"Where's his papers?" "They're all here." "Don't worry, Sergeant." "You'll find them all in order." "All right." "Get in there!" "Is that necessary?" "All I want is a nice, dry prison cell." "Get moving!" "Is the balloon still there, Captain?" "It's whipping around a bit, but still waiting for us." "We'll need your blanket, Neb." "Captain?" "I think the kid is scared." "Well, aren't you?" "You want a hand with that?" "No, sir." "I've got them both almost through." "Captain, do you think that balloon will fly in a big wind like this without busting open?" "That's not the problem, Herbert." "The problem is whether it'll fly at all." "Captain?" "We've never seen more than the top of it over the houses." "What if there's a whole regiment guarding it?" "We'll just have to fight the whole regiment, Herbert." "Hey, Captain." "They're coming early." "Are we going through with it?" "We've got no choice." "I see I shall have company." "How charming!" "Won't you introduce me to these gentlemen?" "Come on, prisoner." "Get their clothes." "Here." "Here are the keys." "Now, you both know what to do." "Yes, sir." "Come on, get out of here." "Halt!" "Hurry up!" "Come on!" "Wait!" "Don't let me fall!" "Lighten the basket." "We've got to gain height." "You all right?" "Hey, Captain." "All right, let's get this rebel out of here." "That's a mighty long drop." "You sure you know everything about running this balloon?" "Maybe this man could help us." "All right." "Tie him up." "Now that we're up here, I suppose we should introduce ourselves." "Captain Cyrus Harding." "Captain, look, food." "This is Neb." "Union soldier." "I'm Herbert Brown, Pennsylvania Infantry." "Watch it!" "Don't all crowd to one side." "I know what uniform that is." "You're a Union war correspondent." "Very observant, young man." "Gideon Spilett, New York Herald." "How much food is in that box, Neb?" "Enough for five days, maybe." "Four if Mr. Spilett decides to stay." "That all depends, of course, on where you're headed." "Wherever the wind takes us, Mr. Spilett." "Looks like your other guest is coming around." "You're my prisoner." "What's your name and rank?" "Sergeant Pencroft." "Regiment?" "Confederate Army." "That's all you'll get out of me." "Now listen, soldier." "You ever seen a burial at sea?" "Well, you're dressed for one." "Only we're not over the sea." "We're over land, and about a mile up." "It's a long way up, Sergeant." "What these warriors are trying to say, Sergeant is that if you know anything about running this thing, you can stay." "Otherwise..." "I can work it." "Do you mean you can bring this thing down when you like?" "I can bring you down, but not necessarily alive." "The way this wind is running, we'll smash to a pulp when we hit land." "You offering parole?" "That's all, rebel." "All right, then." "Now hear my terms." "This gale is blowing due west." "Now, maybe we could come down in your lines, and maybe in mine." "Whichever it is, nobody is anybody's prisoner when we touch land." "Do you understand?" "We all go our own way, and we don't discuss politics." "Otherwise, Yankees, you can just let this gale blow you to kingdom come." "All right, cut him loose." "Congratulations, Captain." "This was just the beginning." "We escaped, but only into the clutches of the greatest storm in American history." "Below us, when we could still see through the patches of angry clouds were smashed cities and forests torn up by their roots." "Then finally, the Earth disappeared from our view." "We were prisoners of the wind, helpless in the storm's mighty grip." "And we wondered how much longer would we remain aloft?" "Would we ever set foot on the Earth again?" "Hey, Captain..." "Westward, Neb, still westward." "It's been four days." "Hey, looks like water." "It could be a lake." "Well, it's too big to be a river." "It's too big for either." "Must be the ocean." "Pencroft, take us down and we'll have a closer look." "It can't be the Pacific." "It can't be anything else." "You mean we've been carried clear across America?" "It looks like it." "Captain, aren't we coming down awfully fast?" "Pencroft, close the valve." "It's stuck!" "We're going to hit the water and drown!" "Can't you do something?" "Get your hands off that rope!" "It's caught across the opening." "Someone's got to get up there!" "I'm going up." "No!" "Lighten the balloon." "Chuck out the rest of the sandbags." "Hurry, Captain." "Hurry!" "The valve, Captain!" "Turn that valve, Captain!" "Harder!" "No, not that way!" "No!" "Thank you, Pencroft." "I'm glad I decided to let you stay." "Not you, Captain." "It's this valve bar you broke off." "Hey, we're not dropping anymore." "No, I got it closed." "You closed it permanently." "We can't get down anymore." "This was the only control we had." "Captain, the balloon, it's tearing open." "Everything!" "Throw out everything!" "Throw out the food, too?" "Food, clothes, everything loose." "We're still dropping, Mr. Spilett." "I suppose you'll want us to volunteer to go over the side next." "Listen!" "It sounds like waves breaking on the shore." "Land!" "Where?" "Dead ahead, there." "We'll never stay up long enough to get there." "Everybody up on the ring." "Cut the basket loose." "What for?" "The man's right." "There might be enough gas in the balloon to keep us afloat on the water." "Come on." "Get up there." "I can't." "Now look, you climb or you drown, soldier." "Now get up there!" "All right." "Now cut it off at these ropes." "Captain!" "I'm swimming in." "You'd better not!" "That's the way I'm going." "No!" "Captain Harding!" "Captain Harding!" "Captain Harding!" "It's me, Neb." "Did you see anything, Neb?" "No." "How about you?" "Nothing." "We went about a mile beyond where he dropped off." "Not a sign." "Maybe he's a bit further up that way." "He'd have to be the best swimmer in the world to get even this far." "It won't hurt us to try." "He's drowned." "You got no right to say that, do you hear me?" "Maybe Spilett's seen something from the rocks." "Oysters, gentlemen?" "How come you're not looking for the Captain, Mr. Spilett?" "Because I'm looking for food instead." "Boy, did you ever see oysters that size before?" "It's almost supernatural, isn't it?" "Look at him." "He's interested in food while the Captain is still missing." "Take it easy, Neb." "You won't find him." "Not alive, anyway." "I tell you he's drowned." "All right, Sergeant." "Help yourself." "There." "Get your health back." "What, just raw like that?" "Sure." "Why not?" "No, thanks." "Come on, boy." "Eat up!" "Come on!" "Hey!" "Smoke!" "Come on." "Captain Harding!" "Hey, Captain, are you all right?" "Yeah." "I knew you were alive, Captain." "Hey, didn't I tell you?" "Didn't I tell you?" "Neb, Herbert, you're all safe." "Good." "Good morning, Captain." "We missed you." "We would have found you sooner, Captain, if you hadn't hidden out in these rocks." "Didn't you bring me here?" "No, sir." "We saw your fire." "I wasn't capable of lighting a fire even if I'd had any matches." "And I hadn't." "None of us had, either." "I don't remember anything since I went under." "Obviously." "Neb, he needs some hot food." "Bring some of those coals, and I'll cook up a giant oyster stew." "Where do you think this fire came from if the Captain didn't light it?" "Of course he lit it somehow." "He just doesn't remember, that's all." "One giant oyster stew special, coming up." "It smells good." "It is, son." "Don't touch that, Captain." "It's the seasoning." "What is it?" "Seaweed." "Captain, any idea where we are?" "No." "That wind must have taken us thousands of miles." "Fiji, maybe." "Or New Zealand." "Anywhere." "Anywhere?" "On the other hand, could be nowhere." "Eh, Captain?" "Gentlemen, we're going to climb that." "What for, Captain, the exercise?" "No, for survival, Mr. Spilett." "From up there, we might be able to see where we are and how to escape." "Escape to where this time?" "And on the way, we'll hunt and forage." "We need meat and vegetables." "And how will we kill the game?" "You threw our only guns away." "Herbert?" "Yes, sir?" "Have you still got your knife?" "Yes, sir." "Good." "Then you and Neb will be spear-makers." "Pencroft, you'll be the vegetable-finder." "I'm in the Confederate Army, not yours." "The arrangement was, once we landed, I stopped being your prisoner." "The agreement was we'd go our own ways." "Either you come my way, under my command, or you can fend for yourself." "All right." "I'll find vegetables." "Good." "And don't try and eat any of the food you find until our cook has tasted it." "And who is "our cook"?" "You are." "I'm a civilian." "I don't have to take orders from you, whatever army you're in." "That's legally correct, Mr. Spilett, but I was under the impression that you'd joined my command." "Joined?" "I was drafted." "Captain, why don't we turn this island into a democracy and elect a leader?" "One who won't keep escaping to places which need escaping from." "Because all of us here are still at war, and I happen to be the ranking officer." "Still at war!" "All right, I'll cook." "I thought you would, Mr. Spilett." "I'm the butcher man." "I'll keep you busy." "Hey, take it easy." "The landscape everywhere was a mixture of the strange and the beautiful." "Volcanoes surrounded by tropical palms and sandy beaches." "A riot of wonderful hues and fantastic colours." "And except for that fire we found on the first day there was no evidence that man had ever set foot here before." "We saw birds, and many overgrown plants, as if patches of nature had gone wild." "Ýt was a rugged trek upwards." "Our physical condition caused us to tire readily and we were never sure of our footing." "Then finally we came to the shore of what must have been the other side of the island." "So help me, whales." "Those aren't whales." "They're geysers." "Now we know where we can get a hot bath." "All right, gentlemen, we'll make this our rendezvous." "Now, Mr. Spilett, I'll take Neb." "You take Pencroft and Herbert." "Take them where, Captain?" "To hunt for food." "Neb." "The animals will wait." "Let's take a swim." "Come on, Pencroft." "Help me!" "Help me!" "Get down here!" "You almost got him." "Don't let him get away!" "Pencroft, the rope." "Come on!" "Come on!" "Pull it!" "I'll get him." "Here, get hold of this." "Don't let him get away!" "Hang on, Pencroft!" "Try and turn it over on its back." "Look after him, Spilett!" "Try and get it over the edge!" "Heave!" "That's the best crab I ever cooked." "We'd be more impressed, Mr. Spilett, if you'd put it in the pot by yourself." "Dance!" "Scoot in there." "That a boy." "That's a mighty big crab." "Captain, how do you suppose it ever got that big?" "I'd like to know myself." "From eating the giant oysters obviously." "I guess I didn't help you much with it." "You did all right, son." "No, I was scared." "It was the same with getting in the balloon." "I couldn't move until I was shot at." "One shot, and my mind was made up, too." "You don't understand." "I ran away from a battle." "I've been running ever since." "I got caught running away." "Son, your whole Union Army's been running from mine for the last three years." "Now we're running away from you." "You needn't feel special about it." "All right." "We want to reach that crater before nightfall." "Just once more around to the top, Captain." "Not too far." "Too far for me." "Oh, for the energy of youth." "Let's try a shortcut." "Give me the rope." "You mean you're going to lasso that, Captain?" "Mr. Harding, permit me." "With pleasure, Mr. Spilett." "Don't you think you ought to stick to newspaper writing, Mr. Spilett?" "Hey!" "I'm surprised you're so handy with a rope, Mr. Spilett." "Now, you just watch a good balloonist climb one." "You just watch a gentleman." "Hey, he's doing it." "Good morning." "Look what we've got up here, giant mice." "There are some more." "Come on, Spilett." "We're going to try and catch some goat." "Get up!" "Get up there!" "We can build a corral for these and keep them." "Yeah, there's nothing like cheese made from goat milk." "Would you like that, Captain?" "Very nice, Neb." "Hey, Captain, can you see anything over there?" "This is an island all right." "Nothing but water all around." "Hardly more than a volcano pushed its way up out of the sea." "Harding!" "Harding!" "What?" "Look out there." "It's a small boat." "It must be." "It seems to be only drifting." "Maybe we could use it to get away." "She's beautiful." "Better than that, she's alive." "How about this one, Captain?" "Yeah, she's alive, too." "Well, here's one that isn't." "Thank you." "I'm sorry." "Thank you." "Will you have some of my soup, madam?" "No, thank you." "Are you English?" "No, ma'am." "We're not English." "We're Americans." "It's made of shellfish." "A kind of French bouillabaisse." "There's only one kind of bouillabaisse." "Auntie, you must have something." "Leave me alone, child." "Are you in charge?" "Yes, ma'am." "I take it that we're not in Marseilles in spite of what the gentleman offered us to eat." "No, ma'am." "We're somewhere in the Pacific." "On an island, to be exact." "But surely you weren't on our ship." "We came by balloon." "I beg your pardon?" "I said, we came by" "Please don't talk nonsense." "I shall address myself to you." "But he's right, ma'am." "We were held in a Confederate prison and escaped in one of their observation balloons." "Yes, I'm quite sure of it." "But we can't possibly stay here." "How soon may we leave?" "I'm not quite sure, ma'am." "My name is Lady Mary Fairchild." "And this is my niece, Elena." "Ma'am." "My name is Cyrus Harding." "Captain in the United States Army Engineers." "I take it you've met these others." "But where's the sailor who was on our boat?" "I'm sorry to have to tell you, ma'am, that he's dead." "I see now." "Then how soon do you propose to leave?" "Just as soon as we build a boat." "I hope it will be soon." "We were travelling home from Valparaiso." "My brother, who is Elena's father, is British consul in Chile." "He didn't want her to make this voyage, but I promised him she would be safe." "How are you, my dear?" "I'm much better, thank you, Auntie." "But I think we're both a little tired, don't you?" "Yes, of course." "So if you will excuse us, gentlemen." "All right, gentlemen." "Gentlemen we'll sleep out here." "Each of us will take a two-hour watch on guard." "I'll stand first." "Neb, you next." "Yes, sir." "Tomorrow we'll find timber for the boat." "One of us will stay here with the women." "I'll stay." "I thought you'd volunteer for that." "Neb, you'll stay." "Yes, sir." "This is magnificent country." "A man could write an inspired novel in a place like this." "Looks like a good stand of timber up there." "Supply of fresh water down here." "Pencroft, fill the cask." "Now look, I'm not..." "Yes, sir." "Maybe we ought to move over to this side of the island permanently, Captain." "You read my mind, Herbert." "I think we ought to take a look down here on the beach first to see if there's a good place where we can build and launch the boat." "How do you expect to cut down trees this size with a stone axe?" "By putting our backs into it, Mr. Spilett." "What a spooky place this is." "Looks like someone hung down ropes." "No, those are vine creepers." "They might have been hung there all the same, to climb up." "Who'd want to climb up there?" "Who saved the Captain?" "Who built his fire?" "Maybe it grew there naturally." "Vines don't grow out of solid rock." "Feels strong enough to take a man's weight." "Now, you stay down here." "I'll take a look." ""And so I have decided that a life such as this is no longer worth living." ""I therefore bequeath all my worldly possessions to whosoever..." ""...shall discover my remains." ""A curse upon the brigands who have abandoned me to suffer and to die."" "Signed, "Thomas Ayrton." "August 13, 1862."" "I'd trade all his worldly possessions for one good axe." "I wonder why he never drank this up." "Probably was a teetotaller." "It tastes...." "It smells mighty good." "If you're looking for a story to write there's a great one in that diary for you, Mr. Spilett." "You know, Herbert, you're right." "Thomas Ayrton, honest seaman, falls in with a gang of cutthroat pirates and is cast away by them on this mysterious island with his tongue cut out so he won't reveal their secrets." "Alone, he degenerates into animal savagery and finally, disgusted with his bestiality insane with hunger for the human company" "Just a minute now, Mr. Spilett." "Isn't all that just a little flowery?" "That's what the reading public wants today." "He hangs himself from the rafters of a prehistoric cave." "The death of an ex-pirate." ""Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!"" "What's wrong with you?" "Up the Jolly Roger!" ""Fifteen men on a dead man's chest"" "He's been swizzling this stuff." "This is our place, and everything in it." "Says so in his diary." "That's quite true, Pencroft." "This is ideal." "Perfect shelter, perfect safety." "And a fine place from which to carry out our boat building operations." "And, if I may say so, gentlemen solid as a rock." "We called our new place "The Granite House."" "And our proudest achievement was the construction of a homemade elevator." "A real engineering feat." "Ýt made it easier for us to bring in whatever provisions we could find." "We attempted to equip the place with as many modern conveniences as we knew how." "The women added a few welcomed, feminine touches which turned the cave into a home while we went off to attend to the other work." "There was timber to cut, and the boat which had to be built." "None of it was easy." "We lived like primitive men, using primitive implements." "But ingenuity and hard work were our most valuable tools in our struggle to survive." "One tree down, but it took us days." "And whatever we did accomplish, we still lacked many things that would make life bearable." "And then, one afternoon, Neb found something at the water's edge." "Captain, these knots are tied sailor-fashion." "Hey!" "Look at that!" "Captain, rifles!" "Breach loaders and ammunition!" "Hey, Captain, what's in this box?" "It's a compass, charts and a sextant!" "We'll be able to find out where we are." "There are hammers, saws, nails." "Hey, ladies, look at this." "Plenty of pots and pans." "Also a looking glass." "And hairpins." "Hey, a telescope!" "Man, there's nothing this chest ain't got." "Whoever packed this certainly knew what we needed." "And exactly what we ought to read." ""The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe."" "Sorry." "It's mighty nice of you to do this for me, Elena." "I intend to do it for all of you." "It's part of my job." "Captain Harding's order." "Front, please." "Mr. Spilett..." "Thank you." "A few of the comforts of civilization make life quite bearable." "That depends on how many comforts one's been used to." "I'd say you'd never done yourself badly, ma'am." "Why should I?" "But don't let that mislead you." "I'm the best shot in the county, and I think I could outride you at any time." "Probably outdrink you as well." "That's something we must put to the test at a later date, ma'am." "At the moment, my main comfort is your presence." "I'm not in much of a hurry to leave this island now." "Well, I'm delighted to have met you, Mr. Spilett." "I'd be even more delighted if I knew where we were." "Have you finished your calculations?" "Yes, ma'am." "We're here." "36 degrees south, 153 degrees west." "How interesting." "Now I shall be able to say to my friends, "Do you know Mr. Spilett?" ""We ran into each other 36 degrees south, 150 degrees west."" "So much more intriguing than the usual places." "And of course, this large body of land is New Zealand." "New Zealand!" "How convenient." "I have a cousin twice removed, he serves in the Colonial Office there." "Really?" "In that case, ma'am, you'll be delighted to know that you're only one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three miles away from him." "You work too hard, Captain." "Harder than any of us." "Don't you ever think of anything else?" "I will, ma'am, as soon as we get off this island." "Lady Mary, do you think that sea chest could have come from your shipwreck?" "I don't think so." "Nobody had any time to pack anything." "Captain, you seen this lettering?" ""N-A-U...."" "Nautilus!" "Here, let me see that." "You're right." "It must be from the Nautilus." "You mean the submarine?" "Captain Nemo's ship." "What a story that was." "Do you remember, Lady Mary?" "No, I'm afraid I don't." "Possibly it was during the hunting season." "It made the headlines in New York and London for weeks." "This Nemo, with his "submarine," did you call it?" "Was he a man of some notoriety?" "He was a monster, a devil." "What do you mean, he was a devil?" "He was a genius." "Any man who could live under water like a fish" "Under what?" "Under water, ma'am." "This submarine was powered with some incredible method he'd invented himself." "Nothing on the surface could escape from it." "Precisely, Mr. Spilett." "And he used it to destroy ships without warning." "Only warships, Captain." "He had a kink about war, Lady Mary." "A very sensible kink." "He hated it." "Captain, what language is this?" "It's Latin." ""Mihi libertas necessest."" ""I must have liberty."" "Did he find it, Mr. Spilett?" "His submarine was reported lost off the coast of Mexico about eight years ago with all hands." "This chest has been floating in the sea for eight years." "Do you really believe it has, Captain?" "I'm tired." "At your age?" "Ridiculous!" "I'm tired of working." "What do you want, a servant?" "So do I." "If you find one, send her to me." "The next you can keep for yourself." "But in the meantime, we'll go on working like the others." "Mr. Spilett thinks we've been overworked, too." "He's gone fishing." "He has?" "We better hope that Captain Harding doesn't find out." "Mary, run!" "Run!" "Help!" "Hey, Neb, hold it." "Come on, Pencroft!" "I'll get him." "No, wait, not here!" "You'll hit Herbert." "Are you all right?" "I wonder how many minutes it would take to cook in a slow oven." "Boy, it cuts like butter." "It tastes delicious, too." "I guess yesterday this bird would have said the same thing about you, Mr. Spilett." "What's the matter?" "It might not have swallowed you, Mr. Spilett, but it sure enough ate rocks." "That doesn't look like a rock." "No, it isn't." "That's a bullet." "None of us fired a shot at the bird." "No, I tried but the gun jammed." "This is what killed it, all the same." "We'd have heard a shot, wouldn't we?" "Not necessarily." "It might've happened when the bird crashed through the fence." "I might have figured it wasn't my knife." "It didn't feel right, the way the bird fell under me." "You risked your life for me, Herbert, and I'll never forget that." "Yes, that's right, Herbert." "Had it not been for you, Mr. Spilett would still be on the inside cutting out, instead of on the outside cutting in, huh?" "Lady Mary turned out to be quite handy with a needle and thread." "She was able to make goatskins into clothing for the men and fashioned a trim garment for Elena." "I don't know how I let you talk me into it." "Everyone's going to say it's far too short." "Herbert won't." "I'm certain he won't." "Come here." "I've decided to marry him." "And what has he decided?" "Don't sound so surprised." "My mother was already married by my age." "That was on the Continent." "But don't you realise that we may never get off this island?" "Then you'll have time to wait." "But Herbert doesn't want to wait." "Doesn't he?" "And neither do I." "I'm afraid you'll have to." "Go off and tend to your goats." "I'm going to ask Captain Harding to marry us." "That'd be wonderful, if he were only a minister, but he's not." "He's a captain, and captains can marry people at sea." "He's a land captain, not a sea captain." "Well, we're on land, aren't we?" "Herbert." "What's the matter?" "I don't know." "It looks like honey." "It is honey." "Did you ever visit a beehive?" "It's a honeycomb." "It can't be." "It's too big." "It can't be anything else." "Let's go get some seashells, and we'll take some back for the others." "Come on!" "Get in the honeycomb!" "What's it doing?" "I don't know." "It's sealing us in." "Hey, Captain." "A sail!" "We're going to be saved!" "They're right." "Look." "Captain, shall we light the signal fires now?" "Yeah, come on!" "Hold it!" "We'll take a look at it through the telescope first." "What's the matter, don't you want to be saved?" "It's coming this way, whatever we do." "Let's go!" "Come on, get up to Granite House." "Hand me some more." "What for?" "From the sea chest, remember?" "I took these out." "It's heavily armed." "And it's flying the skull and crossbones." "Do you think it's the same pirates Ayrton wrote about in his diary?" "It's the same ones who cut out his tongue and left him to die." "We wouldn't get much mercy from them if they find us." "You two get on the beach and camouflage the boat." "When you come back, get this inside and out of sight." "Spilett, stack the ammunition." "Elena's out there with Herbert." "We must get them back." "Don't worry." "He's a soldier." "If he sees a gang of armed cutthroats, he'll take cover." "We're going to load and stack the rifles." "Elena!" "Elena, are you all right?" "What is it?" "It's some kind of ship." "I've never seen anything like it before." "Come on, let's get on it." "Hello!" "Is anybody there?" "Come on." "Hello." "Anybody there?" "Let's take a look." "No, we'd better not." "Come on." "Herbert, didn't Mr. Spilett say the Nautilus was sunk eight years ago off the coast of Mexico?" "Yeah, he did." "Then what is it doing here?" "I don't know." "Herbert!" "Don't!" "Let's get out of here." "How do we get out?" "Over there." "That wasn't there before." "Maybe the tide came out or something." "Let's swim for it." "Neb." "How many are there?" "Only three." "They're taking out casks." "They must be going for water." "We can take them, Captain." "And bring all the rest of them ashore?" "No, thanks." "We'll sit this one out quietly." "What are they doing now?" "They're going towards the boat." "Do you think they'll find it?" "I don't know." "Lady Mary, another rifle." "Yes, sir." "Hey, Captain, look!" "It's sinking." "What do you suppose happened?" "I don't know." "Something must have blown up on her." "Come on!" "We better get back fast." "Run, Elena." "Put that down." "All right, we'll split up." "Spilett, you take the west side." "Neb, you go inland." "Very well, soldier." "Hang on to it if it gives you comfort." "Just don't throw it." "How do you do, Captain Harding?" "I am Captain Nemo." "Nemo?" "How did you know my name?" "Did you tell him?" "It wasn't necessary." "I've known about you all for months, now, from the day I carried you ashore." "You were the one who built the fire?" "The man who fired the mystery bullet." "Someone had to kill that bird." "Her Ladyship's gun jammed." "Do join us, Lady Mary." "I'm not quite the ogre I appear." "Do you usually dress up like that to frighten young ladies?" "No, not to frighten young ladies." "To breathe under water." "You see, I do much of my work out there." "So we've heard." "Like sinking ships and drowning innocent men." "Surely you don't object to my having placed an explosive charge to that pirate ship to drown them, do you?" "See, Harding, I told you he was a genius and not a devil." "Captain Nemo, I'm from the New York Herald." "I reported your story eight years ago" "I know you." "I've read some of your dispatches." "You specialise in war news, don't you?" "You supply the ink." "The soldiers supply the blood." "I bet that was his place we just came from." "Yes." "There's a big iron ship in a flooded grotto." "Elena and I were just aboard." "The Nautilus?" "Here?" "What's left of it." "That means we can get off" "No, you can't." "If you hope to use my vessel to leave, don't, because she can never take to sea again." "Why have you stayed hidden from us all this time?" "Because contact with my own species has always disappointed me." "Solitude gives me freedom of mind and independence of action." "Why have you picked this particular time to interrupt this solitude?" "I'll tell you." "Because your behaviour, gentlemen, and ladies in a struggle for survival, has been quite admirable." "Now I am satisfied that I can use your resourcefulness." "You see, that volcano is on the verge of eruption." "A catastrophe of nature will soon turn this island into cinders." "In short, Captain Harding, I need your help as much as you need mine." "Only you don't have much choice if you want to live." "Now you listen to me." "We won't do anything because of your threats." "We have every intention of going on living." "If, however, you'd care to share the boat we're building I think that might be arranged." "Thank you, but it wouldn't be finished in time." "Also, it would be too small for my needs." "Fortunately, the ship that will carry us all into safety is already waiting for us." "Out there." "My last bottle." "Another pressing reason for moving out soon." "Captain Nemo, if we ever do get off this island, I'd like to write your life story." "Yes." "Whatever does a man do on an island like this for eight years?" "It depends on the man." "I did what I've always done devoted my strength to destroying the concept of warfare." "Your profession, Captain Harding." "Considering the ships and crews that you've sunk without mercy you can't disturb my conscience." "Can't I?" "What I did was in the name of peace." "Your war, like all wars, glories in devastation and death." "Well, my war will set men free." "That's a struggle that belongs to all men, don't you think?" "Just how have you been able to carry out your crusade, Captain without the Nautilus in operation?" "A good question, Mr. War Correspondent." "It will please Captain Harding to know it did not entail the sinking of warships." "So instead, I've been conducting experiments in horticultural physics." "Horti-what?" "Experiments that will guarantee mankind an inexhaustible food supply." "Yes." "Surely you've seen the results." "Hey, that crab!" "And the honeycomb!" "The giant oysters you devoured." "The bird that almost devoured you." "With the Nautilus, I was merely attacking the weapons of war." "But now I've conquered the causes:" "famine and economic competition." "Imagine, wheat growing 40 feet high and sheep the size of cattle." "When I've delivered my designs and apparatus to the world my work will be over." "That's what you meant when you said our boat wouldn't be big enough." "That is right." "Now look." "You said that volcano was due to erupt in the next few days." "Have we got time to just sit and talk?" "Not really, but I should like to if you don't mind." "I want to make it clear to you that there is more than saving our lives which interests me." "I must take the results of my work back to civilization." "To do this, I realised I needed a ship of size, like that pirate vessel." "And that's why you sent her to the bottom?" "How would you dispose of a crew of violent men in one stroke?" "Do you actually believe you can refloat a ship of that size?" "I planted that charge to damage her only in one small section." "I have the necessary equipment to raise her." "And you all will supply the manpower." "To your very good health." "You will need it." "Now, Captain Harding aren't you ready to dance with the devil now?" "You show me the pumps and the power to raise that ship and then you'll have seven new waltz partners." "Very well." "Have a look." "This bottle, like a ship, floats because it is filled with air." "Now, make a hole in either, as I did in that pirate vessel the air is displaced by water and the bottle, like the ship, sinks to the bottom." "Therefore, when we've set a patch over the damaged section of the hull we can pipe air into it through the pipeline, which we construct from bamboo." "The pressurised air entering here drives the water out of the hold which becomes afloat, and as it does so, the ship will rise to the surface." "Fabricating the patch, bolting it into place making sure all sections of the hull are airtight, including the hatchways are the jobs you will have to do under water." "I'll train you and equip you for it." "Theoretically, it should work." "Theoretically, we'll be dead if it doesn't." "Although Captain Nemo was confident, Ý was extremely doubtful." "Nevertheless, under his direction we cut bamboo for the pipeline." "Nemo told us where there were rubber trees and the women gathered the sap to seal the pipe connections." "And we laboriously manufactured a large wooden patch according to Nemo's specifications." "We were to use it to repair the hull of the damaged pirate ship." "Even Spilett worked hard on the raft we would need." "Lady Mary and Elena arduously applied the sealing substance joining the lengths of bamboo which had to be stretched from the Nautilus' engine room through tortuous rocky areas to the water's edge and beyond." "Then Nemo gave us underwater gear that he kept aboard his submarine." "The breathing apparatus had been fabricated out of giant seashells." "We had to learn how to walk with lead-weighted shoes on the seabed and to withstand the pressures of the water's depth." "Nemo then showed us the incredible electric gun he had invented for protection against the dangers of the deep." "By learning to breathe and walk on the seafloor Nemo showed us the remains of an ancient city and a forgotten civilization." "We could see that once before a volcano had erupted decreeing the death of all who are now entombed in this weird, sunken citadel." "Herbert, these aren't finished here." "Well, we ought to be able to fit the patch tomorrow morning." "Is that it?" "Is it starting now?" "I was wrong." "There won't be enough time." "Man, look at it." "It's terrifying!" "We've lost the race." "Still, there is always a small chance it will subside." "I suggest we take cover in the Nautilus and hope." "When the lava comes, we'll just be trapped here, won't we?" "How soon will that be?" "Would it really help to know?" "Two hours." "Two hours, then." "Aren't we able to do anything to save ourselves?" "There's nothing that can be done." "Is this the infinitely resourceful genius you told me about?" "A man who says let yourself be trapped and die without even lifting a finger." "I don't believe nothing can be done." "I don't believe it!" "Lady Mary I am a realist." "Captain Harding, is he right?" "Have we worked so hard and gone through all this to be told there's no hope?" "He is like you, a man of faith, not of reason." "Captain." "Captain, come here, please." "I've got an idea." "Herbert, now look." "Say this is the envelope of the balloon that brought us here." "It would only take about half an hour to repair." "We attach it to the bamboo pipeline." "Then we place it inside the hull of the sunken ship." "It would take, what, another hour." "Then with the pumps of the Nautilus we force air into the balloon cloth, creating a huge air bubble and floats to the surface bringing the ship with it." "It must work." "Just possible, if the fabric will hold the pressure." "If there's a chance, we've got to try." "By heaven, it is a chance." "Captain Harding, get the underwater equipment." "And you'd better take the women with you." "I'll stay to operate the pump and to assemble my equipment." "When this needle zeroes, I'll know the ship is afloat." "Right, we'll be back for you." "Pencroft!" "Neb, signal Nemo, or none of us will get out of here." "The air's coming through, Captain." "Can you hear it?" "She's up!" "We've done it, Captain!" "All right, come on." "We've got to get the women on board and get back for Nemo." "We deeply regretted we could not save the life of the man who had saved ours." "A man who dedicated himself to ending strife among men." "And when we returned to civilization, we all pledged ourselves to working for a peaceful and bountiful world, as Captain Nemo would have it."