The Nautilus (the name of the submarine) stayed away from the coast for many days. Captain Nemo did not want to go into the Gulf of Mexico. On April 16th, we saw the islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe from far away. Ned Land was very sad. He wanted to escape near these islands. He wanted to take a small boat to the land. But we were in the middle of the deep ocean.
We were prisoners on the Nautilus for six months. We traveled more than 50,000 miles. Ned Land said the trip might never end. We could not wait for Captain Nemo to let us go. We had to help ourselves. Captain Nemo was different now. He was very quiet and serious. He did not talk to me much. He did not explain things to me anymore. I wanted to leave because I wanted to show my book about the sea to the world.
We arrived at the Bahamas. There was a lot of thick seaweed under the water. I told my friends that this was a good place for a poulp (a large sea animal with eight arms). Conseil asked if I meant a giant animal. I said yes. Ned Land did not believe in giant monsters. He thought they were only in stories.
Conseil told a story about a big ship. He said a giant arm pulled a whole ship under the water. Ned Land laughed at Conseil. I told them that many stories were just legends (old stories that are not usually true). But I told them that giant animals really exist. I told them about a ship in 1861. The crew saw a giant animal with long arms. They tried to catch it with a rope, but the animal was too heavy. It broke and fell back into the water.
Conseil looked out the window. He saw a giant head with eight arms. He saw big green eyes. He saw a mouth like a bird’s beak. It was a giant poulp. It was eight yards long. The eight arms grew from its head. These arms were twice as long as its body. They had many small suckers (small, round parts that stick to things) on them.
The animal changed color very quickly. Sometimes it was gray. Sometimes it was red. It was very angry because it saw the Nautilus. I took a pencil and started to draw the animal. Then six more monsters appeared. They followed the submarine. I heard their beaks hit the iron side of the ship.
Suddenly, the Nautilus stopped. The ship shook very hard. Captain Nemo came into the room with his lieutenant. He looked at the animals through the window. He said we had to fight them. One animal was caught in the propeller (the part of the ship that turns to make it move). We could not move.
Captain Nemo said we must use axes. His electric bullets did not work on the soft bodies of these animals. Ned Land took a harpoon. Conseil and I took axes. We went to the middle of the ship. Ten sailors were there with axes. They were ready to fight.
We went to the surface of the water. One sailor opened the hatch (a small door on the top of a ship). Immediately, a long arm came inside. It was like a giant snake. Captain Nemo cut the arm with his axe. More arms came over the side of the ship. One arm grabbed the sailor. It lifted him high into the air.
The sailor cried for help. He spoke in French! I was shocked to hear a Frenchman on the ship. Captain Nemo ran to help the man. He cut off several arms with his axe. The other sailors fought the other monsters. The air smelled very bad. We hit the soft bodies of the animals with our weapons.
The giant animal threw black ink at us. We could not see anything. When the ink went away, the animal was gone. It took the poor sailor under the water with it. We were very sad. Then ten or twelve more monsters came onto the ship. They moved like snakes on the platform. There was blood and ink everywhere.
The fight was very scary. Ned Land used his harpoon to hit the monsters in their eyes. But a monster threw Ned Land to the ground. It opened its big beak to kill him. Captain Nemo ran to help Ned Land. He hit the monster’s mouth with his axe. Ned Land got up and pushed his harpoon into the animal's heart.
The fight lasted for fifteen minutes. The monsters were hurt and they swam away. Captain Nemo was covered in blood. He was very tired. He looked at the sea that took his friend. Great tears were in his eyes. He was very sad.