Now this substance was wanting on board, and nothing could replace it.
On that evening, Captain Nemo ought to open the taps of his reservoirs,
and let some pure air into the interior of the Nautilus; without this
precaution we could not get rid of the sense of suffocation. The next day,
March 26th, I resumed my miner's work in beginning the fifth yard.
The side walls and the lower surface of the iceberg thickened visibly.
It was evident that they would meet before the Nautilus was
able to disengage itself. Despair seized me for an instant;
my pickaxe nearly fell from my hands. What was the good of digging
if I must be suffocated, crushed by the water that was turning
into stone?--a punishment that the ferocity of the savages even
would not have invented! Just then Captain Nemo passed near me.
I touched his hand and showed him the walls of our prison.
The wall to port had advanced to at least four yards from the hull of
the Nautilus. The Captain understood me, and signed me to follow him.
We went on board. I took off my cork-jacket and accompanied him into the
drawing-room.
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