9. Southern Waters

The next morning, Ned visits your room. He doesn’t look happy.

“Well, Ned, luck was against us yesterday,” you say.

He slouches onto a chair. “There will be another time. Perhaps even tonight.”

You shake your head. The Nautilus is heading south, away from land, toward the South Pole.

***

One day, you add a note in your journal that you have sailed nearly 13,000 leagues on board the Nautilus. As you write, the submarine slows and stops.

You rush onto the platform. A bitter wind hits your face, but the view makes up for the cold. Thousands of birds wheel through the foggy sky. You peer over the side and see fish of intense blue and olive green. Icebergs loom all around the submarine. Seeing these wonders, you are glad to still be aboard the Nautilus.

The captain stands beside you on the platform.

“Are we at the pole?” you ask.

“I don’t know. I will take our bearings tomorrow.”

***

It is March 21. At around five in the morning, you climb to the platform. Captain Nemo is already there.

After breakfast, a boat takes you, Captain Nemo, two crewmen, and some instruments to land. The sky brightens and the fog lifts from the cold surface of the waters. Captain Nemo strides toward a rocky peak.

It is a difficult climb. But finally you reach the summit. To the north, the disc of the sun looks like a ball of fire, already cut by the horizon.

Captain Nemo carefully sets up his instruments. If the sun looks cut in half by the horizon at twelve o’clock, it is proof that you are standing at the South Pole.

You watch the clock. At the click of noon you call out, “Twelve!”

“The South Pole!” yells Captain Nemo. He hands you the telescope, and you see that the sun is cut exactly in half by the horizon.

Captain Nemo’s hand claps down on your shoulder. He says, “I, Captain Nemo, on this twenty-first day of March, 1868, have reached the South Pole. I take possession of this continent!”

“In whose name, Captain?” you ask.

Captain Nemo’s eyes flash with anger. “In my own name!” he replies. He unfurls a black flag bearing a gold “N” at its center. He turns toward the sun as its last rays sink into the sea, and he yells, “Goodbye sun! Disappear and rest beneath this open sea.”

***

After leaving the South Pole, the Nautilus sails for the American coast. You are still uneasy about the captain’s state of mind.

In your room, you discuss your options with Conseil and Ned. “We’ve travelled more than 17,000 leagues so far,” you begin.

“I see no end to it,” replies Ned. “We can hope nothing from Captain Nemo. We must rely on ourselves.”

Conseil nods in agreement. “Besides,” he adds, “as the days pass, the captain seems more and more unstable.”

You sigh. “I don’t want to bury my studies with me. I have the power to write a true book of the sea. I want it to see daylight.”

The three of you agree. You will escape at the very first opportunity.

You make your way to the drawing room to plan your next move. According to the maps, the submarine is passing by the islands of the Bahamas.

You peer out the windows and see high submarine cliffs covered with seaweed. Dark caverns yawn wide amid the giant plants. “These are perfect hiding places for giant squid,” you remark.

Ned laughs. “I will never believe such animals exist.”

You open your journal to take some notes.

Conseil remains staring out the window. “So if there was such a thing as a giant squid, would it measure about six yards?” he asks.

“I suppose,” you reply, turning to a fresh page.

“Would its head be crowned with eight tentacles that beat the water like a nest of serpents?”

“Probably.”

“Would its eyes be at the back of its head?”

“Yes, Conseil.”

“Would it have a mouth like a parrot’s beak?”

You close your journal with an irritated sigh. “Yes, Conseil, why do you ask?”

“Because there’s one swimming toward the ship right now.”

You and Ned rush to join Conseil at the window.

“What a horrible beast!” cries Ned.

The creature looms closer and closer, looking like some monster out of legend. It swims toward the Nautilus with great speed. Its eight tentacles are twice as long as its body and twist like tangled hair. The monster’s mouth, a horned beak, opens and shuts. Its tongue flicks out, showing several rows of pointed teeth. It changes color as it races toward the Nautilus—from livid gray to reddish brown.

You snatch up your journal and start to sketch the creature. Ned looks at you like you are insane.

When you glance out the window, six more giant squid have joined the first. Soon you hear their beaks gnashing against the iron hull. You sketch as fast as you can. Suddenly, a shock runs through the Nautilus, and the submarine grinds to a groaning halt. Your pencil leaves a jagged scratch across your drawing.

Captain Nemo, followed by a crewman, bursts into the drawing room. He marches to the window and looks out at the squid. He says something to the crewman, who rushes from the drawing room.

The window panels slam shut.

“What is happening?” you ask the captain.

“We are going to fight these monsters, man to beast,” he says. “The propeller is stopped. The jaws of a squid got caught in the blades. That is why we are not moving.”

“What are you going to do?” asks Ned.

“Rise to the surface and destroy them.”

You race after him as he storms from the room. At the central staircase, you are met by about ten crewmen carrying hatchets. You and Conseil each grab a hatchet, and Ned seizes a harpoon.

One of the sailors opens the panel that leads outside. A giant tentacle slides like a serpent down the opening. Twenty more tentacles writhe above.

With a blow of his axe, Captain Nemo hacks the tentacle off. It falls in a wriggling heap.

Men shout and shove at each other to get up the ladder. Suddenly, two more giant arms lash through the opening. They seize a crewman and lift him.

Captain Nemo storms his way up to the platform. You hurry after him as best you can.

You gasp in horror. The crewman is fixed to the tentacle’s suckers, balanced in the air and whipped about by the whims of the angry monster. The sailor screams for help. With a jolt, you realize he’s yelling in French, your native language.

You have an axe. You could hack at the tentacle that holds him, but you wonder if he might fall to his death. You also spot a coil of rope nearby. Maybe you could throw it to him and pull him free. Either way, you must try something. What will you choose to do?