CHAPTER XXII
THE LAST WORDS OF CAPTAIN NEMO
The panels had clod on this dreadful vision, but light had not returned to the saloon: all was silence and darkness within the Nautilus. At wonderful speed, a hundred feet beneath the water, it was leaving this desolate spot. Whither was it going? To the north or south? Where was the man flying to after such dreadful retaliation? I had returned to my room, where Ned and Conil had remained silent enough. I felt an insurmountable horror for Captain Nemo. Whatever he had suffered at the hands of the men, he had no right to punish thus. He had made me, if not an accomplice, at least a witness of his vengeance. At eleven the electric light reappeared. I pasd into the saloon. It was derted. I consulted the different instruments. The Nautilus was flying northward at the rate of twenty-five miles an hour, now on the surface, and now thirty feet below it. On taking the bearings by the chart, I saw that we were passing the mouth of the Manche, and that our cour was hurrying us towards the northern as at a frightful speed. That night we had crosd two hundred leagues of the Atlantic. The shadows fell, and the a was covered with darkness until the rising of the moon. I went to my room, but could not sleep. I was troubled with dreadful nightmare. The horrible scene of destruction was continually before my eyes. From that day, who could tell into what part of the North Atlantic basin the
Nautilus would take us? Still with unaccountable speed. Still in the midst of the northern fogs. Would it touch at Spitzbergen, or on the shores of Nova Zembla? Should we explore tho unknown as, the White Sea, the Sea of Kara, the Gulf of Obi, the Archipelago of Liarrov, and the unknown coast of Asia? I could not say. I could no longer judge of the time that was passing. The clocks had been stopped on board. It emed, as in polar countries, that night and day no longer followed their regular cour. I felt mylf being drawn into that strange region where the foundered imagination of Edgar Poe roamed at will. Like the fabulous Gordon Pym, at every moment I expected to e "that veiled human figure, of larger proportions than tho of any inhabitant of the earth, thrown across the cataract which defends the approach to the pole." I estimated (though, perhaps, I may be mistaken)--I estimated this adventurous cour of the Nautilus to have lasted fifteen or twenty days. And I know not how much longer it might have lasted, had it not been for the catastrophe which ended this voyage. Of Captain Nemo I saw nothing whatever now, nor of his cond. Not a man of the crew was visible for an instant. The Nautilus was almost incessantly under water. When we came to the surface to renew the air, the panels opened and shut mechanically. There were no more marks on the planisphere. I knew not where we were. And the Canadian, too, his strength and patience at an end, appeared no more. Conil could not draw a word from him; and, fearing that, in a dreadful fit of madness, he might kill himlf, watched him with constant devotion. One morning (w
hat date it was I could not say) I had fallen into a heavy sleep towards the early hours, a sleep both painful and unhealthy, when I suddenly awoke. Ned Land was leaning over me, saying, in a low voice, "We are going to fly." I sat up.
"When shall we go?" I asked.
"To-night. All inspection on board the Nautilus ems to have cead. All appear to be stupefied. You will be ready, sir?"
"Yes; where are we?"
"In sight of land. I took the reckoning this morning in the fog-- twenty miles to the east."
"What country is it?"
"I do not know; but, whatever it is, we will take refuge there."
punkrock"Yes, Ned, yes. We will fly to-night, even if the a should swallow us up."
"The a is bad, the wind violent, but twenty miles in that light boat of the Nautilus does not frighten me. Unknown to the crew, I have been able to procure food and some bottles of water."
"I will follow you."
"But," continued the Canadian, "if I am surprid, I will defend mylf; I will force them to kill me." "We will die together, friend Ned."
维丽娅
I had made up my mind to all. The Canadian left me. I reached the platform, on which I could with difficulty support mylf against the shock of the waves. The sky was threatening; but, as land was in tho thick brown shadows, we must fly. I returned to the saloon, fearing and yet hoping to e Captain Nemo, wishing and yet not wishing to e him. What could I have said to him? Could I hide the involuntary horror with which he inspired me? No. It was better that I should not meet him face to face; better to forget him. And yet---- How long emed that day, the last that I should pass in the Nautilus. I remained alone. Ned Land and Conil avoided speaking, for fear of betraying themlves. At six I dined, but I was not hungry; I forced mylf to eat in spite of my disgust, that I might not weaken mylf. At half-past six Ned Land came to my room, saying, "We shall not e each other again before our departure. At ten the moon will not be rin. We will profit by the darkness. Come to the boat; Conil and I will wait for you."
雅思怎么读The Canadian went out without giving me time to answer. Wishing to verify the cour of the Nautilu
s, I went to the saloon. We were running N.N.E. at frightful speed, and more than fifty yards deep. I cast a last look on the wonders of nature, on the riches of art heaped up in this muum, upon the unrivalled collection destined to perish at the bottom of the a, with him who had formed it. I wished to fix an indelible impression of it in my mind. I remained an hour thus, bathed in the light of that luminous ceiling, and passing in review tho treasures shining under their glass. Then I returned to my room.
I dresd mylf in strong a clothing. I collected my notes, placing them carefully about me. My heart beat loudly. I could not check its pulsations. Certainly my trouble and agitation would have betrayed me to Captain Nemo's eyes. What was he doing at this moment? I listened at the door of his room. I heard steps. Captain Nemo was there. He had not gone to rest. At every moment I expected to e him appear, and ask me why I wished to fly. I was constantly on the alert. My imagination magnified everything. The impression became at last so poignant that I asked mylf if it would not be better to go to the
Captain's room, e him face to face, and brave him with look and gesture.
broswer
It was the inspiration of a madman; fortunately I resisted the desire, and stretched mylf on my bed
to quiet my bodily agitation. My nerves were somewhat calmer, but in my excited brain I saw over again all
my existence on board the Nautilus; every incident, either happy or unfortunate, which had happened since my disappearance from the Abraham Lincoln--the submarine hunt, the Torres Straits, the savages of Papua, the running ashore, the coral cemetery, the passage of Suez, the Island of Santorin, the Cretan diver, Vigo Bay, Atlantis, the iceberg, the South Pole, the imprisonment in the ice, the fight among the poulps, the storm in the Gulf Stream, the Avenger, and the horrible scene of the vesl sunk with all her crew. All the events pasd before my eyes like scenes in a drama. Then Captain Nemo emed to grow enormously, his features to assume superhuman proportions. He was no longer my equal, but a man of the waters, the genie of the a.
It was then half-past nine. I held my head between my hands to keep it from bursting. I clod my eyes; I would not think any longer. There was another half-hour to wait, another half-hour of a nightmare, which might drive me mad.繁体翻译
At that moment I heard the distant strains of the organ, a sad harmony to an undefinable chant, the wail of a soul longing to break the earthly bonds. I listened with every n, scarcely breathing; pl
unged, like Captain Nemo, in that musical ecstasy, which was drawing him in spirit to the end of life.
Then a sudden thought terrified me. Captain Nemo had left his room. He was in the saloon, which I must cross to fly. There I should meet him for the last time. He would e me, perhaps speak to me. A gesture of his 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 must not hesitate, even if Captain Nemo himlf should ri before me. I opened my door carefully; and even then, as it turned on its hinges, it emed to me to make a dreadful noi. Perhaps it only existed in my own imagination.
I crept along the dark stairs of the Nautilus, stopping at each step to check the beating of my heart. I reached the door of the saloon, and opened it gently. It was plunged in profound darkness. The strains of the organ sounded faintly. Captain Nemo was there. He did not e me. In the full light I do not think he would have noticed me, so entirely was he absorbed in the ecstasy.
I crept along the carpet, avoiding the slightest sound which might betray my prence. I was at least five minutes reaching the door, at the opposite side, opening into the library.
韩语自学教程I was going to open it, when a sigh from Captain Nemo nailed me to the spot. I knew that he was rising. I could even e him, for the light from the library came through to the saloon. He came towards me silently, with his arms crosd, gliding like a spectre rather than walking. His breast was swelling with sobs; and I heard him murmur the words (the last which ever struck my ear):
enthusiasm怎么读"Almighty God! enough! enough!"
Was it a confession of remor which thus escaped from this man's conscience?
In desperation, I rushed through the library, mounted the central stairca, and, following the upper flight, reached the boat. I crept through the opening, which had already admitted my two companions. "Let us go! let us go!" I exclaimed.
"Directly!" replied the Canadian.
The orifice in the plates of the Nautilus was first clod, and fastened down by means of a fal key, with which Ned Land had provided himlf; the opening in the boat was also clod. The Canadian began to loon the bolts which still held us to the submarine boat.
Suddenly a noi was heard. Voices were answering each other loudly. What was the matter? Had t
雅思哥课堂hey discovered our flight? I felt Ned Land slipping a dagger into my hand.
"Yes," I murmured, "we know how to die!"
The Canadian had stopped in his work. But one word many times repeated, a dreadful word, revealed the cau of the agitation spreading on board the Nautilus. It was not we the crew were looking after!
"The maelstrom! the maelstrom!" Could a more dreadful word in a more dreadful situation have sounded in our ears! We were then upon the dangerous coast of Norway. Was the Nautilus being drawn into this gulf at the moment our boat was going to leave its sides? We knew that at the tide the pent-up waters between the islands of Ferroe and Loffoden rush with irresistible violence, forming a whirlpool from which no vesl ever escapes. From every point of the horizon enormous waves were meeting, forming a gulf justly called the "Navel of the Ocean," who power of attraction extends to a distance of twelve miles. There, not only vesls, but whales are sacrificed, as well as white bears from the northern regions.
It is thither that the Nautilus, voluntarily or involuntarily, had been run by the Captain.
It was describing a spiral, the circumference of which was lesning by degrees, and the boat, which was still fastened to its side, was carried along with giddy speed. I felt that sickly giddiness which aris from long-continued whirling round.
We were in dread. Our horror was at its height, circulation had stopped, all nervous influence was annihilated, and we were covered with cold sweat, like a sweat of agony! And what noi around our frail bark! What roarings repeated by the echo miles away! What an uproar was that of the waters broken on the sharp rocks at the bottom, where the hardest bodies are crushed, and trees worn away, "with all the fur rubbed off," according to the Norwegian phra!
What a situation to be in! We rocked frightfully. The Nautilus defended itlf like a human being. Its steel muscles cracked. Sometimes it emed to stand upright, and we with it!
safety"We must hold on," said Ned, "and look after the bolts. We may still be saved if we stick to the Nautilus."
He had not finished the words, when we heard a crashing noi, the bolts gave way, and the boat, torn from its groove, was hurled like a stone from a sling into the midst of the whirlpool.snowman
My head struck on a piece of iron, and with the violent shock I lost all consciousness.
