At these words the reclining figure rose, and the electric light fell upon his countenance; a magnificent head, the forehead high, the glance commanding, beard white, hair abundant and falling over the shoulders.
His hand rested upon the cushion of the divan from which he had just risen.He appeared perfectly calm.It was evident that his strength had been gradually undermined by illness, but his voice seemed yet powerful, as he said in English, and in a tone which evinced extreme surprise,--"Sir, I have no name."
"Nevertheless, I know you!" replied Cyrus Harding.
Captain Nemo fixed his penetrating gaze upon the engineer, as though he were about to annihilate him.
Then, falling back amid the pillows of the divan,--"After all, what matters now?" he murmured; "I am dying!"Cyrus Harding drew near the captain, and Gideon Spilett took his hand--it was of a feverish heat.Ayrton, Pencroft, Herbert, and Neb stood respectfully apart in an angle of the magnificent saloon, whose atmosphere was saturated with the electric fluid.
Meanwhile Captain Nemo withdrew his hand, and motioned the engineer and the reporter to be seated.
All regarded him with profound emotion.Before them they beheld that being whom they had styled the "genius of the island," the powerful protector whose intervention, in so many circumstances, had been so efficacious, the benefactor to whom they owed such a debt of gratitude!
Their eyes beheld a man only, and a man at the point of death, where Pencroft and Neb had expected to find an almost supernatural being!
But how happened it that Cyrus Harding had recognized Captain Nemo? why had the latter so suddenly risen on hearing this name uttered, a name which he had believed known to none?--The captain had resumed his position on the divan, and leaning on his arm, he regarded the engineer, seated near him.
"You know the name I formerly bore, sir?" he asked.
"I do," answered Cyrus Harding, "and also that of this wonderful submarine vessel--""The 'Nautilus'?" said the captain, with a faint smile.
"The 'Nautilus.'"
"But do you--do you know who I am?"
"I do."
"It is nevertheless many years since I have held any communication with the inhabited world; three long years have I passed in the depth of the sea, the only place where I have found liberty! Who then can have betrayed my secret?""A man who was bound to you by no tie, Captain Nemo, and who, consequently, cannot be accused of treachery.""The Frenchman who was cast on board my vessel by chance sixteen years since?""The same."
"He and his two companions did not then perish in the maelstrom, in the midst of which the 'Nautilus' was struggling?""They escaped, and a book has appeared under the title of 'Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea,' which contains your history.""The history of a few months only of my life!" interrupted the captain impetuously.
"It is true," answered Cyrus Harding, "but a few months of that strange life have sufficed to make you known.""As a great criminal, doubtless!" said Captain Nemo, a haughty smile curling his lips."Yes, a rebel, perhaps an outlaw against humanity!"The engineer was silent.
"Well, sir?"
"It is not for me to judge you, Captain Nemo," answered Cyrus Harding, "at any rate as regards your past life.I am, with the rest of the world, ignorant of the motives which induced you to adopt this strange mode of existence, and I cannot judge of effects without knowing their causes; but what I do know is, that a beneficent hand has constantly protected us since our arrival on Lincoln Island, that we all owe our lives to a good, generous, and powerful being, and that this being so powerful, good and generous, Captain Nemo, is yourself!""It is I," answered the captain simply.
The engineer and the reporter rose.Their companions had drawn near, and the gratitude with which their hearts were charged was about to express itself in their gestures and words.
Captain Nemo stopped them by a sign, and in a voice which betrayed more emotion than he doubtless intended to show.
"Wait till you have heard all," he said.
And the captain, in a few concise sentences, ran over the events of his life.
His narrative was short, yet he was obliged to summon up his whole remaining energy to arrive at the end.He was evidently contending against extreme weakness.Several times Cyrus Harding entreated him to repose for a while, but he shook his head as a man to whom the morrow may never come, and when the reporter offered his assistance,--"It is useless," he said; "my hours are numbered."Captain Nemo was an Indian, the Prince Dakkar, son of a rajah of the then independent territory of Bundelkund.His father sent him, when ten years of age, to Europe, in order that he might receive an education in all respects complete, and in the hopes that by his talents and knowledge he might one day take a leading part in raising his long degraded and heathen country to a level with the nations of Europe.
From the age of ten years to that of thirty Prince Dakkar, endowed by Nature with her richest gifts of intellect, accumulated knowledge of every kind, and in science, literature, and art his researches were extensive and profound.
He traveled over the whole of Europe.His rank and fortune caused him to be everywhere sought after; but the pleasures of the world had for him no attractions.Though young and possessed of every personal advantage, he was ever grave--somber even--devoured by an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, and cherishing in the recesses of his heart the hope that he might become a great and powerful ruler of a free and enlightened people.
