One morning—whose date I’m unable to specify—I was slumbering near the first hours of daylight, a painful, sickly slumber. Waking up, I saw Ned Land leaning over me, and I heard him tell me in a low voice:
“We’re going to escape!”
I sat up.
“When?” I asked.
“Tonight. There doesn’t seem to be any supervision left on the Nautilus. You’d think a total daze was reigning on board. Will you be ready, sir?”
“Yes. Where are we?”
“In sight of land. I saw it through the mists just this morning, twenty miles to the east.”
“What land is it?”
“I’ve no idea, but whatever it is, there we’ll take refuge.”
“Yes, Ned! We’ll escape tonight even if the sea swallows us up!”