 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Kevin Laverne. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas by Jules Verne Second Part Chapter Twenty-One 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 toward the sea. He contemplated the proud wreck with blazing eyes. Perhaps I would never learn who he was, where he came from, or where he was heading. But more and more I could see a distinction between the man and the scientist. It was no ordinary misanthropy that kept Captain Nemo and his companions sequestered inside of the Nautilus' plating, but a hate so monstrous or so sublime that the passing years could never weaken it. Did this hate also hunger for vengeance? Time would soon tell. Meanwhile the Nautilus rose slowly to the surface of the sea, and I watched the Avenger's murky shape disappearing little by little. Soon a gentle rolling told me that we were afloat in the open air. Just then a hollow explosion was audible. I looked at the captain. The captain did not stir. Captain, I said. He didn't reply. I left him and climbed onto the platform. Consile and the Canadian were already there. What caused that explosion? I asked. A cannon going off. Nedland replied. I stared in the direction of the ship I had spotted. It was heading toward the Nautilus, and you could tell it had put on steam. Six miles separated it from us. What sort of craft is it, Ned? From its rigging and its low masts, the Canadian replied. I bet it's a warship. Here's hoping it pulls up and sinks this damned Nautilus. Ned, my friend, Consile replied. What harm could it do the Nautilus? Will it attack us under the waves? Will it cannonade us at the bottom of the sea? Tell me, Ned, I asked. Can you make out the nationality of that craft? Creasing his brow, lowering his lids, and puckering the corners of his eyes, the Canadian focused the full power of his gaze on the ship for a short while. No, sir, he replied. I can't make out what nation it's from. It's flying no flag. But I'll swear it's a warship because there's a long pennant streaming from the peak of its main mast. For a quarter of an hour we continued to watch the craft bearing down on us. But it was inconceivable to me that it had discovered the Nautilus at such a distance, still less that it knew what this underwater machine really was. Soon the Canadian announced that the craft was a big battleship, a double-decker ironclad complete with ram. Dark, dense smoke burst from its two funnels. Its furled sails merged with the lines of its yard arms. The gaff of its fore-and-aft sail flew no flag. Its distance still kept us from distinguishing the colors of its pennant, which was fluttering like a thin ribbon. It was coming on fast. If Captain Nemo led it approach, a chance for salvation might be available to us. Sir, Ned Land told me, if that boat gets within a mile of us, I'm jumping overboard, and I suggest you follow suit. I didn't reply to the Canadian's proposition, but kept watching the ship, which was looming larger on the horizon. Whether it was English, French, American, or Russian, it would surely welcome us aboard if we could just get to it. Master may recall, Consile 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 a stern of the Nautilus, disturbed by the fall of a heavy object. Soon after, an explosion struck my ears. What's this? They're firing at us, I exclaimed. Good lads, the Canadian muttered. That means they don't see us as castaways clinging to some wreckage. With all due respect to Master, gracious, Consile put in, shaking off the water that had sprayed over him from another shell, with all due respect to Master, they've discovered the narwhale and they're canoning the same. But it must be clear to them, I exclaimed, that they're dealing with human beings. Maybe that's why, Nedland replied, staring hard at me. The full truth dawned on me. Undoubtedly, people now knew where they stood on the existence of this so-called monster. Undoubtedly, the latter's encounter with the Abraham Lincoln, when the Canadian hit it with his harpoon, had led Commander Farragut to recognize the narwhale as actually an underwater boat, more dangerous than any unearthly, citation. Yes, this had to be the case, and undoubtedly they were now chasing this dreadful engine of destruction on every sea. Dreadful indeed, if, as we could imagine, Captain Nemo had been using the Nautilus in works of vengeance. That night, in the middle of the Indian Ocean, when he imprisoned us in the cell, hadn't he attacked some ship? That man now buried in the coral cemetery, wasn't he the victim of some collision caused by the Nautilus? Yes, I repeat, this had to be the case. One part of Captain Nemo's secret life had been unveiled. And now, even though his identity was still unknown, at least the nation's allied against him knew they were no longer hunting some fairytale monster, but a man who had sworn an implacable hate toward them. This whole fearsome sequence of events appeared in my mind's eye. Instead of encountering friends on this approaching ship, we would find only pitiless enemies. Meanwhile, shells fell around us in increasing numbers. Some meeting the liquid surface would ricochet and vanish into the sea at considerable distances, but none of them reached the Nautilus. By then the iron cloud was no more than three miles off, despite its violent cannonade Captain Nemo hadn't appeared on the platform. And yet, if one of those conical shells had scored a routine hit on the Nautilus's hull, it could have been fatal to him. The Canadian then told me, Sir, we've got to do everything we can to get out of this jam. Let's signal them. Damnation. Maybe they'll realize we're decent people. Nedland pulled out his handkerchief to wave it in the air, but he had barely unfolded it when he was felled by an iron fist, and despite his great strength he tumbled to the deck. Scum! the Captain shouted. Do you want to be nailed to the Nautilus's spur before it charges that ship? Dreadful to hear, Captain Nemo was even more dreadful to see. His face was pale from some spasm of his heart, which must have stopped beating for an instant. His pupils were hideously contracted. His voice was no longer speaking. It was bellowing. Bending from the waist he shook the Canadian by the shoulders, then dropping Ned and turning to the battleship whose shells were showering around him. Oh, ship of an accursed nation, you know who I am. He shouted in his powerful voice, and I don't need your colors to recognize you. Look! I'll show you mine! And in the bow of the platform Captain Nemo unfurled a black flag, like the one he had left planted at the South Pole. Just then a shell hit the Nautilus's hull obliquely, failed to breach it, ricocheted near the captain, and vanished into the sea. 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 you what you weren't meant to see. The attack has come. Our reply will be dreadful. Get back inside. From what country is that ship? You don't know? Fine, so much the better. At least its nationality will remain a secret to you. Go below. The Canadian, consile, and I could only obey. Some fifteen of the Nautilus's seamen surrounded their captain and stared with a feeling of implacable hate at the ship bearing down on them. You could feel the same spirit of vengeance in kindling their every soul. I went below, just as another projectile scraped the Nautilus's hull, and I heard the captain exclaim, Shoot, you demented vessel! Shower you futile shells! You won't escape the Nautilus's spur, but this isn't the place where you'll perish. I don't want your wreckage mingling with that of the Avenger. I repaired to my stateroom. The captain and his chief officer stayed on the platform. The propeller was set in motion, the Nautilus swiftly retreated, putting us outside the range of the vessel's shells. But the chase continued, and Captain Nemo was content to keep his distance. Near four o'clock in the afternoon, unable to control the impatience and uneasiness devouring me, I went back to the central companion-way. The hatch was open. I ventured onto the platform. The captain was still strolling there, his steps agitated. He stared at the ship, which stayed to his leeward five or six miles off. He was circling it like a wild beast, drawing it eastward, letting it chase after him, yet he didn't attack. Was he perhaps still undecided? I tried to intervene one last time, but I had barely queried Captain Nemo when the latter silenced me. I'm the law. I'm the tribunal. I'm the oppressed, and there are my oppressors. Thanks to them I've witnessed the destruction of everything I loved, cherished, and venerated—homeland, wife, children, father, and mother. There lies everything I hate. Not another word out of you. I took a last look at the battleship, which was putting on steam. Then I rejoined Ned and Consile. We'll escape, I exclaimed. Good, Ned put in. Where's that ship from? I've no idea, but wherever it's from it will sink before nightfall. In any event, it's better to perish with it than be accomplices in some act of revenge whose merits we can't gauge. That's my feeling, Nedland replied coolly. Let's wait for nightfall. Night fell. A profound silence reigned on board. The compass indicated that the Nautilus hadn't changed direction. I could hear the beat of its propeller churning the waves with steady speed. Staying on the surface of the water it rolled gently, sometimes to one side, sometimes to the other. 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 circumstance is permitted. Several times I thought the Nautilus was about to attack, but it was content to let its adversary approach, and then it would quickly resume its retreating ways. Part of the night passed without incident. We kept watch for an opportunity to take action. We talked little, being too keyed up. Nedland was all for jumping overboard. I forced him to wait. As I saw it, the Nautilus would attack the double-decker on the surface of the waves, and then it would be not only possible, but easy to escape. At three o'clock in the morning, full of uneasiness, I climbed onto the platform. Captain Nemo hadn't left it. He stood in the bow next to his flag, which a mild breeze was unfurling above his head. His eyes never left that vessel. The extraordinary intensity of his gaze seemed to attract it, beguile it, and draw it more surely than if he had it in tow. The moon had then passed its zenith. Jupiter was rising in the east. In the midst of this placid, natural setting, sky and ocean competed with each other in tranquility, and the sea offered the orb of night the loveliest mirror ever to reflect its image. And when I compared this deep calm of the elements, with all the fury seething inside the plating of this barely perceptible Nautilus, I shivered all over. The vessel was two miles off. It drew nearer, always moving toward the phosphorescent glow that signaled the Nautilus's presence. I saw its green and red running lights, plus the white lantern hanging from the large stay of its formast. Hazy flickerings were reflected on its rigging, and indicated that its furnaces were pushed to the limit. Showers of sparks and cinders of flaming coal escaped from its funnels, spangling the air with stars. I stood there until six o'clock in the morning, Captain Nemo never seeming to notice me. The vessel lay a mile and a half off, and with the first glimmers of daylight it resumed its cannonade. The time couldn't be far away when the Nautilus would attack its adversary, and my companions and I would leave forever this man I dared not judge. I was about to go below to alert them, when the chief officer climbed onto the platform. Several seamen were with him. Captain Nemo didn't see them, or didn't want to see them. They carried out certain procedures that, on the Nautilus, you could call clearing the decks for action. They were quite simple. The man ropes that formed a handrail around the platform were lowered. Likewise, the pilot house and the beacon housing were withdrawn into the hull until they lay exactly flushed with it. The surface of this long sheet-iron cigar no longer offered a single protrusion that could hamper its maneuvers. I returned to the lounge. The Nautilus still emerged above the surface. A few morning gleams infiltrated the liquid strata. Beneath the undulations of the billows the windows were enlivened by the blushing of the rising sun that dreadful day of June 2 had dawned. At seven o'clock the log told me that the Nautilus had reduced speed. I realized that it was letting the warship approach. Moreover, the explosions grew more intensely audible. Shells furrowed the water around us, drilling through it with an odd hissing sound. My friends, I said, it's time. Let's shake hands and may God be with us. Nedland was determined. Concile, 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 Companion Way, I heard the hatch close sharply overhead. The Canadian leaped up the steps, but I stopped him. A well-known hissing told me that water was entering the ship's ballast tanks. Indeed, in a few moments the Nautilus had submerged some meters below the surface of the waves. I understood this maneuver. It was too late to take action. The Nautilus wasn't going to strike the double-decker where it was clad in impenetrable iron armor, but below its waterline where the metal carapace no longer protected its planking. We were prisoners once more, unwilling spectators at the performance of this gruesome drama. But we barely had time to think. Taking refuge in my state room, we stared at each other without pronouncing a word. My mind was in a total daze. My mental processes came to a dead stop. I hovered in that painful state that predominates during the period of anticipation before some frightful explosion. I waited. I listened. I lived only through my sense of hearing. Meanwhile the Nautilus's speed had increased appreciably, so it was gathering momentum. Its entire hull was vibrating. Suddenly I let out a yell. There had been a collision, but it was comparatively mild. I could feel the penetrating force of the steel spur. I could hear scratchings and scrapings. Carried away with its driving power, the Nautilus had passed through the vessel's mast like a sailmaker's needle through canvas. I couldn't hold still. Frantic, going insane, I leaped out of my state room and rushed into the lounge. Captain Nima was there. Mute, gloomy, implacable. He was staring through the port panel. An enormous mass was sinking beneath the waters, and the Nautilus, missing none of its death-throws, was descending into the depths with it. Ten meters away I could see its gaping hull into which water was rushing with a sound of thunder, then its double rows of cannons and railings, its deck was covered with dark, quivering shadows. The water was rising. Those poor men leaped up into the shrouds, clung to the masts, writhed beneath the waters. It was a human anthill that an invading sea had caught by surprise. Paralyzed, rigid with anguish, my hair standing on end, my eyes popping out of my head, short of breath, suffocating, speechless, I stared. I, too. I was glued to the window by an irresistible allure. The enormous vessel settled slowly. Following it down, the Nautilus kept watch on its every movement. Suddenly there was an eruption. The air compressed inside the craft, sent its decks flying, as if the powder stores had been ignited. The thrust of the waters was so great, the Nautilus swerved away. The poor ship then sank more swiftly. Its mast-heads appeared, laden with victims, then its cross-trees bending under clusters of men, finally the peak of its main mast. Then the dark mast disappeared, and with it a crew of corpses dragged under by fearsome eddies. I turned to Captain Nemo. This dreadful executioner, this true archangel of hate, was still staring. When it was all over, Captain Nemo headed to the door of his stateroom, opened it, and entered. I followed him with my eyes. On the rear paneling, beneath the portraits of his heroes, I saw the portrait of a still youthful woman with two little children. Captain Nemo stared at them for a few moments, stretched out his arms to them, sank to his knees, and melted into sobs. End of CHAPTER XXI. 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, one hundred feet beneath the waters. Where was it going? North or south? Where would the man flee after this horrible act of revenge? I re-entered my stateroom, where Ned and Consile were waiting silently. Captain Nemo filled me with insurmountable horror. Whatever he had once suffered at the hands of humanity, he had no right to meet out such punishment. He had made me, if not an accomplice, at least an eyewitness to his vengeance. Even this was intolerable. At eleven o'clock the electric lights came back on. I went into the lounge. It was deserted. I consulted the various instruments. The Nautilus was fleeing northward at a speed of twenty-five miles per hour, sometimes on the surface of the sea, sometimes thirty feet beneath it. After our position had been marked on the chart, I saw that we were passing into the mouth of the English Channel, that our heading would take us to the northernmost seas with incomparable speed. I could barely glimpse the swift passing of long-nosed sharks, hammer-head sharks, spotted dogfish that frequent these waters, big eagle rays, swarms of seahorse looking like knights on a chessboard, eels quivering like fireworks' serpents, armies of crab that fled obliquely by crossing their pincers over their carapaces. Finally schools of porpoise that held contests of speed with the Nautilus, but by this point observing, studying, and classifying were out of the question. By evening we had cleared two hundred leagues up the Atlantic. Shadows gathered in gloom overran the sea until the moon came up. I repaired it to my stateroom. I couldn't sleep. I was assaulted by nightmares. That horrible scene of destruction kept repeating in my mind's eye. From that day forward, who knows where the Nautilus took us in the North Atlantic basin, always at incalculable speed, always amid the high arctic mists. Did it call at the capes of Spitzbergen or the shores of Novaya Zimlia? Did it visit such uncharted seas as the White Sea, the Kara Sea, the Gulf of Ob, the Lyakov Islands, or those unknown beaches on the Siberian coast? I'm unable to say. I lost track of the passing hours. Time was in abeyance on the ship's clocks. As happens in the polar regions it seemed that night and day no longer followed their normal sequence. I felt myself being drawn into that strange domain where the overwrought imagination of Edgar Allan Poe was at home. Like his fabled Arthur Gordon Pym, I expected any moment to see that shrouded human figure very far larger in its proportions than any dweller among men, thrown across the cataract that protects the outskirts of the pole. I estimate, but perhaps I'm mistaken, that the Nautilus's haphazard course continued for fifteen or twenty days, and I'm not sure how long this would have gone on without the catastrophe that ended our voyage. As for Captain Nemo, he was no longer in the picture. As for his chief officer, the same applied. Not one crewman was visible for a single instant. The Nautilus cruised beneath the waters almost continuously. When it rose briefly to the surface to renew our air, the hatches opened and closed as if automated. No more positions were reported on the world map. I didn't know where we were. I'll also mention that the Canadian, at the end of his strength and patience, made no further appearances. Consile couldn't coax a single word out of him, and feared that, in a fit of delirium while under the sway of a ghastly homesickness, Ned would kill himself. So he kept a devoted watch on his friend every instant. You can appreciate that under these conditions our situation had become untenable. One morning, whose date I'm unable to specify, I was slumbering near the first hours of daylight, a painful, sickly slumber. Waking up, I saw Ned land leaning over me, and I heard him tell me in a low voice. We're going to escape. I sat up. When? I asked. Tonight. There doesn't seem to be any supervision left on the Nautilus. You'd think a total days was raining on board. Will you be ready, sir? Yes. Where are we? Inside of land. I saw it through the mists just this morning, twenty miles to the east. What land is it? I have no idea, but whatever it is there will take refuge. Yes, Ned. We'll escape tonight even if the sea swallows us up. The sea's rough. The wind's blowing hard, but a twenty-mile run in the Nautilus' nimble longboat doesn't scare me. Unknown to the crew, I've stowed some food and flasks of water inside. I'm with you. What's more, the Canadian added, if they catch me, I'll defend myself. I'll fight to the death. Then we'll die together, Ned, my friend. My mind was made up. The Canadian left me. I went out on the platform where I could barely stand up right against the jolts of the billows. The skies were threatening, but land lay inside those dense mists, and we had to escape. Not a single day or even a single hour could we afford to lose. I returned to the lounge, dreading yet desiring an encounter with Captain Nemo, wanting yet not wanting to see him. What would I say to him? How could I hide the involuntary horror he inspired in me? No. It was best not to meet him face to face, best to try and forget him. And yet, how long that day seemed, the last I would spend aboard the Nautilus, I was left to myself. Nedland and Consile avoided speaking to me, afraid they would give themselves away. At six o'clock I ate supper, but I had no appetite. Despite my revulsion I forced it down, wanting to keep my strength up. At six thirty Nedland entered my state room. He told me, We won't see each other again before we go. At ten o'clock the moon won't be up yet. We'll take advantage of the darkness. Come to the skiff. Consile and I will be inside waiting for you. The Canadian left without giving me time to answer him. I wanted to verify the Nautilus' heading. I made my way to the lounge. We were racing north, northeast with frightful speed, fifty metres down. I took one last look at the natural wonders and artistic treasures amassed in the museum. This unrivaled collection doomed to perish some day in the depths of the seas, together with its curator. I wanted to establish one supreme impression in my mind. I stayed there an hour, basking in the aura of the ceiling lights, passing in review the treasures shining in their glass cases. Then I returned to my state room. There I dressed in sturdy seafaring clothes. I gathered my notes and packed them tenderly about my person. My heart was pounding mightily. I couldn't curb its pulsations. My anxiety and agitation would certainly have given me away if Captain Nemo had seen me. What was he doing just then? I listened at the door to his state room. I heard the sound of footsteps. Captain Nemo was inside. He hadn't gone to bed. With his every movement I imagined he would appear and ask me why I wanted to escape. I felt in a perpetual state of alarm. My imagination magnified this sensation. The feeling became so acute I wondered whether it wouldn't be better to enter the Captain's state room, dare him face to face, brave it out with word and deed. It was an insane idea. Fortunately I controlled myself and stretched out on the bed to soothe my bodily agitation. My nerves calmed a little. But with my brain so aroused I did a swift review of my whole existence aboard the Nautilus. Every pleasant or unpleasant incident that had crossed my path since I went overboard from the Abraham Lincoln. The underwater hunting trip. The Torres Strait. Our running aground. The savages of Papua. The Coral Cemetery. The Suez Passageway. The Island of Santorini. The Creighton Diver. The Bay of Vigo. Atlantis. The Ice Bank. The South Pole. Our imprisonment in the ice. The battle with the devil fish. The storm in the Gulf Stream. The Avenger. And that horrible scene of the vessel sinking with its crew. All these events passed before my eyes like backdrops unrolling upstage in a theater. In this strange setting Captain Nemo then grew fantastically. His features were accentuated taking on superhuman proportions. He was no longer my equal. He was the man of the waters, the spirit of the seas. By then it was 9.30. I held my head in both hands to keep it from bursting. I closed my eyes. I no longer wanted to think. A half hour still to wait. A half hour of nightmares that could drive me insane. Just then I heard indistinct chords from the organ. Melancholy harmonies from some undefinable hymn. Actual pleadings from a soul trying to sever its earthly ties. I listened with all my senses at once. Barely breathing. Immersed like Captain Nemo in this musical trance that was drawing him beyond the bounds of this world. Then a sudden thought terrified me. Captain Nemo had left his stateroom. He was in the same lounge I had to cross in order to escape. There I would encounter him one last time. He would see me, perhaps speak to me. One gesture from him could obliterate me. A single word shackled me to his vessel. 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 forward through the nautilus' dark gainways, pausing after each step to curb the pounding of my heart. I arrived at the corner door of the lounge. I opened it gently. The lounge was plunged in profound darkness. Chords from the organ were reverberating faintly. Captain Nemo was there. He didn't see me. Even in broad daylight I doubt that he would have noticed me so completely was he immersed in his trance. I inched over the carpet, avoiding the tiniest bump whose noise might give me away. It took me five minutes to reach the door at the far end, which led into the library. I was about to open it when a gasp from Captain Nemo nailed me to the spot. I realized that he was standing up. I even got a glimpse of him because some rays of light from the library had filtered into the lounge. He was coming toward me, arms crossed, silent, not walking, but gliding like a ghost. His chest was heaving, swelling with sobs, and I heard him murmur these words, the last of his, to reach my ears. Oh, Almighty God! Enough! Enough! Was it a vow of repentance that had just escaped from this man's conscience? Frantic I rushed into the library. I climbed the central companion way and going along the upper gangway I arrived at the skiff. I went through the opening that had already given access to my two companions. Let's go! Let's go! I exclaimed. Right away the Canadian replied. First, Nedland closed and bolted the opening cut into the nautilus's sheet-iron using the monkey wrench he had with him. After likewise closing the opening in the skiff, the Canadian began to unscrew the nuts still bolting us to the underwater boat. Suddenly a noise from the ship's interior became audible. Voices were answering each other hurriedly. What was it? Had they spotted our escape? I felt Nedland sliding a dagger into my hand. Yes, I muttered. We know how to die! The Canadian paused in his work. But one word, twenty times repeated, one dreadful word told me the reason for the agitation spreading aboard the nautilus. We weren't the cause of the crew's concern. Maelstrom! Maelstrom! they were shouting. The Maelstrom! Could a more frightening name have rung in our ears under more frightening circumstances? Were we lying in the dangerous waterways off the Norwegian coast? Was the nautilus being dragged into this whirlpool just as the skiff was about to detach from its plating? As you know, at the turn of the tide, the waters confined between the Pharaoh and Lofoten islands rush out with irresistible violence. They form a vortex from which no ship has ever been able to escape. Monstrous waves race together from every point of the horizon. They form a whirlpool aptly called the Ocean's Naval, whose attracting power extends a distance of fifteen kilometers. They can suck down not only ships but whales and even polar bears from the northernmost regions. This was where the nautilus had been sent accidentally, or perhaps deliberately, by its captain. It was sweeping around in a spiral whose radius kept growing smaller and smaller. The skiff, still attached to the ship's plating, was likewise carried around at dizzying speed. I could feel us whirling. I was experiencing that accompanying nausea that follows such continuous spinning motions. We were in dread. In the last stages of sheer horror, our blood frozen in our veins, our nerves numb, drenched in cold sweat as if from the throes of dying, and what a noise around our frail skiff! What roar is echoing from several miles away? What crashes from the water breaking against sharp rocks on the seafloor where the hardest objects are smashed, where tree trunks are worn down and worked into a shaggy fur as Norwegians express it? What a predicament. We were rocking frightfully. The nautilus defended itself like a human being. Its steel muscles were cracking. Sometimes it stood on end, the three of us along with it. We've got to hold on tight, Ned said, and screw the nuts down again. If we can stay attached to the nautilus, we can still make it. He hadn't finished speaking when a cracking sound occurred. The nuts gave way and ripped out of its socket. The skiff was hurled like a stone from a sling into the midst of the vortex. My head struck against an iron timber, and with this violent shock I lost consciousness. End of Chapter 22 Recording by Kevin Laverne This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are on the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recorded by Gesine. Twenty thousand leagues under the sea. By Jules Verne. Translated by F. P. Walter. Second part. Chapter 23. Conclusion We come to the conclusion of this voyage under the seas. What happened that night? How the skiff escaped from the mouth-stroms, fearsome eddies. How Ned Land, Consul and I got out of that whirlpool. I'm unable to say. But when I regained consciousness, I was lying in a fisherman's hut. On one of the Lofoten Islands. My two companions, safe and sound, were at my bedside, clasping my hands. We embraced each other heartily. Just now we can't even dream of returning to France. Travel between Upper Norway and the South is limited. So I have to wait for the arrival of a steamboat that provides bi-monthly service from North Cape. So it is here, among these gallant people who have taken us in, that I'm reviewing my narrative of these adventures. It is accurate. Not a fact has been omitted, not a detail has been exaggerated. It's the faithful record of this inconceivable expedition into an element now beyond human reach. But where progress will someday make great inroads. Will anyone believe me? I don't know. Ultimately it's unimportant. What I can now assert is that I've earned the right to speak of these seas. Beneath which, in less than 10 months, I have cleared 20,000 leagues in this underwater tour of the world that has shown me so many wonders across the Pacific, the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, the southernmost and northernmost seas. But what happened to the Nautilus? Did it withstand the Malström's clutches? Is Captain Nemo alive? Is he still under the ocean pursuing his frightful programme of revenge, or did he stop after that latest mass execution? Will the waves someday deliver the manuscript that contains his full life story? Will I finally learn the man's name? Will the nationality of the stricken warship tell us the nationality of Captain Nemo? I hope so. I likewise hope that his powerful submersible has defeated the sea inside its most dreadful whirlpool, that the Nautilus has survived where so many ships have perished. If this is the case and Captain Nemo still inhabits the ocean, his adopted country, may the hate be appeased in that fierce heart. May the contemplation of so many wonders extinguish the spirit of vengeance in him. May the executioner pass away and the scientist continue his peaceful exploration of the seas. If his destiny is strange, it's also sublime. Haven't I encompassed it myself? Didn't I lead ten months of this otherworldly existence? Thus to that question asked six thousand years ago in the book of Ecclesiastes, who can fathom the soundless depths? Two men out of all humanity have now earned the right to reply. Captain Nemo and I. End of the second part. And end of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, translated by F. P. Walter. Recorded by Gesine Invaletta. May 2006.