During the day of January 29, the island of Ceylon disappeared from the horizon. I consulted the map in the gallery and found that we had traveled 7,500 leagues. When we rose to the surface the next day, there was no land in sight, and we were once again alone on the ocean.
"Where do you think we're headed now?" asked Ned, who had joined me on the platform.
"We're going wherever our captain's fancy takes us," I replied. "When I looked at our course on the map, we seemed headed toward the Persian Gulf."
"Captain Nemo's fancy won't take us very far," said Ned. "The Persian Gulf has no outlet. So if we do enter the Gulf, it won't be long before we have to turn around!"
"Very well, then we'll come out again and maybe we'll visit the Red Sea."
"The Red Sea!" scoffed Ned. "It's a dead end too. The Suez Canal isn't finished, and even if it were, the captain wouldn't risk taking his submarine through the canal's locks. No, the Red Sea is not the route that will take us back to Europe."
"Perhaps we will reenter the Indian Ocean and travel down the east coast of Africa until we reach the Cape of Good Hope."
"And then where will we go next?" Ned asked.
"Well, then we'll enter a section of the Atlantic Ocean that we're not yet familiar with." I could tell that Ned was getting tired of this journey under the sea, but I was still an enthusiastic traveler. "For my sake, I'll be sorry to see the end of a voyage that so few men have had the opportunity to make."
"Don't you realize, Professor?" asked Ned. "It will soon be three whole months that we've been imprisoned here?"
"No, Ned, I didn't realize that; in fact, I don't want to realize it. I don't keep track of every day and every hour."
"But when will our imprisonment come to an end?" Ned persisted.
"When it ends. Meanwhile there's nothing we can do about it. If you tell me someday that we have a good opportunity to escape, then I'll listen to you. But until then, there's no point in even discussing this anymore."
"Waiting and staying silent may be fine for you, but in my opinion, a life in prison is no life at all." And with that statement, Ned left me alone on the platform.
It turned out that we were headed for the Red Sea, which we reached on February 7. I don't know why Captain Nemo decided to enter this body of water, but I approved of his decision because we began traveling at a slower speed. This gave me plenty of opportunities to observe life below the sea as well as the ancient towns along its shores. I spent hours at the gallery windows, gazing at species of plants and animals that I had never seen before.
A couple days later, I was standing on the platform when Captain Nemo came up to take the ship's bearings.
"Well, Professor Aronnax, does the Red Sea please you? Have you observed the wonders it holds: schools of fish, groupings of sponges, forests of coral?"
"Yes, Captain, and the Nautilus is wonderful for conducting such a study. It is truly a marvelous boat!"
"It is marvelous and indestructible. Traveling on this submarine, we do not need to fear the terrible storms of the Red Sea, or its currents and sandbanks."
"Your boat is at least a century before its time." I continued with my praise. "How sad that the secret of this invention will die with its inventor."
Captain Nemo was silent for a few minutes.
"It's a pity I can't take you through the Suez Canal," he said at last. "But you'll be able to see the long jetty of Port Said the day after tomorrow, when we'll be in the Mediterranean Sea."
"We'll be in the Mediterranean Sea the day after tomorrow?" I exclaimed. I was surprised, even though by now nothing about the Nautilus should have surprised me. "We'll have to travel at a rapid speed if we are to round the Cape of Good Hope and reach the Mediterranean by then!"
"Who said that we would sail down the coast of Africa and around the Cape of Good Hope?" Captain Nemo replied.
"Well, unless the Nautilus sails on dry land and passes above the isthmus—"
"Or beneath it, Professor Aronnax," he interrupted me.
"Beneath it?" I echoed.
"That's right," replied Captain Nemo. "There is a subterranean passage that I have named the Arabian Tunnel. It takes us beneath the Suez and opens into the Mediterranean. Not only does this passage exist, but I have made use of it several times. Without it, I wouldn't have ventured into the Red Sea."
"But how did you find it?" I asked.
"A combination of luck and reasoning," he replied.
Captain Nemo then explained that he had noticed there were some identical species of fish in the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. He guessed that the subterranean current ran from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean because the Red Sea was higher. So he caught a large number of fish in the vicinity of Suez. He put a copper ring through their tails and threw them back into the Red Sea. A few months later he caught some of these fish in the eastern Mediterranean.
"I then looked for the tunnel with the Nautilus," said the captain. "I passed through it, and the day after tomorrow, you will too."
On the night of February 11, the Nautilus remained underwater. According to my calculations, we must have been very near Suez.
"It can't be easy to pass through this tunnel of yours," I said to Captain Nemo as we sat in the gallery after supper.
"No, and for that reason I usually go into the pilothouse and steer the submarine myself. You're welcome to come with me."
We made our way to the pilothouse on top of the submarine. The cabin was dark, but soon I could see the pilot, a strong man who stood with his hands resting on the large wheel. Outside, the sea was brightly illuminated by the electric light behind the pilothouse.
"Now," Captain Nemo said. "Let's look for our passageway."
We traveled for almost an hour with Captain Nemo directing the pilot to make small changes in the submarine's course.
"There!" exclaimed Nemo as a passage, black and deep, finally opened before us.
The captain took the wheel and I heard the waters of the Red Sea roaring through the tunnel. On the walls of the narrow passage, I could see nothing but bright streaks from our electric light. Our engines churned the waves and the Nautilus went with the torrent, as swift as an arrow. My heart pounded furiously.
At last Captain Nemo handed the wheel back to the pilot and turned to me. "The Mediterranean!" he announced triumphantly.