But Captain Nemo did not appear.

I had made up my mind that I should never see him again,
when, on the 16th November, on returning to my room with Ned
and Conseil, I found upon my table a note addressed to me.
I opened it impatiently. It was written in a bold, clear hand,
the characters rather pointed, recalling the German type.
The note was worded as follows:


TO PROFESSOR ARONNAX, On board the Nautilus. 16th of November, 1867.

Captain Nemo invites Professor Aronnax to a hunting-party, which will
take place to-morrow morning in the forests of the Island of Crespo.
He hopes that nothing will prevent the Professor from being present,
and he will with pleasure see him joined by his companions.

CAPTAIN NEMO, Commander of the Nautilus.


"A hunt!" exclaimed Ned.

"And in the forests of the Island of Crespo!" added Conseil.

"Oh! then the gentleman is going on terra firma?" replied Ned Land.

"That seems to me to be clearly indicated," said I,
reading the letter once more.

"Well, we must accept," said the Canadian. "But once more on dry ground,
we shall know what to do. Indeed, I shall not be sorry to eat a piece
of fresh venison."

Without seeking to reconcile what was contradictory between Captain
Nemo's manifest aversion to islands and continents, and his invitation
to hunt in a forest, I contented myself with replying:

"Let us first see where the Island of Crespo is."

I consulted the planisphere, and in 32@ 40' N. lat.
and 157@ 50' W. long., I found a small island, recognised in 1801
by Captain Crespo, and marked in the ancient Spanish maps
as Rocca de la Plata, the meaning of which is The Silver Rock.
We were then about eighteen hundred miles from our starting-point,
and the course of the Nautilus, a little changed, was bringing
it back towards the southeast.

I showed this little rock, lost in the midst of the North Pacific,
to my companions.

"If Captain Nemo does sometimes go on dry ground," said I,
"he at least chooses desert islands."

Ned Land shrugged his shoulders without speaking, and Conseil
and he left me.

After supper, which was served by the steward, mute and impassive,
I went to bed, not without some anxiety.

The next morning, the 17th of November, on awakening, I felt
that the Nautilus was perfectly still. I dressed quickly
and entered the saloon.

Captain Nemo was there, waiting for me. He rose, bowed,
and asked me if it was convenient for me to accompany him.
As he made no allusion to his absence during the last eight days,
I did not mention it, and simply answered that my companions and
myself were ready to follow him.

We entered the dining-room, where breakfast was served.

"M. Aronnax," said the Captain, "pray, share my breakfast without ceremony;
we will chat as we eat. For, though I promised you a walk in the forest,
I did not undertake to find hotels there. So breakfast as a man who will most
likely not have his dinner till very late."

I did honour to the repast. It was composed of several kinds of fish,
and slices of sea-cucumber, and different sorts of seaweed.
Our drink consisted of pure water, to which the Captain added
some drops of a fermented liquor, extracted by the Kamschatcha
method from a seaweed known under the name of Rhodomenia palmata.
Captain Nemo ate at first without saying a word. Then he began:

"Sir, when I proposed to you to hunt in my submarine forest of Crespo,
you evidently thought me mad. Sir, you should never judge lightly
of any man."

"But Captain, believe me----"

"Be kind enough to listen, and you will then see whether you
have any cause to accuse me of folly and contradiction."

"I listen."

"You know as well as I do, Professor, that man can live under water,
providing he carries with him a sufficient supply of breathable air.
In submarine works, the workman, clad in an impervious dress,
with his head in a metal helmet, receives air from above by means
of forcing pumps and regulators."



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