ressed to me. I opened it impatiently. It was
written in a bold, clear hand, the characters rather pointed, recalling
the German type. The note was worded as follows:

TO PROFESSOR ARONNAX, On board the Nautilus. 16th of November, 1867.

Captain Nemo invites Professor Aronnax to a hunting-party, which will
take place to-morrow morning in the forests of the Island of Crespo.
He hopes that nothing will prevent the Professor from being present,
and he will with pleasure see him joined by his companions.

CAPTAIN NEMO, Commander of the Nautilus.

"A hunt!" exclaimed Ned.

"And in the forests of the Island of Crespo!" added Conseil.

"Oh! then the gentleman is going on terra firma?" replied Ned Land.

"That seems to me to be clearly indicated," said I, reading the letter
once more.

"Well, we must accept," said the Canadian. "But once more on dry
ground, we shall know what to do. Indeed, I shall not be sorry to eat
a piece of fresh venison."

Without seeking to reconcile what was contradictory between Captain
Nemo's manifest aversion to islands and continents, and his invitation
to hunt in a forest, I contented myself with replying:

"Let us first see where the Island of Crespo is."

I consulted the planisphere, and in 32 deg. 40' N. lat. and 157 deg.
50' W. long., I found a small island, recognised in 1801 by Captain
Crespo, and marked in the ancient Spanish maps as Rocca de la Plata,
the meaning of which is The Silver Rock. We were then about eighteen
hundred miles from our starting-point, and the course of the Nautilus,
a little changed, was bringing it back towards the southeast.

I showed this little rock, lost in the midst of the North Pacific, to
my companions.

"If Captain Nemo does sometimes go on dry ground," said I, "he at least
chooses desert islands."

Ned Land shrugged his shoulders without speaking, and Conseil and he
left me.

After supper, which was served by the steward, mute and impassive, I
went to bed, not without some anxiety.

The next morning, the 17th of November, on awakening, I felt that the
Nautilus was perfectly still. I dressed quickly and entered the saloon.

Captain Nemo was there, waiting for me. He rose, bowed, and asked me
if it was convenient for me to accompany him. As he made no allusion
to his absence during the last eight days, I did not mention it, and
simply answered that my companions and myself were ready to follow him.

We entered the dining-roo