Page:Twenty Thousand Verne Frith 1876.pdf/461



CHAPTER XVIII

THE OCTOPUS.

For some days the Nautilus gave the American coast a wide berth. Captain Nemo evidently did not wish to encounter the waves of the Gulf of Mexico or of the Antilles Seas. There was no want of water there, for the average depth is about 1,800 yards; but probably the islands, with which the seas are studded, did not recommend them to the captain.

On the 16th April we sighted Martinique and Guadeloupe at thirty miles distance. I saw the high peaks for a moment.

The Canadian, who had counted upon putting his plans of escape into execution in the Gulf—either by landing on some island, or by hailing one of the numerous vessels which ply from one island to another—was very much put out.

Flight would have been practicable had Ned been able to get possession of the boat without the captain’s knowledge; but, in the open sea, it was useless to think of it.

Ned, Conseil, and I had a long conversation on this subject. We had now been six months on board the