Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

by Deb Mercier

  “You have a boat?” you ask in surprise.

  “We use it for fishing,” says Captain Nemo.

  Your tour ends in the engine room. You pepper the captain with questions: How many men crew the ship? How fast can the submarine go? How can it dive so deep?

  He will not answer.

  ***

  Later, Ned and Conseil join you in your room.

  Ned immediately starts planning an escape. “Can you tell me how many men are on board?” he asks. “Ten, twenty, fifty, a hundred?”

  “I don’t know, Ned,” you answer. “And I think it would be best, at least for now, to give up on the idea of escaping. This ship is a masterpiece of technology. I wish to study it. Let’s wait and see what happens.”

  “What do you mean see?” snaps Ned. “We can see nothing in this iron prison!”

  The words hardly leave Ned’s mouth when the room goes suddenly black.

  You hear a grinding noise in the walls. Then light shines through two huge windows. The outside ocean is lit up by electric lights. You can see for a mile all around the Nautilus.

  Ned’s jaw drops, and he stares out the windows. Colorful fish, attracted by the electric lights, race with the submarine. You, Ned, and Conseil watch them for more than two hours before the panels slam shut. The electric lights of the room turn back on.

  Ned and Conseil go back to their own cabin, and you wait for Captain Nemo. He never appears. Even though the Nautilus is a wonder, you can’t help but feel uneasy about Captain Nemo. Who is he? Where does he come from? Why does he hate humanity, and what will he do because of it?

  You’re still not sure you made the correct choice in agreeing to stay on board, and you wish you had some answers to these burning questions. Is the captain up to no good? Should you demand to know more? Or should you trust that his secrets are not too terrible? What will you choose to do?

  Go and get answers.

  Stay in your room.

  You must do something. If Captain Nemo is plotting an evil scheme, you need to know. Besides, sitting in the drawing room is driving you crazy.

  Cautiously, you peer down the hallway outside the drawing room. It’s deserted.

  You walk slowly down the hall, pausing at each door and listening for the sound of voices. At the fourth door on the right, your efforts are rewarded. You hear a murmur of voices behind a heavy steel door. Nemo’s voice is among them.

  You take a deep breath and push the door open. Captain Nemo and some of his men sit around a long table. It looks as if they are having an important meeting of some sort.

  The captain’s face flushes a deep red, and he rises slowly from his seat. Everyone turns to stare at you.

  You clear your throat nervously. “Captain Nemo, I wanted to ask you some further questions.”

  Captain Nemo shakes his head. “It is just as I thought. You are more trouble than you are worth.” He shouts an order, and suddenly you are surrounded by stony-faced crewmen.

  From down the hall you hear sounds of a scuffle. You see Ned and Conseil dragged from their room. The three of you are marched roughly up the central staircase. The panel to the outside is thrown open. The harsh sea air hits your face with a sharp and salty tang.

  “Please,” you say. “I meant no harm!”

  The captain stares at you. His face is unreadable. He gives an order. You feel strong hands push you from behind. You tumble helplessly into the waiting waves of the Pacific Ocean.

  Saltwater fills your mouth as you struggle against the ocean swells. Eventually, the cold, dark water swallows you, and you disappear below the waves forever.

  Try again.

  5. Hunting Trip

  You have many concerns, but your excitement at being aboard the Nautilus makes you forget them. The days fly by as you study shells in the drawing room. You even begin to keep a journal.

  Captain Nemo isn’t seen for days. You, Ned, and Conseil wonder what’s become of him. Is he sick? Is he having second thoughts about keeping you on board? Then Ned and Conseil find a note on the table in your room. It reads:

  To Professor Arronax, on board the Nautilus. 16th of November, 1867. Captain Nemo invites Professor Arronax to a hunting party, which will take place tomorrow morning in the forests of the Island of Crespo. He will with pleasure see him joined by his companions.

  —Captain Nemo, Commander of the Nautilus.

  “A hunt!” exclaims Ned.

  “In the forests of the Island of Crespo!” adds Conseil.

  “Oh! Then the captain is going on land?” asks Ned.

  You study the letter. “It seems so,” you say.

  Ned can barely contain his excitement. “Once we’re on land, you know what we must do,” he says.

  “Let’s find out where this island is first,” you caution.

  ***

  The next morning, you find Captain Nemo waiting for you in the drawing room. He takes you to the dining room and advises you to eat a huge breakfast.

  You listen in amazement as he explains that you won’t be hunting on land. The forests of the Island of Crespo are actually underwater. You will be wearing special diving suits, with tanks of air. You’ll be able to stay underwater for nine to ten hours. And you will be using air guns that fire glass bullets filled with a shock of electricity.

  After breakfast, Captain Nemo leads you to a room at the back of the submarine. You stop for Ned and Conseil along the way.

  In the room, you see a dozen diving suits hanging on the wall.

  “Oh, great,” says Ned.

  “Come on,” you say. “The forests are underwater, that’s all.”

  Ned shakes his head. “Unless I am forced, I will never get into one of those things.”

  “No one will force you,” says Captain Nemo coldly.

  Ned hurries away in disgust and leaves you and Conseil to suit up, with help from a couple of crewmen. The suits are extremely heavy. You can’t even lift your feet. Before the helmet is put over your head and sealed, you ask Captain Nemo how you will get up from the bottom of the sea.

  Captain Nemo grins. “You’ll see.”

  A crewman seals your helmet to your suit, and all is deathly quiet. You feel yourself being pushed into a little room off the one you’re in.

  You, Conseil, Captain Nemo, and another diver are sealed in the room in complete darkness.

  Minutes pass. You hear a loud hissing. Cold grips you from your feet up to your chest. The room is soon filled with water, and another door slides open. You find yourself sinking downward. In an instant, your feet hit the ocean floor.

  You and Conseil follow Captain Nemo and his crewman. Your suit, which felt so heavy in the Nautilus, now feels weightless. You must be about thirty feet below the surface, and the sun’s rays reflect off the smooth, sandy floor. Down here, you can see as well as you could on land. Everywhere around you is life. Anemones, shells, plants, and coral form a colorful feast for your eyes. Your only frustration is that you can’t talk to Conseil about what you see.

  You walk through a plain filled with wild seaweed, and the ocean floor turns from smooth sand to gooey ooze. Your journey slowly angles downward. Soon the sun’s rays no longer reach you. Captain Nemo stops and points to a mass of dark shadows ahead. You have reached the forests of the Island of Crespo.

  The scenery looks strange. The forest is made up of large tree-plants, and everything grows straight up in rigid lines. Your eyes adjust to the darkness, but you still stumble over rocks sticking up from the forest floor.

  You realize that you have been walking for hours, and the thought makes you sleepy—something that happens to all divers. When Captain Nemo signals a stop, you sit down. Your eyes close behind the thick glass of your helmet, and you fall into a heavy sleep.

  ***

 
You wake with a start. A giant sea spider snaps its menacing pincers just feet away. Its legs are bent as if the spider is about to spring. Do you have time to flee, or will you stand and defend yourself? What will you choose to do?

  Turn and run.

  Stand and fight.

  You get to your feet and try to run, forgetting that you are underwater. It feels like a nightmare in which you cannot make your legs move fast enough.

  You are moving in slow motion, and now your back is exposed to the spider. It leaps on top of you.

  Your own screams fill your helmet as you call for help. But the metal mask muffles your cries.

  The spider bears down on you with gaping jaws. You feel a searing pain in your back as the spider rips your diving suit open like a piece of paper.

  Water rushes into your suit, and you feel a sudden, crushing weight. You can no longer move. You can no longer scream. The end comes quickly.

  Try again.

  The spider looms over you with glittering eyes. Its fearsome pincers swipe toward you, but you will not run. You throw your hands up to block the pincers.

  Captain Nemo leaps to your aid. He swats the spider with his gun and knocks it over. Its claws swing back and forth, but the spider does not rise again. It is stuck on its back—at least for now.

  You shiver as Captain Nemo leads you further into the forest. You wonder if there may be animals even scarier than the spider haunting these depths.

  You reach a narrow valley, and the darkness deepens. Ten paces into the valley, you can’t see your hand in front of your face. Captain Nemo turns on the light at his belt. You and Conseil do the same. You imagine creatures emerging from the dark and moving into your circle of light. Several times you see Captain Nemo stop and put his gun to his shoulder. You hold your breath each time, but he always moves on after a moment.

  Finally, after hours of walking, you reach a gigantic heap of rocks. It rises straight up to the surface of the sea. Captain Nemo signals everyone to stop, and you decide this must be the Island of Crespo.

  Your heart beats wildly—you’ve actually reached land. But any thoughts of escape are useless. As much as you want your freedom back, the Island of Crespo is basically a huge, empty rock.

  You follow as Captain Nemo turns around and begins the return hike. He leads you on a very steep, new route. Soon the light begins to grow. The sun is low on the horizon, and it makes ghostly rings in the water. Only ten and a half yards beneath the waves, you walk through an explosion of little fish.

  Suddenly, the captain shoulders his gun and follows a moving object into the shrubs. He fires. You hear a hissing sound as the bullet races though the water. A creature falls, and you recognize it as a sea otter—five feet long with beautiful sleek fur and white whiskers. It is a fine catch, but you feel a pang of regret. The sea otter is an endangered animal, hunted almost to extinction.

  Captain Nemo’s crewman throws the otter over his shoulder, and your journey back to the Nautilus continues. You travel over rolling hills, and sometimes you rise to within two yards of the surface.

  Smooth sand gives way to fields of algae, green muck that stirs with every step. You become more and more tired. Just when you feel like you can go no further, you see a glimmer of light in the distance: the Nautilus. You breathe a sigh of relief.

  Captain Nemo turns back to you, and you see his grim face through his helmet. You begin to feel afraid, when he suddenly runs toward you. He grabs your arm and throws you to the ground. You see his crewman do the same to Conseil.

  What is Nemo up to? Is this some new sort of test? Is he planning to harm you? Or do you misunderstand his intentions? If he means to kill you, your only hope is to defend yourself. But if his intentions are kind, fighting him will only lead to trouble. So will you fight back, or will you trust the captain? What will you choose to do?

  Fight back.

  Trust the captain.

  You try to shake the Captain off you. You even land a punch or two against him. But he does not budge. He shouts, trying to say something to you. Of course, you cannot hear him.

  Suddenly, two enormous shadows pass in front of you. Your blood freezes as you spot two sharks. They are large enough to crush a whole man in their iron jaws, and they are circling you. Your struggle with Captain Nemo has drawn their attention.

  You stand as still as a statue. So does the captain. You can see the worry in his eyes through the thick glass of his helmet. You wonder why he doesn’t shoot at them, and you decide the bullets must be useless against such large animals.

  You wait in horrible silence, watching the sharks’ every move. A row of razor sharp teeth darts at you. With the suit on, you are too slow to avoid the shark’s lunge. Soon, your suit is being torn to shreds. Water rushes in and pushes out the last of your air. After that, the end comes quickly.

  Try again.

  You let the captain drag you to the ground. Instead of attacking, he lies down beside you.

  An enormous shadow passes directly in front of you. Your blood freezes. Two gigantic sharks, large enough to crush a whole man in their iron jaws, circle the area. Luckily, they don’t see well. They eventually swim away without noticing you.

  You’re still shaking when you reach the Nautilus. You enter the submarine through the outside door. Captain Nemo closes it behind you and presses a knob. You hear pumps working and feel the water sinking around you. In a few moments, the small room is empty.

  You are led into the room where the suits are stored. You struggle out of your suit. Tired from lack of food and sleep, you stumble back to your cabin in a daze. You fall into a deep sleep and dream of sharks.

  6. Adventures on Land and at Sea

  Christmas comes and goes, marked only by Ned’s anger at being kept from his family. On the morning of New Year’s Day, Conseil joins you on the submarine’s platform. “Happy New Year, Professor,” he says.

  “What do you mean by happy, Conseil?” you say sadly. “Do you mean that this year will bring us to the end of our imprisonment?”

  “I don’t know how to answer that,” admits Conseil.

  You have traveled 11,340 miles, or 5,250 leagues, under the sea. You are within sight of the Papuan coasts. Captain Nemo sends you a short message. He is going to leave the Pacific and enter the Indian Ocean through the dangerous Strait of Torres.

  This stretch of water is wide but full of small islands and underwater rocks. Many ships have sunk beneath the strait’s waters. Captain Nemo keeps to the surface, and the Nautilus moves slowly forward. You, Ned, and Conseil stand on the platform, watching the breaking waves of a furious sea.

  Ned points ahead. “I hope the captain is sure of what he’s doing. I see pieces of coral that would rip the hull open with the slightest touch!”

  To avoid some underwater rocks, the Nautilus makes a sharp turn and aims toward the Island of Gilboa. But moments later, the ship grinds to a shuddering halt. You, Ned, and Conseil are slammed to the platform.

  The submarine tilts dangerously to port. Luckily, you all manage to keep a hand on the rail and save yourselves from being thrown into the sea. The Nautilus rocks back to a more neutral position, and the three of you are able to stand again.

  Captain Nemo and a crewman climb onto the platform. They talk in their strange language as they peer over the sides of the Nautilus. It is stuck solid. You can see there’s no real damage to the vessel, but it isn’t moving; it’s caught on some coral. Captain Nemo approaches you, as Ned and Conseil cautiously look over the edge.

  “An accident?” you ask calmly.

  The captain replies smoothly, “An incident.”

  Captain Nemo tells you that in five days the moon will be full. The tides will lift the Nautilus free. He and the crewman then climb below, leaving you to tell Ned and Conseil what he has said.

  “The
moon will free us? You’ve got to be kidding me,” says Ned.

  You shrug.

  “This piece of iron will never dive again. It is only fit to be sold for its weight,” says Ned. He pauses and adds, “I think the time has come to part company with Captain Nemo.”

  The Island of Gilboa is only two miles away, but you argue with Ned about the dangers of trying to escape. The island is not like Europe or America. You don’t know whether people live there, or if they will be friendly.

  Ned urges you to ask the captain if the three of you can at least take the small boat to the island to do some real hunting. Conseil agrees with Ned. He says he longs to walk on solid ground and eat something—anything—other than seafood.

  You already fear Captain Nemo. He seems to be hiding some dangerous secrets, and you don’t want him to think you’ve become a problem. But you do trust Conseil’s opinion, and a hunting trip could help lessen Ned’s anger. Will you keep your friends happy and ask Captain Nemo? Or will you play it safe and not risk angering him? What will you choose to do?

  Ask Captain Nemo.

  Refuse to ask him.

  “I won’t risk the captain’s anger,” you say. “Asking him for favors is dangerous. He’s unstable as it is. He’s hiding secrets from us.”

  Ned’s lips set in a grim line. “I see.”

  Conseil looks at you sadly and follows Ned as he descends into the submarine.

  ***

  The next day, you wake to find Ned and Conseil gone—along with the small boat. You find Captain Nemo in the drawing room and ask him about it.

  “Your companions wished to see the island. I saw no harm in their request,” he says. He won’t say another word on the subject.

  You spend a restless day pacing the platform. Ned and Conseil don’t return by nightfall.