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1WANT OF AIR Thus around the Nautilus, above and below, was an impenetrable wall of ice. We were prisoners to the
2iceberg. I watched the Captain. His countenance had resumed its habitual imperturbability. "Gentlemen," he said calmly,
3"there are two ways of dying in the circumstances in which we are placed." (This puzzling person had the air of a
4mathematical professor lecturing to his pupils.) "The first is to be crushed; the second is to die of suffocation. I do
5not speak of the possibility of dying of hunger, for the supply of provisions in the Nautilus will certainly last longer
6than we shall. Let us, then, calculate our chances." "As to suffocation, Captain," I replied, "that is not to be feared,
7because our reservoirs are full." "Just so; but they will only yield two days' supply of air. Now, for thirty-six hours
8we have been hidden under the water, and already the heavy atmosphere of the Nautilus requires renewal. In forty-eight
9hours our reserve will be exhausted." "Well, Captain, can we be delivered before forty-eight hours?" "We will attempt
10it, at least, by piercing the wall that surrounds us." "On which side?" "Sound will tell us. I am going to run the
11Nautilus aground on the lower bank, and my men will attack the iceberg on the side that is least thick." Captain Nemo
12went out. Soon I discovered by a hissing noise that the water was entering the reservoirs. The Nautilus sank slowly, and
13rested on the ice at a depth of 350 yards, the depth at which the lower bank was immersed. "My friends," I said, "our
14situation is serious, but I rely on your courage and energy." "Sir," replied the Canadian, "I am ready to do anything
15for the general safety." "Good! Ned," and I held out my hand to the Canadian. "I will add," he continued, "that, being
16as handy with the pickaxe as with the harpoon, if I can be useful to the Captain, he can command my services." "He will
17not refuse your help. Come, Ned!" I led him to the room where the crew of the Nautilus were putting on their
18cork-jackets. I told the Captain of Ned's proposal, which he accepted. The Canadian put on his sea-costume, and was
19ready as soon as his companions. When Ned was dressed, I re-entered the drawing-room, where the panes of glass were
20open, and, posted near Conseil, I examined the ambient beds that supported the Nautilus. Some instants after, we saw a
21dozen of the crew set foot on the bank of ice, and among them Ned Land, easily known by his stature. Captain Nemo was
22with them. Before proceeding to dig the walls, he took the soundings, to be sure of working in the right direction. Long
23sounding lines were sunk in the side walls, but after fifteen yards they were again stopped by the thick wall. It was
24useless to attack it on the ceiling-like surface, since the iceberg itself measured more than 400 yards in height.
25Captain Nemo then sounded the lower surface. There ten yards of wall separated us from the water, so great was the
26thickness of the ice-field. It was necessary, therefore, to cut from it a piece equal in extent to the waterline of the
27Nautilus. There were about 6,000 cubic yards to detach, so as to dig a hole by which we could descend to the ice-field.
28The work had begun immediately and carried on with indefatigable energy. Instead of digging round the Nautilus which
29would have involved greater difficulty, Captain Nemo had an immense trench made at eight yards from the port-quarter.
30Then the men set to work simultaneously with their screws on several points of its circumference. Presently the pickaxe
31attacked this compact matter vigorously, and large blocks were detached from the mass. By a curious effect of specific
32gravity, these blocks, lighter than water, fled, so to speak, to the vault of the tunnel, that increased in thickness at
33the top in proportion as it diminished at the base. But that mattered little, so long as the lower part grew thinner.
34After two hours' hard work, Ned Land came in exhausted. He and his comrades were replaced by new workers, whom Conseil
35and I joined. The second lieutenant of the Nautilus superintended us. The water seemed singularly cold, but I soon got
36warm handling the pickaxe. My movements were free enough, although they were made under a pressure of thirty
37atmospheres. When I re-entered, after working two hours, to take some food and rest, I found a perceptible difference
38between the pure fluid with which the Rouquayrol engine supplied me and the atmosphere of the Nautilus, already charged
39with carbonic acid. The air had not been renewed for forty-eight hours, and its vivifying qualities were considerably
40enfeebled. However, after a lapse of twelve hours, we had only raised a block of ice one yard thick, on the marked
41surface, which was about 600 cubic yards! Reckoning that it took twelve hours to accomplish this much it would take five
42nights and four days to bring this enterprise to a satisfactory conclusion. Five nights and four days! And we have only
43air enough for two days in the reservoirs! "Without taking into account," said Ned, "that, even if we get out of this
44infernal prison, we shall also be imprisoned under the iceberg, shut out from all possible communication with the
45atmosphere." True enough! Who could then foresee the minimum of time necessary for our deliverance? We might be
46suffocated before the Nautilus could regain the surface of the waves? Was it destined to perish in this ice-tomb, with
47all those it enclosed? The situation was terrible. But everyone had looked the danger in the face, and each was
48determined to do his duty to the last. As I expected, during the night a new block a yard square was carried away, and
49still further sank the immense hollow. But in the morning when, dressed in my cork-jacket, I traversed the slushy mass
50at a temperature of six or seven degrees below zero, I remarked that the side walls were gradually closing in. The beds
51of water farthest from the trench, that were not warmed by the men's work, showed a tendency to solidification. In
52presence of this new and imminent danger, what would become of our chances of safety, and how hinder the solidification
53of this liquid medium, that would burst the partitions of the Nautilus like glass? I did not tell my companions of this
54new danger. What was the good of damping the energy they displayed in the painful work of escape? But when I went on
55board again, I told Captain Nemo of this grave complication. "I know it," he said, in that calm tone which could
56counteract the most terrible apprehensions. "It is one danger more; but I see no way of escaping it; the only chance of
57safety is to go quicker than solidification. We must be beforehand with it, that is all."
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