To what end I could not guess; so, on my side, I employed my time in studying
the fish passing before my eyes.

In the midst of the waters a man appeared, a diver, carrying at his
belt a leathern purse. It was not a body abandoned to the waves;
it was a living man, swimming with a strong hand, disappearing occasionally
to take breath at the surface.

I turned towards Captain Nemo, and in an agitated voice exclaimed:

"A man shipwrecked! He must be saved at any price!"

The Captain did not answer me, but came and leaned against the panel.

The man had approached, and, with his face flattened against the glass,
was looking at us.

To my great amazement, Captain Nemo signed to him.
The diver answered with his hand, mounted immediately to
the surface of the water, and did not appear again.

"Do not be uncomfortable," said Captain Nemo. "It is Nicholas of
Cape Matapan, surnamed Pesca. He is well known in all the Cyclades.
A bold diver! water is his element, and he lives more in it than on land,
going continually from one island to another, even as far as Crete."

"You know him, Captain?"

"Why not, M. Aronnax?"

Saying which, Captain Nemo went towards a piece of furniture standing
near the left panel of the saloon. Near this piece of furniture,
I saw a chest bound with iron, on the cover of which was a copper plate,
bearing the cypher of the Nautilus with its device.

At that moment, the Captain, without noticing my presence,
opened the piece of furniture, a sort of strong box, which held
a great many ingots.

They were ingots of gold. From whence came this precious metal,
which represented an enormous sum? Where did the Captain gather
this gold from? and what was he going to do with it?

I did not say one word. I looked. Captain Nemo took the ingots one by one,
and arranged them methodically in the chest, which he filled entirely.
I estimated the contents at more than 4,000 lb. weight of gold, that is
to say, nearly L200,000.

The chest was securely fastened, and the Captain wrote an address on the lid,
in characters which must have belonged to Modern Greece.

This done, Captain Nemo pressed a knob, the wire of which communicated with
the quarters of the crew. Four men appeared, and, not without some trouble,
pushed the chest out of the saloon. Then I heard them hoisting it up the iron
staircase by means of pulleys.

At that moment, Captain Nemo turned to me.

"And you were saying, sir?" said he.

"I was saying nothing, Captain."

"Then, sir, if you will allow me, I will wish you good night."

Whereupon he turned and left the saloon.

I returned to my room much troubled, as one may believe.
I vainly tried to sleep--I sought the connecting link between
the apparition of the diver and the chest filled with gold.
Soon, I felt by certain movements of pitching and tossing
that the Nautilus was leaving the depths and returning
to the surface.

Then I heard steps upon the platform; and I knew they were
unfastening the pinnace and launching it upon the waves.
For one instant it struck the side of the Nautilus,
then all noise ceased.

Two hours after, the same noise, the same going and coming was renewed;
the boat was hoisted on board, replaced in its socket, and the Nautilus
again plunged under the waves.

So these millions had been transported to their address.
To what point of the continent? Who was Captain Nemo's correspondent?

The next day I related to Conseil and the Canadian the events
of the night, which had excited my curiosity to the highest degree.
My companions were not less surprised than myself.

"But where does he take his millions to?" asked Ned Land.

To that there was no possible answer. I returned to the saloon
after having breakfast and set to work. Till five o'clock
in the evening I employed myself in arranging my notes.
At that moment--(ought I to attribute it to some peculiar idiosyncrasy)--
I felt so great a heat that I was obliged to take off my coat.
It was strange, for we were under low latitudes; and even then the Nautilus,
submerged as it was, ought to experience no change of temperature.
I looked at the manometer; it showed a depth of sixty feet, to which
atmospheric heat could never attain.


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