k.
He rattled in his throat, he was stifled, he cried, "Help! help!"
These words, spoken in French, startled me! I had a fellow-countryman
on board, perhaps several! That heart-rending cry! I shall hear it
all my life. The unfortunate man was lost. Who could rescue him from
that powerful pressure? However, Captain Nemo had rushed to the poulp,
and with one blow of the axe had cut through one arm. His lieutenant
struggled furiously against other monsters that crept on the flanks of
the Nautilus. The crew fought with their axes. The Canadian, Conseil,
and I buried our weapons in the fleshy masses; a strong smell of musk
penetrated the atmosphere. It was horrible!

For one instant, I thought the unhappy man, entangled with the poulp,
would be torn from its powerful suction. Seven of the eight arms had
been cut off. One only wriggled in the air, brandishing the victim
like a feather. But just as Captain Nemo and his lieutenant threw
themselves on it, the animal ejected a stream of black liquid. We were
blinded with it. When the cloud dispersed, the cuttlefish had
disappeared, and my unfortunate countryman with it. Ten or twelve
poulps now invaded the platform and sides of the Nautilus. We rolled
pell-mell into the midst of this nest of serpents, that wriggled on the
platform in the waves of blood and ink. It seemed as though these
slimy tentacles sprang up like the hydra's heads. Ned Land's harpoon,
at each stroke, was plunged into the staring eyes of the cuttle fish.
But my bold companion was suddenly overturned by the tentacles of a
monster he had not been able to avoid.

Ah! how my heart beat with emotion and horror! The formidable beak of
a cuttlefish was open over Ned Land. The unhappy man would be cut in
two. I rushed to his succour. But Captain Nemo was before me; his axe
disappeared between the two enormous jaws, and, miraculously saved, the
Canadian, rising, plunged his harpoon deep into the triple heart of the
poulp.

"I owed myself this revenge!" said the Captain to the Canadian.

Ned bowed without replying. The combat had lasted a quarter of an
hour. The monsters, vanquished and mutilated, left us at last, and
disappeared under the waves. Captain Nemo, covered with blood, nearly
exhausted, gazed upon the sea that had swallowed up one of his
companions, and great tears gathered in his eyes.

CHAPTER XIX

THE GULF STREAM

This terrible scene of the 20th of April none of us ca