Chapter-10
We now had to make plans for leaving, since March 21 was the beginning of the long polar night. It would be another six months before the sun shone here again.
The Nautilus’ air tanks were filled and it slowly sank beneath the surface. We began heading north again.
At three o’clock the next morning, a violent blow threw me out of bed. The ship was leaning on its side, but I managed to crawl into the lounge. Ned and Conseil were there.
We sat stunned for several minutes until Captain Nemo came rushing in.
“Have we had an accident?” I asked
“Yes, Monsieur, an accident of Nature. It seems that an enormours iceberg has turned over. As its base rose up, it trapped us between that base and the underside of the ice on the surface. We are in a kind of ice tunnel, Professor, but the Nautilus can still get out by moving forward or backward.”
Just then, the propeller started up and we were underway, travelling forward at high speed. But two hours later, the Nautilus collided with something ahead. It was a wall of ice. There was not enough room in the tunnel to turn around, so the engines were reversed, and we began moving backward.
For three hours, the Nautilus sped south through the ice tunnel, but at 8:00 a.m. a second collision took place.
Captain Nemo entered the lounge in his diving suit and explained, “Our route to the south is now blocked too. The iceberg has closed off every opening. But we shall not die without trying everything possible first. We still have a three-day supply of air, and we shall breathe it as we try cutting ourselves out through the walls of ice.”
Ned then spoke up, “Captain Nemo, I’m as good with a pickaxe as I am with a harpoon.”
“Thank you, Mr. Land,” said the captain, “We shall need everyone’s help. My men and I have just been checking the thickness of the ice outside. Above us, it is 1,300 feet thick, on the sides, 50 feet thick, and below us, 30 feet thick. Therefore, we shall start digging a trench on the floor of the ice off to the side of the ship.”
Ned left with the captain to join the first group at work. After two hours, Conseil and I joined the second group.
We alternated shifts for the next twelve hours, but we were able to remove only three feet of ice. If work continued at this rate, we would need five nights and four days to cut through the ice. But we only had two days of air left in the reservoirs.
And then, even if we managed to dig ourselves free, who knew how long it would be until we could surface and get fresh air?
By the next day, the ice overhead and on the sides of the tunnel had frozen thicker. How long would it be before the walls and ceiling came together and crushed us?
The air on board was becoming more and more difficult to breathe. Whatever was in the tanks had to be saved for the men working out on the ice. But even that supply would be empty the day after tomorrow.
Hour after hour, we chopped away at the ice. Thirteen feet remained, the ten, then six. But the air reservoirs were now almost empty. The two days were up.
The men on the ship were overcome with a terrible weariness from the lack of fresh air. Some were unconscious and a few were close to death.
Still, three feet of ice remained. The work was going too slowly for us to survive. Then Captain Nemo decided to try crushing the last three feet of ice with the ship itself. Even though he was breathing as little air as we were, he still managed to think, plan and act.
He raised the Nautilus off the ice where it had been resting and moved it over above the trench. Water was pumped into the reservoirs to increase the ship’s weight.
Slowly, the Nautilus began to sink. We waited and listened and prayed. I was dizzy from the lack of air, but I soon heard the ice tremble and crack beneath us.
“We’re going through,” Conseil murmured in my ear. I was too weak to answer, but I squeezed his hand to let him know I heard.
As soon as we were free in the water, the ship started travelling north at a terrifying speed. But how long would it take to reach the other side of the Great Ice Barrier where we could surface? Another day? I would be dead before then.
My face was purple, my lips were blue, and my mind was no longer able to think. I couldn’t hear or see anything. As the hours passed, I felt death approaching us.
“Hold on, Monsieur,” whispered Conseil, “We are below an ice field now, and the captain is going to try to break through.”
I felt the ship slant upward and heard the roar of its powerful engines. On the first try, the ice cracked a little. We went back down and struck again at full speed. An opening! Finally, with one last effort, we rushed up and broke through to the surface. The hatch sprang open, and pure air came flooding into the Nautilus!
