Wrapped in white fabric made from filaments of the fan mussel, the body was lowered into its watery grave.
Captain Nemo, arms crossed over his chest, knelt in a posture of prayer, as did all the friends of him who had loved them. . . .
My two companions and I bowed reverently.
The grave was then covered over with the rubble dug from the seafloor, and it formed a low mound.
When this was done, Captain Nemo and his men stood up; then they all approached the grave, sank again on bended knee, and extended their hands in a sign of final farewell. . . .
Then the funeral party went back up the path to the Nautilus, returning beneath the arches of the forest, through the thickets, along the coral bushes, going steadily higher.
Finally the ship's rays appeared.
Their luminous trail guided us to the Nautilus.
By one o'clock we had returned.
After changing clothes, I climbed onto the platform, and in the grip of dreadfully obsessive thoughts, I sat next to the beacon.
Captain Nemo rejoined me.
I stood up and said to him:
"So, as I predicted, that man died during the night?"
"Yes, Professor Aronnax," Captain Nemo replied.
"And now he rests beside his companions in that coral cemetery?"
"Yes, forgotten by the world but not by us!
We dig the graves, then entrust the polyps with sealing away our dead for eternity!"
And with a sudden gesture, the captain hid his face in his clenched fists, vainly trying to hold back a sob.
Then he added:
"There lies our peaceful cemetery, hundreds of feet beneath the surface of the waves!"
"At least, captain, your dead can sleep serenely there, out of the reach of sharks!"
"Yes, sir," Captain Nemo replied solemnly, "of sharks and men!" END OF THE FIRST PART SECOND PART Chapter 1 The Indian Ocean
NOW WE BEGIN the second part of this voyage under the seas.
The first ended in that moving scene at the coral cemetery, which left a profound impression on my mind.
And so Captain Nemo would live out his life entirely in the heart of this immense sea, and even his grave lay ready in its impenetrable depths.
There the last sleep of the Nautilus's occupants, friends bound together in death as in life, would be disturbed by no monster of the deep!
"No man either!" the captain had added.
Always that same fierce, implacable defiance of human society!
As for me, I was no longer content with the hypotheses that satisfied Conseil.
That fine lad persisted in seeing the Nautilus's commander as merely one of those unappreciated scientists who repay humanity's indifference with contempt.
For Conseil, the captain was still a misunderstood genius who, tired of the world's deceptions, had been driven to take refuge in this inaccessible environment where he was free to follow his instincts.
But to my mind, this hypothesis explained only one side of Captain Nemo.
In fact, the mystery of that last afternoon when we were locked in prison and put to sleep, the captain's violent precaution of snatching from my grasp a spyglass poised to scour the horizon, and the fatal wound given that man during some unexplained collision suffered by the Nautilus, all led me down a plain trail.
No!
Captain Nemo wasn't content simply to avoid humanity!
His fearsome submersible served not only his quest for freedom, but also, perhaps, it was used in Lord–knows–what schemes of dreadful revenge.
Right now, nothing is clear to me, I still glimpse only glimmers in the dark, and I must limit my pen, as it were, to taking dictation from events.
But nothing binds us to Captain Nemo.
He believes that escaping from the Nautilus is impossible.
We are not even constrained by our word of honor.
No promises fetter us.
We're simply captives, prisoners masquerading under the name "guests" for the sake of everyday courtesy.
Even so, Ned Land hasn't given up all hope of recovering his freedom.
He's sure to take advantage of the first chance that comes his way.
No doubt I will do likewise.
And yet I will feel some regret at making off with the Nautilus's secrets, so generously unveiled for us by Captain Nemo!
Because, ultimately, should we detest or admire this man?
Is he the persecutor or the persecuted?
And in all honesty, before I leave him forever, I want to finish this underwater tour of the world, whose first stages have been so magnificent.
I want to observe the full series of these wonders gathered under the seas of our globe.