Before I had time to express the surprise this new proposition caused me, a camera was carried into the lounge at Captain Nemo"s request.
The liquid setting, electrically lit, unfolded with perfect clarity through the wide-open panels. No shadows, no blurs, thanks to our artificial light. Not even sunshine could have been better for our purposes. With the thrust of its propeller curbed by the slant of its fins, the Nautilus stood still.
The camera was aimed at the scenery on the ocean floor, and in a few seconds we had a perfect negative.
I attach a print of the positive. In it you can view these primordial rocks that have never seen the light of day, this nether granite that forms the powerful foundation of our globe, the deep caves cut into the stony ma.s.s, the outlines of incomparable distinctness whose far edges stand out in black as if from the brush of certain Flemish painters. In the distance is a mountainous horizon, a wondrously undulating line that makes up the background of this landscape.
The general effect of these smooth rocks is indescribable: black, polished, without moss or other blemish, carved into strange shapes, sitting firmly on a carpet of sand that sparkled beneath our streams of electric light.
Meanwhile, his photographic operations over, Captain Nemo told me:
"Let"s go back up, professor. We mustn"t push our luck and expose the Nautilus too long to these pressures."
"Let"s go back up!" I replied.
"Hold on tight."
Before I had time to realize why the captain made this recommendation, I was hurled to the carpet.
Its fins set vertically, its propeller thrown in gear at the captain"s signal, the Nautilus rose with lightning speed, shooting upward like an air balloon into the sky. Vibrating resonantly, it knifed through the watery ma.s.s. Not a single detail was visible.
In four minutes it had cleared the four vertical leagues separating it from the surface of the ocean, and after emerging like a flying fish, it fell back into the sea, making the waves leap to prodigious heights.
CHAPTER 12
Sperm Whales and Baleen Whales
DURING THE NIGHT of March 13-14, the Nautilus resumed its southward heading. Once it was abreast of Cape Horn, I thought it would strike west of the cape, make for Pacific seas, and complete its tour of the world. It did nothing of the sort and kept moving toward the southernmost regions. So where was it bound? The pole?
That was insanity. I was beginning to think that the captain"s recklessness more than justified Ned Land"s worst fears.
For a good while the Canadian had said nothing more to me about his escape plans. He had become less sociable, almost sullen.
I could see how heavily this protracted imprisonment was weighing on him.
I could feel the anger building in him. Whenever he encountered the captain, his eyes would flicker with dark fire, and I was in constant dread that his natural vehemence would cause him to do something rash.
That day, March 14, he and Conseil managed to find me in my stateroom.
I asked them the purpose of their visit.
"To put a simple question to you, sir," the Canadian answered me.
"Go on, Ned."
"How many men do you think are on board the Nautilus?"
"I"m unable to say, my friend."
"It seems to me," Ned Land went on, "that it wouldn"t take much of a crew to run a ship like this one."
"Correct," I replied. "Under existing conditions some ten men at the most should be enough to operate it."
"All right," the Canadian said, "then why should there be any more than that?"
"Why?" I answered.
I stared at Ned Land, whose motives were easy to guess.
"Because," I said, "if I can trust my hunches, if I truly understand the captain"s way of life, his Nautilus isn"t simply a ship.
It"s meant to be a refuge for people like its commander, people who have severed all ties with the sh.o.r.e."
"Perhaps," Conseil said, "but in a nutsh.e.l.l, the Nautilus can hold only a certain number of men, so couldn"t master estimate their maximum?"
"How, Conseil?"
"By calculating it. Master is familiar with the ship"s capacity, hence the amount of air it contains; on the other hand, master knows how much air each man consumes in the act of breathing, and he can compare this data with the fact that the Nautilus must rise to the surface every twenty-four hours . . ."
Conseil didn"t finish his sentence, but I could easily see what he was driving at.
"I follow you," I said. "But while they"re simple to do, such calculations can give only a very uncertain figure."
"No problem," the Canadian went on insistently.
"Then here"s how to calculate it," I replied. "In one hour each man consumes the oxygen contained in 100 liters of air, hence during twenty-four hours the oxygen contained in 2,400 liters.
Therefore, we must look for the multiple of 2,400 liters of air that gives us the amount found in the Nautilus."
"Precisely," Conseil said.
"Now then," I went on, "the Nautilus"s capacity is 1,500 metric tons, and that of a ton is 1,000 liters, so the Nautilus holds 1,500,000 liters of air, which, divided by 2,400 . . ."
I did a quick pencil calculation.
". . . gives us the quotient of 625. Which is tantamount to saying that the air contained in the Nautilus would be exactly enough for 625 men over twenty-four hours."
"625!" Ned repeated.
"But rest a.s.sured," I added, "that between pa.s.sengers, seamen, or officers, we don"t total one-tenth of that figure."
"Which is still too many for three men!" Conseil muttered.
"So, my poor Ned, I can only counsel patience."
"And," Conseil replied, "even more than patience, resignation."
Conseil had said the true word.
"Even so," he went on, "Captain Nemo can"t go south forever!
He"ll surely have to stop, if only at the Ice Bank, and he"ll return to the seas of civilization! Then it will be time to resume Ned Land"s plans."