ossing
his arms, he said:

"Frankly, I do not regret this journey under the seas. I shall be glad
to have made it; but, now that it is made, let us have done with it.
That is my idea."

"It will come to an end, Ned."

"Where and when?"

"Where I do not know--when I cannot say; or, rather, I suppose it will
end when these seas have nothing more to teach us."

"Then what do you hope for?" demanded the Canadian.

"That circumstances may occur as well six months hence as now by which
we may and ought to profit."

"Oh!" said Ned Land, "and where shall we be in six months, if you
please, Sir Naturalist?"

"Perhaps in China; you know the Nautilus is a rapid traveller. It goes
through water as swallows through the air, or as an express on the
land. It does not fear frequented seas; who can say that it may not
beat the coasts of France, England, or America, on which flight may be
attempted as advantageously as here."

"M. Aronnax," replied the Canadian, "your arguments are rotten at the
foundation. You speak in the future, `We shall be there! we shall be
here!' I speak in the present, `We are here, and we must profit by
it.'"

Ned Land's logic pressed me hard, and I felt myself beaten on that
ground. I knew not what argument would now tell in my favour.

"Sir," continued Ned, "let us suppose an impossibility: if Captain Nemo
should this day offer you your liberty; would you accept it?"

"I do not know," I answered.

"And if," he added, "the offer made you this day was never to be
renewed, would you accept it?"

"Friend Ned, this is my answer. Your reasoning is against me. We must
not rely on Captain Nemo's good-will. Common prudence forbids him to
set us at liberty. On the other side, prudence bids us profit by the
first opportunity to leave the Nautilus."

"Well, M. Aronnax, that is wisely said."

"Only one observation--just one. The occasion must be serious, and our
first attempt must succeed; if it fails, we shall never find another,
and Captain Nemo will never forgive us."

"All that is true," replied the Canadian. "But your observation
applies equally to all attempts at flight, whether in two years' time,
or in two days'. But the question is still this: If a favourable
opportunity presents itself, it must be seized."

"Agreed! And now, Ned, will you tell me what you mean by a favourable
opportunity?"

"It will be that which, on a dark night, will bring the Nautilus a
short distance fr