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Chapter 7 Goodbye to the Nautilus
After our visit to the Antarctic, we didn’t see Captain Nemo very often.
The Nautilus went up the coast of South and North America. We wanted to escape, but every night there was a problem: we weren’t near the coast, or the sea was difficult.
Then we went across the Atlantic to Europe and arrived in British waters.
Suddenly, there was a big noise: Boom! We looked across the sea. There was a big boat three leagues away.
‘It was that boat!’ Ned said.‘It wants to hit the Nautilus and kill us all.’
‘Which country is it from?’ I asked.
‘I can’t see,’ Ned answered.
Boom! Water went up into the air only five metres from the Nautilus.
Captain Nemo arrived. He was very angry, and he didn’t look at us. He looked at the boat across the water and said,
‘First you take my country and my family, and now you want to kill me too. But can you find me underwater? No! The Nautilus is going to hit your boat and kill you all.’
I wanted to stop the captain, but he didn’t listen to me. The Nautilus moved away from the coast, and the boat came after us.
Then we went underwater. For a short time it was quiet. Then we started to move very quickly. Suddenly, the boat was in front of us. The Nautilus went into it.
There was a big hole in the boat now. A lot of water went in, and the boat started to go down slowly under the sea.
There were hundreds of men in the water. Captain Nemo watched them quietly. In a short time, they were all dead.
Nemo went back to his bedroom. I looked at him from the door. He was on the floor, and in his hands there was a photograph of a beautiful young woman and two small children. His dead family!
After that unhappy day, we went up the coasts of Britain and Norway and into the seas of the Arctic. For a week, Ned, Conseil and I didn’t see Captain Nemo and his men.
Then one day Ned said, ‘I can see the coast. It isn’t near, but I can’t stay on the Nautilus. I want to be home - or dead in the sea.’
I wanted to be away from the submarine, too. ‘You’re right, Ned,’ I answered. ‘Let’s escape this evening.’
‘I’m going to put food in the little boat. Be there at ten,’ he said.
At ten o’clock, I went to the little boat. Ned and Conseil were there before me.
‘OK, put the boat in the water,’ Ned said.
But suddenly, there were noises from Nemo’s men. Did they know about our escape?
‘The Maelstrom, the Maelstrom!’ the men said.
This was a big problem. All seamen know about the Maelstrom. Some of the seas of the Arctic move very quickly, and in one place, two of those seas meet.
There, a giant hole opens in the water. Boats and whales ten leagues away can’t escape it. The Maelstrom takes them all down to the sea floor.
The Maelstrom now wanted the Nautilus. We looked at the big hole in the sea in front of us. ‘The Maelstrom’s going to kill us!’ we said.
There was a noise, and our little boat went into the sea. I went in, too. My head went under the water. Then my eyes closed ...
I opened my eyes. Ned and Conseil were there. We were in the house of a Norwegian seaman.
How did we get here? We don’t remember. But in a short time, we can go home. Every day we talk about the Nautilus. We have a lot of questions, but perhaps we are never going to know the answers.
Where did Captain Nemo come from? Who killed his family? Did he and his men escape from the Maelstrom? And where is he now?
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