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Chapter 29 Chapter 5 Arabian Submarine Tunnels

That same day I told Conseil and Ned Land part of this conversation, which aroused their immediate interest.When I let them know that we were going to enter the Mediterranean in two days, Conseil clapped his hands happily, and Ned Land shrugged his shoulders and shouted: "A tunnel under the sea! A passage between two seas! Who ever heard Did you say that?" "My friend Ned," Conseil replied, "have you ever heard of the Nautilus? No, but it exists. So don't even shrug your shoulders lightly, and don't think you've never heard of it." I said it, and you come to object and say there is no more."

Ned Land shook his head, and immediately replied: "Let's see! I wish I could believe in this tunnel, in the captain, and may God let him lead us to the Mediterranean Sea." That night, at latitude 21 degrees 30 minutes, the Nautilus floated on the water, near the coast of Arabia.I see Qida, an important market between Egypt, Syria, Turkey and India. Soon Chida was out of sight in the shadows of evening, and the Nautilus dived into the phosphorescent waters. The next day, February 10th, several boats appeared and came towards us.The Nautilus submerged again, and at noon, when recording the position of the ship on the map, there was nothing on the sea, so it surfaced again, showing the buoy line all the way.

I sat on the terrace, accompanied by Ned Land and Conseil.There seemed to be a large mass on the east bank, looming through the wet fog.We were leaning against the side of the boat, and we were chatting casually. While we were talking, Ned Land pointed to a spot in the sea and said to me, "Professor, do you see something over there?" "No, Ned," I answered, "I have bad eyes, as you know." "Take a good look," Ned Land continued. "The starboard front is almost on the same line as the searchlight! Can't you see that moving thing?" "Yes," I said, looking carefully, "I see a long gray-black thing on the surface of the water."

"Another Nautilus?" Conseil said. "No," said the Canadian, "either I'm mistaken, or it's a manatee." "Are there any whales in the Red Sea?" Conseil asked. "Yes, my dear," I replied, "one does sometimes." "That's not a whale," Ned Land replied, looking intently at the thing. "The whale and I, we've known each other for a long time, and I can never mistake their shape." "Let's wait," said Conseil, "the Nautilus is heading that way, and we shall find out what it is in a moment."

Indeed, this gray-black object was only a nautical mile away from us soon.It is very much like a large reef stranded in the middle of the sea.what is it then?I can't say it yet. "Ah! it moved! it dived," cried Ned Land. "how strange! what animal could it be? like my siblings." "So..." I said. "Well," said the Canadian immediately, "he's turned upside down, and he's got his nipples up in the air!" "That's a mermaid!" cried Conseil, "a real mermaid, sir, please forgive me for saying so." The name mermaid made me feel my way, and I understood that this animal belongs to this purpose of sea animals, and it is the mermaid monster that is regarded as a mermaid in mythology.

"No, I said to Conseil, "this is not a mermaid, but a strange animal, and there are not many of them in the Red Sea.This is a seahorse. " "The order Mermaids, the fish-forms, the subclass Mammalia, the class Mammalia, the phylum Vertebrate." Conseil replied. After Kanzor said this, there is nothing more to say.But Ned Land was always watching.His eyes caught sight of the thing and gleamed greedily to grab it.His hand seemed to cross it.Looking at his appearance, it really makes people want to say that he is waiting for the opportunity, jumping into the sea, and going into the water to attack it.

"Oh, sir," said he, in a tremulous voice, "I've never had such a thing." All the harpooner's heart was expressed in this sentence. At this time, Captain Nemo appeared on the platform.He saw a seahorse.Comprehending the Canadian's gesture, he immediately said to the harpooner: "Master Lan, if you hold a fish in your hand, you will definitely feel itchy, do you want to try it?" "You are quite right, sir." "Wouldn't it please you to add this cetacean to your whale account when you're in the harpooning business again?"

"That way I'll never be unhappy." Well, you can try it. " "Thank you, sir," Ned Land replied, his eyes lighting up. "However," added the captain immediately, "it will be to your advantage, I beg you, not to let it go." "Is it dangerous to hit this seahorse?" I asked, ignoring the Canadian's shrugging gesture. "Yes, sometimes there is a danger," replied the captain, "the thing turned on its attacker and capsized his boat. But to Master Lan, the danger was nothing to fear. His eyes Very agile, and his arms are very accurate. The reason why I advised him to be careful and not to let this seahorse go is because people regard this thing as a delicious and delicious game. I also know that Master Lan will never hate a big piece A nice hunk of fat."

"Ah!" exclaimed the Canadian, "is this still a delicacy?" "Yes, Master Lan. Its meat is really delicious meat, and it is extremely valued. In the Malay Archipelago, it is reserved as food on the public table. So people have to hunt desperately for this kind of good thing, and it is the same for its kind of manatee, so this kind of animal is becoming rarer and rarer. "Then, Captain," said Conseil solemnly, "if this seahorse turns out to be the last of its kind, wouldn't it be better in the interest of science to let it go?" "Or better," replied the Canadian, "but in the interest of the meal, it's better to beat it."

"Master Lan, you can fight." Captain Nemo replied. At this time, the seven crew members of the ship, always silent and unconscious, came to the platform.One takes a harpoon and the same gaff as used for whale fishing.The skiff let go, was drawn from its nest, and lowered into the sea. Six oarsmen sat on the plank, and the coxswain of the skiff held the helm.Ned Land, Conseil and I, the three of us sat in the back. "Aren't you coming, Captain?" I asked. "No, sir, I wish you success against the seahorse." The skiff left the ship, pulled it away with six oars, and quickly made for Seahorse, which was swimming up and down two miles from the Nautilus.

When we were within a few blind meters of the cetacean, the boat moved slowly and was lowered noiselessly into the still water.Ned.Lan held a harpoon in his hand and stood at the front of the boat.The harpoon used for hunting whales is usually attached to the end of a very long rope, which is released quickly when the wounded animal takes the harpoon away.But now the rope is only about 20 meters long, and its other end is tied to a small wooden barrel, which floats to indicate the path the seahorse takes in the water. I stood up and saw the Canadian opponent quite clearly.This seahorse, also known as Ruliang, looks like a manatee.Behind its rectangular body is a very long tail, and the tips of its two sides are finger claws.The difference between it and the manatee is that it has two very long teeth in the upper jaw, which are used as defensive weapons on both sides. The seahorse that Ned Land was going to attack was huge, at least seven meters long.It lies motionless on the water, as if asleep, which makes it easier to hunt. The boat approached the seahorse cautiously, only five or six meters away.All the oars were hung on the iron rings and did not move.I stand halfway up.Ned Land leaned back a little, swung the harpoon with his experienced hands, and took out the fork.Suddenly a whistling sound was heard, and the seahorse sank and disappeared.The tortoise fork was too hard, it may have hit the water. "Ghost thing!" exclaimed the angry Canadian, "I missed it!" "Hits," I said, "the thing is wounded, and look, isn't that its blood? But your fork is not nailed to it. " "My harpoon! My harpoon!" cried Ned Land. The sailors rowed again, and the captain of the boat let the boat row towards the buoy.The harpoon was brought back and the skiff chased the seahorse. Seahorses come up to the surface of the sea to breathe from time to time.Its wounds did not make its... Weakened strength because it runs very fast.The boat was paddled by strong arms and quickly caught up.Several times it was only a few meters away, and the Canadian was about to throw the fork, but the seahorse immediately sank and dodged it, making it almost impossible to hit him. "One can imagine the extent to which hot-tempered Ned Land was enraged at this time. He uttered the most powerful curse in the English language at the unfortunate seahorse. Personally, I only put all our tricks on account of the seahorse. All the efforts failed, and I was a little unhappy in my heart. We chased it non-stop for an hour, and I was thinking how hard it would be to catch it, when suddenly this thing had a bad idea of ​​revenge. This is what it will regret!It turned around and attacked the boat.This behavior of Haima cannot escape the eyes of Canadians. "Be careful!" he said. The captain of the boat said a few words in his strange language, and of course he told the sailors to be careful.The seahorse came to a stop twenty feet above the water, sucking air suddenly through its large nostrils, which were open at the top of the mouth, not at the tip.Then, mustering up the strength, it rushed towards us. It was impossible for the small boat to avoid its collision, half of the hull overturned, and one or two tons of sea water ran into the boat.This water must be drained.Due to the cleverness of the captain, the hull of the boat was attacked by seahorses only on a slope instead of the front, so it was not overturned and sunk.Ned.Lan leaned close to the bow of the skiff and thrust the harpoon at the huge animal and the thing's teeth gripped the side of the skiff and pushed the skiff out of the water like a lion on a fawn.We were all knocked over, on top of each other, and I don't know how this adventurous hunt would have ended if the Canadian, who was fighting the seahorse so desperately, had not struck the animal with a fork in the heart. I heard the chatter of teeth on the iron planks of the boat, and the seahorse sank and disappeared, taking the fork with it.But soon the small wooden barrel came to the surface of the water, and after a while, the body of the seahorse appeared, with its back turned upside down.The boat rowed forward, pulling it astern, and headed for the Nautilus. To put this sea horse on the platform of the big ship, a powerful lifting block must be used.It weighs five thousand kilograms.They slaughtered it right in front of the Canadian, and he had to watch all the movements of the slaughter.On that day, at lunch, the steward took out some slices of this kind of meat that the chef on board had cooked very well, and gave it to me to eat.I think the meat tastes good, even better than veal, though not necessarily better than beef. The next day, February 11, the Nautilus's pantry added another tasty quarry.A flock of petrels landed on the Nautilus and were captured by us.It is a Nile petrel native to Egypt. It has a black beak, gray-black head with spots, circles of white spots around the eyes, gray-black back, wings and tail, white belly, chest and neck, and red feet.We also caught a dozen or so Nile ducks, delicious wild birds, white on the neck and head, with black spots. The Nautilus was slow then.It can be said that it is walking forward slowly.I noticed that the closer the water of the Red Sea was to Suez, the less flavorful it was.About 5 o'clock in the afternoon, we determined that the north was Ras-Mahmed, the extreme point of Rock Arabia, between the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba. The Nautilus entered the Jubal Strait, which leads to the Gulf of Suez. I clearly saw a high mountain overlooking Ras-Mohammad between the two bays.That is Mount Horeb and Mount Sinai. The top of the mountain is the place where Moses faced God face to face. People imagined that this mountain was constantly shrouded in lightning. At six o'clock the Nautilus, sometimes rising and sometimes sinking, passed the waters of the Bay of Door.Dole is located in the bay, and the water in the bay is red, as Captain Nemo has already explained.In a moment, night fell, and in the midst of the heavy silence there were sometimes the cries of grouse and a night bird, the sound of a raging tide breaking on rocks, or the distant sound of a steamer's loud gate churning the water in the bay. The sound breaks through the loneliness. Between eight and nine the Nautilus sailed in a few meters of water. According to my calculations, we should be very close to Suez.View from the paneling in the living room.I saw underwater rocks clearly illuminated by my lightning.I think the strait is getting narrower and narrower. At a quarter past nine, the boat surfaced again, and I came up on the platform.I was eager to go through Captain Nemo's underwater tunnel, I couldn't wait quietly, I wanted to come up to breathe the fresh air at night.Presently, in the darkness, I saw some dim lights, obscured by the mist, burning a nautical mile away from us. "A floating lighthouse," someone said beside me. I turned around and I saw it was the captain. That's the floating light of Suez," he added, "and we're going to be crossing the tunnel soon. " "Isn't it easy to import?" "It's not easy, sir. Therefore, as usual, I will go to the navigator's cage, guard there, and direct the voyage. Mr. Aronnax, please come down. The Nautilus is about to dive into the water now. It came up after passing through the Arabian Undersea Tunnel. I followed Captain Nemo down.The panels were closed, the tank was filled with water, and the boat dived to a depth of about ten meters.When I was about to go back to my cabin, the captain stopped me, and said to me: "Professor, would you like to go with me into the pilot's cage?" I dare not ask you, I just can't ask for it! "I replied. "Come on, then. This way you can see everything about this simultaneous subterranean and underwater voyage." Captain Nemo led me to the central staircase, and in the middle of the balustrade he opened a door, and proceeded along the upper gallery to the pilot's cage, which, as it was said, was at the forward tip of the platform. It was a small cabin six feet wide on each side, about the same size as the cages occupied by pilots on Mississippi... and Hudson steamboats.In the middle of the cabin, a vertically placed machine wheel rotates, the gear teeth are connected to the rudder cable, which leads directly to the rear of the Bitilius.There is a ship window with two convex mirrors, which is missing on the double wall of the cabin, so that the helmsman can see in all directions.The cage was dark, but my eyes soon got used to the darkness, and I saw the prisoner inside.He is very strong, holding the wheel of the vehicle with both hands.Outside, the searchlight on the other end of the platform shines behind the cage, and the light reflects the sea, which is very bright. "Now," said Captain Nemo, "let us find the tunnel." Several wires connected the navigator's cage to the engine room, and from inside the cage the captain could also give directions and speed instructions to the Nautilus.He pressed a metal button, and the speed of the wheels slowed instantly. I silently gazed at the very steep and precipitous high wall we were passing at this moment, which was the solid foundation of the high and thick sand along the coast.We walked along this high wall within an hour, and the distance was only a few meters. Captain Nemo kept his eyes on the compass with two concentric circles hanging between the cages. Instantly change the direction of the Nautilus. From the window on the port side, I saw a very beautiful infrastructure built by corals. Countless plant insects, seaweeds, and scale animals danced their huge minions, stretching out from the uneven surface of the rocks. At a quarter past ten, Captain Nemo himself took the helm.A wide corridor, dark and deep, opened before us.The Nautilus rushed straight in.There was a rustling sound on either side of it that I was not used to.This is the water of the Red Sea, washed up on the Mediterranean Sea by virtue of the authentic slope.The Nautilus followed the rapids as fast as an arrow, although her machinery tried to slow down and turned her propellers against the current, but it was in vain. On the narrow high walls on both sides of the tunnel, I can only see brilliant lines, straight lines, and traces of fire drawn by the speed of flying under the electric light.My heart was beating non-stop, and I pressed my hands against it. At ten thirty-five, Captain Nemo lowered the wheel from the helm, turned to me, and said, "We're in the Mediterranean." In less than twenty minutes, the Nautilus followed the current and passed through the Suidi Gorge.
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