My head struck on a piece of iron, and with the violent shock
I lost all consciousness.
CHAPTER XXIII
CONCLUSION
Thus ends the voyage under the seas. What passed during that night--
how the boat escaped from the eddies of the maelstrom--
how Ned Land, Conseil, and myself ever came out of the gulf,
I cannot tell.
But when I returned to consciousness, I was lying in a fisherman's hut,
on the Loffoden Isles. My two companions, safe and sound, were near me
holding my hands. We embraced each other heartily.
At that moment we could not think of returning to France. The means
of communication between the north of Norway and the south are rare.
And I am therefore obliged to wait for the steamboat running monthly
from Cape North.
And, among the worthy people who have so kindly received us,
I revise my record of these adventures once more.
Not a fact has been omitted, not a detail exaggerated.
It is a faithful narrative of this incredible expedition in an
element inaccessible to man, but to which Progress will one day
open a road.
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