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CHAPTER I.

THE INDIAN OCEAN.

now commence the second part of the voyage under the sea. The first ended with that sad scene at the cemetery of coral, which left a deep impression on my mind. Thus, then, in the bosom of the deep sea the life of Captain Nemo was entirely passed, and he had even prepared his last resting-place in the most impenetrable of its abysses. There no ocean monster will ever disturb the last sleep of these companions of the Nautilus, of those friends united in death as in their lives. “Nor will any man, for ever,” the captain had added—always the same strange implacable defiance towards mankind! For my part I was not any more contented by the hypothesis which satisfied Conseil. He persisted in taking the commander of the Nautilus for one of those mistaken savants who return man’s indifference by dislike. So to Conseil the captain was an eccentric genius, who, disgusted by the falseness of earthly things, had been obliged to take refuge in the inaccessible seas where he could exercise his tastes freely. But in my opinion