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Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
Chapter 45. THE LAST WORDS OF CAPTAIN NEMO
The panels had closed on that terrible sight, but light hadn't returned to the saloon.
Everything was silent and dark inside the Nautilus.
At amazing speed, a hundred feet below the water, it was leaving that sad place.
Where was it going? To the north or south?
Where was the man running to after such awful revenge?
I had returned to my room, where Ned and Conseil had stayed silent.
I felt a terrible fear of Captain Nemo.
Whatever he had suffered from those men, he had no right to punish them like that.
He had made me, if not a helper, then at least a witness of his revenge.
At eleven the electric light came back.
I went into the saloon, it was empty, I looked at the different instruments.
The Nautilus was moving north at twenty-five miles an hour, now on the surface, now thirty feet below it.
When I checked the bearings on the chart, I saw we were passing the mouth of the Manche.
Our course was taking us toward the northern seas at a terrible speed.
That night we crossed two hundred leagues of the Atlantic.
The shadows fell, and the sea was dark until the moon rose.
I went to my room, but I couldn't sleep.
I was troubled by terrible nightmares, the horrible scene of destruction was always in front of my eyes.
From that day, who could tell where in the North Atlantic the Nautilus would take us?
Still at unbelievable speed, Still in the middle of these northern fogs.
Would it stop at Spitzbergen, or on the shores of Nova Zembla?
Would we explore the White Sea, the Sea of Kara, the Gulf of Obi, the Archipelago of Liarrov, and the coast of Asia?
I couldn't say, I couldn't judge the time anymore.
The clocks had been stopped on board.
It seemed, as in polar countries, that night and day no longer followed their normal pattern.
I felt myself being pulled into that strange region where the wild imagination of Edgar Poe wandered freely.
Like the famous Gordon Pym, at every moment I expected to see,
"that veiled human figure, larger than any person on earth, thrown across the waterfall that guards the approach to the pole."
I guessed, though maybe I was wrong, that this dangerous journey of the Nautilus had lasted fifteen or twenty days.
And I don't know how much longer it might have lasted, if not for the disaster that ended this voyage.
I saw nothing of Captain Nemo now, nor of his second.
Not a single crew member was visible for a moment.
The Nautilus was almost always under water.
When we came to the surface to get fresh air, the panels opened and closed by themselves.
There were no more marks on the map.
I didn't know where we were, and the Canadian, his strength and patience gone, didn't appear anymore.
Conseil couldn't get a word from him.
Fearing that in a terrible fit of madness he might kill himself, Conseil watched him with constant care.
One morning, I couldn't say the date. I had fallen into a heavy, unhealthy sleep in the early hours when I suddenly woke.
Ned Land was leaning over me, saying in a low voice, "We're going to escape."
I sat up in bed, my heart pounding and my head spinning.
"When will we go?" I asked.
"Tonight. All inspection on board the Nautilus seems to have stopped. Everyone seems stunned. You'll be ready, sir?"
"Yes. Where are we?"
"In sight of land. I checked the position this morning in the fog. Twenty miles to the east."
"What country is it?"
"I don't know. But whatever it's, we'll take shelter there."
"Yes, Ned, yes. We'll escape tonight, even if the sea swallows us up."
"The sea is rough, the wind is strong, but twenty miles in that small boat of the Nautilus doesn't frighten me."
"Without the crew knowing, I've been able to get food and some bottles of water."
"I'll follow you."
"But," continued the Canadian, "if I'm caught, I'll defend myself. I'll make them kill me."
"We'll die together, friend Ned."
I had accepted everything, the Canadian left me.
I reached the platform, where I could barely stand against the waves.
The sky was threatening, but since land was in those thick brown shadows, we had to escape.
I returned to the saloon, fearing and yet hoping to see Captain Nemo, wishing and yet not wishing to see him.
What could I have said to him?
Could I hide the terrible fear he made me feel?
No, it was better that I didn't meet him face to face, Better to forget him, and yet.
How long that day seemed, the last I'd spend on the Nautilus.
I stayed alone, Ned Land and Conseil avoided speaking, for fear of giving themselves away.
At six I ate dinner, but I wasn't hungry.
I forced myself to eat despite my disgust, so I wouldn't get weak.
At half past six Ned Land came to my room and said, "We won't see each other again before we leave."
"At ten the moon won't have risen."
"We'll use the darkness."
"Come to the boat."
"Conseil and I'll wait for you."
The Canadian left without giving me time to answer.
Wanting to check the course of the Nautilus, I went to the saloon.
We were moving north-northeast at terrible speed, more than fifty yards deep.
I took a last look at these wonders of nature.
I gazed at the riches of art piled up in this museum.
The unmatched collection would die at the bottom of the sea with the man who had created it.
I wanted to fix an unforgettable image of it in my mind.
I stayed there for an hour, bathed in the light of that shining ceiling, looking at those treasures shining under their glass cases.
Then I returned to my small, dim room, feeling restless and unable to sleep.
I dressed myself in strong sea clothes.
I collected my notes, placing them carefully on me.
My heart beat loudly, I couldn't control its beating.
Certainly my worry and excitement would have given me away to Captain Nemo.
What was he doing at this moment?
I listened at the door of his room.
I heard steps, Captain Nemo was there.
He hadn't gone to rest, At every moment I expected him to appear and ask me why I wanted to escape.
I was constantly alert, My imagination made everything bigger.
The feeling became so strong that I asked myself if it wouldn't be better to go to the Captain's room.
To see him face to face and confront him with my look and gesture.
It was the idea of a madman.
Luckily I resisted the desire and stretched out on my bed to calm my body.
My nerves were a little calmer, but in my excited brain I saw again all my life on board the Nautilus.
Every event, happy or sad, that had happened since I disappeared from the Abraham Lincoln.
The submarine hunt took place in the Torres Straits.
The savages of Papua attacked, the ship ran ashore at a coral cemetery.
They passed through Suez, they visited the Island of Santorin.
A Cretan diver explored Vigo Bay and Atlantis.
An iceberg appeared at the South Pole.
They were imprisoned in the ice, they fought giant squids.
A storm raged in the Gulf Stream.
The Avenger appeared, a ship sank with all its crew in a horrible scene.
All these events passed before my eyes like scenes in a play.
Then Captain Nemo seemed to grow huge, his features to take on superhuman size.
He was no longer my equal, but a man of the waters, the spirit of the sea.
It was then half past nine, I held my head between my hands to keep it from bursting.
I closed my eyes, I wouldn't think anymore.
There was another half hour to wait, another half hour of a nightmare that might drive me mad.
At that moment I heard the distant sound of the organ, a sad harmony to an unclear song.
It was the cry of a soul wanting to break free from this earthly life.
I listened with all my senses, barely breathing, lost like Captain Nemo in that musical ecstasy pulling him toward death.
Then a sudden thought terrified me, Captain Nemo had left his room.
He was in the saloon, which I had to cross to escape.
There I'd meet him for the last time.
He'd see me, maybe speak to me.
A gesture from him might destroy me, a single word chain me on board.
But ten was about to strike, the moment had come for me to leave my room and join my companions.
I mustn't hesitate, even if Captain Nemo himself stood in front of me.
I opened my door carefully, and even then, as it turned on its hinges, it seemed to make a terrible noise.
Maybe it only existed in my imagination.
I crept along the dark stairs of the Nautilus, stopping at each step to calm the beating of my heart.
I reached the door of the saloon and opened it gently.
It was in deep darkness, the sounds of the organ played softly.
Captain Nemo was there, he didn't see me.
In full light I don't think he'd have noticed me, so completely was he lost in the ecstasy.
I crept along the carpet, avoiding the slightest sound that might give me away.
It took me at least five minutes to reach the door on the opposite side, which opened into the library.
I was about to open it when a sigh from Captain Nemo stopped me.
I knew he was standing up, I could even see him, because the light from the library came through to the saloon.
He came towards me silently, with his arms crossed, gliding like a ghost rather than walking.
His chest was shaking with sobs, and I heard him murmur these words, the last that ever reached my ears,
"Almighty God! Enough! Enough!"
Was that a confession of regret escaping from this man's conscience?
In desperation, I rushed through the library, climbed the central stairs, and following the upper flight, reached the boat.
I crept through the opening, where my two companions had already entered.
"Let's go! Let's go!" I shouted.
"Right away!" replied the Canadian.
The opening in the plates of the Nautilus was first closed and fastened with a false key that Ned Land had gotten.
The opening in the boat was also closed.
The Canadian began to loosen the bolts that still held us to the submarine.
Suddenly we heard a noise, Voices were answering each other loudly.
What was happening? Had they discovered our escape?
I felt Ned Land put a dagger into my hand.
"Yes," I murmured, "we know how to die!"
The Canadian had stopped his work, standing motionless and listening to the uproar.
But one word, repeated many times, a terrible word, showed the cause of the excitement spreading on board the Nautilus.
It wasn't us the crew was looking for!
"The maelstrom! The maelstrom!" Could a more terrible word in a more terrible situation have sounded in our ears?
We were then on the dangerous coast of Norway.
Was the Nautilus being pulled into this gulf at the moment our boat was about to leave its side?
We knew at tide the trapped waters between Ferroe and Loffoden rushed with unstoppable force, forming a whirlpool from which no ship escaped.
From every point on the horizon, enormous waves were meeting, forming a gulf rightly called the "Navel of the Ocean," whose power of attraction reached twelve miles.
There, not only ships but whales were destroyed, as well as white bears from the northern regions.
It was there that the Nautilus, willingly or unwillingly, had been taken by the Captain.
It was moving in a spiral, the circle of which was getting smaller and smaller.
And the boat, still attached to its side, was carried along with dizzying speed.
I felt that sick dizziness that comes from long spinning.
We were terrified, Our horror was at its peak.
Our blood had stopped, all nerve power was gone, and we were covered in cold sweat, like the sweat of death!
And what noise around our small boat!
What roars repeated by the echo miles away!
What a noise from the waters breaking on the sharp rocks at the bottom, where the hardest objects were crushed and trees worn away,
"with all the fur rubbed off,"
As the Norwegian saying goes, 'with all the fur rubbed off,' and it applies here.
What a situation to be in! We rocked terribly.
The Nautilus defended itself like a human being.
Its steel muscles cracked, Sometimes it seemed to stand upright, and we with it!
"We must hold on," said Ned, "and watch the bolts. We may still be saved if we stay with the Nautilus."
He hadn't finished the words when we heard a crashing noise.
The bolts gave way, and the boat, torn from its groove, was thrown like a stone from a sling into the middle of the whirlpool.
My head hit a piece of iron, and with the violent shock I lost all consciousness.
Thus ends the voyage under the seas.
What happened during that night, how the boat escaped from the eddies of the maelstrom, how Ned Land, Conseil.
And I ever came out of the gulf, I can't tell.
But when I regained consciousness, I was lying in a fisherman's hut on the Loffoden Isles.
My two companions, safe and sound, were near me holding my hands, we hugged each other warmly.
At that moment we couldn't think of returning to France.
The ways of travel between the north of Norway and the south are rare.
And so I must wait for the steamboat that runs monthly from Cape North.
And among the kind people who have so warmly received us, I revise my record of these adventures once more.
Not a single fact has been left out, not a detail exaggerated.
It's a true story of this unbelievable journey in a world that people can't reach, but to which Progress will one day open a path.
Will I be believed? I don't know.
And it doesn't matter, after all, I now say that I have the right to speak of these seas.
In less than ten months, I have crossed 20,000 leagues in that underwater tour of the world, it has shown so many wonders.
But what has happened to the Nautilus?
Did it resist the pressure of the maelstrom?
Does Captain Nemo still live? And does he still follow under the ocean those terrible acts of revenge?
Or did he stop after the last great destruction?
Will the waves one day carry to him this manuscript containing the story of his life?
Will I ever know the name of this man?
Will the missing ship tell us by its nationality the name of Captain Nemo?
I hope so, and that one day the sea will grant him peace.
I also hope his powerful ship has conquered the sea at its most terrible gulf.
I hope the Nautilus has survived where so many other ships have been lost.
If it's so, if Captain Nemo still lives in the ocean, his chosen country, may hatred be calmed in that wild heart!
May the sight of so many wonders put out forever the spirit of revenge!
May the judge disappear, and the philosopher continue the peaceful exploration of the sea!
If his fate is strange, it's also noble.
Haven't I understood it myself? Haven't I lived ten months of this unnatural life?
Ecclesiastes asked a question three thousand years ago, "That which is far off and exceeding deep, who can find it out?"
Only two men alive today have the right to answer it.
CAPTAIN NEMO AND MYSELF. Our lonely companionship lasted through ten months beneath the waves.