Archives for June 2007
I just added Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under Sea. Since I’m a marine biologist (in [all-too-] long-term training), I figure I should have read this one years ago. I think I may have as a kid but as I was getting it ready to post I didn’t recognize large portions. Maybe I’m thinking of […]
Even so, ten o’clock was about to strike. It was time to leave
my stateroom and rejoin my companions.
I dared not hesitate, even if Captain Nemo stood before me.
I opened the door cautiously, but as it swung on its hinges,
it seemed to make a frightful noise. This noise existed, perhaps,
only in my imagination!
I crept […]
I sat up.
“When?” I asked.
“Tonight. There doesn’t seem to be any supervision left on
the Nautilus. You’d think a total daze was reigning on board.
Will you be ready, sir?”
“Yes. Where are we?”
“In sight of land. I saw it through the mists just this morning,
twenty miles to the east.”
“What land is it?”
“I’ve […]
Chapter 22: The Last Words of Captain Nemo
The panels closed over this frightful view, but the lights didn’t go
on in the lounge. Inside the Nautilus all was gloom and silence.
It left this place of devastation with prodigious speed,
100 feet beneath the waters. Where was it going? North or south?
Where would the man […]
“My friends,” I said, “it’s time. Let’s shake hands, and may God
be with us!”
Ned Land was determined, Conseil calm, I myself nervous and
barely in control.
We went into the library. Just as I pushed open the door leading
to the well of the central companionway, I heard the hatch
close sharply overhead.
The Canadian leaped up the […]
My companions and I had decided to escape as soon as the vessel came
close enough for us to be heard—or seen, because the moon would wax
full in three days and was shining brightly. Once we were aboard
that ship, if we couldn’t ward off the blow that threatened it,
at least we could do everything that […]
Captain Nemo shrugged his shoulders. Then, addressing me:
“Go below!” he told me in a curt tone. “You and your companions,
go below!”
“Sir,” I exclaimed, “are you going to attack this ship?”
“Sir, I’m going to sink it.”
“You wouldn’t!”
“I will,” Captain Nemo replied icily. “You’re ill–advised to pass
judgment on me, sir. Fate has shown […]
“Master may recall,” Conseil then said, “that we have some experience
with swimming. He can rely on me to tow him to that vessel,
if he’s agreeable to going with our friend Ned.”
Before I could reply, white smoke streamed from the battleship’s bow.
Then, a few seconds later, the waters splashed astern of the Nautilus,
disturbed by the […]
Chapter 21: A Mass Execution
The way he said this, the unexpectedness of this scene, first the
biography of this patriotic ship, then the excitement with which this
eccentric individual pronounced these last words—the name Avenger
whose significance could not escape me—all this, taken together,
had a profound impact on my mind. My eyes never left the captain.
Hands outstretched […]
I didn’t expect to find this electric cable in mint condition,
as it looked on leaving its place of manufacture. The long snake
was covered with seashell rubble and bristling with foraminifera;
a crust of caked gravel protected it from any mollusks that might
bore into it. It rested serenely, sheltered from the sea’s motions,
under a pressure […]