“Captain?” I said.
He did not answer. I left him and climbed to the platform, where Ned and Conseil already stood.
“What was that sound?” I asked.
“A cannon,” said Ned.
I looked toward the steamship I had seen before. It was coming toward the Nautilus at full speed, about ten kilometers away.
“What ship is that, Ned?”
Ned narrowed his eyes and stared at it. “It’s a warship, Professor, a big armored one. It flies no flag, so I can’t tell you its country. I hope it reaches us, and sinks this cursed Nautilus if it has to.”
For a quarter of an hour we watched it come closer, black smoke pouring from its two funnels. If Captain Nemo let it come near enough, we might be saved.
“Professor,” said Ned, “if that ship passes within two kilometers of us, I’m jumping into the sea, and I advise you to do the same.”
I did not answer. Suddenly white smoke burst from the front of the warship. A few seconds later a heavy shot splashed into the water near the stern of the Nautilus, and we heard the loud boom of the gun.
“What! They are firing at us!” I cried.
“They’ve recognized the narwhal,” said Ned, “and they’re firing at it.”
“But surely they can see that there are men on board!”
“Perhaps that’s exactly why,” said Ned, looking at me.
Suddenly I understood everything. When Ned’s harpoon had struck the “monster” that night, Commander Farragut must have realized that it was no narwhal but a submarine, far more dangerous than any animal. Now ships were hunting it on every sea. I remembered the night when we had been locked in the cell in the Indian Ocean. Had the Nautilus attacked a ship that night? Was the man buried in the coral cemetery hurt in that attack? I was sure of it now. The nations were no longer hunting a monster. They were hunting a man who hated them. To the men on that warship, everyone aboard the Nautilus was an enemy.
Shots fell all around us, but none hit the Nautilus.
“Professor,” said Ned, “let’s signal to them. They’ll understand we’re honest men.”
He took out his handkerchief to wave it. But he had hardly raised it when an iron hand struck him down, and in spite of his great strength he fell to the deck.
“Fool!” cried Captain Nemo. “Do you want me to nail you to the spur of the Nautilus before it strikes that ship?”
He was terrible to hear and more terrible to see. His face was deathly pale, and his eyes burned. He did not speak; he roared, shaking Ned by the shoulders. Then he let him go, turned to the warship and cried in a powerful voice, “Ship of a cursed nation, you know who I am! I do not need your flag to know you! Look! I will show you mine!”
And at the front of the platform he unrolled a black flag, like the one he had raised at the South Pole. At that moment a shot struck the hull of the Nautilus at an angle and bounced off into the sea. Captain Nemo did not even turn his head.
“Go down,” he said to me. “You and your companions, go down!”
“Captain, are you going to attack that ship?”
“I am going to sink it.”
“You will not do that!”
“I will,” he said coldly. “And do not judge me, sir. Fate has shown you what you should not have seen. The attack has begun. Go down!”
“What ship is it?”
“You do not know? So much the better. At least its nationality will remain a secret to you. Go down!”
We had to obey. About fifteen sailors stood around the Captain, looking at the warship with the same hatred. As I went down, I heard him cry, “Shoot, mad ship! Waste your shots! You will not escape the spur of the Nautilus. But you will not die here! I will not let your wreck lie with the Avenger!”
The Nautilus moved off, out of reach of the guns, and the warship followed it. At four in the afternoon I went up to the platform again. Captain Nemo was walking up and down, watching the ship like a wild animal circling its prey. He did not attack yet. I began to speak once more, but he silenced me.
“I am the law, and I am the judge! I am the oppressed, and there is the oppressor! Because of him I have lost everything I loved and honored: my country, my wife, my children, my father and my mother. I saw them all die! Everything I hate is there! Say no more!”
I went down to my companions. “We will escape!” I said. “Whatever that ship is, he is going to sink it. It is better to die with it than to share in a revenge whose justice we cannot judge.”
“I agree,” said Ned calmly. “Let’s wait for night.”
Night came, and a deep silence filled the ship. We would escape as soon as the warship was close enough for its crew to see us in the bright moonlight or hear our calls. But each time it came near, Captain Nemo moved away again.
At three in the morning I went up to the platform. Captain Nemo stood at the front beside his flag, his eyes fixed on the warship, as if his look alone were pulling it toward him. The moon shone on a calm sea. When I compared that peaceful night with the passions hidden inside the Nautilus, I shivered.
At dawn on June 2 the firing began again. The second officer came up with some sailors, and they lowered the railing around the platform. The Nautilus was ready for battle. I went back down. Our ship slowed and let the warship come closer.
“My friends,” I said, “the time has come. Let us shake hands, and may God protect us!”
We went into the library. But just as I opened the door to the central stairs, I heard the hatch above us close with a bang. Ned rushed up the stairs, but I stopped him. Water was hissing into the tanks, and a few minutes later the Nautilus was several meters under the surface. It was too late. I understood: the Nautilus was going to strike the warship below the waterline, where its armor could not protect it.
We were prisoners once again. In my room we looked at each other without a word. The Nautilus moved faster and faster. The whole ship trembled. Then I felt the shock. It was lighter than I had expected. I heard a sound of tearing and scraping, and the Nautilus passed through the warship like a needle through cloth.
I could not stand it. I ran into the salon. Captain Nemo stood silent at the window, gloomy and without pity, watching. A huge dark shape was sinking beside us, and the Nautilus went down with it, so that he could see everything. A few meters away I saw the open hull and the water rushing in with a noise like thunder. People were climbing the masts and the ropes, holding on, fighting in the water. I could not move. I could not breathe. And I watched too!
Suddenly there was an explosion, and the decks burst open. The ship sank faster. I saw the tops of its masts, covered with people, and then the dark mass was gone, and its crew with it.
I turned to Captain Nemo. That terrible avenger was still looking. When it was all over, he went to his room and opened the door. My eyes followed him. On the wall I saw the picture of a young woman and two small children. Captain Nemo looked at them for a few moments. Then he held out his arms to them, fell on his knees and began to sob.