulling water was rumbling, and it was difficult for the people inside to hear his words.Fortunately, the boat stopped sinking for a while.

Suddenly, there was a sound of violent pushing of iron plates from inside the boat.An iron plate was lifted, and a person walked out from the door. He let out a strange cry and disappeared immediately.

Soon, eight masked strong men with big arms and round waists came out silently and pulled us into their terrible machine.

moving in motion
My partner and I were brutally carried into the dive boat before we could even get our bearings.Being brought into this floating prison, I don't know how the two of them felt inside, but I know how I felt: I shivered uncontrollably, and my whole body turned cold.Who are we dealing with now?Obviously, they are a new type of pirates who dominate the sea horizontally.

The narrow hatch above closed as soon as we entered.Our eyes can't adjust to going from a light place to a dark place all of a sudden, and we can't see anything.I felt an iron ladder under my bare feet.Following me were Ned Land and Conseil, who were firmly grasped.A door opened at the bottom of the iron ladder, and it slammed shut as soon as we entered.

(End of this chapter)