he Mysteries
of the Great Submarine Grounds," thus to see, at first hand, the life
which I had only been able to speculate on before. We captured many rare
specimens, and shot a fine sea-otter, the only known quadruped that
inhabits the rocky depths of the Pacific. It was five feet long, and its
skin was worth a hundred pounds.

_IV.--Captain Nemo and the Avenger_

So constantly was I enchanted with the wonders of our journey that day
succeeded day without my taking note of them; but Captain Nemo, for all
his kindness, still remained as mysterious as the Sphinx. One day he
became violently agitated after looking through the glass at a point
indicated by his lieutenant, and I and my companions were immediately
imprisoned in darkness, as we had been when first taken into the
Nautilus. When I awoke next morning the captain took me to see a wounded
Englishman whose head had been shattered, and on my stating that the man
could not live for two hours, the dark eyes of the captain seemed to
fill with tears. I thought that night I heard sounds of a funeral hymn,
and next day I was taken to a submarine forest of coral, where they
buried the man. This was really a little cemetery beneath the sea, as I
gathered from the coral cross which had been erected there. Ned Land,
unlike me, was soon satisfied with what he had seen of the submarine
world, and had now but one thought of escape. We were sailing up the
eastern coast of South America, and by May 17 were some five hundred
miles from Heart's Content. There I saw, at a depth of more than fifteen
hundred fathoms, the great electric cable lying at the bottom of the
ocean. The restlessness of poor Ned Land was at its height when he had a
glimpse of the American shore; but Captain Nemo bent his course towards
Ireland, and then southward, passing within sight of Land's End on May
30.

All the next day the vessel seemed to be making a series of circular
movements, in some endeavour to locate a particular spot, and the
captain was gloomier than I had ever seen him, having no word for me.
The following day, which was beautifully clear, we could make out, some
eight miles to the eastward, a large steam vessel flying no flag.
Suddenly, after using his sextant, the captain exclaimed: "It is here!"

Presently the Nautilus sank to the bottom of the sea. When at rest the
lights were put out and the sliding panels opened. We could now see on
our starboard the remains of a sunken vessel,