Chapter 22 Chapter 22 Captain Nemo's Thunder

We looked towards the woods, but we didn't stand up. My hand stopped just as I was bringing food to my mouth, and Ned Land's hand stopped moving just as he was putting something into his mouth. Conseil said: "A stone cannot fall from the sky, otherwise it should be called a meteorite." The second stone, the round stone of work, fell again and knocked a delicious piece of hawdove leg out of Conseil's hand, which proved his opinion to be more justified and demanded our attention. All three of us stood up, guns slung over our shoulders, ready to answer the sudden attack immediately.

"Are some apes?" Ned Land called. "Arguably," replied Conseil, "they are savages." "Go back to the boat," I said, walking toward the sea. Sure enough, we had to fall back, for a score or so of natives, armed with bows, arrows, and slings, came not more than a hundred paces apart from the edge of the jungle, which obscured the sky to the right. Our dinghy was at sea twenty meters away from us. These natives do not run fast, but walk slowly; but they make various gestures that indicate intention.Stones and bow tendons hit like raindrops.Ned Land was not willing to give up all his food, and in spite of the immediate danger, he picked up the boar and the kangaroo rather quickly.

In two minutes we were on the beach.Storing food and weapons in the skiff, pushing the skiff into the sea, and fitting the two oars is a matter of seconds.We hadn't paddled to 200 meters when a hundred or so natives yelled and gesticulated into the waist-deep water.I watched cautiously, thinking that the presence of these natives must have drawn some of the Nautilus to the platform to watch.But there is no such huge robot ship sleeping on the sea, completely invisible. Twenty minutes later we were on board.The panels are open.Having put the skiff in place, we were back inside the Nautilus.

I went into the living room and heard some music coming out.There was Captain Nemo, bent over his organ, lost in musical bliss. "Captain!" I said to him. He didn't seem to hear. "Captain!" I said, touching him with my hand. He trembled slightly, turned around and said to me: "Ah! It's you, Professor. Very well, how are you hunting? Do you get a lot of vegetation?" "Yes, very well, Captain," I replied, "but we were unlucky enough to bring a Two-legged animal with me, and I feel very uneasy about the presence of these animals."

"What two-legged animal? "Some savages." "Some savages!" said Captain Nemo sarcastically. "Professor, do you find it strange that you meet savages as soon as you set foot on the land of this earth? Savages, people of the land. There are no savages anywhere." What? And whoever you call savages must be worse than the rest?" "However, Captain..." "Personally, sir, I meet savages everywhere." "Then," I replied, "if you do not want to receive them on board the Nautilus, I beg your attention to do something about it."

"Don't worry, Professor, you have nothing to worry about." "But the natives are very numerous." "How many do you reckon there are?" "At least a hundred or so." "Mr. Aronnax," replied Captain Nemo, resting his fingers on the keys of the organ again, "that all the natives of Papua are assembled on this beach, and the Nautilus is not at all afraid of them." s attack!" The captain's fingers then raced over the organ keyboard again, and I saw that he only pressed the black keys, which made his harmonies mainly Scottish.Soon he forgot that I was in front of him, immersed in a kind of dream, and I didn't dare to disturb him or disturb him.

I'm back on the platform again.Night has come, for in these low latitudes the sun sets quickly and there is no twilight.I see Nagborole Island very vaguely.But there were many fires shining on the beach, proving that these natives didn't want to go away and stay there. I remained thus alone on the platform for hours, thinking sometimes of these natives--but not particularly afraid of them, because of the captain's unwavering faith.Hearts affect me - forget them sometimes, enjoying the nighttime beauty of the tropics.My thoughts flew to France, as if with the stars of the zodiac, which for many hours shone over France.The moon shone brilliantly among the stars overhead, and it occurred to me that this faithful satellite of the earth was going to return to the same place the day after tomorrow, and set up these sea waves to free the Nautilus from its coral bed.At around midnight, seeing that everything was calm on the dark sea waves, and at the same time, there was no sound under the trees on the coast, I went back to my cabin and fell asleep peacefully.

The night passed without any mishaps.The Papuans, probably because of the mere sight of the monstrosity stranded in the bay, were afraid to come, for the panels were still open, and they could easily enter the Nautilus. 6:11 in the morning: August 8th - I went to the stage again.The morning shadows parted.Gueboroa Island emerges from the disappearing mist, first the beach and then the mountains. The natives guarded there, more people than yesterday, about five or six hundred people.Some of the natives rode the low tide to the top of the coral rock, about four hundred meters from the Nautilus.I can see them clearly.They were real Papuans, tall and well built, with broad and high foreheads, thick noses, not flat, and white teeth.Their woolly hair, reddish in color, hung over their shiny black, Nubi-like bodies.Their earlobes, slit and elongated, bore bony earrings.These natives are usually naked and don't wear clothes.I saw some women among them, wearing from waist to knee a rough skirt of real blades of grass fastened with a straw ribbon.Some of the leaders wore a crescent and a necklace of red and white glass around their necks.Nearly all the Venerable Masters carried bows, arrows, and shields, and carried over their shoulders something like a net filled with round stones which they could deftly hurl with their trebuchets.

One of the chiefs came quite close to the Nautilus and inspected the ship carefully.He seemed to be a high-class "mado" because he was wearing a scarf made of banana leaves, the middle edge of which was patterned and dyed in very bright colors. I could have easily killed the native, for he was standing very close; but I thought it wise to wait until he showed a genuinely deliberate attack before striking back. Throughout the low tide the natives milled about the Nautilus; but they were not loud.I often heard them say "Azai" repeatedly. Judging from their gestures, I understood that they wanted me to go to the island, but I thought it was better to decline their invitation.

So this day the boat could not leave the ship, much to the disappointment of Master Ned Land, who could not make up for the food he asked for.The handy Canadian then used his time to prepare the meat and flour he had brought back from Gueboroa Island.As for the natives, they went back to shore about eleven o'clock in the morning, when the coral pinnacles began to disappear under the rising tide.But I have seen their numbers on the beach increase enormously.Probably they came from the neighboring islands, or from the main island of Papua.But I haven't seen a canoe loaded with people yet.

Since I have nothing to do at the moment, I thought of fishing in these clear waters. It seems that there are rich shellfish, phytophytes and marine plants in the water.And today is the last day for the Nautilus to stay on the sea in this area, because according to Captain Nemo's promise, the ship will float out when the tide rises tomorrow.So my name was Conseil, and he brought me a light little dredge, a net like the one used to fish oysters. "And those savages?" Conseil asked me. "I don't think they are very vicious, sir!" "But they're going to eat people, honest man." "A man can be cannibal and honest at the same time," Conseil replied, "just as a man can be gluttonous and honest at the same time, without opposition to each other." "Yes! Conseil, I agree with you. They are honest people who eat human flesh. They honestly eat the meat of captives. But I don't want to be swallowed by them. I'm going to be on the alert and very careful, because the Nautilus's captain doesn't seem to be paying attention at all. Now let's fish." For two hours we fished fairly vigorously, but caught no rare treasures.The salvage was full of donkey ear shells, harp shells, river shells, and especially the best-looking rough fish I have seen today. We also caught some sea cucumbers, pearl-producing oysters, and a dozen or so small turtles. , These are called as food on board. But, quite by accident, I found a curiosity, I should say, a curiosity of natural deformation, the rarest of things to come across.When Conseil lowered and picked up the dredge, which was filled with the usual variety of shellfish, he suddenly saw my arm quickly reach into the net, take out a shell, and sent a call to the conchologist. Shout, that is to say, the shrillest cry that a human throat can utter. "Hey! What's the matter, Monsieur?" Conseil asked, very surprised. "Has Monsieur been bitten?" "No, honest man, I would have given one of my fingers for my discovery." "What did you find? "This is the shell." I said, pointing to my prize. "But it's just a common variegated olive shell, Olivia, Arthrobranchus, Gastropoda, Molluscs..." "Yes, Conseil, but this olive pattern is different from ordinary ones. Instead of rolling from right to left, it turns from left to right." "Is it possible?" Conseil exclaimed. "Exactly, honest man, it's a curly clam!" "A curly clam!" repeated Conseil, his heart beating. "Just look at the spiral pattern on this shell." "Ah! Monsieur can trust me," said Conseil, holding the precious shell in trembling hands, "I have never felt such an emotion as I do now!" It really can be emotional!Exactly, as biologists have observed, right to left is the law of nature.The revolutions and rotations of the planets of celestial bodies and their satellites all turn from right to left.Human beings use the right hand more often than the left. Therefore, human tools and instruments, stairs, locks and keys, clocks and clocks, etc., are all coordinated to be used from right to left.Nature generally follows this law in the coiling of shellfish.Shellfish patterns are basically right-turning, with few exceptions, and occasionally shellfish patterns are left-turning.Those who like it will buy it with the weight of gold. Because of this, Conseil and I were admiring the treasures we had obtained, completely intoxicated, and I was glad that our museum could have another treasure. Suddenly, a native threw a stone, and unfortunately, the treasure in Conseil's hands was thrown away. broken. I let out a cry of despair!Conseil picked up my gun and aimed it at a native who was swinging a trebuchet ten meters away, and was about to shoot.I was about to stop him, but his bullet had already discharged, shattering the amulet that hung on the native's arm. "Conseil!" Conseil! "I yelled. "What's the matter! Didn't sir see the native attacking? "A shell is not worth a man's life!" I said to him: "Ah! bastard!" cried Conseil, "it would be better for him to break my shoulder than this shell!" Conseil was telling the truth, but I disagreed with him.But the current situation is already very wrong, and we haven't realized this yet.At this time, more than twenty canoes were surrounding the Nautilus.This kind of canoe is made of a hollow tree trunk, which is very long and narrow.In order to facilitate driving, it is equipped with two long bamboo poles floating on the water surface, so that the boat can swing in a balanced and non-tilted manner.The canoes were driven by half-naked masters who skillfully used free paddles, and I couldn't help but feel frightened at the sight of them approaching. Obviously, these Papuans had already been in contact with Europeans, and they had seen and recognized European ships.But what would they think of our steel cone lying in the bay, without masts and chimneys?They must have thought it a bad thing with no benefit at all, because they stood at a considerable distance in the first place and dared not approach it.However, seeing the boat standing still, they gradually regained their confidence and tried to get acquainted with the boat.It is this act of familiarity that one should prevent.Our weapons, which have no bang, have but a common effect on these natives, for it is the sound of the cannon which they dread, and the danger of thunder is flashes but not sound.But if there is no rumbling bombardment, few people are afraid. At this moment, the canoe was getting closer to the Nautilus, and arrows fell on the ship in waves. "How strange! It's hailstones!" said Conseil, "possibly poisonous hailstones!" "Captain Nemo should be informed," I said, as I entered through the panel. I walked into the living room, but there was no one in the living room.I ventured to knock at the door leading to the captain's quarters. A "please come in" answered me; I went in, and I saw that the captain was concentrating on calculations, and there were many X unknowns and other algebraic symbols on it. "May I bother you?" I said politely. "Yes, Monsieur Aronnax," replied the captain, "but I think you must have something urgent and important to see me." "Yes, it is very urgent and important. We are surrounded by many canoes of the natives. In a few minutes, we must be attacked by hundreds of natives." "Ah!" said Captain Nemo quietly, "are they coming in their canoes?" "Yes, sir. "Well, sir, it will suffice to close the panel." "Exactly, I'm here to tell you..." "It couldn't be easier," said Captain Nemo. He pressed a button in his hand to transmit the order to the crew's station. "The order has been carried out, sir," he said to me after a moment, "the boat is stowed and the panels closed. These walls of steel, I suppose, are invulnerable even to the shells of the battleship Lincoln, and you will not now Are you afraid that those native gentlemen will rush in?" "Fear not, Captain; but there is one more danger." "Sir, what is the danger?" "Just to open the panels again tomorrow to change the air on the Nautilus..." "Needless to say, sir, because our ship breathes like a cetacean." "However, if the Papuans occupy the platform at this time, I really don't know. How can you prevent them from coming in?" "So, sir, do you think they can come aboard?" "I think so." "Well, sir, let them come up. I see no reason why they should be stopped. In fact, these Cubuans are very pitiful. During my visit to Gueborole Island, I only I am not willing to sacrifice the life of such a miserable person!" Having said this, I was about to withdraw, but Captain Nemo asked me to sit beside him.He was very concerned about our experience of landing and wandering, and our hunting situation. He seemed completely ignorant of the need for Canadians to eat meat.Then the conversation turned to various issues, and Captain Nemo, though no more revealing than before, was more genial.Among the many questions he raised, we spoke of the present position of the Nautilus, as she was stranded in the same strait where Dumont Cuvier nearly lost his life.After a while, the captain said this to me: "He is one of your great sailors, this Juvier is one of your wise navigators! He is your French Captain Cook. O unfortunate scholar! Fear not the ice of Antarctica nor the coral reefs of Oceania It is a pity that the cannibal native who is not afraid of the Pacific Ocean lost his life so unworthily in a train wreck after experiencing all kinds of dangers! If this capable man could do some thinking in the last moment of his existence Live, think what his last wisdom will be!" Saying this, Captain Nemo seemed to be very emotional, and I was infected by his emotion. Then, map in hand, we turn to the work of the French navigator, his voyages around the world, his two expeditions to the South Pole, which led him to discover the places of Amelie and Louis Phillips, and his Records of hydrology done on the main islands of Oceania. "What your Cuvier did on the sea, Captain Nemo said to me, "I did it under the sea, more conveniently and completely than he did, with the Armillary Sphere and the Zealous Lady constantly tossed by the great storm, Can't compare to the Nautilus, it's a quiet studio, really safe in the middle of the sea! " "But, captain," said I, "Dumont Cuvier's old ship bears a certain resemblance to the Nautilus." "Which point, sir?" "It's the Nautilus that ran aground just like them!" "The Nautilus did not run aground, sir," Captain Nemo answered me coldly. "The Nautilus was resting on a bed. What Cuvier had to do to get his ship off the reef and back at sea." The painstaking work, the difficult maneuvers, I don't have to do at all. The Armillary Sphere and the Zealot are almost sunk, but my Nautilus is not in any danger. Tomorrow, on the day I appointed, at the appointed time, the tide will It floated safely, and it sailed across the ocean and sea again." "Captain," I said, "I don't doubt..." "Tomorrow," continued Captain Nemo, rising to his feet, "tomorrow, at two forty in the afternoon, the Nautilus will afloat and leave the Torres Strait unharmed." After finishing these words in a crisp tone, Captain Nemo nodded slightly.This is a sign to go away, and I will come back to my room. I saw Conseil in the room, he wanted to know the result of my meeting with the captain "My lord," I replied, "when I felt that his Nautilus was seriously threatened by the Papuan masters, the captain answered me with the utmost irony. So I will tell you only a little, That is: trust him and sleep in peace." "Is there anything I can do, sir?" "No, honest man. What's Ned Land doing?" "Please forgive me, sir," Conseil replied, "Ned's good friend is making kangaroo patties, which will become delicious treasures!" I was alone again, and I fell asleep, but couldn't.I heard the noises made by the natives, they uttered ear-splitting yells, and stomped on the platform incessantly. The whole night passed like this, and the crew on board still remained motionless and ignored them all.The natives were not at all disturbed by their presence, just as soldiers guarding an iron fortress do not pay attention to the ants running on the iron armor. At six o'clock, I get up.The panels didn't open, so the boat was inside.The air was changed, but the storehouse was always full of air, so I used it in time, and put several cubic meters of oxygen into the anoxic air of the Nautilus. I worked in the room until noon, without a moment's notice. Captain Nemo was not seen, as if the ship had not made any preparations for departure. I waited some more time, then went to the living room.The big needle is pointing at 2:30 and within ten minutes, the tide will reach its highest point.If Captain Nemo hadn't made our wild promises, the Nautilus would have left the reef immediately.Otherwise, it may have to spend an unknown number of years before it can leave the coral bed. Soon, however, some prelude tremors were felt in the hull.I heard the calcareous rough surface of the coral stone rubbing against the side of the boat, rustling. At two thirty-five, Captain Nemo appeared in the living room. "We're leaving," he said. "Ah!" I shouted. "I have an order to open the panels." "Where are the Papuans?" "Which Papuans?" Captain Nemo replied, with a slight shrug. "Aren't they going to go inside the Nautilus?" "How to get in?" "Come in through the panel you told someone to open." "Mr. Aronnax," replied Captain Nemo quietly, "people cannot come in through the panels like this, even if they are open." I stared at the captain. " "Don't you understand?" he said to me. "I don't understand at all." "Come on, then, and you will see. I walked towards the central iron ladder.Ned Land and Conseil were there, wondering in their hearts, watching the men of the ship open the panels, while frantic and terrible yells rang out outside. The outside of the panel was let down.Twenty scary faces appeared.But the first native, the one who had put his hand on the railing of the iron ladder, was immediately pushed back by a mysterious and unseen force, uttered a frightening cry, and made strange leaps to escape.Ten of his companions came to hold him back one after another, and ten of them also got the same fate. After being hit, they fled backwards. Conseil was wild with joy.Ned Land, impelled by his impetuous nature, ran up the stairs.However, as soon as he grabbed the handrail with both hands, he was also knocked down. "There's a ghost! There's a ghost!" he cried. "I've been struck by thunder!" This sentence said it all to me.That's not a handrail, it's an iron cable that passes through the current on the ship and reaches the platform.Whoever touches it receives a violent shock, and if Captain Nemo had put the whole current of his machine into this conductor, "this shock is deadly!" Between the attacking enemy and him, he hung a grid, and no one could pass through it with impunity. The Papuans, frantic with fear, all backed away.We laughed and comforted the unfortunate Ned.Lan, rubbed his hands against him, and he cursed loudly like a demon possessed. But at this moment the Nautilus, stirred by the last waves of the sea, left her coral bed at exactly two forty past hours, appointed by the captain.Its wheels began to churn the water with solemn slowness.After a while, gaining speed, she galloped out to sea, leaving the dangerous waterways of the Torres Strait behind safely.