Conseil made a last effort, and, leaning on my shoulder, while I struck
out in a desperate effort, he raised himself half out of the water,
then fell back exhausted.

"What did you see?"

"I saw----" murmured he; "I saw--but do not talk--reserve all your strength!"

What had he seen? Then, I know not why, the thought
of the monster came into my head for the first time!
But that voice! The time is past for Jonahs to take refuge
in whales' bellies! However, Conseil was towing me again.
He raised his head sometimes, looked before us, and uttered a cry
of recognition, which was responded to by a voice that came nearer
and nearer. I scarcely heard it. My strength was exhausted;
my fingers stiffened; my hand afforded me support no longer;
my mouth, convulsively opening, filled with salt water.
Cold crept over me. I raised my head for the last time,
then I sank.

At this moment a hard body struck me. I clung to it:
then I felt that I was being drawn up, that I was brought to
the surface of the water, that my chest collapsed--I fainted.

It is certain that I soon came to, thanks to the vigorous rubbings
that I received. I half opened my eyes.

"Conseil!" I murmured.

"Does master call me?" asked Conseil.

Just then, by the waning light of the moon which was sinking
down to the horizon, I saw a face which was not Conseil's
and which I immediately recognised.

"Ned!" I cried.

"The same, sir, who is seeking his prize!" replied the Canadian.

"Were you thrown into the sea by the shock to the frigate?"

"Yes, Professor; but more fortunate than you, I was able to find
a footing almost directly upon a floating island."

"An island?"

"Or, more correctly speaking, on our gigantic narwhal."

"Explain yourself, Ned!"

"Only I soon found out why my harpoon had not entered its skin
and was blunted."

"Why, Ned, why?"

"Because, Professor, that beast is made of sheet iron."

The Canadian's last words produced a sudden revolution in my brain.
I wriggled myself quickly to the top of the being, or object,
half out of the water, which served us for a refuge. I kicked it.
It was evidently a hard, impenetrable body, and not the soft substance
that forms the bodies of the great marine mammalia. But this hard
body might be a bony covering, like that of the antediluvian animals;
and I should be free to class this monster among amphibious reptiles,
such as tortoises or alligators.

Well, no! the blackish back that supported me was smooth,
polished, without scales. The blow produced a metallic sound;
and, incredible though it may be, it seemed, I might say,
as if it was made of riveted plates.

There was no doubt about it! This monster, this natural
phenomenon that had puzzled the learned world, and over thrown
and misled the imagination of seamen of both hemispheres,
it must be owned was a still more astonishing phenomenon,
inasmuch as it was a simply human construction.

We had no time to lose, however. We were lying upon the back of a
sort of submarine boat, which appeared (as far as I could judge)
like a huge fish of steel. Ned Land's mind was made up on this point.
Conseil and I could only agree with him.

Just then a bubbling began at the back of this strange thing
(which was evidently propelled by a screw), and it began to move.
We had only just time to seize hold of the upper part,
which rose about seven feet out of the water, and happily its speed
was not great.

"As long as it sails horizontally," muttered Ned Land,
"I do not mind; but, if it takes a fancy to dive, I would
not give two straws for my life."

The Canadian might have said still less. It became really necessary to
communicate with the beings, whatever they were, shut up inside the machine.
I searched all over the outside for an aperture, a panel, or a manhole,
to use a technical expression; but the lines of the iron rivets,
solidly driven into the joints of the iron plates, were clear and uniform.
Besides, the moon disappeared then, and left us in total darkness.



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