ut here return was as
impossible as advance, for every pass had closed behind us; and for the
few moments when we were stationary, we were likely to be entirely
blocked, which did indeed happen about two o'clock in the afternoon,
the fresh ice forming around its sides with astonishing rapidity. I
was obliged to admit that Captain Nemo was more than imprudent. I was
on the platform at that moment. The Captain had been observing our
situation for some time past, when he said to me:

"Well, sir, what do you think of this?"

"I think that we are caught, Captain."

"So, M. Aronnax, you really think that the Nautilus cannot disengage
itself?"

"With difficulty, Captain; for the season is already too far advanced
for you to reckon on the breaking of the ice."

"Ah! sir," said Captain Nemo, in an ironical tone, "you will always be
the same. You see nothing but difficulties and obstacles. I affirm
that not only can the Nautilus disengage itself, but also that it can
go further still."

"Further to the South?" I asked, looking at the Captain.

"Yes, sir; it shall go to the pole."

"To the pole!" I exclaimed, unable to repress a gesture of incredulity.

"Yes," replied the Captain, coldly, "to the Antarctic pole--to that
unknown point from whence springs every meridian of the globe. You
know whether I can do as I please with the Nautilus!"

Yes, I knew that. I knew that this man was bold, even to rashness.
But to conquer those obstacles which bristled round the South Pole,
rendering it more inaccessible than the North, which had not yet been
reached by the boldest navigators--was it not a mad enterprise, one
which only a maniac would have conceived? It then came into my head to
ask Captain Nemo if he had ever discovered that pole which had never
yet been trodden by a human creature?

"No, sir," he replied; "but we will discover it together. Where others
have failed, I will not fail. I have never yet led my Nautilus so far
into southern seas; but, I repeat, it shall go further yet."

"I can well believe you, Captain," said I, in a slightly ironical tone.
"I believe you! Let us go ahead! There are no obstacles for us! Let
us smash this iceberg! Let us blow it up; and, if it resists, let us
give the Nautilus wings to fly over it!"

"Over it, sir!" said Captain Nemo, quietly; "no, not over it, but under
it!"

"Under it!" I exclaimed, a sudden idea of the Captain's projects
flashing upon my mind. I un