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1THE GULF STREAM This terrible scene of the 20th of April none of us can ever forget. I have written it under the
2influence of violent emotion. Since then I have revised the recital; I have read it to Conseil and to the Canadian. They
3found it exact as to facts, but insufficient as to effect. To paint such pictures, one must have the pen of the most
4illustrious of our poets, the author of The Toilers of the Deep. I have said that Captain Nemo wept while watching the
5waves; his grief was great. It was the second companion he had lost since our arrival on board, and what a death! That
6friend, crushed, stifled, bruised by the dreadful arms of a poulp, pounded by his iron jaws, would not rest with his
7comrades in the peaceful coral cemetery! In the midst of the struggle, it was the despairing cry uttered by the
8unfortunate man that had torn my heart. The poor Frenchman, forgetting his conventional language, had taken to his own
9mother tongue, to utter a last appeal! Amongst the crew of the Nautilus, associated with the body and soul of the
10Captain, recoiling like him from all contact with men, I had a fellow-countryman. Did he alone represent France in this
11mysterious association, evidently composed of individuals of divers nationalities? It was one of these insoluble
12problems that rose up unceasingly before my mind! Captain Nemo entered his room, and I saw him no more for some time.
13But that he was sad and irresolute I could see by the vessel, of which he was the soul, and which received all his
14impressions. The Nautilus did not keep on in its settled course; it floated about like a corpse at the will of the
15waves. It went at random. He could not tear himself away from the scene of the last struggle, from this sea that had
16devoured one of his men. Ten days passed thus. It was not till the 1st of May that the Nautilus resumed its northerly
17course, after having sighted the Bahamas at the mouth of the Bahama Canal. We were then following the current from the
18largest river to the sea, that has its banks, its fish, and its proper temperatures. I mean the Gulf Stream. It is
19really a river, that flows freely to the middle of the Atlantic, and whose waters do not mix with the ocean waters. It
20is a salt river, salter than the surrounding sea. Its mean depth is 1,500 fathoms, its mean breadth ten miles. In
21certain places the current flows with the speed of two miles and a half an hour. The body of its waters is more
22considerable than that of all the rivers in the globe. It was on this ocean river that the Nautilus then sailed. I must
23add that, during the night, the phosphorescent waters of the Gulf Stream rivalled the electric power of our watch-light,
24especially in the stormy weather that threatened us so frequently. May 8th, we were still crossing Cape Hatteras, at the
25height of North Carolina. The width of the Gulf Stream there is seventy-five miles, and its depth 210 yards. The
26Nautilus still went at random; all supervision seemed abandoned. I thought that, under these circumstances, escape would
27be possible. Indeed, the inhabited shores offered anywhere an easy refuge. The sea was incessantly ploughed by the
28steamers that ply between New York or Boston and the Gulf of Mexico, and overrun day and night by the little schooners
29coasting about the several parts of the American coast. We could hope to be picked up. It was a favourable opportunity,
30notwithstanding the thirty miles that separated the Nautilus from the coasts of the Union. One unfortunate circumstance
31thwarted the Canadian's plans. The weather was very bad. We were nearing those shores where tempests are so frequent,
32that country of waterspouts and cyclones actually engendered by the current of the Gulf Stream. To tempt the sea in a
33frail boat was certain destruction. Ned Land owned this himself. He fretted, seized with nostalgia that flight only
34could cure. "Master," he said that day to me, "this must come to an end. I must make a clean breast of it. This Nemo is
35leaving land and going up to the north. But I declare to you that I have had enough of the South Pole, and I will not
36follow him to the North." "What is to be done, Ned, since flight is impracticable just now?" "We must speak to the
37Captain," said he; "you said nothing when we were in your native seas. I will speak, now we are in mine. When I think
38that before long the Nautilus will be by Nova Scotia, and that there near New foundland is a large bay, and into that
39bay the St. Lawrence empties itself, and that the St. Lawrence is my river, the river by Quebec, my native town--when I
40think of this, I feel furious, it makes my hair stand on end. Sir, I would rather throw myself into the sea! I will not
41stay here! I am stifled!" The Canadian was evidently losing all patience. His vigorous nature could not stand this
42prolonged imprisonment. His face altered daily; his temper became more surly. I knew what he must suffer, for I was
43seized with home-sickness myself. Nearly seven months had passed without our having had any news from land; Captain
44Nemo's isolation, his altered spirits, especially since the fight with the poulps, his taciturnity, all made me view
45things in a different light. "Well, sir?" said Ned, seeing I did not reply. "Well, Ned, do you wish me to ask Captain
46Nemo his intentions concerning us?" "Yes, sir." "Although he has already made them known?" "Yes; I wish it settled
47finally. Speak for me, in my name only, if you like." "But I so seldom meet him. He avoids me." "That is all the more
48reason for you to go to see him." I went to my room. From thence I meant to go to Captain Nemo's. It would not do to let
49this opportunity of meeting him slip. I knocked at the door. No answer. I knocked again, then turned the handle. The
50door opened, I went in. The Captain was there. Bending over his work-table, he had not heard me. Resolved not to go
51without having spoken, I approached him. He raised his head quickly, frowned, and said roughly, "You here! What do you
52want?" "To speak to you, Captain." "But I am busy, sir; I am working. I leave you at liberty to shut yourself up; cannot
53I be allowed the same?" This reception was not encouraging; but I was determined to hear and answer everything. "Sir," I
54said coldly, "I have to speak to you on a matter that admits of no delay." "What is that, sir?" he replied, ironically.
55"Have you discovered something that has escaped me, or has the sea delivered up any new secrets?" We were at
56cross-purposes. But, before I could reply, he showed me an open manuscript on his table, and said, in a more serious
57tone, "Here, M. Aronnax, is a manuscript written in several languages. It contains the sum of my studies of the sea;
58and, if it please God, it shall not perish with me. This manuscript, signed with my name, complete with the history of
59my life, will be shut up in a little floating case. The last survivor of all of us on board the Nautilus will throw this
60case into the sea, and it will go whither it is borne by the waves." This man's name! his history written by himself!
61His mystery would then be revealed some day. "Captain," I said, "I can but approve of the idea that makes you act thus.
62The result of your studies must not be lost. But the means you employ seem to me to be primitive. Who knows where the
63winds will carry this case, and in whose hands it will fall? Could you not use some other means? Could not you, or one
64of yours----" "Never, sir!" he said, hastily interrupting me. "But I and my companions are ready to keep this manuscript
65in store; and, if you will put us at liberty----" "At liberty?" said the Captain, rising. "Yes, sir; that is the subject
66on which I wish to question you. For seven months we have been here on board, and I ask you to-day, in the name of my
67companions and in my own, if your intention is to keep us here always?" "M. Aronnax, I will answer you to-day as I did
68seven months ago: Whoever enters the Nautilus, must never quit it." "You impose actual slavery upon us!" "Give it what
69name you please." "But everywhere the slave has the right to regain his liberty." "Who denies you this right? Have I
70ever tried to chain you with an oath?"
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