“Fine,” said Ned, as his dreams of fresh meat disappeared. “And you, Professor, are you going to put on one of those diving suits?”
“I have no choice, Ned.”
“As you like. But nobody will get me into one unless they force me.”
“Nobody will force you, Mr. Land,” said Captain Nemo.
“And Conseil?” asked Ned.
“I follow master wherever master goes,” said Conseil.
Two of the crew helped us into the heavy rubber suits, with copper bands across the chest, gloves, and thick boots with lead soles. Soon Captain Nemo, one of his men, a giant who must have been very strong, Conseil and I were all dressed. Each of us had an electric lamp at his belt and an air gun that held about twenty small glass bullets with an electric charge.
“But how do we reach the bottom of the sea?” I asked.
“The Nautilus is resting on the bottom, ten meters down,” said the captain. “We have only to go out.”
We put our heads into the copper helmets, while Ned called “Good hunting!” after us with a smile. Through three thick glass windows I could look in every direction, and the tank on my back began to work at once. I breathed easily. But in that heavy suit, with my lead boots stuck to the floor, I could not take a single step.
Someone pushed me into a small room next door, and my companions after me. A door closed behind us, and we were in complete darkness. Then I heard a loud hissing and felt cold rising from my feet to my chest: the room was filling with water. A second door opened in the side of the ship, a soft light appeared, and a moment later we were walking on the floor of the sea.
How can I describe that walk? Words are too weak for such wonders. I no longer felt the weight of my suit, my boots or my tank, and my head moved freely inside the helmet, like an almond in its shell. The sun’s rays passed easily through the water, and I could see clearly for a hundred and fifty meters. We walked on fine, smooth sand, which threw the light back like a mirror.
It was ten in the morning. The sun’s rays struck the water at an angle and broke into colors as they do in a prism, so that rocks, plants and shells all shone at their edges with the colors of the rainbow. It was a feast for the eyes. I wished I could share it with Conseil, so I talked to myself inside my helmet, and probably used more air than was wise. Anemones and sea stars covered the sand like a garden, and above our heads floated jellyfish, their pink and blue umbrellas shading us from the sun.
The ground sloped slowly downward. Near noon the sun stood straight above us and the magical colors faded. We were now about a hundred meters deep, in a reddish twilight. Then Captain Nemo stopped and pointed to a dark mass not far away.
It was the forest of Crespo Island.
Its trees were giant sea plants, and as soon as we entered, I noticed something strange. Not one branch grew sideways, and not one leaf hung down. Every plant, even the thinnest ribbon, rose straight up toward the surface, as stiff as an iron rod. When I pushed one aside with my hand, it sprang back at once. Small fish flew from branch to branch like birds.
After about an hour Captain Nemo gave the signal to rest. I could not speak, so I only touched my big copper head to Conseil’s. His eyes shone with pleasure, and he wriggled inside his suit in the funniest way. Then I felt a great need to sleep, as all divers do, and my eyes closed behind the thick glass.
When I woke, the sun seemed lower. I was stretching my arms and legs when something brought me to my feet at once. A few steps away, a monstrous sea spider almost a meter high was watching me with squinting eyes, ready to jump. I shivered with horror. Captain Nemo pointed to it, and the sailor knocked it over with a blow from the butt of his gun. It reminded me that more dangerous animals might live in these depths, and that my suit would not protect me from them.
But Captain Nemo did not turn back. We went on down into a narrow valley between high walls of rock, so deep that no sunlight reached it, and we turned on our lamps. Several times I saw the captain raise his gun, then lower it and walk on. At last a wall of huge rocks rose before us: the foot of Crespo Island itself, the land. Captain Nemo stopped. Here his kingdom ended, and he would go no further.
We started back by a steeper path, rising slowly toward the light. Suddenly Captain Nemo raised his gun, followed something moving among the plants and fired. An animal fell a few steps away. It was a beautiful sea otter, with a brown and silver coat, one of the last of a kind that hunters had made very rare. The sailor threw it over his shoulder, and we walked on.
Now we crossed sand only a few meters below the surface. Above us I saw our own reflections, upside down, walking with their feet in the air, and the shadows of birds passing over the water. One of them, a huge bird with long wings, flew low over the waves. The sailor raised his gun and fired, and the bird fell close enough for him to catch it. It was an albatross.
For two more hours we walked. I was exhausted, and the air from my tank seemed thinner and thinner. At last I saw a light half a kilometer away: the lantern of the Nautilus.
I was a few steps behind when Captain Nemo suddenly came hurrying toward me. With his strong hand he pushed me down to the ground, while his companion did the same to Conseil. Then the captain lay down beside me under a bush of seaweed and did not move.
I raised my head, and my blood froze. Two enormous sharks were passing above us. I saw their silver bellies and their huge mouths full of teeth, and I felt less like a naturalist than like their next meal. Luckily these animals do not see well. They passed without seeing us, so close that their fins almost touched us.
Half an hour later we were back on board. The pumps drove the water out of the little room, and the sailors helped us out of our suits. Tired and hungry, I went to my room, still full of wonder at our walk on the floor of the sea.