No! Ned and Conseil, my two gallant friends, were sacrificing themselves to save me.A few atoms of air were still left in the depths of one Rouquayrol device. Instead of breathing it themselves, they had saved it forme, and while they were suffocating, they poured life into me drop by drop! I tried to push the device away.They held my hands, and for a few moments I could breathe luxuriously.

My eyes flew toward the clock. It was eleven in the morning. It had to be March 28. The Nautilus was traveling at the frightful speed of forty miles per hour. It was writhing in the waters.

Where was Captain Nemo? Had he perished? Had his companions died with him? Just then the pressure gauge indicated we were no more than twenty feet from the surface. Separating us from the open air was a mere tract ofice. Could we break through it? Perhaps! In any event the Nautilus was going to try. In fact, I could feel it assuming an oblique position, lowering its stern and raising its spur. The admission of additional water was enough to shift its balance. Then, driven by its powerful propeller, it attacked this ice field from below like a fearsome battering ram. It split the barrier little by little, backing up, then putting on full speed against the punctured tract of ice; and finally, carried away by its supreme momentum, it lunged through and onto this frozen surface, crushing the ice beneath its weight.

The hatches were opened--or torn off, if you prefer--and waves of clean air were admitted into every part ofthe Nautilus.

End of Chapter 16