at this fire might be, what could feed it, why and how it
lit up the liquid mass, I could not say. In any case, it did light our
way, vaguely, it is true, but I soon accustomed myself to the peculiar
darkness, and I understood, under such circumstances, the uselessness
of the Ruhmkorff apparatus.

As we advanced, I heard a kind of pattering above my head. The noise
redoubling, sometimes producing a continual shower, I soon understood
the cause. It was rain falling violently, and crisping the surface of
the waves. Instinctively the thought flashed across my mind that I
should be wet through! By the water! in the midst of the water! I
could not help laughing at the odd idea. But, indeed, in the thick
diving-dress, the liquid element is no longer felt, and one only seems
to be in an atmosphere somewhat denser than the terrestrial atmosphere.
Nothing more.

After half an hour's walk the soil became stony. Medusae, microscopic
crustacea, and pennatules lit it slightly with their phosphorescent
gleam. I caught a glimpse of pieces of stone covered with millions of
zoophytes and masses of sea weed. My feet often slipped upon this
sticky carpet of sea weed, and without my iron-tipped stick I should
have fallen more than once. In turning round, I could still see the
whitish lantern of the Nautilus beginning to pale in the distance.

But the rosy light which guided us increased and lit up the horizon.
The presence of this fire under water puzzled me in the highest degree.
Was I going towards a natural phenomenon as yet unknown to the savants
of the earth? Or even (for this thought crossed my brain) had the hand
of man aught to do with this conflagration? Had he fanned this flame?
Was I to meet in these depths companions and friends of Captain Nemo
whom he was going to visit, and who, like him, led this strange
existence? Should I find down there a whole colony of exiles who,
weary of the miseries of this earth, had sought and found independence
in the deep ocean? All these foolish and unreasonable ideas pursued
me. And in this condition of mind, over-excited by the succession of
wonders continually passing before my eyes, I should not have been
surprised to meet at the bottom of the sea one of those submarine towns
of which Captain Nemo dreamed.

Our road grew lighter and lighter. The white glimmer came in rays from
the summit of a mountain about 800 feet high. But what I saw was
simply a reflection, develope