CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

From Cape Horn to the Amazon

I could not remember how I reached the platform; perhaps the Canadian had carried me there. But I breathed the sweet sea air, and was energized.

"Ah!" said Conseil, "How delightful this air is!"

The first words I spoke were words of thankfulness to my two companions who had saved me.

The Nautilus was then moving quite rapidly, and by March 31st, we passed the southern tip of South America, Cape Horn, a point greatly feared by sailors, with its icy cold temperatures and terrible storms.

Captain Nemo did not appear after our accident at the South Pole. On April 1st, I was pleased to see that the Nautilus was remaining near the South American coast, rather than disappearing into the middle of the sea.

By the 3rd of April, we had continued following the coast, and were just fifty-six miles off the coast of Uruguay. We had then sailed nearly 16,000 miles from our starting point in the seas of Japan. At eleven o'clock in the morning, we were near the coast of Brazil, but Ned Land was quite disappointed to see that we were moving at a terribly quick speed, much too fast to flee from the Nautilus.

For several days, we continued at this high speed underwater, On the 11th of April, however, the Nautilus rose to the surface near the opening of the Amazon River, which has a width of several leagues when it reaches the ocean.

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