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

Chapter 97: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (28)
Later in the day, when I told Conseil and Ned Land part of my conversation with Captain Nemo, their interest was immediately aroused, and when I revealed that I would be in the Mediterranean in two days, Conseil He was about to jump up for joy, but Ned Land shrugged his shoulders and said disdainfully:
"A subsea tunnel? You mean a channel connecting two seas, Mr. Professor?"

"Dear Ned Land," said Conseil, "before you came here, had you ever heard of a ship that can travel on the bottom of the sea? No, but it is right under our feet. Don't think you haven't heard of it." , it doesn’t exist. So, shrug your shoulders and let it go.”

Ned Land shook his head and said, "Let's see, I'd rather have this channel. God bless, let this omnipotent captain take us to the Mediterranean Sea."

That night, at latitude 21°30', the Nautilus surfaced and approached the coast of Arabia.I saw the lights of Qida, an important market between Egypt, Syria, Turkey and India.

Soon, Qida hid in the shadows on the shore, and on a phosphorescent sea, the "Nautilus" dived again.

On February 2, there were several ships coming towards us in the channel, and the "Nautilus" dived into the water and sailed.At noon, the sea surface was quiet again, and we resurfaced again, floating up to the position of the buoy line.

I, Ned Land, and Conseil sat on the platform, chatting casually. There seemed to be a large piece of something on the east bank ahead of the boat, which appeared and disappeared in the mist.At this moment, Ned Land pointed to a point on the sea level and said to me:
"Professor, what do you think is that?"

"Ned," I said, "I have bad eyesight, you know that."

"Look carefully," Ned Land continued, "on the starboard side forward, almost in line with the searchlight, there is something moving. Do you see it?"

"I see," I tried my best to look, "Is it a gray-black long thing?"

"Yes, is there another 'Nautilus'?" Conseil said.

"It's not a boat," said Ned Land. "It's a manatee or something? Or maybe I've misread it."

"Are there any whales in the Red Sea?" Conseil asked me.

"Yes, though not often," I replied, "but some have."

"It's definitely not a whale," the Canadian said with certainty, staring straight ahead, "I'm too familiar with whales, I can't mistake their appearance."

"The answer will be known in a moment," Conseil said. "We're heading in that direction. We'll see."

As the boat sailed, we slowly approached this gray-black object, less than a nautical mile away.It looked like a rock lying in the middle of the sea, but what it was, I couldn't tell for a while.

"Look, it moved and dived into the water," Ned Land exclaimed suddenly. "It's really strange. It must be some kind of animal. What has a tail that's parted like a whale? Its fins are oddly shaped." , looks like severed limbs."

"Could it be..." I said.

Before I could make a judgment, the impatient Canadian interrupted my train of thought, "Look, it's turned upside down."

"It's a mermaid!" Conseil said excitedly, "it's definitely a mermaid, professor, please forgive me for saying so."

Conseil's judgment made the origin of this animal flash in my mind. In mythology, it is a mermaid, that is, a mermaid.

"No," I said to Conseil, "it's not a merman, it's a manatee, a strange animal that's rare in the Red Sea."

"It's the order Mermaids, the fish-like class, the subclass Mammalia, and the phylum Vertebrate." Conseil added with familiarity.

Conseil's addition is conclusive, and I have nothing more to say.Ned Land stared at the monster in front of him with greedy eyes. I knew he was thinking of hunting again. He seemed to be holding a harpoon in his hand, just waiting to jump into the sea and make a fatal blow.

"Mr. Professor," the Canadian was indeed agitated, and even his voice lost his usual calmness, "I've never played this kind of thing before."

Apparently, our harpooner wants to have a go.

At this moment Captain Nemo appeared on the platform, saw the manatee in the water, and said to the harpooner:

"Mr. Lan, you must be very itchy now. If I were you, I would try it."

"You are quite right, Mr. Captain."

"If you go back to spearfishing in the future, you won't feel it a defect to include this cetacean in your whale account?"

"Never!"

"Then give it a try."

"Thank you, sir." Ned Land's eyes were full of light.

"However, I have a request," added the captain immediately, "and I beg you not to miss it, as it will be in the interest of all of us."

"Is it dangerous to hit this animal?" I just asked, ignoring the shrugging gesture of the Canadian next to me.

"Sometimes there is a danger," said the captain. "This thing will knock your boat over sometimes, which is not a danger for a professional spearfisher. Mr. Lan has a sharp eye and a strong arm, So I told him not to let this manatee go, it is a rare delicacy! I know that Mr. Lan likes big pieces of fat."

"That's right," the Canadian became even more excited, "I can't tell if this thing is still a delicious meal on the plate!"

"Yes, its meat is definitely a good meal. In the Malay Archipelago, people eat its meat as a big dish on the table. Because of this, it became the object of everyone's predation. The number has decreased a lot.”

"If this is the case," Conseil said a little worriedly, "if this manatee is the last in the world, in order to protect this species, wouldn't it be better to let it go?"

"Perhaps," replied the Canadian for the captain, "but it would be better to beat it in order to prepare a good meal for the whole crew."

"Mr. Lan, go ahead and fight." Captain Nemo made the final decision.

At this time, seven crew members came to the platform quietly, each holding a harpoon and a fishing rod for fishing whales.The dinghy of the ship was lowered into the sea, with six crew members as oarsmen and the captain of the dinghy as the helmsman.Ned Land, Conseil, and I filed into the boat and took seats in the rear row.

"Captain, aren't you coming together?" I raised my head and asked.

"No, sir, I'm here to observe for you, I wish you a smooth hunt."

The boat pulled away from the big ship, with six oars in line, and we quickly sailed towards the manatee, which was wandering on the surface of the sea two nautical miles away from the "Nautilus".

When the boat was a few hundred meters away from the cetacean, our speed slowed down, and the wooden oars were silent when they were put into the water, with only a little splash.Ned Land stood on the prow of the skiff, harpoon in hand.This is a kind of harpoon specially used for whaling. One end of the fork handle is tied with a very long rope, which can ensure that when the fork hits the prey, the rope can be taken away by the prey. The rope is only about 20 meters long. Tethered to a wooden barrel, the floating barrel can indicate the location of prey.

I also stood up and observed the prey of the Canadians. The scientific name of this manatee is dugong. It looks like a manatee. The difference is that the tail of the dugong is very long - similar to the forked tail of a dolphin, while the tail of a manatee is round. Shaped.Another difference is that the upper jaw of the dugong has two very long teeth, which are its defensive weapons.

This dugong has a huge body, more than seven meters long.As we approached, it lay motionless on the water, seemingly asleep, a once-in-a-lifetime situation for a hunter.

When the boat was only five or six meters away from the dugong, all the oars stopped and hung on the hoops.I lifted my body up to see what happened.Ned Land leaned back, swung the harpoon deftly in his hand, and threw it vigorously. There was only a whistling sound, and the dugong suddenly sank into the water, and the harpoon fell into the air.

"What the hell," enraged the Canadian, "I missed!"

"There's blood. You hit it," I said. "It's the animal's blood. It hurt, but you didn't choke it."

"Harpoon, my harpoon!" Ned Land wanted to continue to expand his achievements.

The captain of the small boat ordered the sailors to row the boat to the buoy, the harpoon was retracted, and we immediately went to chase the injured dugong.

The dugong surfaced from time to time to breathe. Although it was injured, its strength and speed were not affected at all, and it escaped very fast.Six strong sailors paddled their small boats to quickly catch up, and several times they were only a few meters away from their prey. Seeing that the Canadians were about to throw their harpoons, the cunning dugong sank immediately. It is impossible to succeed.

One can imagine the reaction of an old hunter when he was teased by his prey. The impetuous Ned Land was completely irritated, and he uttered the most powerful curse in English to this unlucky dugong.To me, letting this cunning dugong go was nothing more than frustration at wasting time and energy.

We didn't give up, and for an hour we chased it incessantly, hoping to wear off the strength of the behemoth.Suddenly, the thing had the idea of ​​revenge. It turned around and swam towards the boat. The action of the dugong did not escape Ned Land's eyes.

"It's just in time, everyone be careful, hurry up!" he shouted.

The captain of the boat informed the sailors in a strange language that when the dugong was twenty feet away from us, it suddenly stopped on the surface of the water, breathed continuously with its big nostrils, and then rushed towards us.

The boat did not escape the impact of the furious dugong, and the hull tilted, and about a ton of seawater entered the boat, and we had to drain the water out.Due to the prior arrangement of the captain, the front of the hull was not attacked, so it was not knocked over.Ned Land stood on the bow, seeing the opportunity to stab the dugong with a harpoon.Another injury made the thing even angrier. It clung to the side of the boat and pushed the boat out of the sea like a lion on a fawn. Everyone on board fell down. If it weren't for the Canadian harpoon With this animal at its heart, this adventurous hunt might not end well.

The mortally wounded dugong sank into the water and disappeared, taking Ned Land's harpoon with him.A short time later, the small wooden barrel floated up, followed by the dugong's carcass on the water, back facing upwards.We rowed forward and towed her towards the Nautilus.

The gigantic dugong weighed five tons, and the Nautilus pulled it onto the platform with a jack block.The Canadian, who had witnessed the slaughter, insisted on doing so, as if to cap off his unusual hunt.For lunch that day, everyone had this kind of meat dish specially prepared by the chef on the plate. I tasted it, and it tasted very good.

On February 2, a group of petrels took the "Nautilus" as a resting place, and the crew unceremoniously captured many petrels as wild fowl on the table.They are native Nile petrels in Egypt, with a black beak, some spots on the gray-black head, circles of white spots around the eyes, gray-black back, wings and tail, white belly and neck, and red feet. .We were also lucky enough to catch a dozen wild ducks from the Nile, with white necks and heads and black spots, and the meat of the ducks was also delicious.

We sailed very slowly, and the "Nautilus" was moving forward with a strolling rhythm.I found that the water level of the Red Sea became lower as it got closer to Suez. At [-] o'clock in the afternoon, to the north of us was Ras Mohammed, which is the southernmost tip of the Sinai Peninsula, and on both sides is the Suez Canal and the Gulf of Aqaba.After this, the "Nautilus" entered the Jubal Strait, which is the entrance to the Suez Canal.

Standing on the platform, I saw a tall mountain rising between the two bays, that is Mount Sinai (also called Mount Horeb).It is said that Moses met God and accepted the Ten Commandments on the top of this mountain. In people's minds, the top of this mountain is shrouded in lightning all the year round.

At ten past six, our boat sailed across the sea of ​​Dole Bay, sometimes surfacing and sometimes diving.The sea water in Dole Bay is obviously red, which is exactly what Captain Nemo said.Soon, night fell, and the surroundings were silent, except for the occasional chirping of pond chickens and night birds, as well as the sound of the tide lapping on the rocks and the sound of the water being stirred by the gates of passing steamboats.

From eight to nine o'clock, the "Nautilus" was still traveling a few meters underwater.According to my calculations, we should not be far from Suez.Through the panels of the saloon, the lights of the ship cast clear images of rocks on the bottom of the sea, and the channel narrowed more and more.

At [-]:[-], the boat floated up again, and I walked onto the platform, feeling a little anxious, when will I be able to pass through the Arabian undersea channel that Captain Nemo mentioned?The sea-salt air at night dispelled the uneasiness in my heart.In the darkness ahead, I saw a faint gleam of fire, about a nautical mile away, flickering in and out of the fog.

"That's a lighthouse floating on the water." Someone beside me reminded me.

I looked back and it was Captain Nemo.

He went on: "That's the floating lighthouse in Suez, and we'll get to the passage in a moment."

"Is it easy to navigate the passage?"

"It's a bit difficult, Mr. Professor, so I usually go to the navigator's place and personally guide the driving. Please come down, we are going to dive soon. We will not go up until we reach the Mediterranean Sea."

The "Nautilus" dived to the bottom of the water more than ten meters, and the panels were closed.I was going back to my room when the captain said to me:

"Professor, would you like to go to the pilot's cage with me?"

"I can't wait for it." I said happily.

"Then come with me, and you'll see for yourself how we navigate under the land as well as under the sea."

We came to the central staircase, in the middle of the balustrade, the captain opened a door, and before him was a long corridor leading directly to the pilot's cage, which was located at the front tip of the platform.

This small cabin is about six feet square, about the same size as the cages of steamboats on the Mississippi and Hudson rivers in the United States.In the middle of this cabin stood a rotating engine-wheel, the teeth of which were attached to the rudder cables, which led to the rear of the ship.The windows of the ship are equipped with two convex mirrors, which are embedded in the walls of the cabin, so that the helmsman can see in all directions.The room was very dark, but fortunately, I got used to it quickly. The pilot was very strong, holding the wheel with both hands.On the platform, the searchlight was behind the cage, and the light illuminated the water ahead.

Captain Nemo said, "Now let's find the tunnel."

There are a lot of wires between the pilot's cage and the engine room, and the captain can issue control commands to the "Nautilus" in the cage, including course and speed.I saw the captain press a metal button, and the speed of the ship immediately decreased.

Through the window on the port side, I saw many beautiful coral reefs connected into pieces, forming the basic structure of the seabed, countless plant insects, seaweed, and crustaceans, dancing their tentacles and claws, stretching outside the uneven rocks .

At [-]:[-], a wide, dark and deep corridor appeared ahead, and Captain Nemo, at the helm himself, rushed into the "Nautilus".There was a "rustling" sound from outside the ship, a sound I had never heard before. It was the water of the Red Sea rushing to the Mediterranean Sea through this tunnel at the bottom of the ocean. The "Nautilus" was going with the current, but the speed of the ocean current was too fast , although driving in reverse, the speed of the boat is still very fast.

On the rock walls on both sides of the tunnel, due to the fast speed of the ship, the rocks reflected brilliant lines and traces of fire under the illumination of the searchlights. My heartbeat accelerated a lot, and I clasped my hands tightly to my chest unconsciously.

Feeling that the time passed very slowly, after 10 minutes of suffering, Captain Nemo put down the wheel, turned to me and said:
"Professor, we have reached the Mediterranean Sea."

The "Nautilus" passed Suez in just 10 minutes on the ocean current.

greek islands
The next day, the "Nautilus" surfaced in the morning light, and I immediately ran to the platform, hoping to be the first to breathe the breath of the Mediterranean Sea.Three nautical miles to the south, the silhouette of the city of North Luth could be seen faintly.We travel from one sea to another with the help of fast ocean currents. If it is against the current, even if the "Nautilus" has a strong power, it may not be possible.

At seven o'clock, Ned Land and Conseil went up to the platform. My two companions did not pay attention to the feat of the "Nautilus" last night, but slept soundly and soundly, not at all like me So frightened.

"My biologist," the Canadian said in a mocking tone, "what do you mean by the Mediterranean Sea?"

"My friends, it lies beneath your feet."

"What?" said Conseil, "did we arrive last night?"

"Yes, at 10:30 last night, it took only 10 minutes for the boat to pass through the impassable canal."

"I still can't believe it." The Canadian was stubborn.

"Mr. Lan, how can I convince you that I'm right?" I said, "Look at the low coast stretching southward over there, which is the coast of Egypt."

"As for the characteristics of the terrain, you should explain it to others!" The Canadian still insisted.

"Since the professor is so sure," Conseil seemed reasonable, "then you have to trust him."

"Ned, the captain took the initiative to invite me to see the Arabian sea passage he discovered. Last night when he personally commanded the Nautilus to sail through the fast-flowing tunnel, I was right behind him in the navigator's cage. .”

"Ned, you should believe it now." Conseil reminded Ned Land.

"I believe your profession has trained you to have a good eye," I went on. "Ned, can you see the Causeway of Port Said that stretches out to sea?"

The Canadian looked at it carefully and said:

"Professor, you are right. This is the Mediterranean Sea. The captain is indeed an outstanding man. Very well, let us discuss our business, but don't let others hear it."

I know exactly what Canadians want to talk about, and I can't avoid it, no matter what.So the three of us sat next to the searchlight, a place where we could avoid the splashing spray.

"Ned, we are all listening now, do you have any good ideas?" I asked first.

"What I want to say is just a few words," said the Canadian mysteriously. "Now that we have returned to the waters of Europe, before Captain Nemo frantically drives this strange ship to the bottom of the poles, Or somewhere in Oceania, I think it's time we got off the Nautilus."

(End of this chapter)