Essential Science Fiction Novels - Volume 3. Stanley G. Weinbaum

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ bottom, at fifteen fathoms depth. This bottom differed entirely from the one I had visited on my first excursion under the waters of the Pacific Ocean. Here, there was no fine sand, no submarine prairies, no sea-forest. I immediately recognised that marvellous region in which, on that day, the Captain did the honours to us. It was the coral kingdom.

      The light produced a thousand charming varieties, playing in the midst of the branches that were so vividly coloured. I seemed to see the membraneous and cylindrical tubes tremble beneath the undulation of the waters. I was tempted to gather their fresh petals, ornamented with delicate tentacles, some just blown, the others budding, while a small fish, swimming swiftly, touched them slightly, like flights of birds. But if my hand approached these living flowers, these animated, sensitive plants, the whole colony took alarm. The white petals re-entered their red cases, the flowers faded as I looked, and the bush changed into a block of stony knobs.

      Chance had thrown me just by the most precious specimens of the zoophyte. This coral was more valuable than that found in the Mediterranean, on the coasts of France, Italy and Barbary. Its tints justified the poetical names of "Flower of Blood," and "Froth of Blood," that trade has given to its most beautiful productions. Coral is sold for L20 per ounce; and in this place the watery beds would make the fortunes of a company of coral-divers. This precious matter, often confused with other polypi, formed then the inextricable plots called "macciota," and on which I noticed several beautiful specimens of pink coral.

      But soon the bushes contract, and the arborisations increase. Real petrified thickets, long joints of fantastic architecture, were disclosed before us. Captain Nemo placed himself under a dark gallery, where by a slight declivity we reached a depth of a hundred yards. The light from our lamps produced sometimes magical effects, following the rough outlines of the natural arches and pendants disposed like lustres, that were tipped with points of fire.

      At last, after walking two hours, we had attained a depth of about three hundred yards, that is to say, the extreme limit on which coral begins to form. But there was no isolated bush, nor modest brushwood, at the bottom of lofty trees. It was an immense forest of large mineral vegetations, enormous petrified trees, united by garlands of elegant sea-bindweed, all adorned with clouds and reflections. We passed freely under their high branches, lost in the shade of the waves.

      Captain Nemo had stopped. I and my companions halted, and, turning round, I saw his men were forming a semi-circle round their chief. Watching attentively, I observed that four of them carried on their shoulders an object of an oblong shape.

      We occupied, in this place, the centre of a vast glade surrounded by the lofty foliage of the submarine forest. Our lamps threw over this place a sort of clear twilight that singularly elongated the shadows on the ground. At the end of the glade the darkness increased, and was only relieved by little sparks reflected by the points of coral.

      Ned Land and Conseil were near me. We watched, and I thought I was going to witness a strange scene. On observing the ground, I saw that it was raised in certain places by slight excrescences encrusted with limy deposits, and disposed with a regularity that betrayed the hand of man.

      In the midst of the glade, on a pedestal of rocks roughly piled up, stood a cross of coral that extended its long arms that one might have thought were made of petrified blood. Upon a sign from Captain Nemo one of the men advanced; and at some feet from the cross he began to dig a hole with a pickaxe that he took from his belt. I understood all! This glade was a cemetery, this hole a tomb, this oblong object the body of the man who had died in the night! The Captain and his men had come to bury their companion in this general resting-place, at the bottom of this inaccessible ocean!

      The grave was being dug slowly; the fish fled on all sides while their retreat was being thus disturbed; I heard the strokes of the pickaxe, which sparkled when it hit upon some flint lost at the bottom of the waters. The hole was soon large and deep enough to receive the body. Then the bearers approached; the body, enveloped in a tissue of white linen, was lowered into the damp grave. Captain Nemo, with his arms crossed on his breast, and all the friends of him who had loved them, knelt in prayer.

      The grave was then filled in with the rubbish taken from the ground, which formed a slight mound. When this was done, Captain Nemo and his men rose; then, approaching the grave, they knelt again, and all extended their hands in sign of a last adieu. Then the funeral procession returned to the Nautilus, passing under the arches of the forest, in the midst of thickets, along the coral bushes, and still on the ascent. At last the light of the ship appeared, and its luminous track guided us to the Nautilus. At one o'clock we had returned.

      As soon as I had changed my clothes I went up on to the platform, and, a prey to conflicting emotions, I sat down near the binnacle. Captain Nemo joined me. I rose and said to him:

      "So, as I said he would, this man died in the night?"

      "Yes, M. Aronnax."

      "And he rests now, near his companions, in the coral cemetery?"

      "Yes, forgotten by all else, but not by us. We dug the grave, and the polypi undertake to seal our dead for eternity." And, burying his face quickly in his hands, he tried in vain to suppress a sob. Then he added: "Our peaceful cemetery is there, some hundred feet below the surface of the waves."

      "Your dead sleep quietly, at least, Captain, out of the reach of sharks."

      "Yes, sir, of sharks and men," gravely replied the Captain.

      Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

      Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

      Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

      Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.

/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQEASABIAAD/2wBDAAgGBgcGBQgHBwcJCQgKDBQNDAsLDBkSEw8UHRofHh0a HBwgJC4nICIsIxwcKDcpLDAxNDQ0Hyc5PTgyPC4zNDL/2wBDAQkJCQwLDBgNDRgyIRwhMjIyMjIy MjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjL/wAARCAu4B9ADASIA AhEBAxEB/8QAHAABAAICAwEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIDAQQFBwgG/8QAYRAAAgIABAMEBAUPBwYKCQQD AAECEQMSITEEBUEGByJREzJhcQh0gZGxFCMzNDY3QlJyc5KhssHhFRYXNVNikxiClKLR0iRDVFVW Y2Rlg6MlJkV1s8LD4vAnRGak8YRG/8QAGQEBAQEBAQEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAECAwQF/8QAKBEBAQEB AAICAgIDAAMBAQEAAAERAiExA0ESExQyBCJRM0JhI0Nx/9oADAMBAAIRAxEAPwDz+AAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAZMGQMnIcu4V8RxEVXVGjhpuS0PsOz/BJL0sl0O/xc+fycfm7yOc 4fAWDhRwkupyscuHh66aGtw2G343sTxm9uhfk6c/i4xjD+uYjfREpuU3S6EpZcLCjXrMpVudo4x6 L6bnB4bc7l0OUvNNS/FNHhLWr3o3IurkzrPTkcRiKlet7l3DcMm1NbGvhRWJN3rZyOb0eBSQ0xpY 8qxrhuiq7UnN6tE5tO53qV+HR729iWrI3OFwqinms234dWQ4TLNqOWokuIlGUnBPY5XzXoniK5yz p1uV5mklRZGCy3ZWtMRW9Eb+nHq+TrVEnSSRmUk5ZlqIxcvFWhi1uMyfo8Jp9TTwlU8zexsYksz0 2Xmasct1bs5dV0kXxXrqTpPVEMHDfrXeuwnNpKMlpRLBbclWkTnXSNmpJdFGjGHdaeLXUSw5TisN a2bChDAwVhvSXUsi2q2qzNv5CcU4RjJa3uYgmk6jmvzJ4cXltatvY1GdbEVLEnGWXYveJTaylfiV a0YUZYstJbGL7RZGPXZE41Pw70VqbhFwtSeyo2I/W8K3HxUTVkVY1pKJCObNUdyqeO5zoshNSlUZ eJbjVxsu4aS6lMmoxqMt+hGeLPNW5GVdVUq0EpY1uIk/SJsjiTTlGiM5Nt5ieFw8rzt2izwzI3uH b9FqXxxMlNmvKUMPCWWVvqMXFqCbWlGelxZj4+dqiEMVrc1njOS0RD0kktielbnpZSkqehuJKOVm hgySVNbmxHEdqMn7jF6a5buTwW3ozTx8CMo3FGzhSz СКАЧАТЬ