rushed beneath its weight. The panel was opened--one might say torn
off--and the pure air came in in abundance to all parts of the Nautilus.

CHAPTER XVII

FROM CAPE HORN TO THE AMAZON

How I got on to the platform, I have no idea; perhaps the Canadian had
carried me there. But I breathed, I inhaled the vivifying sea-air. My
two companions were getting drunk with the fresh particles. The other
unhappy men had been so long without food, that they could not with
impunity indulge in the simplest aliments that were given them. We, on
the contrary, had no end to restrain ourselves; we could draw this air
freely into our lungs, and it was the breeze, the breeze alone, that
filled us with this keen enjoyment.

"Ah!" said Conseil, "how delightful this oxygen is! Master need not
fear to breathe it. There is enough for everybody."

Ned Land did not speak, but he opened his jaws wide enough to frighten
a shark. Our strength soon returned, and, when I looked round me, I
saw we were alone on the platform. The foreign seamen in the Nautilus
were contented with the air that circulated in the interior; none of
them had come to drink in the open air.

The first words I spoke were words of gratitude and thankfulness to my
two companions. Ned and Conseil had prolonged my life during the last
hours of this long agony. All my gratitude could not repay such
devotion.

"My friends," said I, "we are bound one to the other for ever, and I am
under infinite obligations to you."

"Which I shall take advantage of," exclaimed the Canadian.

"What do you mean?" said Conseil.

"I mean that I shall take you with me when I leave this infernal
Nautilus."

"Well," said Conseil, "after all this, are we going right?"

"Yes," I replied, "for we are going the way of the sun, and here the
sun is in the north."

"No doubt," said Ned Land; "but it remains to be seen whether he will
bring the ship into the Pacific or the Atlantic Ocean, that is, into
frequented or deserted seas."

I could not answer that question, and I feared that Captain Nemo would
rather take us to the vast ocean that touches the coasts of Asia and
America at the same time. He would thus complete the tour round the
submarine world, and return to those waters in which the Nautilus could
sail freely. We ought, before long, to settle this important point.
The Nautilus went at a rapid pace. The polar circle was soon passed,
and the course shaped for Cape Horn.