“Captain?” I said.
He didn’t reply.
I left him and climbed onto the platform. Conseil and the Canadian were already there.
“What caused that explosion?” I asked.
“A cannon going off,” Ned Land replied.
I stared in the direction of the ship I had spotted. It was heading toward the Nautilus, and you could tell it had put on steam. Six miles separated it from us.
“What sort of craft is it, Ned?”
“From its rigging and its low masts,” the Canadian replied, “I bet it’s a warship. Here’s hoping it pulls up and sinks this damned Nautilus!”
“Ned my friend,” Conseil replied, “what harm could it do the Nautilus? Will it attack us under the waves? Will it cannonade us at the bottom of the sea?”
“Tell me, Ned,” I asked, “can you make out the nationality of that craft?”