No!
Not one star was twinkling, and nighttime is never so utterly black.
I wasn't sure what to think, when a voice said to me:
"Is that you, Professor?"
"Ah, Captain Nemo!"
I replied.
"Where are we?"
"Underground, Professor."
"Underground!"
I exclaimed.
"And the Nautilus is still floating?"
"It always floats."
"But I don't understand!"
"Wait a little while.
Our beacon is about to go on, and if you want some light on the subject, you'll be satisfied."
I set foot on the platform and waited.
The darkness was so profound I couldn't see even Captain Nemo.
However, looking at the zenith directly overhead, I thought I caught sight of a feeble glimmer, a sort of twilight filtering through a circular hole.
Just then the beacon suddenly went on, and its intense brightness made that hazy light vanish.
This stream of electricity dazzled my eyes, and after momentarily shutting them, I looked around.
The Nautilus was stationary.
It was floating next to an embankment shaped like a wharf.
As for the water now buoying the ship, it was a lake completely encircled by an inner wall about two miles in diameter, hence six miles around.
Its level—as indicated by the pressure gauge—would be the same as the outside level, because some connection had to exist between this lake and the sea.
Slanting inward over their base, these high walls converged to form a vault shaped like an immense upside–down funnel that measured 500 or 600 meters in height.
At its summit there gaped the circular opening through which I had detected that faint glimmer, obviously daylight.
Before more carefully examining the interior features of this enormous cavern, and before deciding if it was the work of nature or humankind, I went over to Captain Nemo.
"Where are we?"
I said.
"In the very heart of an extinct volcano," the captain answered me, "a volcano whose interior was invaded by the sea after some convulsion in the earth.
While you were sleeping, professor, the Nautilus entered this lagoon through a natural channel that opens ten meters below the surface of the ocean.
This is our home port, secure, convenient, secret, and sheltered against winds from any direction!
Along the coasts of your continents or islands, show me any offshore mooring that can equal this safe refuge for withstanding the fury of hurricanes."
"Indeed," I replied, "here you're in perfect safety, Captain Nemo.
Who could reach you in the heart of a volcano?
But don't I see an opening at its summit?"
"Yes, its crater, a crater formerly filled with lava, steam, and flames, but which now lets in this life–giving air we're breathing."
"But which volcanic mountain is this?"
I asked.
"It's one of the many islets with which this sea is strewn.
For ships a mere reef, for us an immense cavern.
I discovered it by chance, and chance served me well."
"But couldn't someone enter through the mouth of its crater?"
"No more than I could exit through it.
You can climb about 100 feet up the inner base of this mountain, but then the walls overhang, they lean too far in to be scaled."
"I can see, Captain, that nature is your obedient servant, any time or any place.
You're safe on this lake, and nobody else can visit its waters.
But what's the purpose of this refuge?
The Nautilus doesn't need a harbor."
"No, professor, but it needs electricity to run, batteries to generate its electricity, sodium to feed its batteries, coal to make its sodium, and coalfields from which to dig its coal.