But we could not stop.We must follow the Captain,who seemed to guide him self by paths known only to himself.
The ground was sensibly rising,and sometimes,on holding up my arm,it was above the surface of the sea.
Then the level of the bank would sink capriciously.
Often we rounded high rocks scarped into pyramids.
In their dark fractures huge crustacea,perched upon their high claws like some war-machine,watched us with fixed eyes,and under our feet crawled various kinds of annelides.
At this moment there opened before us a large grotto dug in a picturesque heap of rocks and carpeted with all the thick warp of the submarine flora.
At first it seemed very dark to me.The solar rays seemed to be extinguished by successive gradations,until its vague transparency became nothing more than drowned light.Captain Nemo entered;we followed.
My eyes soon accustomed themselves to this relative state of darkness.
I could distinguish the arches springing capriciously from natural pillars,standing broad upon their granite base,like the heavy columns of Tuscan architecture.Why had our incomprehensible guide led us to the bottom of this submarine crypt?I was soon to know.After descending a rather sharp declivity,our feet trod the bottom of a kind of circular pit.
There Captain Nemo stopped,and with his hand indicated an object I had not yet perceived.I t was an oyster of extraordinary dimensions,a gigantic tridacne,a goblet which could have contained a whole lake of holy-water,a basin the breadth of which was more than two yards and a half,and consequently larger than that ornamenting the saloon of the Nautilus.
I approached this extraordinary mollusc.I t adhered by its filaments to a table of granite,and there,isolated,it developed itself in the calm waters of the grotto.I estimated the weight of this tridacne at 600lb.
Such an oyster would contain 30lb.of meat;and one must have the stomach of a Gargantua to demolish some dozens of them.
Captain Nemo was evidently acquainted with the existence of this bivalve,and seemed to have a particular motive in verifying the actual state of this tridacne.The shells were a little open;the Captain came near and put his dagger between to prevent them from closing;then with his hand he raised the membrane with its fringed edges,which formed a cloak for the creature.There,between the folded plaits,I saw a loose pearl,whose size equalled that of a coco-nut.I ts globular shape,perfect clearness,and admirable lustre made it altogether a jewel of inestimable value.
Carried away by my curiosity,I stretched out my hand to seize it,weigh it,and touch it;but the Captain stopped me,made a sign of refusal,and quickly withdrew his dagger,and the two shells closed suddenly.
I then understood Captain Nemo's intention.I n leaving this pearl hidden in the mantle of the tridacne he was allowing it to grow slowly.
Each year the secretions of the mollusc would add new concentric circles.
I estimated its value at L500,000at least.
After ten minutes Captain Nemo stopped suddenly.
I thought he had halted previously to returning.No;by a gesture he bade us crouch beside him in a deep fracture of the rock,his hand pointed to one part of the liquid mass,which I watched attentively.
About five yards from me a shadow appeared,and sank to the ground.
The disquieting idea of sharks shot through my mind,but I was mistaken;and once again it was not a monster of the ocean that we had anything to do with.
It was a man,a living man,an I ndian,a fisherman,a poor devil who,I suppose,had come to glean before the harvest.
I could see the bottom of his canoe anchored some feet above his head.
He dived and went up successively.Astone held between his feet,cut in the shape of a sugar loaf,whilst a rope fastened him to his boat,helped him to descend more rapidly.This was all his apparatus.
Reaching the bottom,about five yards deep,he went on his knees and filled his bag with oysters picked up at random.Then he went up,emptied it,pulled up his stone,and began the operation once more,which lasted thirty seconds.
The diver did not see us.The shadow of the rock hid us from sight.
And how should this poor I ndian ever dream that men,beings like himself,should be there under the water watching his movements and losing no detail of the fishing?Several times he went up in this way,and dived again.
He did not carry away more than ten at each plunge,for he was obliged to pull them from the bank to which they adhered by means of their strong byssus.
And how many of those oysters for which he risked his life had no pearl in them!I watched him closely;his manoeuvres were regular;and for the space of half an hour no danger appeared to threaten him.
I was beginning to accustom myself to the sight of this interesting fishing,when suddenly,as the Indian was on the ground,I saw him make a gesture of terror,rise,and make a spring to return to the surface of the sea.
I understood his dread.Agigantic shadow appeared just above the unfortunate diver.I t was a shark of enormous size advancing diagonally,his eyes on fire,and his jaws open.