Chương Chương 46 · CONCLUSION

USION

Thus ends the voyage under the seas. What passed during that night—how

the boat escaped from the eddies of the maelstrom—how Ned Land,

Conseil, and myself ever came out of the gulf, I cannot tell.

But when I returned to consciousness, I was lying in a fisherman’s hut,

on the Loffoden Isles. My two companions, safe and sound, were near me

holding my hands. We embraced each other heartily.

At that moment we could not think of returning to France. The means of

communication between the north of Norway and the south are rare. And I

am therefore obliged to wait for the steamboat running monthly from

Cape North.

And, among the worthy people who have so kindly received us, I revise

my record of these adventures once more. Not a fact has been omitted,

not a detail exaggerated. It is a faithful narrative of this incredible

expedition in an element inaccessible to man, but to which Progress

will one day open a road.

Shall I be believed? I do not know. And it matters little, after all.

What I now affirm is, that I have a right to speak of these seas, under

which, in less than ten months, I have crossed 20,000 leagues in that

submarine tour of the world, which has revealed so many wonders.

But what has become of the _Nautilus?_ Did it resist the pressure of

the maelstrom? Does Captain Nemo still live? And does he still follow

under the ocean those frightful retaliations? Or, did he stop after the

last hecatomb?

Will the waves one day carry to him this manuscript containing the

history of his life? Shall I ever know the name of this man? Will the

missing vessel tell us by its nationality that of Captain Nemo?

I hope so. And I also hope that his powerful vessel has conquered the

sea at its most terrible gulf, and that the _Nautilus_ has survived

where so many other vessels have been lost! If it be so—if Captain Nemo

still inhabits the ocean, his adopted country, may hatred be appeased

in that savage heart! May the contemplation of so many wonders

extinguish for ever the spirit of vengeance! May the judge disappear,

and the philosopher continue the peaceful exploration of the sea! If

his destiny be strange, it is also sublime. Have I not understood it

myself? Have I not lived ten months of this unnatural life? And to the

question asked by Ecclesiastes three thousand years ago, “That which is

far off and exceeding deep, who can find it out?” two men alone of all

now living have the right to give an answer——

CAPTAIN NEMO AND MYSELF.