When this was done, Captain Nemo and his men stood up; then they all approached the grave, sank again on bended knee, and extended their hands in a sign of final farewell. . . .
Then the funeral party went back up the path to the Nautilus, returning beneath the arches of the forest, through the thickets, along the coral bushes, going steadily higher.
Finally the ship’s rays appeared. Their luminous trail guided us to the Nautilus. By one o’clock we had returned.
After changing clothes, I climbed onto the platform, and in the grip of dreadfully obsessive thoughts, I sat next to the beacon.
Captain Nemo rejoined me. I stood up and said to him:
“So, as I predicted, that man died during the night?”
“Yes, Professor Aronnax,” Captain Nemo replied.
“And now he rests beside his companions in that coral cemetery?”
“Yes, forgotten by the world but not by us! We dig the graves, then entrust the polyps with sealing away our dead for eternity!”
And with a sudden gesture, the captain hid his face in his clenched fists, vainly trying to hold back a sob. Then he added: