CHAPTER FOUR

Ned Land

Captain Farragut was a good seaman, the soul and leader of the great Abraham Lincoln. He was determined to find the sea animal. He believed in it; the monster did exist, and he would destroy it, making the seas safe once again. Either Captain Farragut would kill the animal, or the animal would kill the captain. The sailors on board shared the opinion of their captain. They were continually discussing the sea animal, watching the ocean, waiting to see their enemy.

Besides their desire to seek out this sea monster, there was a reward of two thousand dollars for the first man onboard to spot the monster. I watched eagerly with all the rest; Conseil, however, showed no interest in the matter. He seemed to be the only one aboard not eager to discover this sea animal.

Captain Farragut had provided his ship with every weapon to catch the sea monster. No whale-catching company had been better prepared for such an adventure as we were on the Abraham Lincoln. Better still, we had Ned Land with us, king of the whale catchers.

Ned Land was a Canadian, with a great talent for catching whales. He was skillful, calm, bold, and clever. Nearly forty years old, he was quite tall (more than six feet high), with a strong body that he moved quickly with passion and strength. He attracted many people to him, with his bold and confident manner. Although Ned spoke little to those he did not know, he seemed to be quite fond of me. Little by little, Ned Land became more talkative with me. We are old friends now, an unchangeable friendship that arose while facing terrible dangers together. Ah, brave Ned!

Ned did not share my idea of the sea monster being a gigantic whale, although every other person onboard believed the great whale did exist. He rarely spoke on the subject of the sea monster.

One evening, as we were looking out into the sea, I became quite curious about his views on the sea monster, and begged him to speak his opinion on the matter. He looked at me closely for a few minutes before speaking.

"Perhaps, Professor Aronnax, I do not believe we are following a sea monster."

"But, Ned, you are a whale catcher, familiar with all the great animals of the sea. How is it that you can doubt the existence of such an animal?"

"That is my point. No scientist who studies the stars should believe in magic stars flying through the skies, so why should I, a whale catcher for many years, believe that such a mysterious animal exists? I have seen several different types of whales throughout my years as a whale catcher, but not one had been able to damage a ship."

"But, Ned, people talk of ships that have been damaged by the teeth of the narwhal whale, which has a strong tooth, able to make a hole in the bottom of a ship."

"Wooden ships—that is possible," replied the Canadian, "but I have never seen it done. I cannot believe that gigantic whales could damage the iron bottoms of ships, as you say they do."

"Well, Ned, the narwhal whale has incredible strength, as does its one large tooth, easily able to damage the bottom of a ship," I said as I saw he was looking at me carefully as I spoke. "For such an animal to be able to live in the depths of the ocean, it must have a great amount of strength. If you or I were to travel to such depth, our bodies would quickly be destroyed because of the great pressure at deep levels in the sea. Therefore, for such an animal to live in the depths of the ocean, its body and skin must have great strength to resist the strong pressure."

"Why! They must be made of iron themselves!" Ned Land exclaimed.

"Yes, it must have the strength of iron and the speed of a train, throwing itself at each passing ship through the ocean!"

"Yes—certainly—perhaps," replied the Canadian, not quite willing to believe me.

"Do you believe me now?" I asked.

"Well, I believe that if such animals do exist at such depths in the ocean, they must be as strong as you say."

"But if they do not exist, then how do you explain the many ships that were damaged as they passed through the seas."

(end of section)