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In its agony the whale reared its tail high out of the water, and the flukes whirled for a moment like a great fan just above the harpooner's head. One glance up was enough to show him that certain death was descending. In an instant he dived over the side and disappeared.
The harpooner's family was originally from Quebec, and was already a tribe of hardy fishermen when this town belonged to France. Little by little, Ned Land acquired a taste for chatting, and I loved to hear the recital of his adventures in the polar seas.
Almost worst of all, I suffered at thought of the harpooner's tongue, as last I had seen it lying on the sand and covered with sand. O Kanaka Oolea, what animals young men are with the drink! Not until they have grown old, like you and me, do they control their wantonness of thirst and drink sparingly, like you and me." "Because we have to," Hardman Pool rejoined.
"Friend Ned," asked Conseil, "what would you have said if the breakfast had been entirely forgotten?" This argument cut short the harpooner's recriminations. We sat down to table. The meal was eaten in silence. Just then the luminous globe that lighted the cell went out, and left us in total darkness. Ned Land was soon asleep, and what astonished me was that Conseil went off into a heavy slumber.
Some promising opportunity might come up, and I don't see what could stop us from taking advantage of it. If there are only about twenty men on board this machine, I don't think they can stave off two Frenchmen and a Canadian!" It seemed wiser to accept the harpooner's proposition than to debate it. Accordingly, I was content to reply: "Let such circumstances come, Mr. Land, and we'll see.
"No vehement phrases will leave my mouth, no vicious gestures will give my feelings away, not even when they don't feed us on time." "I have your word, Ned," I answered the Canadian. Then our conversation petered out, and each of us withdrew into his own thoughts. For my part, despite the harpooner's confident talk, I admit that I entertained no illusions.
The sight of the sand on it made me sick for the second time. It is a terrible thing, the next day after a night of drinking. I was afire, dry afire, all the inside of me like a burnt cinder, like aa lava, like the harpooner's tongue dry and gritty with sand.
"What if we don't return to the Nautilus this evening?" Conseil said. "What if we never return to it?" Ned Land added. Just then a stone whizzed toward us, landed at our feet, and cut short the harpooner's proposition. The Lightning Bolts of Captain Nemo WITHOUT STANDING UP, we stared in the direction of the forest, my hand stopping halfway to my mouth, Ned Land's completing its assignment.
"Suppose we do not return to the Nautilus this evening?" said Conseil. "Suppose we never return?" added Ned Land. Just then a stone fell at our feet and cut short the harpooner's proposition. We looked at the edge of the forest without rising, my hand stopping in the action of putting it to my mouth, Ned Land's completing its office.
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