accomplished with
the rapidity of lightning. I shivered all over. Whom had we to deal
with? No doubt some new sort of pirates, who explored the sea in their
own way. Hardly had the narrow panel closed upon me, when I was
enveloped in darkness. My eyes, dazzled with the outer light, could
distinguish nothing. I felt my naked feet cling to the rungs of an
iron ladder. Ned Land and Conseil, firmly seized, followed me. At the
bottom of the ladder, a door opened, and shut after us immediately with
a bang.

We were alone. Where, I could not say, hardly imagine. All was black,
and such a dense black that, after some minutes, my eyes had not been
able to discern even the faintest glimmer.

Meanwhile, Ned Land, furious at these proceedings, gave free vent to
his indignation.

"Confound it!" cried he, "here are people who come up to the Scotch for
hospitality. They only just miss being cannibals. I should not be
surprised at it, but I declare that they shall not eat me without my
protesting."

"Calm yourself, friend Ned, calm yourself," replied Conseil, quietly.
"Do not cry out before you are hurt. We are not quite done for yet."

"Not quite," sharply replied the Canadian, "but pretty near, at all
events. Things look black. Happily, my bowie knife I have still, and
I can always see well enough to use it. The first of these pirates who
lays a hand on me----"

"Do not excite yourself, Ned," I said to the harpooner, "and do not
compromise us by useless violence. Who knows that they will not listen
to us? Let us rather try to find out where we are."

I groped about. In five steps I came to an iron wall, made of plates
bolted together. Then turning back I struck against a wooden table,
near which were ranged several stools. The boards of this prison were
concealed under a thick mat, which deadened the noise of the feet. The
bare walls revealed no trace of window or door. Conseil, going round
the reverse way, met me, and we went back to the middle of the cabin,
which measured about twenty feet by ten. As to its height, Ned Land,
in spite of his own great height, could not measure it.

Half an hour had already passed without our situation being bettered,
when the dense darkness suddenly gave way to extreme light. Our prison
was suddenly lighted, that is to say, it became filled with a luminous
matter, so strong that I could not bear it at first. In its whiteness
and intensity I recognised that electr