This unexpected fall so stunned me that I have no clear recollection of
my sensations at the time. I was at first drawn down to a depth of
about twenty feet. I am a good swimmer (though without pretending to
rival Byron or Edgar Poe, who were masters of the art), and in that
plunge I did not lose my presence of mind. Two vigorous strokes brought
me to the surface of the water. My first care was to look for the
frigate. Had the crew seen me disappear? Had the _Abraham Lincoln_
veered round? Would the captain put out a boat? Might I hope to be
saved?
The darkness was intense. I caught a glimpse of a black mass
disappearing in the east, its beacon lights dying out in the distance.
It was the frigate! I was lost.
"Help, help!" I shouted, swimming towards the _Abraham Lincoln_ in
desperation.
My clothes encumbered me; they seemed glued to my body, and paralysed
my movements.
I was sinking! I was suffocating!
"Help!"
This was my last cry. My mouth filled with water; I struggled against
being drawn down the abyss. Suddenly my clothes were seized by a strong
hand, and I felt myself quickly drawn up to the surface of the sea; and
I heard, yes, I heard these words pronounced in my ear—
"If master would be so good as to lean on my shoulder, master would
swim with much greater ease."
I seized with one hand my faithful Conseil's arm.
"Is it you?" said I, "you?"
"Myself," answered Conseil; "and waiting master's orders."
"That shock threw you as well as me into the sea?"
"No; but being in my master's service, I followed him."
The worthy fellow thought that was but natural.
"And the frigate?" I asked.
"The frigate?" replied Conseil, turning on his back; "I think that
master had better not count too much on her."
"You think so?"
"I say that, at the time I threw myself into the sea, I heard the men
at the wheel say, 'The screw and the rudder are broken.'"
"Broken?"
"Yes, broken by the monster's teeth. It is the only injury the _Abraham
Lincoln_ has sustained. But it is a bad look out for us—she no longer
answers her helm."
"Then we are lost!"
"Perhaps so," calmly answered Conseil. "However, we have still several
hours before us, and one can do a good deal in some hours."
Conseil's imperturbable coolness set me up again. I swam more
vigorously; but, cramped by my clothes, which stuck to me like a leaden
weight, I felt great difficulty in bearing up. Conseil saw this.
"Will master let me make a slit?" said he; and, slipping an open knife
under my clothes, he ripped them up from top to bottom very rapidly.
Then he cleverly slipped them off me, while I swam for both of us.
Then I did the same for Conseil, and we continued to swim near to each
other.
Nevertheless, our situation was no less terrible. Perhaps our
disappearance had not been noticed; and if it had been, the frigate
could not tack, being without its helm. Conseil argued on this
supposition, and laid his plans accordingly. This phlegmatic boy was
perfectly self-possessed. We then decided that, as our only chance of
safety was being picked up by the _Abraham Lincoln's_ boats, we ought
to manage so as to wait for them as long as possible. I resolved then
to husband our strength, so that both should not be exhausted at the
same time; and this is how we managed: while one of us lay on our back,
quite still, with arms crossed, and legs stretched out, the other would
swim and push the other on in front. This towing business did not last
more than ten minutes each; and relieving each other thus, we could
swim on for some hours, perhaps till daybreak. Poor chance! but hope is
so firmly rooted in the heart of man! Moreover, there were two of us.
Indeed I declare (though it may seem improbable) if I sought to destroy
all hope,—if I wished to despair, I could not.
The collision of the frigate with the cetacean had occurred about
eleven o'clock the evening before. I reckoned then we should have eight
hours to swim before sunrise, an operation quite practicable if we
relieved each other. The sea, very calm, was in our favour. Sometimes I
tried to pierce the intense darkness that was only dispelled by the
phosphorescence caused by our movements. I watched the luminous waves
that broke over my hand, whose mirror-like surface was spotted with
silvery rings. One might have said that we were in a bath of
quicksilver.
Near one o'clock in the morning, I was seized with dreadful fatigue. My
limbs stiffened under the strain of violent cramp. Conseil was obliged
to keep me up, and our preservation devolved on him alone. I heard the
poor boy pant; his breathing became short and hurried. I found that he
could not keep up much longer.
"Leave me! leave me!" I said to him.
"Leave my master? Never!" replied he. "I would drown first."
Just then the moon appeared through the fringes of a thick cloud that
the wind was driving to the east. The surface of the sea glittered with
its rays. This kindly light reanimated us. My head got better again. I
looked at all points of the horizon. I saw the frigate! She was five
miles from us, and looked like a dark mass, hardly discernible. But no
boats!
I would have cried out. But what good would it have been at such a
distance! My swollen lips could utter no sounds. Conseil could
articulate some words, and I heard him repeat at intervals, "Help!
help!"
Our movements were suspended for an instant; we listened. It might be
only a singing in the ear, but it seemed to me as if a cry answered the
cry from Conseil.
"Did you hear?" I murmured.
"Yes! Yes!"
And Conseil gave one more despairing call.
This time there was no mistake! A human voice responded to ours! Was it
the voice of another unfortunate creature, abandoned in the middle of
the ocean, some other victim of the shock sustained by the vessel? Or
rather was it a boat from the frigate, that was hailing us in the
darkness?
Conseil made a last effort, and, leaning on my shoulder, while I struck
out in a despairing effort, he raised himself half out of the water,
then fell back exhausted.
"What did you see?"
"I saw"—murmured he; "I saw—but do not talk—reserve all your strength!"
What had he seen? Then, I know not why, the thought of the monster came
into my head for the first time! But that voice! The time is past for
Jonahs to take refuge in whales' bellies! However, Conseil was towing
me again. He raised his head sometimes, looked before us, and uttered a
cry of recognition, which was responded to by a voice that came nearer
and nearer. I scarcely heard it. My strength was exhausted; my fingers
stiffened; my hand afforded me support no longer; my mouth,
convulsively opening, filled with salt water. Cold crept over me. I
raised my head for the last time, then I sank.
At this moment a hard body struck me. I clung to it: then I felt that I
was being drawn up, that I was brought to the surface of the water,
that my chest collapsed:—I fainted.
It is certain that I soon came to, thanks to the vigorous rubbings that
I received. I half opened my eyes.
"Conseil!" I murmured.
"Does master call me?" asked Conseil.
Just then, by the waning light of the moon which was sinking down to
the horizon, I saw a face which was not Conseil's and which I
immediately recognised.
"Ned!" I cried.
"The same, sir, who is seeking his prize!" replied the Canadian.
"Were you thrown into the sea by the shock to the frigate?"
"Yes, Professor; but more fortunate than you, I was able to find a
footing almost directly upon a floating island."
"An island?"
"Or, more correctly speaking, on our gigantic narwhal."
"Explain yourself, Ned!"
"Only I soon found out why my harpoon had not entered its skin and was
blunted."
"Why, Ned, why?"
"Because, Professor, that beast is made of sheet iron."
The Canadian's last words produced a sudden revolution in my brain. I
wriggled myself quickly to the top of the being, or object, half out of
the water, which served us for a refuge. I kicked it. It was evidently
a hard impenetrable body, and not the soft substance that forms the
bodies of the great marine mammalia. But this hard body might be a bony
carapace, like that of the antediluvian animals; and I should be free
to class this monster among amphibious reptiles, such as tortoises or
alligators.
Well, no! the blackish back that supported me was smooth, polished,
without scales. The blow produced a metallic sound; and incredible
though it may be, it seemed, I might say, as if it was made of riveted
plates.
There was no doubt about it! This monster, this natural phenomenon that
had puzzled the learned world, and overthrown and misled the
imagination of seamen of both hemispheres, it must be owned, a still
more astonishing phenomenon, inasmuch as it was a simply human
construction.
We had no time to lose, however. We were lying upon the back of a sort
of submarine boat, which appeared (as far as I could judge) like a huge
fish of steel. Ned Land's mind was made up on this point. Conseil and I
could only agree with him.
Just then a bubbling began at the back of this strange thing (which was
evidently propelled by a screw), and it began to move. We had only just
time to seize hold of the upper part, which rose about seven feet out
of the water, and happily its speed was not great.
"As long as it sails horizontally," muttered Ned Land, "I do not mind;
but if it takes a fancy to dive, I would not give two straws for my
life."
The Canadian might have said still less. It became really necessary to
communicate with the beings, whatever they were, shut up inside the
machine. I searched all over the outside for an aperture, a panel, or a
man-hole, to use a technical expression; but the lines of the iron
rivets, solidly driven into the joints of the iron plates, were clear
and uniform. Besides, the moon disappeared then, and left us in total
darkness.
At last this long night passed. My indistinct remembrance prevents my
describing all the impressions it made. I can only recall one
circumstance. During some lulls of the wind and sea, I fancied I heard
several times vague sounds, a sort of fugitive harmony produced by
words of command. What was then the mystery of this submarine craft, of
which the whole world vainly sought an explanation? What kind of beings
existed in this strange boat? What mechanical agent caused its
prodigious speed?
Daybreak appeared. The morning mists surrounded us, but they soon
cleared off. I was about to examine the hull, which formed on deck a
kind of horizontal platform, when I felt it gradually sinking.
"Oh! confound it!" cried Ned Land, kicking the resounding plate. "Open,
you inhospitable rascals!"
Happily the sinking movement ceased. Suddenly a noise, like iron works
violently pushed aside, came from the interior of the boat. One iron
plate was moved, a man appeared, uttered an odd cry, and disappeared
immediately.
Some moments after, eight strong men, with masked faces, appeared
noiselessly, and drew us down into their formidable machine.