Page:Twenty Thousand Verne Frith 1876.pdf/511

 252

THE

LAST

WORDS

OF

CAPTAIN

gliding like a ghost, rather than walking.

NEMO.

His bosom heaved

with sobs, and I heard him murmur these words—the last I ever heard him speak: Oh! Almighty God, enough !” “Enough, enough!

Was this the effect of remorse which thus escaped from the over-laden conscience of the man ? In a sort of despair I precipitated myself into the library and rushed up the central staircase, and, following the upper turn, reached the boat. I entered it by the opening which had already given ingress to my two companions. “Let us be off! let us go!” I cried. “In one second,” replied the Canadian. The opening in the Vauti/us was first closed and secured by Ned Land by means of a key he had discovered. The opening in the boat was likewise fastened, and then the Canadian began to release the screws which held us to the Nautilus.

Suddenly a noise within the vessel was heard. Voices replied loudly. What had happened. Had our flight been discovered? I felt Ned Land slip a poniard into my hand. “Ves,” I murmured, “we can die like men.” The Canadian ceased working. But a word, repeated twenty times, a terrible word revealed to me the cause of the agitation within the JVautiius. The crew were not troubling themselves about us at all. “The Maélstrom! the Maélstrom !” cried Ned. ‘The Maélstrom ! No more terrible word, and no more We were, horrible situation than ours could be conceived.

then, in close proximity to the dangerous Norwegian coast. Had the Mautilus been drawn into the whirlpool just as our

boat was about to quit the ship P