Page:Twenty Thousand Verne Frith 1876.pdf/65

 Conseil could articulate a little, and I heard him repeat many times, “Help, help!”

Suspending our movements for a moment, we listened. Was that a buzzing noise in the ear, or was it an answer to Conseil’s cry for assistance?

“Did you hear that?” I murmured.

“Yes, yes!” and Conseil again cried for help despairingly.

This time there was no mistake. A human voice replied. Was it the voice of some unfortunate person, abandoned in the midst of the ocean—some other victim of that collision? or rather, was it a boat from the frigate hailing us in the darkness? Conseil made a last effort, and leaning on my shoulder, while I gave all the support of which I was capable, he raised himself half out of the water, and fell back exhausted.

“What have you seen?”

“I have seen,” he murmured, “I have seen—but let us not talk, let us husband all our strength.”

“What had he seen?” At that moment the monster came to my mind with all its old force. But there was the voice. The times were past for Jonahs to live in whales’ bellies.

Nevertheless, Conseil pushed me forward once more, He raised his head at times to look before him, and uttered a cry, to which a voice replied nearer and nearer each time.

I could scarcely hear it. My strength was spent; my fingers were no longer at my command; my hands could no longer make the strokes; my mouth, convulsively opened, was filled with the salt water, and