"Let us try it, Professor."
The thermometer then stood at 7@ outside. Captain Nemo took
me to the galleys, where the vast distillatory machines
stood that furnished the drinkable water by evaporation.
They filled these with water, and all the electric heat from
the piles was thrown through the worms bathed in the liquid.
In a few minutes this water reached 100@. It was directed
towards the pumps, while fresh water replaced it in proportion.
The heat developed by the troughs was such that cold water,
drawn up from the sea after only having gone through the machines,
came boiling into the body of the pump. The injection was begun,
and three hours after the thermometer marked 6@ below zero outside.
One degree was gained. Two hours later the thermometer only marked
4@.
"We shall succeed," I said to the Captain, after having anxiously
watched the result of the operation.
"I think," he answered, "that we shall not be crushed.
We have no more suffocation to fear."
During the night the temperature of the water rose to 1@ below zero.
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