“Are you a doctor, M. Aronnax?”
I so little expected such a question that I stared some time at him without answering.
“Are you a doctor?” he repeated. “Several of your colleagues have studied medicine.”
“Well,” said I, “I am a doctor and resident surgeon to the hospital. I practiced several years before entering the museum.”
“Very well, sir.”
My answer had evidently satisfied the captain. But not knowing what he would say next, I waited for other questions, reserving my answers according to circumstances.
“M. Aronnax, will you consent to prescribe for one of my men?” he asked.
“Is he ill?”
“Yes.”
“I am ready to follow you.”
“Come then.”
I own my heart beat, I do not know why. I saw a certain connection between the illness of one of the crew and the events of the day before; and this mystery interested me at least as much as the sick man.
Captain Nemo conducted me to the poop of the Nautilus, and took me into a cabin situated near the sailors’ quarters.
There, on a bed, lay a man about forty years of age, with a resolute expression of countenance, a true type of an Anglo-Saxon.
I leaned over him. He was not only ill, he was wounded. His head, swathed in bandages covered with blood, lay on a pillow. I undid the bandages, and the wounded man looked at me with his large eyes and gave no sign of pain as I did it. It was a horrible wound. The skull, shattered by some deadly weapon, left the brain exposed, which was much injured. Clots of blood had formed in the bruised and broken mass, in color like the dregs of wine.
There was both contusion and suffusion of the brain. His breathing was slow, and some spasmodic movements of the muscles agitated his face. I felt his pulse. It was intermittent. The extremities of the body were growing cold already, and I saw death must inevitably ensue. After dressing the unfortunate man’s wounds, I readjusted the bandages on his head, and turned to Captain Nemo.
“What caused this wound?” I asked.
“What does it signify?” he replied evasively. “A shock has broken one of the levers of the engine, which struck myself. But your opinion as to his state?”
I hesitated before giving it.
“You may speak,” said the captain. “This man does not understand French.”
I gave a last look at the wounded man.
“He will be dead in two hours.”
“Can nothing save him?”
“Nothing.”
Captain Nemo’s hand contracted, and some tears glistened in his eyes, which I thought incapable of shedding any.
For some moments I still watched the dying man, whose life ebbed slowly. His pallor increased under the electric light that was shed over his deathbed. I looked at his intelligent forehead, furrowed with premature wrinkles, produced probably by misfortune and sorrow. I tried to learn the secret of his life from the last words that escaped his lips.
“You can go now, M. Aronnax,” said the captain.
I left him in the dying man’s cabin, and returned to my room, much affected by this scene. During the whole day, I was haunted by uncomfortable suspicions, and at night I slept badly, and, between my broken dreams, I fancied I heard distant sighs like the notes of a funeral psalm. Were they the prayers of the dead, murmured in that language that I could not understand?
The next morning I went on to the bridge. Captain Nemo was there before me. As soon as he perceived me he came to me.
“Professor, will it be convenient to you to make a submarine excursion to-day?”
“With my companions?” I asked.
“If they like.”
“We obey your orders, captain.”
“Will you be so good, then, as to put on your cork-jackets?”
It was not a question of dead or dying. I rejoined Ned Land and Conseil, and told them of Captain Nemo’s proposition. Conseil hastened to accept it, and this time the Canadian seemed quite willing to follow our example.
It was eight o’clock in the morning. At half-past eight we were equipped for this new excursion, and provided with two contrivances for light and breathing. The double door was open; and accompanied by Captain Nemo, who was followed by a dozen of the crew, we set foot, at a depth of about thirty feet, on the solid bottom on which the Nautilus rested.