We shall see, replied Ned Land, shaking his head determinedly. We are there now. The second lieutenant then came on to the platform, and gave the usual order below. They are fighting!
An hour after, upon consulting the chart, I saw the position of the Nautilus was marked at 16 17' longitude, and 33 22' latitude, at 150 leagues from the nearest coast. There was no means of flight, and I leave you to imagine the rage of the Canadian, when I informed him of our situation. The next morning I went on to the bridge. Captain Nemo was there before me. As soon as he perceived me he came to me. The common narwhal, or unicorn of the sea, often attains a length of sixty feet. Increase its size fivefold or tenfold, give it strength proportionate to its size, lengthen its destructive weapons, and you obtain the animal required. It will have the proportions determined by the officers of the Shannon, the instrument required by the perforation of the Scotia, and the power necessary to pierce the hull of the steamer. I was on the platform when the altitude was taken, and the captain pronounced these words-It is here.
Ah! Captain, I answered, where are we? Detestable indeed, and one that does not suit a boat like the Nautilus. I followed, and in a few minutes I had climbed to the top, which for a circle of ten yards commanded the whole mass of rock. Captain Nemo led me toward the central staircase; halfway down he opened a door, traversed the upper deck, and landed in the pilot's cage, which it may be remembered rose at the extremity of the platform. It was a cabin measuring six feet square, very much like that occupied by the pilot on the steamboats of the Mississippi or Hudson. In the midst worked a wheel, placed vertically, and caught to the tiller-rope, which ran to the back of the Nautilus. Four light-ports with lenticular glasses, let in a groove in the partition of the cabin, allowed the man at the wheel to see in all directions.