"Thank you, Master Land," said he.
"It was in revenge, Captain," replied Ned Land.
"I owed you that."
A ghastly smile passed across the Captain's lips, and that was all.
"To the Nautilus," said he.
The boat flew over the waves. Some minutes after we met the shark's
dead body floating. By the black marking of the extremity of its fins,
I recognised the terrible melanopteron of the Indian Seas, of the species
of shark so properly called. It was more than twenty-five feet long;
its enormous mouth occupied one-third of its body. It was an adult,
as was known by its six rows of teeth placed in an isosceles triangle in
the upper jaw.
Whilst I was contemplating this inert mass, a dozen of these voracious
beasts appeared round the boat; and, without noticing us, threw themselves
upon the dead body and fought with one another for the pieces.
At half-past eight we were again on board the Nautilus.
There I reflected on the incidents which had taken place in our
excursion to the Manaar Bank.
Two conclusions I must inevitably draw from it--one bearing
upon the unparalleled courage of Captain Nemo, the other upon
his devotion to a human being, a representative of that race
from which he fled beneath the sea.
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