I did not ask for your promise, Master Land, answerd the captain coldly. You are prisoners here; I will allow you to live onboard, although I could easily have you killed. You attacked me. You came here and have seen thid secret I have. Do you believe I will send you back to that cruel world so the whole world must know of my secret? Never!

So, sir, I said, you simply give us the choice between life and death？

Yes.

Then, in a more gentle voice, he continued-

Professor Aronnax, I have often read your book on the depths of the sea. You have studied as closely as you could from the land, but now your studies will truely begin. Your time here will be valuable to you. You will soon see the mysteries of the ocean.

I was rather curious at hearing this words, and forgot for a moment I was still a prisoner.

Well, what shall I call you, then? I asked, unable to say anything more.

Sir, replied the captain, you will know me only as Captain Nemo, and I will know you and your companions pnly as passages on the Nautilus, my submarine.

Captain Nemo then ordered the Conseil and Ned Land to their room, where a meal would be waiting for them. I was to follow captain to an elegently decorated dining room, where we sat together for breakfast. The plates on the table are princeless treasures, as well as the paintings on the wall and the furniture of the room. We were served a number of the dishes, all coming from the dapths of the ocean. I, however, could not guess what I was eating, although all the dishes were quite pleasing.

I am sure you do not know most of the dished, he said to me, but they are nuritious. I have not eaten food from the earth for quite some time, and never ill. This dish, which tastes like meat, comes from turtle. This milk came from a whale, this sugar from a sea fish,and this jam from sea plants, which tastes like fruit jam of the earth.

You like the sea, Captain?

Yes, I love it! The sea is everything. It covers seventeenths of the earth. It beginning of the earth with the sea. On the surface of the earth, man are able to fight and kill, but under the water, their powers disappear. There is only independence under these waters! No masters! I am free!

He then bacame silent, remenbering where he was again. He bacame calm, then spoke again.

Now, Profassor, he said, if you wish to see the rest of the Nautilus, I am willing to show you.

I then followed the captain to another room, the library, where I saw a great number of books covering parts of the walls. I could not believe what I was seeing. There were rare books, found only in the great libraries of kings, but there, under the surface of the ocean waters, was an incredible collection.

You must have six or seven thousand of books here, I said, quite astonished.

Twelve thousand, Professor Arnnax. These books are my only collection to human society. Just before I dove into the ocean first time on my Nautilus, I bought my last books and papers, he said before continuing. This room not only a library, but also a smoking room.

A smoking room! I cried.

Please, have this cigar, Professor ronnax.

He offered my the cigar, and I began smoking, supprised by its fine quality.

It is excellent, I said, but it is not tobacco.

No! answered the Captain. This tobacco comes from a sea plants. As he spoke, he opened another door into a luxurious sitting room, nearly thirty feet long, eighteen feet wide, and fifteen feet high. The ceiling and walls were decorated with princeless paintings, a collection more valuable than those of several museums around the world. Also displayed were several collections of the rarest sea animals from around the world, as well as various types of pearls: ponk pearls from the waters of the Middle East, and green, yellow, blue, and black pearls from every other ocean. Some such pearls were large than a bird's egg, worth millions. Captain Nemo must have spent a great deal to have such a collection, but just I was thinking about this, he began to speak.