Read the chapter
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
Chapter 8. MOBILIS IN MOBILI
This violent kidnapping, so roughly carried out, was done with the speed of lightning.
I shivered all over, Who were we dealing with?
No doubt some new kind of pirates, who explored the sea in their own way.
The narrow panel had hardly closed on me when I was surrounded by darkness.
My eyes, blinded by the outside light, could see nothing.
I felt my bare feet touch the steps of an iron ladder.
Ned Land and Conseil, firmly grabbed, followed me.
At the bottom of the ladder, a door opened and shut behind us with a bang.
We were alone, Where, I couldn't say or even imagine.
Everything was black, and such a deep black that after a few minutes, my eyes still couldn't see even the faintest light.
Meanwhile, Ned Land, furious at what was happening, let out his anger freely.
"Damn it!" he shouted, "these people are nothing like the Scots for hospitality. They're almost cannibals. I wouldn't be surprised, but I swear they won't eat me without a fight."
"Calm down, friend Ned, calm down," replied Conseil quietly.
"Don't cry out before you're hurt. We're not finished yet."
"Not finished?" the Canadian replied sharply.
"But we're close enough."
"Things look bad."
"Luckily, I still have my bowie knife, and I can always see well enough to use it."
"The first pirate who touches me."
"Don't get excited, Ned,"
"I said to the harpooner, "Don't make trouble with violence, who knows if they'll listen? Let's find out where we are.
I felt around in the dark, After five steps, I came to an iron wall made of plates bolted together.
Then I turned back and hit a wooden table, with several stools around it.
The floor of this prison was covered with a thick mat of phormium, which softened the sound of footsteps.
The bare walls showed no sign of a window or door.
Conseil, going the other way, met me.
And we went back to the middle of the cabin, which was about twenty feet by ten.
As for its height, even Ned Land, who was very tall, couldn't reach it.
Half an hour had passed without our situation improving, when the deep darkness suddenly turned into bright light.
Our prison was suddenly lit, that's, it filled with a glowing substance so strong that I couldn't bear it at first.
In its whiteness and intensity, I recognized that electric light which shone around the submarine boat like a wonderful display of phosphorescence.
After closing my eyes without meaning to, I opened them and saw that the light came from a half-globe, unpolished, in the roof of the cabin.
"At last we can see," shouted Ned Land, who stood ready to fight, knife in hand.
"Yes," I said, "but we still don't know where we're."
"Let master be patient," said the calm Conseil.
The sudden light in the cabin let me examine it closely.
It only had a table and five stools.
The invisible door might be sealed tight.
No noise could be heard, Everything seemed dead inside this boat.
Was it moving, floating on the ocean's surface, or diving into its depths? I couldn't guess.
Then we heard a noise of bolts.
The door opened, and two men appeared.
One was short and very muscular, with broad shoulders, strong limbs, and a big head.
He had lots of black hair, a thick moustache, a quick, sharp look, and the liveliness typical of people from Southern France.
The second stranger deserves a more detailed description.
A follower of Gratiolet or Engel could have read his face like an open book.
I saw his main qualities right away.
His head was well placed on his shoulders.
His black eyes looked around with cold assurance.
His rather pale skin showed his cool blood.
The quick movement of his high eyebrows showed energy.
His deep breathing showed great lung power and courage.
Whether this person was thirty-five or fifty years old, I couldn't say.
He was tall, had a large forehead, a straight nose, a clearly shaped mouth, beautiful teeth, and fine, slender hands that showed a highly nervous nature.
This man was certainly the most impressive example I had ever met.
One special feature was his eyes, quite far apart, which could take in nearly a quarter of the horizon at once.
This ability, I confirmed it later, gave him a range of sight far better than Ned Land's.
This stranger fixed on an object, his eyebrows came together, and his large eyelids closed to narrow his vision.
He looked as if he made distant objects bigger.
He seemed to see through the dark water.
He could read the very depths of the seas.
The two strangers, wearing sea-otter caps and seal-skin boots, wore garments of a special material allowing free limb movement.
The taller of the two, clearly the leader on board, examined us with great attention without saying a word.
Then he turned to his companion and spoke to him in an unknown language.
It was a rich, harmonious, and flexible dialect, with vowels that seemed to allow very different accents.
The other replied with a shake of his head and added two or three completely unclear words.
Then he seemed to question me with a look.
I replied in good French that I didn't know his language.
But he didn't seem to understand me, and my situation became more awkward.
"If master were to tell our story," said Conseil, "perhaps these gentlemen might understand some words."
I began to tell our adventures, saying each syllable clearly and without leaving out a single detail.
I gave our names and positions, introducing Professor Aronnax, his servant Conseil, and Master Ned Land, the harpooner.
The man with the soft, calm eyes listened to me quietly, even politely, and with great attention.
But nothing in his face showed that he had understood my story.
When I finished, he said nothing, there was one more option, to speak English.
Maybe they'd know this almost universal language.
I knew it, as well as German, well enough to read it easily, but not to speak it correctly.
But anyway, we had to make ourselves understood.
"Go ahead now," I said to the harpooner.
"Speak your best English and try to do better than I did."
Ned didn't refuse and started our story again.
To his great annoyance, the harpooner didn't seem to have made himself any clearer than I had.
Our visitors didn't move, they clearly understood neither the language of Arago nor of Faraday.
Very embarrassed, after using up all our speaking options with no success, I didn't know what to do.
Then Conseil said, "If master will allow me, I'll tell it in German."
But despite the fine words and good accent of the speaker, the German language had no success.
Finally, at a loss, I tried to remember my first lessons and tell our adventures in Latin, but with no better result.
After this last attempt failed, the two strangers exchanged a few words in their unknown language and left.
The door shut, plunging us once more into thick, suffocating darkness.
"This is an awful shame," shouted Ned Land, who burst out for the twentieth time.
"We speak to those rogues in French, English, German, and Latin, and not one of them has the politeness to answer!"
"Calm down," I said to the angry Ned.
"Anger won't help."
"But don't you see, Professor," our bad-tempered companion replied, "that we'll absolutely die of hunger in this iron cage?"
"Bah!" said Conseil, philosophically.
"We can hold out for a while yet."
My friends," I said, "we mustn't lose hope. We've been in worse situations. Wait before judging the commander and crew of this boat.
"My opinion is already formed," replied Ned Land sharply.
"They're rascals."
"Good! And from what country?"
"From the land of rogues!"
"My brave Ned, that country isn't clearly shown on the world map."
"But I admit that the nationality of the two strangers is hard to decide."
"They're not English, French, or German, that's certain."
"However, I'm inclined to think that the commander and his companion were born in low latitudes."
"There's southern blood in them."
"But I can't tell from their appearance whether they're Spaniards, Turks, Arabians, or Indians."
"As for their language, it's completely impossible to understand."
"That's the problem with not knowing all languages," said Conseil, "or the problem with not having one universal language."
As he said these words, the door opened.
A steward came in, he brought us clothes, coats and trousers, made of a material I didn't recognize.
I quickly dressed myself, and my companions did the same.
During that time, the steward, maybe dumb, maybe deaf, had set the table and laid three plates.
"Now that's more like it," said Conseil.
"Bah!" said the angry harpooner.
"What do you think they eat here? Tortoise liver, shark fillet, and seal steaks."
"We'll see," said Conseil.
The dishes, made of bell metal, were placed on the table, and we sat down.
We were clearly dealing with civilized people.
If it weren't for the electric light flooding us, I could have imagined I was in the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool.
Or even the Grand Hotel in Paris.
I must say, however, that there was neither bread nor wine.
The water was fresh and clear, but it was water, and that didn't suit Ned Land's taste.
Among the dishes brought to us, I recognized several fish, delicately prepared.
But of some, although excellent, I couldn't give an opinion, nor could I tell what kingdom they belonged to, whether animal or vegetable.
As for the dinner service, it was elegant and in perfect taste.
Each utensil, spoon, fork, knife, plate, had a letter engraved on it, with a motto above it, of which this is an exact copy,
MOBILIS IN MOBILI N. engraved on each utensil, repeating in neat, small letters.
The letter N was no doubt the first letter of the name of the mysterious person who commanded at the bottom of the sea.
Ned and Conseil didn't think much, they ate the food quickly, and I did the same.
Besides, I felt more sure about our fate.
It seemed clear that our hosts wouldn't let us starve.
However, everything has an end, everything passes, even the hunger of people who haven't eaten for fifteen hours.
Once our appetites were satisfied, we felt overcome with sleep.
"Honestly, I'll sleep well," said Conseil.
"So will I," replied Ned Land.
My two companions stretched out on the cabin carpet and were soon fast asleep.
For my part, too many thoughts crowded my mind, too many unsolvable questions pressed on me, too many fancies kept my eyes half open.
Where were we? What strange power carried us?
I felt, or rather imagined I felt, the machine sinking down to the lowest beds of the sea, Terrible nightmares troubled me.
I saw in those mysterious places a world of unknown animals, among which the submarine boat seemed one, living, moving, and frightening.
Then my mind grew calmer, my imagination wandered into vague unconsciousness, and I soon fell into a deep sleep.