Chapter 7.
The Walk The clothes we were to change into were heavy.
They were made of rubber with thick boots and gloves.
Captain Nemo and one of his men, along with Conceal and I, were soon ready.
In the inn, Ned had chosen not to go.
The poor man felt odd about the whole idea of this trip, and the suit of rubber was enough to make him back out altogether.
Perhaps he needed a rest from all this mystery.
Maybe for once he wanted to sit back and allow someone else to seek out the answers.
For whatever the reason, we gladly left Ned behind and set off without him.
One of the Nautilus' crew members handed me a gun made for underwater use.
I took it and prepared to put on my helmet.
The upper part of our outfit had three holes protected by thick glass.
This would let us see in all directions.
When the parts on our backs were hooked up, I could breathe in my helmet.
With a lamp hanging from my belt and the gun in my hand, I was ready to set out on my walk.
However, I found it impossible to take step in this suit.
I didn't need to worry, though.
I felt myself being pushed into a little room.
Conceal followed me, and a door closed us in.
We were once again in darkness.
After a few minutes, we heard a loud hissing.
I felt the cold water rising around me.
A second door opened.
We saw a faint light.
In another moment, our feet were on the bottom of the sea.
How can I even begin to explain how great that walk under the sea was?
I no longer felt the weight of my clothing, my shoes, my air supply, or my thick helmet.
The light around me was unbelievable.
The sun's rays shone easily through the water.
I could clearly make out objects that were a hundred and fifty yards away.
I stomped through the sand for a quarter of an hour.
What a feast for the eyes.
I saw flowers, bits of rock, plants, shells, and sea life.
It was amazing.
All of these wonders I saw in just a quarter of a mile.
Captain Nemo waved me on.
I continued.
The sand beneath us turned into a slimy mud.
Next, we traveled over a carpet of seaweed.
With each step, I learned more and more about this world under the sea.
I wished I were taking notes.
I had so many things to say.
The sun, now hitting the water in a different way, made everything look different.
I looked at the fish and the weeds through which they seemed to enjoy swimming.
Just as I became very interested, Captain Nemo stopped.
He waited until I joined him, then pointed to a huge object in the shadows a short bit away.
It is the forest of the island of Crespo, I thought.
I was not mistaken.
We had at last arrived on the borders of this forest.
The woods were made up of large tree plants.
This place was perfect.
Neither the stems nor branches of any plants were broken or bent.
Everything stood straight and tall.
Science could explain why these plants grew the way they did, but I didn't take the time to think it through.
I was spending my time getting used to the darkness around us.
I explored for about an hour before Captain Nemo gave the sign to stop.
I was glad for a break.
I lay down on the grass.
This short rest relaxed me.
After four more hours of walking, I needed a nap.
My eyes soon closed behind the thick glasses and I fell into a heavy sleep.
Captain Nemo did the same.
How long I slept, I'm not sure.
When I woke up, the sun seemed to be setting.
Captain Nemo had already gotten up.
I began to stretch my arms when something brought me quickly to my feet.
A huge sea spider with squinting eyes was watching me from a few steps away.
It looked ready to spring on me.
I shuddered with horror, even though I knew the suit would protect me.
It was only a matter of seconds before the ugly creature died.
Captain Nemo had used his gun.
It made me realize that as beautiful as this world was, it could still be a very dangerous place.
Again, we walked.
The ground was on somewhat of a hill.
I noticed the area getting darker, and there were walls around us.
The sun would not reach here, so it became very hard to see.
I was feeling my way along when suddenly I saw a brilliant white light.
Captain Nemo had just put on his electric lamp.
Conceal and I did the same.
Captain Nemo was still pushing his way into the dark depths of the forest.
I saw that the plant life was slowly disappearing.
As we walked, I had the feeling that eyes were on me.
I believed there were sea creatures hiding in the dark.
I even saw Captain Nemo raise his gun at one point, wait, and then move on carefully.
After many hours, our walk began to slow down.
I looked ahead to see a wall of rocks before us.
It took me a moment to understand.
This was the island of Crespo.
Captain Nemo stopped suddenly.
A wave of his hand made us all stop as well.
As much as I wanted to climb over that wall, I knew this was the end.
The return began.
We took a different path back to the ship.
This road was very steep and painful, but the light of the sun soon returned and I felt a little more refreshed.
I noticed the return of the fish and other sea creatures right away.
At one point I saw the captain shoot into some shrubs near the surface of the water.
I heard a soft hissing and a creature fell before us.
It was a sea otter.
It was five feet long and looked like the type of animal whose fur would have been made into a coat in most countries.
Captain Nemo's companion took the beast and threw it over his shoulder.
We continued on our journey.
I would be glad to get back.
The air I was supplied with seemed to be getting thin.
I was walking along when I saw Captain Nemo coming quickly toward me.
He bent me to the ground.
The captain's companion did the same thing to Conceal.
I watched as Captain Nemo lay down beside me and stayed very still.
My body froze as I looked up to see two sharks.
I knew from my research that these were Tentorias, terrible creatures that could crush a whole man in their jaws.
Luckily, these sharp-teethed creatures do not see very well.
They passed without seeing us.
I was so happy when we reached the Nautilus.
All I wanted was to go to my cabin for food and sleep.
I knew my dreams would be of our adventure at the bottom of the sea.