The weather—if we may use that term—will change before long. The atmosphere is charged with vapours, pervaded1 with the electricity generated by the evaporation2 of saline waters. The clouds are sinking lower, and assume an olive hue3. The electric light can scarcely penetrate4 through the dense5 curtain which has dropped over the theatre on which the battle of the elements is about to be waged.
I feel peculiar7 sensations, like many creatures on earth at the approach of violent atmospheric8 changes. The heavily voluted cumulus clouds lower gloomily and threateningly; they wear that implacable look which I have sometimes noticed at the outbreak of a great storm. The air is heavy; the sea is calm.
In the distance the clouds resemble great bales of cotton, piled up in picturesque9 disorder10. By degrees they dilate11, and gain in huge size what they lose in number. Such is their ponderous12 weight that they cannot rise from the horizon; but, obeying an impulse from higher currents, their dense consistency13 slowly yields. The gloom upon them deepens; and they soon present to our view a ponderous mass of almost level surface. From time to time a fleecy tuft of mist, with yet some gleaming light left upon it, drops down upon the dense floor of grey, and loses itself in the opaque14 and impenetrable mass.
The atmosphere is evidently charged and surcharged with electricity. My whole body is saturated15; my hair bristles16 just as when you stand upon an insulated stool under the action of an electrical machine. It seems to me as if my companions, the moment they touched me, would receive a severe shock like that from an electric eel6.
At ten in the morning the symptoms of storm become aggravated17. The wind never lulls18 but to acquire increased strength; the vast bank of heavy clouds is a huge reservoir of fearful windy gusts19 and rushing storms.
I am loth to believe these atmospheric menaces, and yet I cannot help muttering:
"Here's some very bad weather coming on."
The Professor made no answer. His temper is awful, to judge from the working of his features, as he sees this vast length of ocean unrolling before him to an indefinite extent. He can only spare time to shrug20 his shoulders viciously.
"There's a heavy storm coming on," I cried, pointing towards the horizon. "Those clouds seem as if they were going to crush the sea."
A deep silence falls on all around. The lately roaring winds are hushed into a dead calm; nature seems to breathe no more, and to be sinking into the stillness of death. On the mast already I see the light play of a lambent St. Elmo's fire; the outstretched sail catches not a breath of wind, and hangs like a sheet of lead. The rudder stands motionless in a sluggish21, waveless sea. But if we have now ceased to advance why do we yet leave that sail loose, which at the first shock of the tempest may capsize us in a moment?
"Let us reef the sail and cut the mast down!" I cried. "That will be safest."
"No, no! Never!" shouted my impetuous uncle. "Never! Let the wind catch us if it will! What I want is to get the least glimpse of rock or shore, even if our raft should be smashed into shivers!"
The words were hardly out of his mouth when a sudden change took place in the southern sky. The piled-up vapours condense into water; and the air, put into violent action to supply the vacuum left by the condensation22 of the mists, rouses itself into a whirlwind. It rushes on from the farthest recesses23 of the vast cavern24. The darkness deepens; scarcely can I jot25 down a few hurried notes. The helm makes a bound. My uncle falls full length; I creep close to him. He has laid a firm hold upon a rope, and appears to watch with grim satisfaction this awful display of elemental strife26.
Hans stirs not. His long hair blown by the pelting27 storm, and laid flat across his immovable countenance28, makes him a strange figure; for the end of each lock of loose flowing hair is tipped with little luminous29 radiations. This frightful30 mask of electric sparks suggests to me, even in this dizzy excitement, a comparison with pre-adamite man, the contemporary of the ichthyosaurus and the megatherium. [1]
The mast yet holds firm. The sail stretches tight like a bubble ready to burst. The raft flies at a rate that I cannot reckon, but not so fast as the foaming33 clouds of spray which it dashes from side to side in its headlong speed.
"The sail! the sail!" I cry, motioning to lower it.
"No!" replies my uncle.
But now the rain forms a rushing cataract35 in front of that horizon toward which we are running with such maddening speed. But before it has reached us the rain cloud parts asunder36, the sea boils, and the electric fires are brought into violent action by a mighty37 chemical power that descends38 from the higher regions. The most vivid flashes of lightning are mingled39 with the violent crash of continuous thunder. Ceaseless fiery40 arrows dart41 in and out amongst the flying thunder-clouds; the vaporous mass soon glows with incandescent42 heat; hailstones rattle43 fiercely down, and as they dash upon our iron tools they too emit gleams and flashes of lurid44 light. The heaving waves resemble fiery volcanic45 hills, each belching46 forth47 its own interior flames, and every crest48 is plumed49 with dancing fire. My eyes fail under the dazzling light, my ears are stunned50 with the incessant51 crash of thunder. I must be bound to the mast, which bows like a reed before the mighty strength of the storm.
(Here my notes become vague and indistinct. I have only been able to find a few which I seem to have jotted52 down almost unconsciously. But their very brevity and their obscurity reveal the intensity53 of the excitement which dominated me, and describe the actual position even better than my memory could do.)
Sunday, 23.—Where are we? Driven forward with a swiftness that cannot be measured.
The night was fearful; no abatement54 of the storm. The din55 and uproar56 are incessant; our ears are bleeding; to exchange a word is impossible.
The lightning flashes with intense brilliancy, and never seems to cease for a moment. Zigzag57 streams of bluish white fire dash down upon the sea and rebound58, and then take an upward flight till they strike the granite59 vault60 that overarches our heads. Suppose that solid roof should crumble61 down upon our heads! Other flashes with incessant play cross their vivid fires, while others again roll themselves into balls of living fire which explode like bombshells, but the music of which scarcely-adds to the din of the battle strife that almost deprives us of our senses of hearing and sight; the limit of intense loudness has been passed within which the human ear can distinguish one sound from another. If all the powder magazines in the world were to explode at once, we should hear no more than we do now.
From the under surface of the clouds there are continual emissions62 of lurid light; electric matter is in continual evolution from their component63 molecules64; the gaseous65 elements of the air need to be slaked66 with moisture; for innumerable columns of water rush upwards67 into the air and fall back again in white foam32.
Whither are we flying? My uncle lies full length across the raft.
The heat increases. I refer to the thermometer; it indicates . . . (the figure is obliterated).
Monday, August 24.—Will there be an end to it? Is the atmospheric condition, having once reached this density68, to become final?
We are prostrated69 and worn out with fatigue70. But Hans is as usual. The raft bears on still to the south-east. We have made two hundred leagues since we left Axel Island.
At noon the violence of the storm redoubles. We are obliged to secure as fast as possible every article that belongs to our cargo71. Each of us is lashed72 to some part of the raft. The waves rise above our heads.
For three days we have never been able to make each other hear a word. Our mouths open, our lips move, but not a word can be heard. We cannot even make ourselves heard by approaching our mouth close to the ear.
My uncle has drawn73 nearer to me. He has uttered a few words. They seem to be 'We are lost'; but I am not sure.
At last I write down the words: "Let us lower the sail."
He nods his consent.
Scarcely has he lifted his head again before a ball of fire has bounded over the waves and lighted on board our raft. Mast and sail flew up in an instant together, and I saw them carried up to prodigious74 height, resembling in appearance a pterodactyle, one of those strong birds of the infant world.
We lay there, our blood running cold with unspeakable terror. The fireball, half of it white, half azure75 blue, and the size of a ten-inch shell, moved slowly about the raft, but revolving76 on its own axis77 with astonishing velocity78, as if whipped round by the force of the whirlwind. Here it comes, there it glides79, now it is up the ragged80 stump81 of the mast, thence it lightly leaps on the provision bag, descends with a light bound, and just skims the powder magazine. Horrible! we shall be blown up; but no, the dazzling disk of mysterious light nimbly leaps aside; it approaches Hans, who fixes his blue eye upon it steadily82; it threatens the head of my uncle, who falls upon his knees with his head down to avoid it. And now my turn comes; pale and trembling under the blinding splendour and the melting heat, it drops at my feet, spinning silently round upon the deck; I try to move my foot away, but cannot.
A suffocating83 smell of nitrogen fills the air, it enters the throat, it fills the lungs. We suffer stifling84 pains.
Why am I unable to move my foot? Is it riveted85 to the planks86? Alas87! the fall upon our fated raft of this electric globe has magnetised every iron article on board. The instruments, the tools, our guns, are clashing and clanking violently in their collisions with each other; the nails of my boots cling tenaciously88 to a plate of iron let into the timbers, and I cannot draw my foot away from the spot. At last by a violent effort I release myself at the instant when the ball in its gyrations was about to seize upon it, and carry me off my feet ….
Ah! what a flood of intense and dazzling light! the globe has burst, and we are deluged89 with tongues of fire!
Then all the light disappears. I could just see my uncle at full length on the raft, and Hans still at his helm and spitting fire under the action of the electricity which has saturated him.
But where are we going to? Where?
* * * *
Tuesday, August 25.—I recover from a long swoon. The storm continues to roar and rage; the lightnings dash hither and thither90, like broods of fiery serpents filling all the air. Are we still under the sea? Yes, we are borne at incalculable speed. We have been carried under England, under the channel, under France, perhaps under the whole of Europe.
* * * *
A fresh noise is heard! Surely it is the sea breaking upon the rocks!
But then . . . .
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1
pervaded
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| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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2
evaporation
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| n.蒸发，消失 | |
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3
hue
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| n.色度；色调；样子 | |
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4
penetrate
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| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
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5
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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6
eel
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| n.鳗鲡 | |
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7
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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8
atmospheric
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| adj.大气的，空气的；大气层的；大气所引起的 | |
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9
picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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10
disorder
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| n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调 | |
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11
dilate
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| vt.使膨胀，使扩大 | |
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12
ponderous
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| adj.沉重的，笨重的，(文章)冗长的 | |
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13
consistency
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| n.一贯性，前后一致，稳定性；(液体的)浓度 | |
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14
opaque
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| adj.不透光的；不反光的，不传导的；晦涩的 | |
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15
saturated
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| a.饱和的，充满的 | |
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16
bristles
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| 短而硬的毛发，刷子毛( bristle的名词复数 ) | |
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17
aggravated
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| 使恶化( aggravate的过去式和过去分词 )； 使更严重； 激怒； 使恼火 | |
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18
lulls
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| n.间歇期（lull的复数形式）vt.使镇静，使安静（lull的第三人称单数形式） | |
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19
gusts
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| 一阵强风( gust的名词复数 )； （怒、笑等的）爆发； （感情的）迸发； 发作 | |
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20
shrug
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| v.耸肩(表示怀疑、冷漠、不知等) | |
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21
sluggish
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| adj.懒惰的，迟钝的，无精打采的 | |
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22
condensation
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| n.压缩，浓缩；凝结的水珠 | |
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23
recesses
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| n.壁凹( recess的名词复数 )；（工作或业务活动的）中止或暂停期间；学校的课间休息；某物内部的凹形空间v.把某物放在墙壁的凹处( recess的第三人称单数 )；将（墙）做成凹形，在（墙）上做壁龛；休息，休会，休庭 | |
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24
cavern
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| n.洞穴，大山洞 | |
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25
jot
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| n.少量；vi.草草记下；vt.匆匆写下 | |
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26
strife
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| n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争 | |
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27
pelting
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| 微不足道的，无价值的，盛怒的 | |
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28
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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29
luminous
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| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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31
mammoth
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| n.长毛象；adj.长毛象似的，巨大的 | |
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32
foam
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| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
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33
foaming
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| adj.布满泡沫的；发泡 | |
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leisurely
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| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
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35
cataract
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| n.大瀑布，奔流，洪水，白内障 | |
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36
asunder
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| adj.分离的，化为碎片 | |
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37
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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38
descends
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| v.下来( descend的第三人称单数 )；下去；下降；下斜 | |
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39
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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40
fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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41
dart
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| v.猛冲，投掷；n.飞镖，猛冲 | |
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42
incandescent
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| adj.遇热发光的， 白炽的，感情强烈的 | |
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43
rattle
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| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
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44
lurid
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| adj.可怕的；血红的；苍白的 | |
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45
volcanic
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| adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的 | |
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46
belching
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| n. 喷出，打嗝 动词belch的现在分词形式 | |
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47
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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48
crest
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| n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖 | |
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49
plumed
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| 饰有羽毛的 | |
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50
stunned
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| adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
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51
incessant
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| adj.不停的，连续的 | |
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52
jotted
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| v.匆忙记下( jot的过去式和过去分词 )；草草记下，匆匆记下 | |
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53
intensity
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| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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54
abatement
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| n.减(免)税，打折扣，冲销 | |
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55
din
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| n.喧闹声，嘈杂声 | |
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56
uproar
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| n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸 | |
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57
zigzag
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| n.曲折，之字形；adj.曲折的，锯齿形的；adv.曲折地，成锯齿形地；vt.使曲折；vi.曲折前行 | |
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58
rebound
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| v.弹回；n.弹回，跳回 | |
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59
granite
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| adj.花岗岩，花岗石 | |
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60
vault
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| n.拱形圆顶，地窖，地下室 | |
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61
crumble
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| vi.碎裂，崩溃；vt.弄碎，摧毁 | |
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62
emissions
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| 排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体） | |
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63
component
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| n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的 | |
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64
molecules
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| 分子( molecule的名词复数 ) | |
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gaseous
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| adj.气体的，气态的 | |
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slaked
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| v.满足( slake的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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density
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| n.密集，密度，浓度 | |
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69
prostrated
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| v.使俯伏，使拜倒( prostrate的过去式和过去分词 )；（指疾病、天气等）使某人无能为力 | |
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70
fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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71
cargo
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| n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
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72
lashed
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| adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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73
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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prodigious
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| adj.惊人的，奇妙的；异常的；巨大的；庞大的 | |
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75
azure
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| adj.天蓝色的，蔚蓝色的 | |
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76
revolving
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| adj.旋转的，轮转式的；循环的v.（使）旋转( revolve的现在分词 )；细想 | |
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77
axis
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| n.轴，轴线，中心线；坐标轴，基准线 | |
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78
velocity
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| n.速度，速率 | |
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79
glides
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| n.滑行( glide的名词复数 )；滑音；音渡；过渡音v.滑动( glide的第三人称单数 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
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80
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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81
stump
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| n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走 | |
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82
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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suffocating
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| a.使人窒息的 | |
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84
stifling
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| a.令人窒息的 | |
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85
riveted
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| 铆接( rivet的过去式和过去分词 )； 把…固定住； 吸引； 引起某人的注意 | |
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86
planks
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| （厚）木板( plank的名词复数 )； 政纲条目，政策要点 | |
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87
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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88
tenaciously
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| 坚持地 | |
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89
deluged
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| v.使淹没( deluge的过去式和过去分词 )；淹没；被洪水般涌来的事物所淹没；穷于应付 | |
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90
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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