第31章 CACHALOTS AND WHALES(3)

One could judge beforehand that the cachalots would be victorious,not only because they were better built for attack than their inoffensive adversaries,but also because they could remain longer under water without coming to the surface.

There was only just time to go to the help of the whales.

The Nautilus went under water.Conseil,Ned Land,and Itook our places before the window in the saloon,and Captain Nemo joined the pilot in his cage to work his apparatus as an engine of destruction.Soon Ifelt the beatings of the screw quicken,and our speed increased.

The battle between the cachalots and the whales had already begun when the Nautilus arrived.They did not at first show any fear at the sight of this new monster joining in the conflict.

But they soon had to guard against its blows.What a battle!

The Nautilus was nothing but a formidable harpoon,brandished by the hand of its Captain.It hurled itself against the fleshy mass,passing through from one part to the other,leaving behind it two quivering halves of the animal.

It could not feel the formidable blows from their tails upon its sides,nor the shock which it produced itself,much more.

One cachalot killed,it ran at the next,tacked on the spot that it might not miss its prey,going forwards and backwards,answering to its helm,plunging when the cetacean dived into the deep waters,coming up with it when it returned to the surface,striking it front or sideways,cutting or tearing in all directions and at any pace,piercing it with its terrible spur.

What carnage!What a noise on the surface of the waves!

What sharp hissing,and what snorting peculiar to these enraged animals!In the midst of these waters,generally so peaceful,their tails made perfect billows.

For one hour this wholesale massacre continued,from which the cachalots could not escape.Several times ten or twelve united tried to crush the Nautilus by their weight.From the window we could see their enormous mouths,studded with tusks,and their formidable eyes.Ned Land could not contain himself;he threatened and swore at them.We could feel them clinging to our vessel like dogs worrying a wild boar in a copse.

But the Nautilus,working its screw,carried them here and there,or to the upper levels of the ocean,without caring for their enormous weight,nor the powerful strain on the vessel.

At length the mass of cachalots broke up,the waves became quiet,and Ifelt that we were rising to the surface.

The panel opened,and we hurried on to the platform.

The sea was covered with mutilated bodies.Aformidable explosion could not have divided and torn this fleshy mass with more violence.

We were floating amid gigantic bodies,bluish on the back and white underneath,covered with enormous protuberances.

Some terrified cachalots were flying towards the horizon.

The waves were dyed red for several miles,and the Nautilus floated in a sea of blood:Captain Nemo joined us.

"Well,Master Land?"said he.

"Well,sir,"replied the Canadian,whose enthusiasm had somewhat calmed;"it is a terrible spectacle,certainly.But Iam not a butcher.

Iam a hunter,and Icall this a butchery.""It is a massacre of mischievous creatures,"replied the Captain;"and the Nautilus is not a butcher's knife.""Ilike my harpoon better,"said the Canadian.

"Every one to his own,"answered the Captain,looking fixedly at Ned Land.

Ifeared he would commit some act of violence,which would end in sad consequences.But his anger was turned by the sight of a whale which the Nautilus had just come up with.

The creature had not quite escaped from the cachalot's teeth.

Irecognised the southern whale by its flat head,which is entirely black.Anatomically,it is distinguished from the white whale and the North Cape whale by the seven cervical vertebrae,and it has two more ribs than its congeners.

The unfortunate cetacean was lying on its side,riddled with holes from the bites,and quite dead.

From its mutilated fin still hung a young whale which it could not save from the massacre.Its open mouth let the water flow in and out,murmuring like the waves breaking on the shore.

Captain Nemo steered close to the corpse of the creature.

Two of his men mounted its side,and Isaw,not without surprise,that they were drawing from its breasts all the milk which they contained,that is to say,about two or three tons.

The Captain offered me a cup of the milk,which was still warm.

Icould not help showing my repugnance to the drink;but he assured me that it was excellent,and not to be distinguished from cow's milk.Itasted it,and was of his opinion.

It was a useful reserve to us,for in the shape of salt butter or cheese it would form an agreeable variety from our ordinary food.

From that day Inoticed with uneasiness that Ned Land's ill-will towards Captain Nemo increased,and Iresolved to watch the Canadian's gestures closely.