Join Host Bree Carlile as she reads the tenth chapter of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

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Today we'll be continuing 20,000 leagues under.

The sea by Jules Verne chapter Ten the man of the Seas it was the commander of the vessel who thus spoke at these words.

Ned land rose suddenly.

The steward, nearly strangled, tottered out on his sign from his master.

But such was the power of the commander on board.

Not a gesture betrayed the resentment which this man must have felt towards the canadian conceal.

Interested in spite of himself, I stupefied, but waited in silence.

The result of this scene.

The commander, leaning against the corner of a table with his arms folded, scanned us with profound attention.

Did he hesitate to speak?

Did he regret the words which he had just spoken in French?

One might almost think so, after some moments of silence which not one of us dreamed of breaking.

Gentlemen, said he in a calm and penetrating voice, I speak French, English, German, and Latin equally well.

I could therefore have answered you at our first interview, but I wish to know you first, then to reflect the story told by each one entirely agreeing in the main points, convinced me of your identity.

I know now that chances brought before me Monsieur Pierre Aranax professor of natural history at the Museum of Paris, entrusted with the scientific mission abroad.

Conceal his servant and Ned land, of canadian origin.

Harpooner on board the frigate Abraham Lincoln of the navy of the United States of America.

I bow descent.

It was not a question that the commander put to me.

Therefore, there was no answer to be made.

This man expressed himself with perfect ease, without any accent.

His sentences were well turned, his words clear, and his fluency of speech remarkable.

Yet I did not recognize in him a fellow countryman.

He continued the conversation in these terms.

You have doubtless thoughts, sir, that I have delayed long in paying you this second visit.

The reason is that your identity recognized.

I wished away maturely what part to act towards you.

I have hesitated.

Much.

Most annoying circumstances have brought you into the presence of a man who has broken all the ties of humanity.

You have come to trouble my existence?

Unintentionally, said I.

Unintentionally, replied the stranger, raising his voice a little.

Was it unintentionally that the Abraham Lincoln pursued me all over the seas?

Was it unintentionally that you took passage in this frigate?

Was it unintentionally that your cannonballs are bounded off the plating of my vessel?

Was it unintentionally that Mr.

Ned land struck me with this harpoon?

I detected a restrained irritation in these words.

But to these recriminations I had a very natural answer to make.

And I made it.

Sir, said I, no doubt you are ignorant of the discussions which have taken place concerning you in America and Europe.

You do not know that divers'accidents caused by collisions with your submarine machine have excited public feeling in the two continents.

I admit the hypotheses without number by which it was sought to explain the inexplicable phenomenon of which you alone possessed the secret.

But you must understand that in pursuing you over the high seas of the Pacific, the Abraham Lincoln believed itself to be chasing some powerful sea monster of which it was necessary to rid the ocean at any price.

A half smile curled the lips of the commander.

Then, in a calmer tone, Monsieur Aaron Axe, he replied, dare you affirm that your frigate would not as soon have pursued and canonated a submarine boat as a monster?

This question embarrassed me, for certainly captain surrogate might not have hesitated.

He might have thought it its duty to destroy a contrivance of this kind as he would a gigantic narwhal.

You understand then, sir, continued the stranger, that I have the right to treat you as enemies.

I answered nothing purposely.

For what good would it be to discuss such a proposition when force could destroy the best arguments?

I have hesitated some time, continued the commander.

Nothing obliged me to show you hospitality.

If I chose to separate myself from you, I should have no interest in seeing you again.

I could place you upon the deck of this vessel which has served you as a refuge.

I could sink beneath the waters and forget that you had ever existed.

Would that not be my right?

It might be the right of a savage, I answered, but not that of a civilized man.

Professor, replied the commander quickly, I am not what you call a civilized man.

I have done with society entirely for reasons which I alone have the right of appreciating.

I do not, therefore, obey its laws, and I desire you never to allude to them before me again.

This was said plainly.

A flash of anger and disdain kindled in the eyes of the unknown, and I had a glimpse of a terrible past in the life of this man.

Not only had he put himself beyond the pale of human laws, but he had made himself independent of them, free in the strictest acceptation of the word, quite beyond their reach.

Who then would dare to pursue him at the bottom of the sea, when on its surface he defied all attempts made against him?

What vessel could resist the shock of his submarine monitor?

What quarrass, however thick, could withstand the blows of his spur?

No man could demand from him an account of his actions.

God, if he believed in one, his conscience, if he had one, were the sole judges to whom he was answerable?

These reflections crossed my mind rapidly, whilst the stranger personage was silent, absorbed, as if wrapped up in himself.

I regarded him with fear mingled with interest, as doubtless Odipus regarded the sphinx.

After rather a long silence, the commander resumed the conversation.

I have hesitated, said he, but I have thought that my interest might be reconciled with that pity to which every human being has a right.

You will remain on board my vessel.

Since fate has cast you there, you will be free.

And in exchange for this liberty, I shall only impose one single condition.

Your word of honor to submit to it will suffice.

Speak.

Sir, I answered.

I suppose this condition is one which a man of honor may accept.

Yes, sir, it is this.

It is possible that certain events, unforeseen, may oblige me to consign you to your cabins for some hours or some days, as the case may be.

As I desire never to use violence, I expect from you more than all the others a passive obedience.

In thus acting I take all the responsibility.

I acquit you entirely, for I make it an impossibility for you to see what ought not to be seen.

Do you accept this condition, then?

Things took place on board which, to say the least, were singular and which ought not to be seen by people who were not placed beyond the pale of social laws.

Amongst the surprises which the future was preparing for me, this might not be the least we accept.

I answered only, I will ask your permission, sir, to address one question to you.

One only.

Speak.

Sir, you said that we should be free on board entirely.

I ask you then, what you mean by this liberty.

Just the liberty to go, to come, to see, to observe, even all that passes here, save under rare circumstances.

The liberty, in short, which we enjoy ourselves, my companions and I, it was evident that we did not understand one another.

Pardon me, sir, I resumed, but this liberty is only what every prisoner has of pacing his prison.

It cannot suffice us.

It must suffice you, however.

What we must renounce forever seeing our country, our friends, our relations again.

Yes, sir.

But to renounce that unendurable worldly yoke which men believe to be liberty is not perhaps so painful as you think.

Well.

Exclaimed Ned land, never will I give my word of honor not to try to escape.

I did not ask you for your word of honor, master land, answered the commander coldly.

Sir, I replied, beginning to get angry in spite of myself.

You abuse your situation towards us.

It is cruelty.

No, sir, it is clemency.

You are my prisoners of war.

I keep you.

When I could, by a word, plunge you into the depths of the ocean, you attacked me.

You came to surprise a secret which no man in the world must penetrate.

The secret of my whole existence.

And you think that I'm going to send you back to that world which must know me no more?

Never.

In retaining you, it is not you who, my guard, it is myself.

These words indicated a resolution taken on the part of the commander, against which no arguments would prevail.

So, sir, I rejoined you give us simply the choice between life and death.

Simply, my friends, said I, to a question thus put, there is nothing to answer.

But no word of honor binds us to the master of this vessel.

None, sir, answered the unknown.

Then, in a gentler tone, he continued, now permit me to finish what I have to say to you.

I know you, Monsieur Aranax.

You and your companions will not perhaps have so much to complain of.

In the chance which has bound you to my fate, you will find amongst the books which are my favorite study, the work which you have published on the depths of the sea.

I have often read it.

You have carried out your work as far as terrestrial science permitted you.

But you do not know all.

You have not seen all.

Let me tell you then, professor, that you will not regret the time passed on board my vessel.

You're going to visit the land of marvels.

These words of the commander had a great effect upon me.

I cannot deny it.

My weak point was touched, and I forgot for a moment that the contemplation of these sublime subjects was not worth the loss of liberty.

Besides, I trusted to the future to decide this grave question.

So I contented myself with saying, by what name ought I to address you, sir?

Replied the commander, I am nothing to you but Captain Nemo, and you and your companions are nothing to me but the passengers of the Nautilus.

Captain Nemo, called a steward, appeared.

The captain gave him his orders in that strange language which I did not understand.

Then, turning towards the Canadian in conceal, a repast awaits you in your cabin, said he.

Me so good as to follow this man?

And now, Monsieur Aaron Axe, our breakfast is ready.

Permit me to lead the way.

I am at your service, captain.

I followed Captain Nemo, and as soon as I had passed through the door, I found myself in a kind of passage lighted by electricity, similar to the waste of a ship.

After we had proceeded a dozen yards, a second door opened before me.

I then entered a dining room decorated and furnished in severe taste.

High oak and sideboards inlaid with ebony stood at the two extremities of the room, and upon their shelves glittered china, porcelain, and glass of inestimable value.

The plate on the table sparkled in the rays which the luminous ceiling shed around, while the light was tempered and softened by exquisite paintings.

In the center of the room was a table richly laid out.

Captain Nemo indicated the place I was to occupy.

The breakfast consisted of a certain number of dishes, the contents of which were furnished by the sea alone, and I was ignorant of the nature and mode of preparation of some of them.

I acknowledged that they were good, but they had a peculiar flavor which I easily became accustomed to.

These different elements appeared to me to be rich in phosphorus, and I thought they must have a marine origin.

Captain Nemo looked at me.

I asked him no questions, but he guessed my thoughts and answered of his own accord the questions which I was burning to address to him.

The greater part of these dishes are unknown to you, he said to me.

However, you may partake of them without fear, they're wholesome and nourishing.

For a long time I've renounced the food of the earth and am never ill now my crew, who are healthier, fed on the same food.

So said I.

All these eatables are the produce of the sea?

Yes, professor, the sea supplies all my wants.

Sometimes I cast my nets in tow and I draw them in ready to break.

Sometimes I hunt in the midst of this element, which appears to be inaccessible to man and quarry, the game which dwells in my submarine forests.

My flocks, like those of Neptune's old shepherds, graze fearlessly in the immense prairies of the ocean.

I have a vast property there which I cultivate myself, and which is always sown by the hand of the creator of all things.

I can understand perfectly, sir, that your nets furnish excellent fish for your table.

I can understand also that you hunt aquatic game in your submarine forests.

But I cannot understand at all how a particle of meat, no matter how small, can figure in your bill of fare.

This, which you believe to be meat, professor, is nothing else than fillet of turtle.

Here are also some dolphin's livers, which you take to be rag out of pork.

My cook is a clever fellow who excels in dressing these various products of the ocean.

Taste all these dishes.

Here is the preserve of holothuria, which a malay would declare to be unrivaled in the world.

Here is a cream, of which the milk has been furnished by the cetacea and the sugar by the great fuchus of the North Sea.

And lastly, permit me to offer you some preserve of anemones, which is equal to that of the most delicious fruits.

I tasted more from curiosity than as a connoisseur, whilst Captain Nemo enchanted me with his extraordinary stories.

You like the sea, captain?

Yes, I love it.

The sea is everything.

It covers seven tenths of the terrestrial globe.

Its breath is pure and healthy.

It is an immense desert, where man is never lonely, for he feels life stirring on all sides.

The sea is only the embodiment of a supernatural and wonderful existence.

It is nothing but love and emotion.

It is the living infinite, as one of your poets has said.

In fact, professor, nature manifests herself in it by her three kingdoms, mineral, vegetable and animal.

The sea is a vast reservoir of nature.

The globe began with sea, so to speak.

And who knows if it will not end with it?

In it is supreme tranquility.

The sea does not belong to despots.

Upon its surface, men can still exercise unjust laws, fight, tear one another to pieces and be carried away with terrestrial horrors.

But at 30ft below its level, their rain ceases, their influence is quenched, and their power disappears.

Ah, sir, live is the bosom of the waters.

There only is independence.

There I recognize no masters.

There I am free.

Captain Nemo suddenly became silent in the midst of this enthusiasm, by which he was quite carried away.

For a few moments he paced up and down, much agitated.

Then he became more calm, regained his accustomed coldness of expression, and turning towards me now, professor, said he, if you wish to go over the nautilus, I'm at your service.

Captain Nemo rose.

I followed him.

A double door contrived at the back of the dining room opened, and I entered a room equal in dimensions to that which I had just quitted.

It was a library.

High pieces of furniture, a black violet ebony inlaid with brass, supported upon their wide shelves a great number of books, uniformly bound.

They followed the shape of the room, terminating at the lower part in huge divans covered with brown leather, which were curved to afford the greatest comfort light.

Movable desks, made to slide in and out at will, allowed one to rest one's book while reading.

In the center stood an immense table covered with pamphlets, amongst which were some newspapers already of old date.

The electric light flooded everything.

It was shed from four unpolished globes, half sunk in the volutes of the ceiling.

I looked with real admiration at this room, so ingeniously fitted up, and I could scarcely believe my eyes.

Captain Nemo, said I to my host, who had just thrown himself on one of the divans, this is a library which would do honor to more than one of the continental palaces, and I am absolutely astounded when I consider that it can follow you to the bottom of the seas.

Where could one find greater solitude or silence?

Professor, replied Captain Nemo, did your study in the museum afford you such perfect quiet?

No, sir, and I must confess that it is a very poor one.

After yours, you must have six or 7000 volumes here.

12,000 Monte Aranax.

These are the only ties which bind me to the earth.

But I had done with the world on the day when my Nautilus plunged for the first time beneath the waters.

That day I bought my last volumes, my last pamphlets, my last papers.

And from that time, I wish to think that men no longer think or write.

These books, professor, are at your service besides, and you can make use of them freely.

I thinked Captain Nemo and went up to the shelves of the library.

Works on science, morals, and literature abounded in every language, but I did not see one single work on political economy.

That subject appeared to be strictly prescribed strangely.

To say, all these books were regularly arranged in whatever language they were written.

And this medley proved that the captain of the Nautilus must have read indiscriminately the books which he took up by chance.

Sir, said I to the captain, I thank you for having placed this library at my disposal.

It contains treasures of science, and I shall profit by them.

This room is not only a library, said Captain Nemo, it is also a smoking room.

A smoking room?

I cried.

Then 1 may smoke on board.

Certainly.

Then, sir, I am forced to believe that you have kept up a communication with Havana.

Not any, answered the captain, except the cigar, Monsieur Aranax, and though it does not come from Havana, you'll be pleased with it if you are a connoisseur.

I took the cigar which was offered me.

Its shape were called the London ones, but it seemed to be made of leaves of gold.

I lighted it at a little brazier which was supported upon an elegant bronze stem, and drew the first whiffs with delight of a lover of smoking who has not smoked for two days.

It is excellent, but it is not tobacco.

No, answered the captain.

This tobacco comes neither from Havana nor from the east.

It is a kind of seaweed, rich in nicotine, with which the sea provides me.

But somewhat sparingly.

At that moment Captain Nemo opened a door which stood opposite to that by which I had entered the library, and I passed into an immense drawing room, splendidly lighted.

It was a vast, foresighted room, 30ft long, 18 wide and 15 high.

A luminous ceiling decorated with light arabesques shed a soft, clear light over all the marvels accumulated in this museum, for it was in fact a museum in which an intelligent and prodigal hand had gathered all the treasures of nature and art.

With the artistic confusion which distinguishes a painter's studio, 31st rate pictures, uniformly framed, separated by bright drapery, ornamented the walls, which were hung with tapestry of severe design.

I saw works of great value, the greater part of which I had admired in the special collections of Europe and in the exhibitions of paintings.

The several schools of the old masters were represented by a Madonna of Raphael, a virgin of Leonardo da Vinci, a nymph of Creggio, a woman of Titan, an adoration of Verones, an Assumption of Marillo, a portrait of Holbane, a monk of Lasquez, a martyr of Ribera, a fair of Rubens, two flemish landscapes of teners, three little genre pictures of Drardau, Metzu and Paul Potter, two specimens of Jericholt and Prudhan, and some sea pieces of back Houston and Vernet amongst the works of modern painters are pictures with the signatures of de la Croix, ingress de campes, Troyan, Messanier, Debogony, etc.

And some admirable statues and marble and bronze, after the finest antique models stood upon pedestals in the corners of this magnificent museum.

Amazement, as the captain of the nautilus had predicted, had already begun to take possession of me.

Professor, said the strange man, you must excuse the unceremonious way in which I receive you in the disorder of this room.

Sir, I answered without seeking to know who you are.

I recognize in you an artist, an amateur, nothing more.

Sir.

Formerly I loved to collect these beautiful works created by the hand of man.

I sought them greedily and ferreted them out indefatigably, and I have been able to bring together some objects of great value.

These are my last souvenirs of that world which is dead to me.

In my eyes.

Your modern artists are already old.

They have two or 3000 years of existence.

I confound them in my own mind.

Masters have no age.

And these musicians, said I, pointing out some works of Weber, Rossini, Mozart, Beethoven, Hayden, Mayor Byer, Harold Wagner, Ober Gurdnaud, and a number of others scattered over a large model piano organ which occupied one of the panels of the drawing room.

These musicians, replied, Captain Nemo, are the contemporaries of Orpheus, for in the memory of the dead all chronological differences are effaced.

And I am dead, professor, as much dead as those of your friends who are sleeping 6ft under the earth.

Captain Nemo was silent and seemed lost in a profound reverie.

I contemplated him with deep interest, analyzed in silence the strange expression of his countenance.

Leaning on his elbow against an angle of a costly mosaic table.

He no longer saw me.

He had forgotten my presence.

I did not disturb this reverie and continued my observation of the curiosities which enriched the strawing room.

Under elegant glass cases fixed by copper rivets were classed and labeled the most precious productions of the sea which had ever been presented to the eye of a naturalist.

My delight as a professor may be conceived.

The division containing the zooophytes presented the most curious specimens of the two groups of polypi and echidermies.

In the first group, the tubipores were gorgons arranged like a fan, soft sponges of Syria isis, of the molucas pinotules, and admirable vergulare of the norwegian seas variegated unbelierae alicianrie, a whole series of madripores which my master, Milne Edwards, had so cleverly classified, amongst which I remarked some wonderful flabulae oculi of the island of Bourbon, the Neptune's car of the antlees, superb varieties of corals, in short, every species of those curious polypy, of which entire islands are formed, which one day become continents of the echodermies, remarkable for their coating of spines.

Asteris, sea stars, pancurae comicules, aspherones, echi holothuri, etc.

Represented individually a complete collection of this group.

A somewhat nervous conchaologist would certainly have fainted before other more numerous cases, in which were classified the specimens of mollusks.

It was a collection of inesteemable value, which time fails me to describe minutely.

Among these specimens I will quote from memory only the elegant royal hammerfish of the Indian Ocean, whose regular white spots stood out brightly on a red and brown ground.

An imperior spondyle, brightly colored, bristling with spines.

A rare specimen in the european museums.

I estimated its value at not less than 1000 pounds.

A common hammerfish of the seas of New Holland, which is only procured with difficulty.

Exotic bucardia of Senegal.

Fragile white bivalved shells, which a breath might shatter like a soap bubble.

Several varieties of a spear gulem of java, a kind of calcirous tube, edged with leafy folds, and, much debated by amateurs, a whole series of trochai, some a greenish yellow, found in the american seas, others a reddish brown natives of australian waters others from the Gulf of Mexico, remarkable for their imbricated shell, stellari, found in the southern seas and last, the rarest of all, the magnificent spur of New Zealand and every description of delicate and fragile shells, to which science has given appropriate names apart.

In separate compartments were spread out chaplets of pearls of the greatest beauty, which reflected the electric light in little sparks of fire.

Pink pearls torn from the pina marina of the red sea green pearls of the halitide iris, yellow, blue and black pearls the curious productions of the diver's Molly's of every ocean, and certain mussels of the water courses of the north.

Lastly, several specimens of inesteemable value, which had been gathered from the rarest pentadines.

Some of these pearls were larger than a pigeon's egg, and were worth as much and more than that which the traveler tavanir sold to the Shah of Persia for three millions, and surpassed the one in the possession of the imam of musket, which I had believed to be unrivaled in the world.

Therefore, to estimate the value of this collection was simply impossible.

Captain Nemo must have expended millions in the acquirement of these various specimens.

And I was thinking what sorcerer could have drawn from to have been able thus to gratify his fancy for collecting, when I was interrupted by these words.

You are examining my shells, professor?

Unquestionably they must be interesting to a naturalist, but for me, they have a far greater charm, for I've collected them all with my own hand.

And there's not a sea on the face of the globe which has escaped my researches.

I can understand, captain, the delight of wandering about in the midst of such riches.

You are one of those who have collected their treasures themselves.

No museum in Europe possesses such a collection of the produce of the ocean, but if I exhaust all my admiration upon it, I shall have none left for the vessel which carries it.

I do not wish to pry into your secrets, but I must confess that this nautilus, with the motive power which is confined in it, the contrivances which enable it to be worked, the powerful agent which propels it, all, excite my curiosity to the highest pitch.

I see suspended on the walls of this room instruments of whose use I am ignorant.

You will find these same instruments in my own room, professor, where I shall have much pleasure in explaining their use to you.

But first, come inspect the cabin which is set apart for your own use.

You must see how you will be accommodated on board the nautilus.

I followed Captain Nemo, who, by one of the doors opening from each panel of the drawing room, regained the waste.

He conducted me towards the bow, and there I found not a cabin, but an elegant room with a bed, dressing table, and several other pieces of furniture.

I could only thank my host.

A room adjoins mine, said he, opening a door, and mine opens into the drawing room that we've just quitted.

I entered the captain's room.

It had a severe, almost monkish aspect, a small iron bedstead, a table, and some articles for the toilet, the hole lighted by a skylight.

No comforts, the strictest necessaries only.

Captain Nemo pointed to a seat.

Be so good as to sit down, he said.

I seated myself.

And he began thus, thank you for.

Joining bite at a time books today while we read a bite of one of your favorite classics.

Again.

My name is Brie Carlyle, and I hope you come back tomorrow for the.

Next bite of 20,000 leagues under the sea.

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