“As for asphyxiation, captain,” I replied, “that isn’t a cause for alarm, because the air tanks are full.”
“True,” Captain Nemo went on, “but they’ll supply air for only two days. Now then, we’ve been buried beneath the waters for thirty-six hours, and the Nautilus’s heavy atmosphere already needs renewing. In another forty-eight hours, our reserve air will be used up.”
“Well then, captain, let’s free ourselves within forty-eight hours!”
“We’ll try to at least, by cutting through one of these walls surrounding us.”
“Which one?” I asked.
“Borings will tell us that. I’m going to ground the Nautilus on the lower shelf, then my men will put on their diving suits and attack the thinnest of these ice walls.”
“Can the panels in the lounge be left open?”
“Without ill effect. We’re no longer in motion.”
Captain Nemo went out. Hissing sounds soon told me that water was being admitted into the ballast tanks. The Nautilus slowly settled and rested on the icy bottom at a depth of 350 meters, the depth at which the lower shelf of ice lay submerged.
“My friends,” I said, “we’re in a serious predicament, but I’m counting on your courage and energy.”