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Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
Chapter 29. THE GRECIAN ARCHIPELAGO
The next day, the 12th of February, at dawn, the Nautilus rose to the surface.
I hurried up to the platform, Three miles to the south, I could see the dim outline of Pelusium.
A torrent had carried us from one sea to another.
Around seven o'clock, Ned and Conseil joined me.
"Well, Sir Naturalist," said the Canadian in a slightly joking tone, "and the Mediterranean?"
"We're floating on its surface, friend Ned."
"What!" said Conseil.
"This very night?"
"Yes, this very night. In a few minutes, we've passed this impassable isthmus."
"I don't believe it," replied the Canadian.
"Then you're wrong, Master Land," I continued.
"This low coast that curves to the south is the Egyptian coast."
"And you, Ned, with your good eyes, you can see the jetty of Port Said stretching into the sea."
The Canadian looked carefully at the coast, squinting to make out the distant jetty.
You're right, sir. Your Captain is a fine man. We're in the Mediterranean. Good! Now, if you please, let's talk where no one hears us.
I saw what the Canadian wanted, and in any case, I thought it was better to let him talk, as he wished.
So we all three went and sat down near the lantern, where we were less exposed to the spray from the blades.
"Now, Ned, we're listening. What do you have to tell us?"
"What I have to tell you is very simple."
"We're in Europe."
"And before Captain Nemo's caprices drag us back to the bottom of the Polar Seas or lead us into Oceania, I ask to leave the Nautilus."
I didn't want to limit my companions' freedom, but I certainly felt no desire to leave Captain Nemo.
Thanks to him and his equipment, I was getting closer every day to finishing my submarine studies.
I was rewriting my book on the depths of the sea in its very element.
Would I ever have such an opportunity again to observe the wonders of the ocean?
No, certainly not! And I couldn't accept the idea of abandoning the Nautilus before my research was complete.
"Friend Ned, answer me honestly. Are you tired of being on board? Are you sorry that destiny has thrown us into Captain Nemo's hands?"
The Canadian stayed silent for a few moments.
Then he crossed his arms and said,
"Honestly, I don't regret this journey under the seas."
"I'll be glad to have made it."
"But now that it's done, let's finish with it."
"That's my idea."
"It'll come to an end, Ned."
"Where and when?"
"I don't know where. I can't say when. Or rather, I suppose it'll end when these seas have nothing more to teach us."
"Then what do you hope for?" demanded the Canadian.
"That circumstances may occur six months from now as well as now, which we can and should use."
"Oh!" said Ned Land.
"And where will we be in six months, if you please, Sir Naturalist?"
"Perhaps in China."
"You know the Nautilus is a fast traveler."
"It goes through water like swallows through the air, or like an express train on land."
"It's not afraid of busy seas."
"Who can say it might not reach the coasts of France, England, or America, where we could try to escape as well as here?"
"M. Aronnax," replied the Canadian.
"Your arguments are weak at the base."
"You speak in the future, 'We'll be there!"
"We'll be here!' I speak in the present, 'We're here, and we must use it.'"
Ned Land's logic pressed me hard, and I felt beaten on that point.
I didn't know what argument would help me now.
"Sir," continued Ned, "let's suppose an impossibility. If Captain Nemo offered you your freedom today, would you accept it?"
"I don't know," I answered.
"And if," he added, "the offer he made you today was never made again, would you accept it?"
"Friend Ned, here's my answer."
"Your reasoning is against me."
"We can't rely on Captain Nemo's goodwill."
"Common sense forbids him to set us free."
"On the other hand, good sense tells us to use the first chance to leave the Nautilus."
"Well, M. Aronnax, that's wisely said."
"Just one observation."
"The chance must be serious, and our first attempt must succeed."
"If it fails, we'll never find another, and Captain Nemo will never forgive us."
"All that's true," replied the Canadian.
"But your observation applies equally to any attempt at escape, whether in two years or two days."
"The question is still this, if a good opportunity appears, we must take it."
"Agreed! And now, Ned, will you tell me what you mean by a good opportunity?"
"It'll be one where, on a dark night, the Nautilus comes close to some European coast."
"And you'll try to save yourself by swimming?"
"Yes, if we're near enough to the shore and if the ship is floating at the time."
"Not if the shore is far away and the boat is underwater."
"And in that case?"
"In that case, I'd try to take control of the small boat."
"I know how it works."
"We'd get inside, and once the bolts are pulled, we'd come to the surface without even the pilot in the front noticing our escape."
"Well, Ned, watch for the opportunity. But don't forget that a mistake will ruin us."
"I won't forget, sir."
"And now, Ned, would you like to know what I think of your plan?"
"Certainly, M. Aronnax."
"Well, I think. I don't say I hope. I think that this good opportunity will never appear."
"Why not?"
"Because Captain Nemo can't hide from himself that we haven't given up all hope of regaining our freedom."
"He'll be on his guard, especially in these seas and near European coasts."
"We'll see," replied Ned Land, shaking his head firmly.
"And now, Ned Land,"
"I added, "Let's stop. Not another word. When you're ready, tell us and we'll follow. I rely on you.
That ended a conversation which, not long after, led to very serious results.
I must say here that facts seemed to confirm my prediction, to the Canadian's great despair.
Did Captain Nemo distrust us in these busy seas?
Or did he only want to hide from the many ships of all nations that crossed the Mediterranean?
I couldn't tell, but we were often underwater and far from the coast.
Or, if the Nautilus did surface, nothing was visible except the pilot's cage.
Sometimes it went to great depths, because between the Grecian Archipelago and Asia Minor, we couldn't touch the bottom at more than a thousand fathoms.
So I only knew we were near the Island of Carpathos, one of the Sporades, because Captain Nemo recited these lines from Virgil,
"Est Carpathio Neptuni gurgite vates, Caeruleus Proteus,"
as he pointed to a spot on the map.
It was indeed the ancient home of Proteus, the old shepherd of Neptune's flocks, now the Island of Scarpanto, between Rhodes and Crete.
I saw nothing but the granite base through the glass panels of the saloon.
The next day, the 14th of February, I decided to spend a few hours studying the fish of the Archipelago.
But for some reason, the panels stayed tightly closed.
When I checked the Nautilus's course, I found we were going towards Candia, the ancient Isle of Crete.
When I had boarded the Abraham Lincoln, this whole island had risen in rebellion against the tyranny of the Turks.
But I had no idea how the rebels had done since then, and Captain Nemo, cut off from all land communication, couldn't tell me.
I didn't mention this event when I found myself alone with him in the saloon that night, Besides, he seemed quiet and worried.
Then, unlike his usual habit, he ordered both panels to be opened, and going from one to the other, he watched the mass of water carefully.
I couldn't guess why, so on my side, I spent my time studying the fish that passed before my eyes.
In the middle of the water, a man appeared.
A diver, carrying a leather bag at his belt.
It wasn't a body abandoned to the waves.
It was a living man, swimming strongly, disappearing sometimes to breathe at the surface.
I turned to Captain Nemo and exclaimed in an excited voice,
"A shipwrecked man! We must save him at any cost!"
"A man! A shipwrecked sailor!" I cried.
The Captain didn't answer me, but came and leaned against the panel.
The man had approached, and with his face pressed against the glass, he was looking at us.
To my great surprise, Captain Nemo signaled to him.
The diver answered with his hand, rose immediately to the surface, and didn't appear again.
"Don't worry," said Captain Nemo.
"It's Nicholas of Cape Matapan, nicknamed Pesca."
"He's well known in all the Cyclades."
"A brave diver!"
"Water is his element, and he lives more in it than on land, going constantly from one island to another, even as far as Crete."
"You know him, Captain?"
"Why not, M. Aronnax?"
Saying this, Captain Nemo went towards a piece of furniture near the left panel of the saloon.
Near this furniture, I saw a chest bound with iron.
On its cover was a copper plate with the Nautilus's symbol and motto.
At that moment, the Captain, without noticing my presence, opened the piece of furniture, a sort of strongbox that held many ingots.
They were gold ingots, Where did this precious metal come from, which represented an enormous sum?
Where did the Captain collect this gold?
And what was he going to do with it?
I didn't say a word, I watched.
Captain Nemo took the ingots one by one and arranged them methodically in the chest, which he filled completely.
I estimated the contents at more than 4,000 pounds of gold, that's, nearly 200,000 pounds sterling.
The chest was securely fastened, and the Captain wrote an address on the lid in characters that must have belonged to Modern Greece.
When this was done, Captain Nemo pressed a button.
Its wire connected with the crew's quarters.
Four men appeared, and not without some trouble, they pushed the chest out of the saloon.
Then I heard them hoisting it up the iron staircase using pulleys.
At that moment, Captain Nemo turned to me.
"And you were saying, sir?" he said.
"I wasn't saying anything, Captain."
"Then, sir, if you'll allow me, I'll wish you good night."
With that, he turned and left the saloon.
I returned to my room very troubled, as you can imagine.
I tried to sleep in vain, I searched for the connection between the appearance of the diver and the chest filled with gold.
Soon, I felt from certain movements of rocking and tossing that the Nautilus was leaving the depths and returning to the surface.
Then I heard steps on the platform.
I knew they were unfastening the small boat and launching it onto the waves.
For a moment, it hit the side of the Nautilus, then all noise stopped.
Two hours later, the same noise, the same coming and going started again.
The boat was lifted on board, put back in its place, and the Nautilus again plunged under the waves.
So these millions had been transported to their address.
To what point on the continent? Who was Captain Nemo's contact?
The next day, I told Conseil and the Canadian about the night's events, which had excited my curiosity to the highest degree.
My companions were no less surprised than I was.
"But where does he take his millions?" asked Ned Land.
There was no possible answer to that.
After breakfast, I returned to the saloon and started working.
Until five o'clock in the evening, I spent my time organizing my notes.
At that moment, should I blame it on some strange feeling?.
I felt so much heat that I had to take off my coat.
It was strange, because we were under low latitudes.
And even then, the Nautilus, submerged as it was, shouldn't have experienced any change in temperature.
I looked at the pressure gauge, it showed a depth of sixty feet, which atmospheric heat could never reach.
I continued my work, but the temperature rose to such a level that it became unbearable.
"Could there be a fire on board?" I asked myself.
I was leaving the saloon when Captain Nemo entered.
He approached the thermometer, checked it, and turning to me, said,
"Forty-two degrees."
"I've noticed it, Captain," I replied.
"And if it gets much hotter, we won't be able to stand it."
"Oh, sir, it won't get hotter if we don't want it to."
"You can reduce it as you wish, then?"
"No. But I can go farther from the stove that produces it."
"So it's from outside!"
"Certainly. We're floating in a current of boiling water."
"Is it possible!" I exclaimed.
"Look."
The panels opened, and I saw the sea completely white all around.
A sulphurous smoke was curling through the waves, which boiled like water in a pot.
I put my hand on one of the glass panes, but the heat was so great that I quickly pulled it away.
"Where are we?" I asked.
"Near the Island of Santorin, sir," replied the Captain.
"I wanted to show you the curious sight of a submarine eruption."
"I thought," I said, "that the formation of these new islands had ended."
"Nothing is ever ended in the volcanic parts of the sea," replied Captain Nemo.
"The globe is always being worked by underground fires."
"Already, in the nineteenth year of our era, according to Cassiodorus and Pliny, a new island, Theia, appeared in the very place where these small islands have recently formed."
"Then they sank under the waves, only to rise again in the year 69, when they sank again."
"Since that time until our days, the volcanic work has stopped."
"On the 3rd of February, 1866, a new island emerged from the middle of sulphurous vapor near Nea Kamenni."
"They named it George Island."
"It settled again on the 6th of the same month."
"Seven days later, on the 13th of February, the Island of Aphroessa appeared, leaving a canal ten yards wide between Nea Kamenni and itself."
"I was in these seas when the event happened, and I was able to observe all the different stages."
"The Island of Aphroessa, round in shape, measured 300 feet across and 30 feet high."
"It was made of black, glassy lava mixed with pieces of feldspar."
"And recently, on the 10th of March, a smaller island called Reka showed itself near Nea Kamenni."
"Since then, these three have joined together, forming just one island."
"And the canal we're in right now?" I asked.
"Here it's," replied Captain Nemo, showing me a map of the Archipelago.
"You see, I've marked the new islands."
I returned to the glass, the Nautilus was no longer moving.
The heat was becoming unbearable, the sea, which had been white until now, was red because of the presence of iron salts.
Although the ship was tightly sealed, a sulfur smell filled the saloon, and the electric light was extinguished by scarlet flames.
I was in a bath, I was choking, I was being cooked.
"We can't stay any longer in this boiling water," I said to the Captain.
"It wouldn't be wise," replied the calm Captain Nemo.
An order was given, the Nautilus turned around and left the furnace it couldn't face without harm.
A quarter of an hour later, we were breathing fresh air on the surface.
I thought that if Ned Land had chosen this sea for our escape, we would never have survived the sea of fire.
The next day, the 16th of February, we left the basin which, between Rhodes and Alexandria, is about 1,500 fathoms deep.
The Nautilus, passing some distance from Cerigo, left the Grecian Archipelago after rounding Cape Matapan.