The things we do!

I was reflecting thus, when the Captain, cool and calm,
always master of himself, approached me.
"An accident?" I asked.
"No; an incident."
"But an incident that will oblige you perhaps to become an inhabitant
of this land from which you flee?"
Captain Nemo looked at me curiously, and made a negative gesture, as much
as to say that nothing would force him to set foot on terra firma again.
Then he said:
"Besides, M. Aronnax, the Nautilus is not lost; it will
carry you yet into the midst of the marvels of the ocean.
Our voyage is only begun, and I do not wish to be deprived so soon
of the honour of your company."
"However, Captain Nemo," I replied, without noticing the ironical
turn of his phrase, "the Nautilus ran aground in open sea.
Now the tides are not strong in the Pacific; and, if you cannot
lighten the Nautilus, I do not see how it will be reinflated."
"The tides are not strong in the Pacific: you are right there,
Professor; but in Torres Straits one finds still a difference
of a yard and a half between the level of high and low seas.


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