The Giant Squid

Chapter-11

Once we were safely in the waters of the Atlantic, everyone seemed to relax. That is, everyone except Captain Nemo. In the month that had passed since our escape from the Great Ice Barrier, he had left me totally alone in my studies and no longer came into the lounge to explain the wonders of the sea.
Towards the end of April, we were cruising below the surface of the Atlantic near the Bahama Islands. Through the windows, I saw the huge underwater cliffs that formed the base of this island group. These cliffs were hollowed out with deep caves where monstrous squid made their homes.
Suddenly, the Nautilus stopped. A blow made the ship tremble violently. Ned, Conseil and I rushed to the window, then froze.

There, before our eyes wriggled a terrible monster—a giant squid twenty-five feet long. The eight long snake-like tentacles coming out of its head were twisting about furiously. Suckers on the inside of each tentacle had fastened themselves to the window.
The monster’s mouth—a horny bebak—opened and closed rapidly. Its long body, with a bump in the middle, formed a huge fleshy mass which weighed at least 50,000 pounds.
Soon, several other squid appeared and swam all around the Nautilus, grinding their beaks against her steel hull.
Just then, Captain Nemo entered the lounge and closed the panels. He looked worried.
“Is something wrong, Captain?” I asked.
“Yes, Professor,” he said, “one of these squid has his horned beak caught in our propeller and we can’t move.”
“What can you do?” I asked.

“Surface the ship and wipe them out. But our bullets have no effect on their soft flesh, so we have to fight them hand to hand with axes.”
“And with a harpoon, Captain,” added Ned.
We left the lounge and joined the crew in the companionway. Captain Nemo gave everyone an axe. Then he popped the hatch.
Within seconds, a long tentacle slid down the opening towards us. Captain Nemo raised his axe and cut the wriggling arm in two.
As we made our way up the ladder, two other tentacles grabbed the sailor in front of the captain and pulled him out. Captain Nemo let out a cry and rushed up the ladder. The poor man was being clutched by the tentacles and waved about in the air. He was choking, but he managed to shout, “Help! Help!”
I was stunned to hear these words screamed out in French. So I did have a fellow countryman on board after all. And in his moment of death, he had forgotten the strange speech he had used on board. He had gasped his dying words in his native language.
But the poor man was done for. Nothing could save him from such a powerful grip. Nevertheless, Captain Nemo hurled himself at the squid and, with repeated blows of his axe, cut off seven of its tentacles. But just as he rushed at the eighth—the one crushing the sailor—the squid let out a spray of black ink. We were all blinded by it for several moments. When the spray cleared, the squid had disappeared, and with it, the unfortunate sailor.
Meanwhile, we were attacking the rest of the squid as they climbed up the sides of the ship. We chopped tentacles all around us amid sprays of blood and black ink.
Ned kept plunging his harpoon into the seagreen eyes of these monsters. But suddenly, he was knocked over by a tentacle from behind. The squid’s huge mouth opened over Ned and was about to cut him in two when Captain Nemo raced over and buried his axe between the squid’s enormous jaws. Ned jumped up and plunged his harpoon deep into the creature’s triple heart.
“I owed you his!” Captain Nemo called to Ned. “A squid for a shark!”
Ned bowed his head without answering.
By now, all the wounded or dead squid had disappeared into the sea.
Captain Nemo, covered with ink and blood, stood on the platform looking at the sea which had swallowed up one of his men. Tears ran down his cheeks.

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