“But unless the Nautilus navigates on dry land and crosses over the isthmus—”
“Or under it, Professor Aronnax.”
“Under it?”
“Surely,” Captain Nemo replied serenely. “Under that tongue of land, nature long ago made what man today is making on its surface.”
“What! There’s a passageway?”
“Yes, an underground passageway that I’ve named the Arabian Tunnel. It starts below Suez and leads to the Bay of Pelusium.”
“But isn’t that isthmus only composed of quicksand?”
“To a certain depth. But at merely fifty meters, one encounters a firm foundation of rock.”
“And it’s by luck that you discovered this passageway?” I asked, more and more startled.
“Luck plus logic, professor, and logic even more than luck.”