CHAPTER 21

A Mass Execution

THE WAY HE SAID THIS, the unexpectedness of this scene, first the

biography of this patriotic ship, then the excitement with which this

eccentric individual pronounced these last words—the name Avenger

whose significance could not escape me—all this, taken together, had a

profound impact on my mind. My eyes never left the captain. Hands

outstretched toward the sea, he contemplated the proud wreck with

blazing eyes. Perhaps I would never learn who he was, where he came

from or where he was heading, but more and more I could see a

distinction between the man and the scientist. It was no ordinary

misanthropy that kept Captain Nemo and his companions sequestered

inside the Nautilus’s plating, but a hate so monstrous or so sublime

that the passing years could never weaken it.

Did this hate also hunger for vengeance? Time would soon tell.

Meanwhile the Nautilus rose slowly to the surface of the sea, and I

watched the Avenger’s murky shape disappearing little by little. Soon

a gentle rolling told me that we were afloat in the open air.

Just then a hollow explosion was audible. I looked at the captain. The

captain did not stir.

“Captain?” I said.

He didn’t reply.

I left him and climbed onto the platform. Conseil and the Canadian

were already there.

“What caused that explosion?” I asked.

“A cannon going off,” Ned Land replied.

I stared in the direction of the ship I had spotted. It was heading

toward the Nautilus, and you could tell it had put on steam. Six miles

separated it from us.

“What sort of craft is it, Ned?”

“From its rigging and its low masts,” the Canadian replied, “I bet

it’s a warship. Here’s hoping it pulls up and sinks this damned

Nautilus!”

“Ned my friend,” Conseil replied, “what harm could it do the Nautilus?

Will it attack us under the waves? Will it cannonade us at the bottom

of the sea?”

“Tell me, Ned,” I asked, “can you make out the nationality of that

craft?”

Creasing his brow, lowering his lids, and puckering the corners of his

eyes, the Canadian focused the full power of his gaze on the ship for

a short while.

“No, sir,” he replied. “I can’t make out what nation it’s from. It’s

flying no flag. But I’ll swear it’s a warship, because there’s a long

pennant streaming from the peak of its mainmast.”

For a quarter of an hour, we continued to watch the craft bearing down

on us. But it was inconceivable to me that it had discovered the

Nautilus at such a distance, still less that it knew what this

underwater machine really was.

Soon the Canadian announced that the craft was a big battleship, a

double-decker ironclad complete with ram. Dark, dense smoke burst from

its two funnels. Its furled sails merged with the lines of its

yardarms. The gaff of its fore-and-aft sail flew no flag. Its distance

still kept us from distinguishing the colors of its pennant, which was

fluttering like a thin ribbon.

It was coming on fast. If Captain Nemo let it approach, a chance for

salvation might be available to us.

“Sir,” Ned Land told me, “if that boat gets within a mile of us, I’m

jumping overboard, and I suggest you follow suit.”

I didn’t reply to the Canadian’s proposition but kept watching the

ship, which was looming larger on the horizon. Whether it was English,

French, American, or Russian, it would surely welcome us aboard if we

could just get to it.

“Master may recall,” Conseil then said, “that we have some experience

with swimming. He can rely on me to tow him to that vessel, if he’s

agreeable to going with our friend Ned.”

Before I could reply, white smoke streamed from the battleship’s

bow. Then, a few seconds later, the waters splashed astern of the

Nautilus, disturbed by the fall of a heavy object. Soon after, an

explosion struck my ears.

“What’s this? They’re firing at us!” I exclaimed.

“Good lads!” the Canadian muttered.

“That means they don’t see us as castaways clinging to some wreckage!”

“With all due respect to master—gracious!” Conseil put in, shaking off

the water that had sprayed over him from another shell. “With all due

respect to master, they’ve discovered the narwhale and they’re

cannonading the same.”

“But it must be clear to them,” I exclaimed, “that they’re dealing

with human beings.”

“Maybe that’s why!” Ned Land replied, staring hard at me.

The full truth dawned on me. Undoubtedly people now knew where they

stood on the existence of this so-called monster. Undoubtedly the

latter’s encounter with the Abraham Lincoln, when the Canadian hit it

with his harpoon, had led Commander Farragut to recognize the narwhale

as actually an underwater boat, more dangerous than any unearthly

cetacean!

Yes, this had to be the case, and undoubtedly they were now chasing

this dreadful engine of destruction on every sea!

Dreadful indeed, if, as we could assume, Captain Nemo had been using

the Nautilus in works of vengeance! That night in the middle of the

Indian Ocean, when he imprisoned us in the cell, hadn’t he attacked

some ship? That man now buried in the coral cemetery, wasn’t he the

victim of some collision caused by the Nautilus? Yes, I repeat: this

had to be the case. One part of Captain Nemo’s secret life had been

unveiled. And now, even though his identity was still unknown, at

least the nations allied against him knew they were no longer hunting

some fairy-tale monster, but a man who had sworn an implacable hate

toward them!

This whole fearsome sequence of events appeared in my mind’s

eye. Instead of encountering friends on this approaching ship, we

would find only pitiless enemies.

Meanwhile shells fell around us in increasing numbers. Some, meeting

the liquid surface, would ricochet and vanish into the sea at

considerable distances. But none of them reached the Nautilus.

By then the ironclad was no more than three miles off. Despite its

violent cannonade, Captain Nemo hadn’t appeared on the platform. And

yet if one of those conical shells had scored a routine hit on the

Nautilus’s hull, it could have been fatal to him.

The Canadian then told me:

“Sir, we’ve got to do everything we can to get out of this jam! Let’s

signal them! Damnation! Maybe they’ll realize we’re decent people!”

Ned Land pulled out his handkerchief to wave it in the air. But he had

barely unfolded it when he was felled by an iron fist, and despite his

great strength, he tumbled to the deck.

“Scum!” the captain shouted. “Do you want to be nailed to the

Nautilus’s spur before it charges that ship?”

Dreadful to hear, Captain Nemo was even more dreadful to see. His face

was pale from some spasm of his heart, which must have stopped beating

for an instant. His pupils were hideously contracted. His voice was no

longer speaking, it was bellowing. Bending from the waist, he shook

the Canadian by the shoulders.

Then, dropping Ned and turning to the battleship, whose shells were

showering around him:

“O ship of an accursed nation, you know who I am!” he shouted in his

powerful voice. “And I don’t need your colors to recognize you! Look!

I’ll show you mine!”

And in the bow of the platform, Captain Nemo unfurled a black flag,

like the one he had left planted at the South Pole.

Just then a shell hit the Nautilus’s hull obliquely, failed to breach

it, ricocheted near the captain, and vanished into the sea.

Captain Nemo shrugged his shoulders. Then, addressing me:

“Go below!” he told me in a curt tone. “You and your companions, go

below!”

“Sir,” I exclaimed, “are you going to attack this ship?”

“Sir, I’m going to sink it.”

“You wouldn’t!”

“I will,” Captain Nemo replied icily. “You’re ill-advised to pass

judgment on me, sir. Fate has shown you what you weren’t meant to

see. The attack has come. Our reply will be dreadful. Get back

inside!”

“From what country is that ship?”

“You don’t know? Fine, so much the better! At least its nationality

will remain a secret to you. Go below!”

The Canadian, Conseil, and I could only obey. Some fifteen of the

Nautilus’s seamen surrounded their captain and stared with a feeling

of implacable hate at the ship bearing down on them. You could feel

the same spirit of vengeance enkindling their every soul.

I went below just as another projectile scraped the Nautilus’s hull,

and I heard the captain exclaim:

“Shoot, you demented vessel! Shower your futile shells! You won’t

escape the Nautilus’s spur! But this isn’t the place where you’ll

perish! I don’t want your wreckage mingling with that of the Avenger!”

I repaired to my stateroom. The captain and his chief officer stayed

on the platform. The propeller was set in motion. The Nautilus swiftly

retreated, putting us outside the range of the vessel’s shells. But

the chase continued, and Captain Nemo was content to keep his

distance.

Near four o’clock in the afternoon, unable to control the impatience

and uneasiness devouring me, I went back to the central

companionway. The hatch was open. I ventured onto the platform. The

captain was still strolling there, his steps agitated. He stared at

the ship, which stayed to his leeward five or six miles off. He was

circling it like a wild beast, drawing it eastward, letting it chase

after him. Yet he didn’t attack. Was he, perhaps, still undecided?

I tried to intervene one last time. But I had barely queried Captain

Nemo when the latter silenced me:

“I’m the law, I’m the tribunal! I’m the oppressed, and there are my

oppressors! Thanks to them, I’ve witnessed the destruction of

everything I loved, cherished, and venerated—homeland, wife, children,

father, and mother! There lies everything I hate! Not another word out

of you!”

I took a last look at the battleship, which was putting on steam. Then

I rejoined Ned and Conseil.

“We’ll escape!” I exclaimed.

“Good,” Ned put in. “Where’s that ship from?”

“I’ve no idea. But wherever it’s from, it will sink before

nightfall. In any event, it’s better to perish with it than be

accomplices in some act of revenge whose merits we can’t gauge.”

“That’s my feeling,” Ned Land replied coolly. “Let’s wait for

nightfall.”

Night fell. A profound silence reigned on board. The compass indicated

that the Nautilus hadn’t changed direction. I could hear the beat of

its propeller, churning the waves with steady speed. Staying on the

surface of the water, it rolled gently, sometimes to one side,

sometimes to the other.

My companions and I had decided to escape as soon as the vessel came

close enough for us to be heard—or seen, because the moon would wax

full in three days and was shining brightly. Once we were aboard that

ship, if we couldn’t ward off the blow that threatened it, at least we

could do everything that circumstances permitted. Several times I

thought the Nautilus was about to attack. But it was content to let

its adversary approach, and then it would quickly resume its

retreating ways.

Part of the night passed without incident. We kept watch for an

opportunity to take action. We talked little, being too keyed up. Ned

Land was all for jumping overboard. I forced him to wait. As I saw it,

the Nautilus would attack the double-decker on the surface of the

waves, and then it would be not only possible but easy to escape.

At three o’clock in the morning, full of uneasiness, I climbed onto

the platform. Captain Nemo hadn’t left it. He stood in the bow next to

his flag, which a mild breeze was unfurling above his head. His eyes

never left that vessel. The extraordinary intensity of his gaze seemed

to attract it, beguile it, and draw it more surely than if he had it

in tow!

The moon then passed its zenith. Jupiter was rising in the east. In

the midst of this placid natural setting, sky and ocean competed with

each other in tranquility, and the sea offered the orb of night the

loveliest mirror ever to reflect its image.

And when I compared this deep calm of the elements with all the fury

seething inside the plating of this barely perceptible Nautilus, I

shivered all over.

The vessel was two miles off. It drew nearer, always moving toward the

phosphorescent glow that signaled the Nautilus’s presence. I saw its

green and red running lights, plus the white lantern hanging from the

large stay of its foremast. Hazy flickerings were reflected on its

rigging and indicated that its furnaces were pushed to the

limit. Showers of sparks and cinders of flaming coal escaped from its

funnels, spangling the air with stars.

I stood there until six o’clock in the morning, Captain Nemo never

seeming to notice me. The vessel lay a mile and a half off, and with

the first glimmers of daylight, it resumed its cannonade. The time

couldn’t be far away when the Nautilus would attack its adversary, and

my companions and I would leave forever this man I dared not judge.

I was about to go below to alert them, when the chief officer climbed

onto the platform. Several seamen were with him. Captain Nemo didn’t

see them, or didn’t want to see them. They carried out certain

procedures that, on the Nautilus, you could call “clearing the decks

for action.” They were quite simple. The manropes that formed a

handrail around the platform were lowered. Likewise the pilothouse and

the beacon housing were withdrawn into the hull until they lay exactly

flush with it. The surface of this long sheet-iron cigar no longer

offered a single protrusion that could hamper its maneuvers.

I returned to the lounge. The Nautilus still emerged above the

surface. A few morning gleams infiltrated the liquid strata. Beneath

the undulations of the billows, the windows were enlivened by the

blushing of the rising sun. That dreadful day of June 2 had dawned.

At seven o’clock the log told me that the Nautilus had reduced

speed. I realized that it was letting the warship approach. Moreover,

the explosions grew more intensely audible. Shells furrowed the water

around us, drilling through it with an odd hissing sound.

“My friends,” I said, “it’s time. Let’s shake hands, and may God be

with us!”

Ned Land was determined, Conseil calm, I myself nervous and barely in

control.

We went into the library. Just as I pushed open the door leading to

the well of the central companionway, I heard the hatch close sharply

overhead.

The Canadian leaped up the steps, but I stopped him. A well-known

hissing told me that water was entering the ship’s ballast

tanks. Indeed, in a few moments the Nautilus had submerged some meters

below the surface of the waves.

I understood this maneuver. It was too late to take action. The

Nautilus wasn’t going to strike the double-decker where it was clad in

impenetrable iron armor, but below its waterline, where the metal

carapace no longer protected its planking.

We were prisoners once more, unwilling spectators at the performance

of this gruesome drama. But we barely had time to think. Taking refuge

in my stateroom, we stared at each other without pronouncing a

word. My mind was in a total daze. My mental processes came to a dead

stop. I hovered in that painful state that predominates during the

period of anticipation before some frightful explosion. I waited, I

listened, I lived only through my sense of hearing!

Meanwhile the Nautilus’s speed had increased appreciably. So it was

gathering momentum. Its entire hull was vibrating.

Suddenly I let out a yell. There had been a collision, but it was

comparatively mild. I could feel the penetrating force of the steel

spur. I could hear scratchings and scrapings. Carried away with its

driving power, the Nautilus had passed through the vessel’s mass like

a sailmaker’s needle through canvas!

I couldn’t hold still. Frantic, going insane, I leaped out of my

stateroom and rushed into the lounge.

Captain Nemo was there. Mute, gloomy, implacable, he was staring

through the port panel.

An enormous mass was sinking beneath the waters, and the Nautilus,

missing none of its death throes, was descending into the depths with

it. Ten meters away, I could see its gaping hull, into which water was

rushing with a sound of thunder, then its double rows of cannons and

railings. Its deck was covered with dark, quivering shadows.

The water was rising. Those poor men leaped up into the shrouds, clung

to the masts, writhed beneath the waters. It was a human anthill that

an invading sea had caught by surprise!

Paralyzed, rigid with anguish, my hair standing on end, my eyes

popping out of my head, short of breath, suffocating, speechless, I

stared—I too! I was glued to the window by an irresistible allure!

The enormous vessel settled slowly. Following it down, the Nautilus

kept watch on its every movement. Suddenly there was an eruption. The

air compressed inside the craft sent its decks flying, as if the

powder stores had been ignited. The thrust of the waters was so great,

the Nautilus swerved away.

The poor ship then sank more swiftly. Its mastheads appeared, laden

with victims, then its crosstrees bending under clusters of men,

finally the peak of its mainmast. Then the dark mass disappeared, and

with it a crew of corpses dragged under by fearsome eddies. . . .

I turned to Captain Nemo. This dreadful executioner, this true

archangel of hate, was still staring. When it was all over, Captain

Nemo headed to the door of his stateroom, opened it, and entered. I

followed him with my eyes.

On the rear paneling, beneath the portraits of his heroes, I saw the

portrait of a still-youthful woman with two little children. Captain

Nemo stared at them for a few moments, stretched out his arms to them,

sank to his knees, and melted into sobs.