"It will not be long before we gain the entrance of the tunnel."
"The entrance cannot be easy?"
"No, sir; for that reason I am accustomed to go into the steersman's cage
and myself direct our course. And now, if you will go down, M. Aronnax,
the Nautilus is going under the waves, and will not return to the surface
until we have passed through the Arabian Tunnel."
Captain Nemo led me towards the central staircase; half way down he opened
a door, traversed the upper deck, and landed in the pilot's cage,
which it may be remembered rose at the extremity of the platform.
It was a cabin measuring six feet square, very much like that occupied
by the pilot on the steamboats of the Mississippi or Hudson.
In the midst worked a wheel, placed vertically, and caught
to the tiller-rope, which ran to the back of the Nautilus.
Four light-ports with lenticular glasses, let in a groove in
the partition of the cabin, allowed the man at the wheel to see
in all directions.
This cabin was dark; but soon my eyes accustomed themselves to the obscurity,
and I perceived the pilot, a strong man, with his hands resting on the spokes
of the wheel.
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