But that stroke from the shark's tail
could have been his deathblow.
Fortunately, after vigorous massaging by Conseil and the captain,
I saw the nearly drowned man regain consciousness little by little.
He opened his eyes. How startled he must have felt, how frightened even,
at seeing four huge, copper craniums leaning over him!
And above all, what must he have thought when Captain Nemo pulled
a bag of pearls from a pocket in his diving suit and placed it
in the fisherman's hands? This magnificent benefaction from
the Man of the Waters to the poor Indian from Ceylon was accepted
by the latter with trembling hands. His bewildered eyes indicated
that he didn't know to what superhuman creatures he owed both his
life and his fortune.
At the captain's signal we returned to the bank of shellfish,
and retracing our steps, we walked for half an hour until we encountered
the anchor connecting the seafloor with the Nautilus's skiff.
Back on board, the sailors helped divest us of our heavy copper carapaces.
Captain Nemo's first words were spoken to the Canadian.
"Thank you, Mr. Land," he told him.
"Tit for tat, captain," Ned Land replied. "I owed it to you."
The ghost of a smile glided across the captain's lips, and that was all.
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