Part 3 - The Secret of the Island: Chapter 16

by Jules Verne

　　At these words the reclining figure rose, and the electric light fell uponhis countenance; a magnificent head, the forehead high, the glancecommanding, beard white, hair abundant and falling over the shoulders.

　　His hand rested upon the cushion of the divan from which he had justrisen. He appeared perfectly calm. It was evident that his strength hadbeen gradually undermined by illness, but his voice seemed yet powerful, ashe said in English, and in a tone which evinced extreme surprise,--

　　"Sir, I have no name."

　　"Nevertheless, I know you!" replied Cyrus Harding.

　　Captain Nemo fixed his penetrating gaze upon the engineer, as though hewere about to annihilate him.

　　Then, falling back amid the pillows of the divan,--

　　"After all, what matters now?" he murmured; "I am dying!"

　　Cyrus Harding drew near the captain, and Gideon Spilett took his hand--itwas of a feverish heat. Ayrton, Pencroft, Herbert, and Neb stoodrespectfully apart in an angle of the magnificent saloon, whose atmospherewas saturated with the electric fluid.

　　Meanwhile Captain Nemo withdrew his hand, and motioned the engineer andthe reporter to be seated.

　　All regarded him with profound emotion. Before them they beheld thatbeing whom they had styled the "genius of the island," the powerfulprotector whose intervention, in so many circumstances, had been soefficacious, the benefactor to whom they owed such a debt of gratitude!Their eyes beheld a man only, and a man at the point of death, wherePencroft and Neb had expected to find an almost supernatural being!

　　But how happened it that Cyrus Harding had recognized Captain Nemo? whyhad the latter so suddenly risen on hearing this name uttered, a name whichhe had believed known to none?--

　　The captain had resumed his position on the divan, and leaning on hisarm, he regarded the engineer, seated near him.

　　"You know the name I formerly bore, sir?" he asked.

　　"I do," answered Cyrus Harding, "and also that of this wonderfulsubmarine vessel--"

　　"The 'Nautilus'?" said the captain, with a faint smile.

　　"The 'Nautilus.'"

　　"But do you--do you know who I am?"

　　"I do."

　　"It is nevertheless many years since I have held any communication withthe inhabited world; three long years have I passed in the depth of thesea, the only place where I have found liberty! Who then can have betrayedmy secret?"

　　"A man who was bound to you by no tie, Captain Nemo, and who,consequently, cannot be accused of treachery."

　　"The Frenchman who was cast on board my vessel by chance sixteen yearssince?"

　　"The same."

　　"He and his two companions did not then perish in the maelstrom, in themidst of which the 'Nautilus' was struggling?"

　　"They escaped, and a book has appeared under the title of 'TwentyThousand Leagues Under the Sea,' which contains your history."

　　"The history of a few months only of my life!" interrupted the captainimpetuously.

　　"It is true," answered Cyrus Harding, "but a few months of that strangelife have sufficed to make you known."

　　"As a great criminal, doubtless!" said Captain Nemo, a haughty smilecurling his lips. "Yes, a rebel, perhaps an outlaw against humanity!"

　　The engineer was silent.

　　"Well, sir?"

　　"It is not for me to judge you, Captain Nemo," answered Cyrus Harding,"at any rate as regards your past life. I am, with the rest of the world,ignorant of the motives which induced you to adopt this strange mode ofexistence, and I cannot judge of effects without knowing their causes; butwhat I do know is, that a beneficent hand has constantly protected us sinceour arrival on Lincoln Island, that we all owe our lives to a good,generous, and powerful being, and that this being so powerful, good andgenerous, Captain Nemo, is yourself!"

　　"It is I," answered the captain simply.

　　The engineer and the reporter rose. Their companions had drawn near, andthe gratitude with which their hearts were charged was about to expressitself in their gestures and words.

　　Captain Nemo stopped them by a sign, and in a voice which betrayed moreemotion than he doubtless intended to show.

　　"Wait till you have heard all," he said.

　　And the captain, in a few concise sentences, ran over the events of hislife.

　　His narrative was short, yet he was obliged to summon up his wholeremaining energy to arrive at the end. He was evidently contending againstextreme weakness. Several times Cyrus Harding entreated him to repose for awhile, but he shook his head as a man to whom the morrow may never come,and when the reporter offered his assistance,--

　　"It is useless," he said; "my hours are numbered."

　　Captain Nemo was an Indian, the Prince Dakkar, son of a rajah of the thenindependent territory of Bundelkund. His father sent him, when ten years ofage, to Europe, in order that he might receive an education in all respectscomplete, and in the hopes that by his talents and knowledge he might oneday take a leading part in raising his long degraded and heathen country toa level with the nations of Europe.

　　From the age of ten years to that of thirty Prince Dakkar, endowed byNature with her richest gifts of intellect, accumulated knowledge of everykind, and in science, literature, and art his researches were extensive andprofound.

　　He traveled over the whole of Europe. His rank and fortune caused him tobe everywhere sought after; but the pleasures of the world had for him noattractions. Though young and possessed of every personal advantage, he wasever grave--somber even--devoured by an unquenchable thirst for knowledge,and cherishing in the recesses of his heart the hope that he might become agreat and powerful ruler of a free and enlightened people.

　　Still, for long the love of science triumphed over all other feelings. Hebecame an artist deeply impressed by the marvels of art, a philosopher towhom no one of the higher sciences was unknown, a statesman versed in thepolicy of European courts. To the eyes of those who observed himsuperficially he might have passed for one of those cosmopolitans, curiousof knowledge, but disdaining action; one of those opulent travelers,haughty and cynical, who move incessantly from place to place, and are ofno country.

　　The history of Captain Nemo has, in fact, been published under the titleof "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea." Here, therefore, will apply theobservation already made as to the adventures of Ayrton with regard to thediscrepancy of dates. Readers should therefore refer to the note alreadypublished on this point.

　　This artist, this philosopher, this man was, however, still cherishingthe hope instilled into him from his earliest days.

　　Prince Dakkar returned to Bundelkund in the year 1849. He married a nobleIndian lady, who was imbued with an ambition not less ardent than that bywhich he was inspired. Two children were born to them, whom they tenderlyloved. But domestic happiness did not prevent him from seeking to carry outthe object at which he aimed. He waited an opportunity. At length, as hevainly fancied, it presented itself.

　　Instigated by princes equally ambitious and less sagacious and moreunscrupulous than he was, the people of India were persuaded that theymight successfully rise against their English rulers, who had brought themout of a state of anarchy and constant warfare and misery, and hadestablished peace and prosperity in their country. Their ignorance andgross superstition made them the facile tools of their designing chiefs.

　　In 1857 the great sepoy revolt broke out. Prince Dakkar, under the beliefthat he should thereby have the opportunity of attaining the object of hislong-cherished ambition, was easily drawn into it. He forthwith devoted histalents and wealth to the service of this cause. He aided it in person; hefought in the front ranks; he risked his life equally with the humblest ofthe wretched and misguided fanatics; he was ten times wounded in twentyengagements, seeking death but finding it not, but at length the sanguinaryrebels were utterly defeated, and the atrocious mutiny was brought to anend.

　　Never before had the British power in India been exposed to such danger,and if, as they had hoped, the sepoys had received assistance from without,the influence and supremacy in Asia of the United Kingdom would have been athing of the past.

　　The name of Prince Dakkar was at that time well known. He had foughtopenly and without concealment. A price was set upon his head, but hemanaged to escape from his pursuers.

　　Civilization never recedes; the law of necessity ever forces it onwards.The sepoys were vanquished, and the land of the rajahs of old fell againunder the rule of England.

　　Prince Dakkar, unable to find that death he courted, returned to themountain fastnesses of Bundelkund. There, alone in the world, overcome bydisappointment at the destruction of all his vain hopes, a prey to profounddisgust for all human beings, filled with hatred of the civilized world, herealized the wreck of his fortune, assembled some score of his mostfaithful companions, and one day disappeared, leaving no trace behind.

　　Where, then, did he seek that liberty denied him upon the inhabitedearth? Under the waves, in the depths of the ocean, where none couldfollow.

　　The warrior became the man of science. Upon a deserted island of thePacific he established his dockyard, and there a submarine vessel wasconstructed from his designs. By methods which will at some future day berevealed he had rendered subservient the illimitable forces of electricity,which, extracted from inexhaustible sources, was employed for all therequirements of his floating equipage, as a moving, lighting, and heatingagent. The sea, with its countless treasures, its myriads of fish, itsnumberless wrecks, its enormous mammalia, and not only all that naturesupplied, but also all that man had lost in its depths, sufficed for everywant of the prince and his crew--and thus was his most ardent desireaccomplished, never again to hold communication with the earth. He namedhis submarine vessel the "Nautilus," called himself simply Captain Nemo,and disappeared beneath the seas.

　　During many years this strange being visited every ocean, from pole topole. Outcast of the inhabited earth in these unknown worlds he gatheredincalculable treasures. The millions lost in the Bay of Vigo, in 1702, bythe galleons of Spain, furnished him with a mine of inexhaustible richeswhich he devoted always, anonymously, in favor of those nations who foughtfor the independence of their country.

　　(This refers to the resurrection of the Candiotes, who were, in

　　fact, largely assisted by Captain Nemo.)

　　For long, however, he had held no communication with his fellow-creatures, when, during the night of the 6th of November, 1866, three menwere cast on board his vessel. They were a French professor, his servant,and a Canadian fisherman. These three men had been hurled overboard by acollision which had taken place between the "Nautilus" and the UnitedStates frigate "Abraham Lincoln," which had chased her.

　　Captain Nemo learned from this professor that the "Nautilus," taken nowfor a gigantic mammal of the whale species, now for a submarine vesselcarrying a crew of pirates, was sought for in every sea.

　　He might have returned these three men to the ocean, from whence chancehad brought them in contact with his mysterious existence. Instead of doingthis he kept them prisoners, and during seven months they were enabled tobehold all the wonders of a voyage of twenty thousand leagues under thesea.

　　One day, the 22nd of June, 1867, these three men, who knew nothing of thepast history of Captain Nemo, succeeded in escaping in one of the"Nautilus's" boats. But as at this time the "Nautilus" was drawn into thevortex of the maelstrom, off the coast of Norway, the captain naturallybelieved that the fugitives, engulfed in that frightful whirlpool, foundtheir death at the bottom of the abyss. He was unaware that the Frenchmanand his two companions had been miraculously cast on shore, that thefishermen of the Lofoten Islands had rendered them assistance, and that theprofessor, on his return to France, had published that work in which sevenmonths of the strange and eventful navigation of the "Nautilus" werenarrated and exposed to the curiosity of the public.

　　For a long time alter this, Captain Nemo continued to live thus,traversing every sea. But one by one his companions died, and found theirlast resting-place in their cemetery of coral, in the bed of the Pacific.At last Captain Nemo remained the solitary survivor of all those who hadtaken refuge with him in the depths of the ocean.

　　He was now sixty years of age. Although alone, he succeeded in navigatingthe "Nautilus" towards one of those submarine caverns which had sometimesserved him as a harbor.

　　One of these ports was hollowed beneath Lincoln Island, and at thismoment furnished an asylum to the "Nautilus."

　　The captain had now remained there six years, navigating the ocean nolonger, but awaiting death, and that moment when he should rejoin hisformer companions, when by chance he observed the descent of the balloonwhich carried the prisoners of the Confederates. Clad in his diving dresshe was walking beneath the water at a few cables' length from the shore ofthe island, when the engineer had been thrown into the sea. Moved by afeeling of compassion the captain saved Cyrus Harding.

　　His first impulse was to fly from the vicinity of the five castaways; buthis harbor refuge was closed, for in consequence of an elevation of thebasalt, produced by the influence of volcanic action, he could no longerpass through the entrance of the vault. Though there was sufficient depthof water to allow a light craft to pass the bar, there was not enough forthe "Nautilus," whose draught of water was considerable.

　　Captain Nemo was compelled, therefore, to remain. He observed these menthrown without resources upon a desert island, but had no wish to behimself discovered by them. By degrees he became interested in theirefforts when he saw them honest, energetic, and bound to each other by theties of friendship. As if despite his wishes, he penetrated all the secretsof their existence. By means of the diving dress he could easily reach thewell in the interior of Granite House, and climbing by the projections ofrock to its upper orifice he heard the colonists as they recounted thepast, and studied the present and future. He learned from them thetremendous conflict of America with America itself, for the abolition ofslavery. Yes, these men were worthy to reconcile Captain Nemo with thathumanity which they represented so nobly in the island.

　　Captain Nemo had saved Cyrus Harding. It was he also who had brought backthe dog to the Chimneys, who rescued Top from the waters of the lake, whocaused to fall at Flotsam Point the case containing so many things usefulto the colonists, who conveyed the canoe back into the stream of the Mercy,who cast the cord from the top of Granite House at the time of the attackby the baboons, who made known the presence of Ayrton upon Tabor Island, bymeans of the document enclosed in the bottle, who caused the explosion ofthe brig by the shock of a torpedo placed at the bottom of the canal, whosaved Herbert from certain death by bringing the sulphate of quinine; andfinally, it was he who had killed the convicts with the electric bails, ofwhich he possessed the secret, and which he employed in the chase ofsubmarine creatures. Thus were explained so many apparently supernaturaloccurrences, and which all proved the generosity and power of the captain.

　　Nevertheless, this noble misanthrope longed to benefit his proteges stillfurther. There yet remained much useful advice to give them, and, his heartbeing softened by the approach of death, he invited, as we are aware, thecolonists of Granite House to visit the "Nautilus," by means of a wirewhich connected it with the corral. Possibly he would not have done thishad he been aware that Cyrus Harding was sufficiently acquainted with hishistory to address him by the name of Nemo.

　　The captain concluded the narrative of his life. Cyrus Harding thenspoke; he recalled all the incidents which had exercised so beneficent aninfluence upon the colony, and in the names of his companions and himselfthanked the generous being to whom they owed so much.

　　But Captain Nemo paid little attention; his mind appeared to be absorbedby one idea, and without taking the proffered hand of the engineer,--

　　"Now, sir," said he, "now that you know my history, your judgment!"

　　In saying this, the captain evidently alluded to an important incidentwitnessed by the three strangers thrown on board his vessel, and which theFrench professor had related in his work, causing a profound and terriblesensation. Some days previous to the flight of the professor and his twocompanions, the "Nautilus," being chased by a frigate in the north of theAtlantic had hurled herself as a ram upon this frigate, and sunk herwithout mercy.

　　Cyrus Harding understood the captain's allusion, and was silent.

　　"It was an enemy's frigate," exclaimed Captain Nemo, transformed for aninstant into the Prince Dakkar, "an enemy's frigate! It was she whoattacked me--I was in a narrow and shallow bay--the frigate barred my way--and I sank her!"

　　A few moments of silence ensued; then the captain demanded,--

　　"What think you of my life, gentlemen?"

　　Cyrus Harding extended his hand to the ci-devant prince and repliedgravely, "Sir, your error was in supposing that the past can beresuscitated, and in contending against inevitable progress. It is one ofthose errors which some admire, others blame; which God alone can judge. Hewho is mistaken in an action which he sincerely believes to be right may bean enemy, but retains our esteem. Your error is one that we may admire, andyour name has nothing to fear from the judgment of history, which does notcondemn heroic folly, but its results."

　　The old man's breast swelled with emotion, and raising his hand toheaven,--

　　"Was I wrong, or in the right?" he murmured.

　　Cyrus Harding replied, "All great actions return to God, from whom theyare derived. Captain Nemo, we, whom you have succored, shall ever mournyour loss."

　　Herbert, who had drawn near the captain, fell on his knees and kissed hishand.

　　A tear glistened in the eyes of the dying man. "My child," he said, "mayGod bless you!"