Captain Nemo stopped. I admit I could not yet see why this history should interest me. There my eye fell upon the compass. Our course was still north. The log indicated moderate speed, the manometer a depth of about sixty feet. M. Aronnax, he replied, dare you affirm that your frigate would not as soon have pursued and cannonaded a submarine boat as a monster? Where did that sound come from? I asked.
That night, about eleven o'clock, I received a most unexpected visit from Captain Nemo. He asked me very graciously if I felt fatigued from my watch of the preceding night. I answered in the negative. Yes, sir; it shall go to the pole. Ah! the scoundrel! cried Conseil; I would rather he had broken my shoulder! As to marine mammals, I thought, in passing the entrance of the Adriatic, that I saw two or three cachalots, furnished with one dorsal fin, of the genus physetera, some dolphins of the genus globicephala, peculiar to the Mediterranean, the back part of the head being marked like a zebra with small lines; also, a dozen of seals, with white bellies and black hair, known by the name of monks, and which really have the air of a Dominican; they are about three yards in length.
I can picture it perfectly, said Conseil. But, sir, will you tell me why the Great Architect has suspended operations, and how it is that the furnace is replaced by the quiet waters of the lake? The next day, I related to Conseil and the Canadian the events of the night, which had excited my curiosity to the highest degree. My companions were not less surprised than myself. Oh, master, master! Come to me! Go ahead, cried Commander Farragut.