CHAPTER TEN

The Underwater Coal Mines

The next day, the 20th of February, I awoke quite late, after my underwater journey to the ancient city. After waking, I quickly went to the sitting room to see the direction of the Nautilus. I discovered we were still moving south, going nearly twenty miles an hour. That afternoon, I went to my room to rest for a short time, but surprisingly did not awaken till the next morning at eight o'clock. I immediately went to the platform, and was shocked to be in total darkness. I was sure it was morning, but there was darkness all around us. The captain then explained that we were underground.

"Underground!" I exclaimed. "And the Nautilus is still floating?"

"It always floats. Wait a few minutes, then the lanterns will show you where we are," the captain said calmly. I then discovered that we were inside a mountain, which was once a volcano, shooting fire-hot liquid out of its top, but was now dead. The captain had found a hole in the side of the mount deep under the waters of the ocean to enter into the center of the volcano.

"But, Captain," I asked, "why have you come here? The Nautilus needs no port. It is continually moving through the ocean, why have we stopped?"

"We have stopped, Professor Aronnax," the captain explained, "because the Nautilus needs chemicals coming from coal to make its electricity. The inside of this volcano provides such coal in its great coal mines. In this spot, the sea covers a great coal mine, which I use to power my Nautilus."

That day, my companions and I searched the inside of that mysterious volcano, while the crew of the Nautilus loaded coal onto the submarine.

(end of section)