"Only one.It is possible,if the sea exists at the South Pole,that it may be covered;and,consequently,we shall be unable to come to the surface.""Good,sir!but do you forget that the Nautilus is armed with a powerful spur,and could we not send it diagonally against these fields of ice,which would open at the shocks.""Ah!sir,you are full of ideas to-day."
"Besides,Captain,"Iadded,enthusiastically,"why should we not find the sea open at the South Pole as well as at the North?
The frozen poles of the earth do not coincide,either in the southern or in the northern regions;and,until it is proved to the contrary,we may suppose either a continent or an ocean free from ice at these two points of the globe.""Ithink so too,M.Aronnax,"replied Captain Nemo.
"Ionly wish you to observe that,after having made so many objections to my project,you are now crushing me with arguments in its favour!"The preparations for this audacious attempt now began.
The powerful pumps of the Nautilus were working air into the reservoirs and storing it at high pressure.About four o'clock,Captain Nemo announced the closing of the panels on the platform.
Ithrew one last look at the massive iceberg which we were going to cross.The weather was clear,the atmosphere pure enough,the cold very great,being 12@below zero;but,the wind having gone down,this temperature was not so unbearable.
About ten men mounted the sides of the Nautilus,armed with pickaxes to break the ice around the vessel,which was soon free.
The operation was quickly performed,for the fresh ice was still very thin.We all went below.The usual reservoirs were filled with the newly-liberated water,and the Nautilus soon descended.
Ihad taken my place with Conseil in the saloon;through the open window we could see the lower beds of the Southern Ocean.
The thermometer went up,the needle of the compass deviated on the dial.At about 900feet,as Captain Nemo had foreseen,we were floating beneath the undulating bottom of the iceberg.
But the Nautilus went lower still--it went to the depth of four hundred fathoms.The temperature of the water at the surface showed twelve degrees,it was now only ten;we had gained two.
Ineed not say the temperature of the Nautilus was raised by its heating apparatus to a much higher degree;every manoeuvre was accomplished with wonderful precision.
"We shall pass it,if you please,sir,"said Conseil.
"Ibelieve we shall,"Isaid,in a tone of firm conviction.
In this open sea,the Nautilus had taken its course direct to the pole,without leaving the fifty-second meridian.
From 67@30'to 90@,twenty-two degrees and a half of latitude remained to travel;that is,about five hundred leagues.
The Nautilus kept up a mean speed of twenty-six miles an hour--the speed of an express train.If that was kept up,in forty hours we should reach the pole.
For a part of the night the novelty of the situation kept us at the window.The sea was lit with the electric lantern;but it was deserted;fishes did not sojourn in these imprisoned waters;they only found there a passage to take them from the Antarctic Ocean to the open polar sea.Our pace was rapid;we could feel it by the quivering of the long steel body.
About two in the morning Itook some hours'repose,and Conseil did the same.In crossing the waist Idid not meet Captain Nemo:
Isupposed him to be in the pilot's cage.The next morning,the 19th of March,Itook my post once more in the saloon.
The electric log told me that the speed of the Nautilus had been slackened.It was then going towards the surface;but prudently emptying its reservoirs very slowly.
My heart beat fast.Were we going to emerge and regain the open polar atmosphere?No!Ashock told me that the Nautilus had struck the bottom of the iceberg,still very thick,judging from the deadened sound.We had in deed "struck,"to use a sea expression,but in an inverse sense,and at a thousand feet deep.This would give three thousand feet of ice above us;one thousand being above the water-mark.The iceberg was then higher than at its borders--not a very reassuring fact.
Several times that day the Nautilus tried again,and every time it struck the wall which lay like a ceiling above it.
Sometimes it met with but 900yards,only 200of which rose above the surface.It was twice the height it was when the Nautilus had gone under the waves.Icarefully noted the different depths,and thus obtained a submarine profile of the chain as it was developed under the water.
That night no change had taken place in our situation.
Still ice between four and five hundred yards in depth!
It was evidently diminishing,but,still,what a thickness between us and the surface of the ocean!It was then eight.
According to the daily custom on board the Nautilus,its air should have been renewed four hours ago;but Idid not suffer much,although Captain Nemo had not yet made any demand upon his reserve of oxygen.My sleep was painful that night;hope and fear besieged me by turns:
Irose several times.The groping of the Nautilus continued.
About three in the morning,Inoticed that the lower surface of the iceberg was only about fifty feet deep.One hundred and fifty feet now separated us from the surface of the waters.
The iceberg was by degrees becoming an ice-field,the mountain a plain.My eyes never left the manometer.We were still rising diagonally to the surface,which sparkled under the electric rays.
The iceberg was stretching both above and beneath into lengthening slopes;mile after mile it was getting thinner.
At length,at six in the morning of that memorable day,the 19th of March,the door of the saloon opened,and Captain Nemo appeared.
"The sea is open!!"was all he said.