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V . A Forest Under the Sea For several days we did not see Captain Nemo at all . Every morning I went up on the platform , as the deck of the Nautilus was called . Every morning the captain’s officer looked at the horizon through his telescope and then spoke the same strange sentence down the hatch : “ Nautron respoc lorni virch . ” I never learned what it meant . I began to keep a diary of our adventures , on paper that was made from seaweed . On the sixteenth of November I found a note on my table . “ Captain Nemo invites Professor Aronnax to a hunting party tomorrow morning in the forests of the island of Crespo . He will be pleased if the Professor’s companions can join him . ” “ A hunt ! ” cried Ned . “ In a forest ! So he does go on land sometimes . I shall be glad of a piece of fresh meat . ” On the map I found the island of Crespo , a small rock in the middle of the North Pacific . The next morning the captain explained everything at breakfast . “ You think that I am mad , Professor , because I hate the land and yet I invite you to a forest . But my forests are under the sea . We shall walk on the bottom of the ocean . ” He explained that each of us would wear a suit that did not let in water , with a metal helmet . On our backs we would carry a tank of air , which could last for nine or ten hours . A lamp would hang from our belts , and we would carry guns that fired with compressed air . Their bullets were little glass balls filled with electricity , which killed any animal at the slightest touch . When we reached the dressing room and saw the suits , Ned shook his head . “ The forests of Crespo are under the sea ? ” he said sadly , as he saw his dreams of fresh meat disappear . “ Then I will never get into one of those things . ” “ Nobody will force you , Master Land , ” said the captain . “ I follow master wherever he goes , ” said Conseil . Two sailors helped us into the heavy suits , which had boots with lead soles . When the copper helmets were screwed on , I could breathe easily , but I could not take a single step . We were pushed into a small room , and a door closed behind us . We heard a hissing noise , and I felt the cold water rising from my feet to my chest . Then a second door opened in the side of the ship , and a moment later we were standing on the bottom of the sea . How can I describe that walk ? The weight of the suit disappeared in the water , and I moved freely . Thirty feet above us was the calm surface of the sea , and the sun shone through it so strongly that I could see a hundred and fifty yards around me . We walked on fine , clean sand . The rays of the sun were broken into all the colours of the rainbow , so that every rock , shell and plant was edged with red , orange , green , blue and violet . Above our heads floated jellyfish like pink and blue umbrellas . I wanted to share my joy with Conseil , but we could not speak inside our copper helmets , so I talked to myself and probably wasted a lot of air .
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