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Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
Chapter 44. A HECATOMB
He described this unexpected scene in a cold way at first.
Then he spoke the last words with strong emotion.
The name of the Avenger impressed itself deeply on my mind, I couldn't miss its meaning.
My eyes didn't leave the Captain, who, with his hand stretched out to sea, was watching the glorious wreck with a burning eye.
Perhaps I'd never know who he was, where he came from, or where he was going.
But I saw the man move, apart from the scientist.
It was no ordinary dislike that shut Captain Nemo and his companions in the Nautilus, but hatred, monstrous or noble, time couldn't weaken.
Did this hatred still look for revenge?
The future would soon teach me that.
But the Nautilus was rising slowly to the surface of the sea, and the shape of the Avenger disappeared from my sight.
Soon a slight rolling told me that we were in the open air.
At that moment a dull boom was heard.
I looked at the Captain, he didn't move.
"Captain?" I said.
He didn't answer, I left him and climbed onto the platform.
Conseil and the Canadian were already there.
"Where did that sound come from?" I asked.
"It was a gunshot," Ned Land replied.
I looked in the direction of the ship I had already seen.
It was getting closer to the Nautilus, and we could see that it was putting on steam.
It was within six miles of us.
"What ship is that, Ned?"
"By its rigging and the height of its lower masts," said the Canadian.
"I bet she's a warship. I hope it reaches us and, if necessary, sinks this cursed Nautilus."
"Friend Ned," replied Conseil.
"What harm can it do to the Nautilus? Can it attack it under the waves? Can it fire at us at the bottom of the sea?"
"Tell me, Ned," I said, "can you tell which country she belongs to?"
The Canadian knitted his eyebrows, dropped his eyelids, and screwed up the corners of his eyes.
For a few moments he fixed a sharp look on the ship.
"No, sir," he replied.
"I can't tell what nation she belongs to, because she shows no colors."
"But I can say she's a warship, because a long pennant flies from her main mast."
For a quarter of an hour we watched the ship, which was steaming toward us.
I couldn't believe that she could see the Nautilus from that distance, and even less that she could know what this underwater machine was.
Soon the Canadian told me that she was a large, armored, two-decker ram.
Thick black smoke was pouring from her two funnels.
Her closely-furled sails were tied to her yards.
She didn't hoist any flag at her mizzen-peak.
The distance stopped us from seeing the colors of her pennant, which floated like a thin ribbon.
She advanced quickly, If Captain Nemo let her get close, there was a chance of rescue for us.
"Sir," said Ned Land, "if that ship passes within a mile of us, I'll throw myself into the sea, and I'd advise you to do the same."
I didn't reply to the Canadian's suggestion but kept watching the ship.
Whether English, French, American, or Russian, she'd surely take us in if we could only reach her.
Presently, white smoke burst from the front of the ship.
A few seconds later, the water, shaken by the fall of a heavy object, splashed the back of the Nautilus.
Shortly after, a loud explosion hit my ear.
"What! They're firing at us!" I shouted.
"If you please, sir," said Ned, "they've recognized the unicorn, and they're firing at us."
"But," I shouted, "surely they can see that there are men inside?"
"It's perhaps because of that," replied Ned Land, looking at me.
A whole flood of light burst into my mind.
Doubtless they now knew how to believe the stories of the supposed monster.
No doubt, on board the Abraham Lincoln, when the Canadian struck it, Commander Farragut recognized the supposed narwhal.
He saw it as a submarine vessel more dangerous than a supernatural whale.
Yes, it must have been so, and on every sea they were now looking for this engine of destruction.
Terrible indeed! If, as we supposed, Captain Nemo used the Nautilus for acts of revenge.
On the night when we were locked in that cell in the middle of the Indian Ocean, hadn't he attacked some vessel?
The man buried in the coral cemetery, hadn't he been a victim of the shock caused by the Nautilus?
Yes, I repeat, it must be so.
One part of the mysterious life of Captain Nemo had been uncovered.
If his identity hadn't been recognized, the nations united against him were no longer hunting an imaginary creature.
They were hunting a man who had sworn a deadly hatred against them.
All the terrible past rose before me.
Instead of meeting friends on board the approaching ship, we could only expect pitiless enemies.
But the shots rattled around us, Some of them struck the sea and bounced away, losing themselves in the distance.
But none touched the Nautilus, the ship was no more than three miles from us.
Despite the serious cannon fire, Captain Nemo didn't appear on the platform.
But if one of the cone-shaped projectiles had hit the shell of the Nautilus, it would have been deadly.
The Canadian then said, "Sir, we must do everything we can to get out of this problem."
"Let's signal them."
"Then maybe they'll understand that we're honest people."
Ned Land took his handkerchief to wave in the air.
But he had hardly shown it when he was struck down by an iron hand and fell, despite his great strength, onto the deck.
"Fool!" shouted the Captain.
"Do you want to be pierced by the spur of the Nautilus before it's thrown at this ship?"
Captain Nemo was terrible to hear, he was even more terrible to see.
His face was deadly pale, with a spasm at his heart.
For a moment it must have stopped beating.
His pupils were terribly narrowed, he didn't speak, he roared, as, with his body thrown forward, he squeezed the Canadian's shoulders.
Then, leaving him and turning to the warship, whose shot was still raining around him, he shouted with a powerful voice,
"Ah, ship of a cursed nation, you know who I'm! I don't need your colors to know you! Look! And I'll show you mine!"
And on the front part of the platform, Captain Nemo unfurled a black flag, similar to the one he had placed at the South Pole.
At that moment, a shot struck the shell of the Nautilus sideways, without piercing it.
It bounced near the Captain and was lost in the sea.
He shrugged his shoulders and, addressing me, said shortly, "Go down, you and your companions, go down!"
"Sir," I cried, "are you going to attack this ship?"
"Sir, I'm going to sink it."
"You won't do that!"
"I'll do it," he replied coldly.
"And I advise you not to judge me, sir. Fate has shown you what you shouldn't have seen. The attack has begun. Go down."
"What's this ship?"
"You don't know? Very well! So much the better! Its nationality to you, at least, will be a secret. Go down!"
We could only obey, About fifteen of the sailors surrounded the Captain, looking with unending hatred at the ship getting closer.
You could feel that the same desire for revenge filled every soul.
I went down at the moment another projectile struck the Nautilus, and I heard the Captain shout,
"Strike, mad ship!"
"Shower your useless shot!"
"And then you won't escape the spur of the Nautilus."
"But it's not here that you'll die!"
"I wouldn't want your ruins to mix with those of the Avenger!"
I reached my room, the Captain and his second had stayed on the platform.
The screw was set in motion, and the Nautilus, moving quickly, was soon beyond the reach of the ship's guns.
But the pursuit continued, and Captain Nemo was satisfied with keeping his distance.
About four in the afternoon, no longer able to control my impatience, I went to the central staircase.
The panel was open, and I dared to go onto the platform.
The Captain was still walking up and down with an agitated step.
He was looking at the ship, which was five or six miles away on the leeward side.
He was circling it like a wild beast and, drawing it eastward, he let them follow.
But he didn't attack, Perhaps he still hesitated?
I wanted to try to mediate once more.
But I had hardly spoken when Captain Nemo silenced me, saying,
"I'm the law, and I'm the judge!"
"I'm the oppressed, and there's the oppressor!"
"Through him I've lost all that I loved, cherished, and respected, country, wife, children, father, and mother."
"I saw everything die!"
"All that I hate is there!"
"Say no more!"
I cast a last look at the warship, which was putting on steam, and joined Ned and Conseil.
"We'll escape!" I shouted.
"Good!" said Ned.
"What's this ship?"
"I don't know."
"But whatever it's, it'll be sunk before night."
"In any case, it's better to die with it than to become accomplices in a revenge whose justice we can't judge."
"That's my opinion too," said Ned Land coolly.
"Let's wait for night."
Night arrived, Deep silence ruled on board.
The compass showed that the Nautilus hadn't changed its course.
It was on the surface, rolling slightly.
My companions and I decided to escape when the ship was close enough either to hear us or to see us.
The moon, which would be full in two or three days, shone brightly.
Once on board the ship, if we couldn't stop the blow that threatened it, we could at least do everything that circumstances would allow.
Several times I thought the Nautilus was preparing to attack.
But Captain Nemo was satisfied with letting his enemy get close and then fleeing again.
Part of the night passed without any event.
We watched for the chance to act.
We spoke little, because we were too moved.
Ned Land would have thrown himself into the sea, but I forced him to wait.
According to my idea, the Nautilus would attack the ship at its waterline, and then it wouldn't only be possible but easy to escape.
At three in the morning, full of anxiety, I climbed onto the platform.
Captain Nemo hadn't left it, he was standing at the front near his flag, which a light breeze displayed above his head.
He didn't take his eyes off the ship.
The intensity of his look seemed to attract, fascinate, and draw it onward more surely than if he had been towing it.
The moon was then passing the meridian.
Jupiter was rising in the east, In this peaceful scene of nature, sky and ocean competed in calmness.
The sea offered the night stars the finest mirror they could ever have to reflect their image.
As I thought of the deep calm of these elements, compared with all those passions hidden inside the Nautilus, I shuddered.
The ship was within two miles of us.
It was getting closer to that phosphorescent light that showed the presence of the Nautilus.
I could see its green and red lights and its white lantern hanging from the large foremast.
A faint vibration quivered through its rigging, showing that the furnaces were heated to the highest point.
Sheaves of sparks and red ashes flew from the funnels, shining in the air like stars.
I stayed like that until six in the morning, without Captain Nemo noticing me.
The ship was about a mile and a half from us, and with the first light of day the firing began again.
The moment couldn't be far off when the Nautilus would attack its enemy and my companions and I'd leave this man forever.
I was preparing to go down to remind them when the second climbed onto the platform, followed by several sailors.
Captain Nemo either didn't see them or didn't want to see them.
Some steps were taken that could be called the signal for action, they were very simple.
The iron railing around the platform was lowered, and the lantern and pilot cages were pushed inside the shell until they were level with the deck.
The long surface of the steel cigar no longer offered a single point to stop its movements.
I returned to the saloon, the Nautilus still floated.
Some streaks of light were filtering through the liquid layers.
With the waves' movements, the windows were brightened by the red streaks of the rising sun.
And this dreadful day of the 2nd of June had dawned.
At five o'clock, the log showed that the speed of the Nautilus was slowing down.
And I knew that it was letting them get closer.
Besides, the reports were heard more clearly, and the projectiles, moving through the surrounding water, were put out with a strange hissing noise.
"My friends," I said, "the moment has come. One handshake, and may God protect us!"
Ned Land was determined, Conseil was calm.
I was so nervous that I didn't know how to control myself, we all went into the library.
But the moment I pushed the door that opened onto the central staircase, I heard the upper panel close sharply.
The Canadian rushed to the stairs, but I stopped him.
A well-known hissing noise told me that the water was running into the reservoirs.
In a few minutes the Nautilus was a few yards below the surface of the waves.
I understood the move, it was too late to act.
The Nautilus didn't want to strike at the impenetrable armor but below the waterline, where the metal covering no longer protected it.
We were again imprisoned, unwilling witnesses of the dreadful drama that was being prepared.
We had hardly time to think, Taking shelter in my room, we looked at each other without speaking.
A deep numbness had taken hold of my mind.
Thought seemed to stop, I was in that painful state of waiting that comes before a dreadful report.
I waited, I listened, Every sense was focused on hearing! The speed of the Nautilus increased.
It was preparing to rush, the whole ship trembled.
Suddenly I screamed, I felt the shock, but it was relatively light.
I felt the penetrating power of the steel spur, I heard rattling and scraping.
But the Nautilus, carried by its driving power, passed through the mass of the ship like a needle through sailcloth!
I couldn't stand it any longer, Mad, out of my mind, I rushed from my room into the saloon.
Captain Nemo was there, silent, gloomy, unyielding.
He was looking through the port panel.
A large mass cast a shadow on the water.
And so that it wouldn't miss anything of its agony, the Nautilus was going down into the abyss with it.
Ten yards from me I saw the open shell, through which the water was rushing with the noise of thunder.
Then the double line of guns and the netting.
The bridge was covered with black, moving shadows.
The water was rising, the poor creatures were crowding the ropes, clinging to the masts, struggling under the water.
It was a human ant-heap overtaken by the sea.
Paralyzed, stiff with fear, my hair standing on end, my eyes wide open, panting, without breath, without voice, I too was watching!
An irresistible force glued me to the glass!
Suddenly an explosion took place, the compressed air blew up her decks, as if the magazines had caught fire.
Then the unlucky ship sank more quickly.
Her topmast, loaded with victims, now appeared.
Then her spars, bending under the weight of men.
And, last of all, the top of her mainmast.
Then the dark mass disappeared, and with it the dead crew, pulled down by the strong whirlpool.
The unlucky ship sank more quickly, her masts vanishing beneath the foaming, furious sea.
I turned to Captain Nemo, that terrible avenger, a perfect archangel of hatred, was still watching.
When everything was over, he turned to his room, opened the door, and entered, I followed him with my eyes.
On the end wall beneath his heroes, I saw the portrait of a woman, still young, and two little children.
Captain Nemo looked at them for a few moments, stretched his arms toward them, and, kneeling down, burst into deep sobs.