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

Chapter 92: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (23)
Around two o'clock, I was sorting out my notes in the living room when Captain Nemo opened the door and came in.I greeted him, and he gave me a nod, so lightly that I could barely see it.He didn't say a word, and I continued to organize my notes, but something in my heart wished he would explain to me the particular events of last night.

I glanced at him, but he remained silent.His eyes were red and he looked haggard and sleep deprived.His complexion was very bad, and his expression seemed a little anxious and painful.He kept walking up and down, sat down and stood up; picked up a book at random, and put it down immediately; looked at the instruments without making any records.He fidgeted and looked irritable.Finally, he came up to me and asked me:

"Mr. Aronnax, are you a doctor?"

I looked at him and didn't reply right away.His question made me a little dazed all of a sudden.

Seeing that I didn't answer, he asked me again: "Many of your colleagues have studied medicine, such as Gradiolie, Morgan Donton and others. So, have you also studied medicine? "

I replied, "Yes, I am a doctor. I practiced medicine for a few years before I became a professor in a museum."

"That would be great, sir."

It seemed that Captain Nemo was satisfied with my answer.But I don't know why he asks this, so I wait for him to ask me other questions so that I can answer according to the actual situation.

He then asked me: "Mr. Aronnax, one of my crew members is sick. Would you like to treat him?"

"You mean someone on board is sick?"

"Yes, sir."

"You take me to see it now."

"Okay, please come with me."

I do not know why my heart is beating so fast, and I feel that there is some connection between this crew member's illness and the events of last night, a secret that concerns me at least as much as the patient.

Captain Nemo took me aft of the Nautilus, and let me into a cabin adjoining the forecastle.

A man about 40 years old is lying on the bed in the room. He has a sharp and resolute face, and he is a typical Anglo-Saxon at a glance.

I bent over to look at him.His head was wrapped in bloody gauze and he lay on two pillows.It was clear that he was not only sick, but injured.I untied the gauze for him, and he looked at me with wide eyes, not even saying a word of pain.

The man was seriously injured.The skull was shattered with a blunt instrument, and the injury went as far as the brain, exposing the brain.Pieces of blood stains the color of wine lees clotted on the wound.Not only was his brain injured, but he was also concussed. Muscle spasms made his face twitch constantly, and his breathing was very weak.Inflammation of large areas of the brain leads to numbness of thought and movement.

I pressed the patient's pulse, and it came and went.His hands and feet were already cold, and the god of death was approaching him, and I knew that there was no way to recover.After I had bound up the unfortunate crewman's wounds, I turned to Captain Nemo:

"How did he get hurt?"

The captain replied falteringly: "The Nautilus was bumped, and a lever on the machine broke and hit him. How is his injury?"

I hesitated for a long time not knowing how to answer.

The captain said to me: "Never mind, tell me, he doesn't understand French."

I glanced at the wounded crewman, and said:
"This man has less than two hours to live."

"Is there really no cure?"

"There is no way."

After listening to my words, Captain Nemo clasped his hands tremblingly, and shed tears. I always thought that he was a person who could not shed tears by nature.

I observed the injured crew member again. His face was very pale, and the bright electric light shone on his bed, making him even paler. His signs of life were gradually disappearing.I looked at his exposed forehead, and there were premature wrinkles, which were caused by life's misfortune or poverty.I want to learn some secrets about him from what he said subconsciously before he died.

At this moment, Captain Nemo said to me: "You can go, Mr. Aronnax."

So, I returned to my room, and my mood was disturbed by the scene I just saw for a long time.The captain was left alone in the patient's room.All that day, I was tormented by various ominous premonitions and restless.I couldn't sleep well at night, and I woke up from my dream several times, as if I heard the sound of lamentation and mourning songs from a distance, like prayers to the dead.Are they saying their dying prayers in a language I don't understand?

When I got on the platform next morning, I found Captain Nemo already there.As soon as he saw me, he walked towards me.

He said, "Professor, how about going for a walk under the sea today? Would you like to?"

"Can I take my companion with me?" I asked.

"Of course, as long as they want to go."

"We must go with you, Captain."

"Okay then, please go and put on your wetsuits now."

He said nothing about whether the wounded man was dead or alive.I went to Ned Land and Conseil and told them about Captain Nemo's proposal.Conseil agreed without saying a word, and Ned Land also expressed his willingness to go with us.

It was eight o'clock in the morning.Half an hour later, we all put on our diving suits and brought lighting and breathing equipment. The double doors opened, and Captain Nemo came out with a dozen or so crew members following him. Ten meters deep on the bottom of the sea, the "Nautilus" stopped there.

At a depth of about 25 meters, there is a gentle slope leading to the uneven ground.There is no fine sand, no sea grass, no sea forest, this land is completely different from what I have seen on my first walk under the Pacific Ocean.I recognized immediately that this magical place to which Captain Nemo had invited us was the Kingdom of Coral.

In the Emerald class of the zoophyte phylum, there is an Alumaceae, which includes three subjects: Alumaceae, Equisetaceae and Coralaceae.Corals belong to the last family.It is a strange thing that was once assigned to the mineral kingdom, then to the vegetable kingdom, and finally to the animal kingdom.This kind of thing is a kind of medicine in the eyes of ancient people, but it is a beautiful ornament in the eyes of modern people.The last person to definitely classify it into the animal kingdom was Pisangnier of the Maasai in 1964.

Corals are tiny animals that assemble on fragile stony coral bones.The reproduction of coral polyps is very unique, and they reproduce asexually. While they have their own lives, they also have a common life. This situation can be described by natural socialism.I have learned something about the latest results of this strange zoophyte, according to precise observations made by biologists, that coral polyps are mineralizing in the process of branching and multiplying.For me, the most interesting thing is to visit a stony forest that nature has planted under the sea.

The Lankov searchlights have been turned on, and we are walking among the forming coral reefs under the light.Over time, these coral veins will one day seal off this part of the Indian Ocean.A tangle of small coral trees, scattered and intertwined, dotted the roadside, and their branches were covered with tiny white star-shaped flowers.However, the branches of coral trees fixed on the rocks on the seabed are just the opposite of the growth of plants on land. Their development is all from top to bottom.

The lights shine among the colorful branches and leaves, forming a variety of charming scenery.I seem to see these thin-film cylindrical tubes swaying under the surge of sea water.Some light-bodied fish, swimming like birds, swam among the coral branches.I really want to gather some fresh corollas with delicate tentacles, some of which are already in full bloom, and some are just about to bloom, but when my hands get close to these living flowers, they immediately alarm like mimosa, so , the entire coral colony was immediately on alert, and those white as snow petals shrank into the red flower sleeve.So the flowers in front of me disappeared, and the coral bushes turned into a pile of round stones.

Fate, by chance, brought me here to see face to face some of the most precious species of this plant animal.The value of the coral here is comparable to that of the shores of the Mediterranean, France, Italy and Tunisia.These corals are so brightly colored, it’s no wonder they’ve been given evocative names like “Blood Blossom” and “Blood Bubble.”This kind of coral can be sold in the market for five hundred francs per kilogram. In the sea water in this area, countless people who salvage coral can make a fortune.In addition, this precious substance is often mixed with other types of coral trees to form dense and mixed whole corals.On these whole corals, I saw a very beautiful variety of rose corals.

As I walked, I felt that the coral clumps in front of me were getting denser, and the branch-like crystals were getting bigger and bigger.What appeared before us was a truly petrified undergrowth, like a strangely designed building.There was a dark corridor ahead, and Captain Nemo led us into it.The gentle slope of the promenade takes us to a depth of 100 meters.The light from our serpentine tube lights shone on the uneven surface of these natural arched buildings, just like shining on the crystal lights on the ceiling, emitting a dazzling light, forming a wonderfully changing scene.I also saw some strange coral trees growing among the coral bushes.There are sea lice corals and arthropod butterfly corals; there are also several clusters of coral algae, red, green and green, which are real seaweeds with salty calcareous crusts. Biologists have studied them for a long time. After discussion, they were finally definitively included in the plant kingdom.However, according to one thinker: "This may be the real starting point. Life has just slowly awakened from the state of unconsciousness and slumber, and has not yet completely escaped from the physical properties of minerals."

After continuing for two hours, we reached the final boundary above which the coral begins to form, at a depth of about 300 meters on the sea floor.However, there are no independent coral clusters and low coral forests here. Instead, there are large forests, huge mineral plants, and towering trees that have turned into fossils.These big trees are entangled by sea kudzu vines and beautiful feather grass rings, and they look more graceful and colorful under the effect of reflection.We passed smoothly under the branches and leaves of large trees, and some tube corals, brain shells, star shells, mushroom shells, and caryophyllas showed dazzling colors under our feet, forming a flower-woven line. carpet.

I couldn't help sighing in my heart, why are we imprisoned in this round helmet of metal and glass?Why can't we share our inner feelings with each other?Such a beautiful scenery, but unable to talk and share with each other, it is really a pity!If only we could live as free as the fish in the sea, or let us be like those amphibians who can go into the water when they want, and stay on the land when they want to stay on the land!It would be great if it could be like this!
At this moment Captain Nemo stopped, and my companion and I also stopped. I looked back and saw the captain's men standing in a semicircle around him.I looked more closely, and saw a rectangular object slung over the shoulders of four of the crew.

We stood in the middle of a large clearing, surrounded by the tall, jutting branches of an underwater forest.Our lighting lamps cast a blurred light in this vast space, making the shadows on the ground very, very long.At the end of the clearing, except for some sparse light left by the coral spikes, the rest is pitch black.

Ned Land and Conseil stood beside me.We looked at everything in front of us and realized that we were about to see a very strange scene.I observed the ground for a while, and found that some places on the ground were bulged, but the bulges were not high, and a layer of calcareous soil was piled on it, arranged neatly, which was obviously man-made.

A coral cross stands on a foundation of stones piled up randomly in the open space. This cross is very long, and it looks like it was made of petrified blood.

At a signal from Captain Nemo, a member of the crew stepped forward, took the shovel from his belt, and began digging a few feet from the cross.

I understood it all at once!This clearing is a cemetery, this pit is a grave, and the long objects carried on the shoulders of the four crew members are the bodies of those who died last night!Captain Nemo and his crew came here to bury their dead companions in this secluded underwater cemetery.

God!I have never been so excited and tense!I have never been hit with such strong thoughts in my mind!I don't want to see the sight in front of me!
I heard the tinkling of shovels on the limestone floor, and sometimes the shovels caught flints thrown under the water and sparkled like stars.The disturbed fish scurry about in a panic.The grave was slowly lengthening and expanding, and it was deep enough to hold the corpse.

The corpse was wrapped in white sackcloth, and several people who carried the corpse went to the grave and put the corpse in a wet pit.Captain Nemo folded his arms in the shape of a cross, and all the friends of the dead man knelt down and began to pray for him.My two companions and I also bowed reverently.

Then, several people covered the grave with the earth and rocks they had just dug up, and a slight bulge formed on the ground.After the grave was filled, Captain Nemo and his crew stood up, went to the grave, knelt down again, and stretched out their hands to say their last farewell to the dead.Then, the funeral procession returned to the "Nautilus" on the same route.

Finally, the lights of the ship can be seen.With that long ray of light we were back on board at one o'clock.

After changing clothes, I walked onto the platform and sat next to the searchlight, my mood was tightly entangled by that terrible thought.

At this moment, Captain Nemo came over, and I got up and asked him, "That man died at night, as I expected, didn't he?"

"Yes, Mr. Aronnax." Captain Nemo replied.

"Is he now buried with his companions in that coral cemetery?"

The captain suddenly covered his face with his trembling hands, trying to control his choking, but in the end he couldn't control it. Then he said to me:
"That's our cemetery. It's a hundred feet below the sea. It's a very quiet place."

"Please don't be sad, captain, your dead companions can sleep peacefully there, and not even sharks will bother them!"

"Yes, sir, neither sharks nor humans will bother them!" Captain Nemo replied seriously.

Indian Ocean

The first part of the underwater travel is the most impressive in my heart is the moving scene of the coral reef cemetery, and now, the second part of the underwater travel is about to start again.

Captain Nemo's life is destined to be accompanied by the vast and boundless sea, and he even prepared a quiet grave for himself in the most hidden corner of the bottom of the sea.There, he will be accompanied by his crew members who were born and died. No sea monsters or strange visitors will disturb the sleep of the owners of the "Nautilus". Only wish to die together.

Conseil still insisted on his opinion. He believed that Captain Nemo was a genius and scholar who was buried by the injustice of the world. The captain did not choose to take the initiative to fight, but responded to the indifference and indifference of the world with indifference and contempt like a hermit. .I am somewhat disapproving of this, as Conseil is an honest man after all.

He believes that the captain is dissatisfied with the intrigues of the world, so he escapes to the sea where others cannot easily reach. Only here can he display his talents and do everything he wants to do.However, for me, a person who has lived on land for a long time, the vast ocean of 5000 million hectares around me, although sometimes the waves are calm and the water is clear, but when you gaze at it calmly , we all feel dizzy.

In the past few days, the "Nautilus" has been traveling between 100 meters and 200 meters underwater. For those who cannot understand the depth and charm of the sea, they will definitely feel that life in the cabin is too monotonous and long.For me, this is not a problem, I take a walk on the platform every day when the boat is surfaced, and breathe the unique breath of the ocean while exercising.When the boat is underwater, I will also observe the rich products in the ocean through the glass window of the living room, adding new materials to my research.I would also read the captain's vast collection of books in the library, and write my travel notes. This way of killing time will not let me feel the slightest weariness and boredom.

Each of us is in good health, thanks to the thoughtful and regular diet and daily life on board.It was only Ned Land who was dissatisfied with the lack of steak sometimes and tried his best to use substitutes to make some dishes with different tastes, but it was unnecessary.The temperature of the seabed is relatively constant, and colds and colds are far away from us.In the south of France, there is a caddisia genus called "Heinesia", which has a large stock on the "Nautilus". Ointment for cough.

In this section of water, we saw a large number of water birds, including webbed birds and various types of seagulls.The clever crew caught some, and the chef was busy all afternoon. At dinner, we found that everyone had added delicious waterfowl game to their plates.

(End of this chapter)