Page:Twenty Thousand Verne Frith 1876.pdf/167

 lay the portion of the globe which he never wished to tread.

The return journey was commenced. Captain Nemo reassumed the lead, and proceeded without hesitation. We did not return by the same route as we had come. This new direction, very “stiff,” and consequently very laborious, brought us rapidly to the surface of the ocean. Nevertheless, the ascent was not so steep as the descent had lately been, and which sudden changes lead to grave disorders, and are the cause of fatal internal injuries to divers. The light quickly reappeared and increased, the sun was already low in the sky, and the refraction again surrounded the various objects with a spectral halo.

At a depth of ten yards we met a crowd of little fishes of all kinds, more numerous and more active than birds in the air; but no aquatic “game” worthy of a bullet met our gaze. Just then I saw the captain shoulder his gun, and follow some moving object in the coppice. He fired; I heard a feeble hissing, and the animal fell dead a few paces off.

It was a magnificent sea-otter, the only exclusively marine animal. This was about four feet long, and would fetch a high price. Its skin, of a dark chestnut hue above, and silver below, would make one of those splendid furs so sought after in Russian and Chinese markets; the fineness and the lustre of the skin would make it worth 2,000 francs. I admired its rounded head, small ears, round eyes, its white “moustache,” resembling that of a cat, its webbed feet, and tufted tail.

This valuable animal, hunted and trapped by fisher- L 2