Voyage Beneath the Waves by Jules Rengade

Author:Jules Rengade [Rengade, Jules]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: science fiction, adventure, submarine, sea stories, undersea
ISBN: 9781434442888
Publisher: Wildside Press LLC
Published: 2013-10-25T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

IN THE ICE

The boat, dragged down beneath the waves to an immense depth by the fall of the whirlwind, rose up rapidly once again through the liquid layers of the Ocean when the frightful typhoon that had been precipitated upon it plunged in its waves. During the few seconds that the abrupt submersion of the Éclair lasted, however, the unfortunate voyagers were almost asphyxiated by the unbreathable atmosphere of the cabin, which no longer contained anything but carbon dioxide and nitrogen, gases utterly incompetent, as everyone knows, to maintain pulmonary function.

In order to escape asphyxiation, Trinitus had only found one means; he had resolved to break one of the portholes in order to grant access to the pure and vivifying exterior air. So, as soon as the boat reappeared at the surface of the waves, with a blow of the hatchet that he had grabbed at the moment when the whirlwind fell upon the Éclair, the scientist made one of the thick sheets of glass framed in the walls of the vessel explode into fragments.

Immediately, the keen sea air, impregnated with salty mists and vapors, entered the boat in gusts, and reanimated life in the oppressed torsos of the unfortunate voyagers.

Meanwhile, the tempest, considerably eased by the rupture of the typhoon, gradually diminished in intensity. They sky was uncovered in places, and through the gaps in the cloud, whose last shreds were fleeing rapidly before a stiff north-westerly breeze, Trinitus saw the profound and serene azure of the mysterious region into which the hurricane had thrown his poor boat.

The waves died not die down as rapidly as the thunder and the squalls, however. Although it had exhausted its rage and the efforts of the cyclone, the Ocean was still very agitated. It had difficulty recovering its equilibrium, and was struggling like a man who had just sustained a furious and redoubtable battle. It was still shaking the Éclair with extreme violence, causing her to bound over the crests of its waves and driving her into the unknown.

Marcel and Nicaise, exhausted by fatigue, had ended up falling asleep, and even Trinitus, in spite of the abrupt oscillations of the boat, which prevented him from dozing off, felt his eyelids growing heavy.

The scientist had not lost all hope, however. The considerable damage that the Éclair had suffered did not worry him overmuch. He knew that the hull of the vessel would resist all the wrath of the Ocean, and he felt sufficient courage to repair the damage inflicted by the tempest, if he had the good fortune to be cast up on land that was not utterly uninhabitable. Science was his good fairy, and Trinitus had extreme confidence in her. He believed that, with her aid, he was stronger than all the conspiratorial elements.

By means of his submarine boat, he had vanquished the Ocean once. The adversary had defeated him in its turn, by breaking the Éclair’s powerful electric apparatus, but the scientist counted on getting his revenge one day. With a calm gaze.

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