CHAPTER SEVEN

An Unknown Type of Whale

I was astonished to be thrown into the sea that I did not realize I had gone down nearly twenty feet underwater. I am a good swimmer, and quickly reached the surface of the water to look for the ship. Had the crew seen me disappear? Would I be rescued?

Darkness was all around. I saw a dark object leaving to the east. It was the Abraham Lincoln! I was lost.

"Help, help!" I shouted, swimming towards the ship. My clothes were heavy on my body, and kept me from swimming quickly. I was sinking! I couldn't breathe!

"Help!" My mouth then filled with water and went under water before suddenly feeling a strong arm carry me to the surface again.

"If master would hold on to my shoulder, master would swim much easier."

I quickly grabbed his shoulder.

"Is it you?" I asked.

"Yes," Conseil answered.

"Were you thrown into the sea, as well?"

"No, but after I saw my master fall into the sea, I followed him."

"And the ship?"

"I think my master should not think about the ship any longer," Conseil responded calmly. "The ship was terribly damaged by the monster's teeth."

"Then we are lost!"

"Perhaps we are," Conseil answered. "However, we still have several hours left."

We continued to swim, and Conseil's calm manner greatly eased me, although our situation was still quite terrible. The sea was quite calm now, which helped us greatly as we swam. The accident with the sea animal had happened at eleven o'clock. By one o'clock, I could swim no longer. Conseil offered to carry me as he swam, but after some time, his breathing became quick and he was having great difficulty in swimming, and I knew then that we could not continue this way much longer.

"Leave me! Leave me!" I said to him.

"Leave my master? Never!" he replied. "I would rather drown first!"

At that moment, the moon appeared, and I saw the ship in the distance, only five miles away. My eagerness returned, and I was again able to swim. I would have cried out, but did not have the energy. I soon heard Conseil yell for help, and after a few moments, we heard another voice.

"Did you hear that?" I whispered.

"Yes! Yes!"

We began swimming towards the voice, but as we were swimming, I lost all the strength I had left, and soon was underwater when I felt a strong arm again carry me to the surface. When I awakened again, I was lying on a floating island. I saw that it was not Conseil who had rescued me this time, but the strong arm of Ned Land!

"Ned!" I cried.

After being thrown from the ship, Ned had quickly found the floating island, and immediately went to it before spotting us many hours later. After looking around, however, I realized that we were not on a floating island, but rather resting on the back of the giant narwhal! Ned then explained that his spear had not entered the animal's skin because it was made of strong iron. I was shocked to hear this announcement. We were not on the back of a sea animal, but rather sitting on the top of a submarine! Just then, this mysterious submarine began to move. Luckily, the submarine remained on the surface of the water, moving at a rather slow speed. Soon enough, the submarine stopped, and a hole at the surface was opened. A man was then seen, coming from the inside. He said something, although I did not know the language he spoke, then he quickly disappeared inside again. A few moments later, eight strong men appeared and silently took us down into their mystery machine.

(end of section)