Part Two.: Chapter 23: Conclusion

by Jules Verne

　　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 meholding my hands. We embraced each other heartily.

　　At that moment we could not think of returning to France. The meansof communication between the north of Norway and the south are rare.And I am therefore obliged to wait for the steamboat running monthlyfrom 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 anelement inaccessible to man, but to which Progress will one dayopen 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 tourof the world, which has revealed so many wonders.

　　But what has become of the Nautilus? Did it resist the pressureof the maelstrom? Does Captain Nemo still live? And doeshe 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 containingthe 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 conqueredthe sea at its most terrible gulf, and that the Nautilus has survivedwhere so many other vessels have been lost! If it be so--if CaptainNemo still inhabits the ocean, his adopted country, may hatred beappeased in that savage heart! May the contemplation of so many wondersextinguish 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 understoodit 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.