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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
“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. [...]
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 [...]
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. [...]
“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 [...]
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 [...]
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, [...]