"
As Captain Nemo pronounced these words, I turned to Conseil and Ned Land.
But my two friends had already encased their heads in the metal cap,
and they could neither hear nor answer.
One last question remained to ask of Captain Nemo.
"And our arms?" asked I; "our guns?"
"Guns! What for? Do not mountaineers attack the bear with
a dagger in their hand, and is not steel surer than lead?
Here is a strong blade; put it in your belt, and we start."
I looked at my companions; they were armed like us, and, more than that,
Ned Land was brandishing an enormous harpoon, which he had placed in the boat
before leaving the Nautilus.
Then, following the Captain's example, I allowed myself to be
dressed in the heavy copper helmet, and our reservoirs of air
were at once in activity. An instant after we were landed,
one after the other, in about two yards of water upon an even sand.
Captain Nemo made a sign with his hand, and we followed him
by a gentle declivity till we disappeared under the waves.
Over our feet, like coveys of snipe in a bog, rose shoals of fish, of
the genus monoptera, which have no other fins but their tail.
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