From Cape Horn to the Amazon
- Aronnax, Ned, and Conseil run up on deck and start gulping down air. Nobody else is up there.
- Aronnax thanks Ned and Conseil for saving his life. Ned and Conseil say it's nothing.
- Aronnax tells them that they're all bound together forever. Ned seizes upon this statement immediately.
- You're coming with me, he says, when I leave the Nautilus.
- They realize that they're finally heading in the right direction, toward a place suitable for escape.
- Still, they have no idea where Nemo's going. He could be headed to Asia or America.
- It soon becomes clear that they're heading back north into the Atlantic. Nemo's plans remain a mystery, though. He could be heading up to the North Pole now.
- Ned is sure they'll get out of there before that happens.
- The Nautilus travels up the coast of South America. By the time they make it near the shores of Uruguay, they've covered 16,000 leagues, and they just keep cruising. They spend some time exploring the ocean depths, only to resurface at the mouth of the mighty Amazon River.
- Aronnax and Conseil spend time observing fish. Conseil manages to get stung by some kind of fish. He cries out to Aronnax. It's the first time he's ever addressed his master informally. But Aronnax and Ned have him back in good shape in no time.
- That evening, Conseil eats the fish "out of revenge, for to tell the truth it was very tough" (2.17.57). Ha.
- The next day, the Nautilus comes upon a bunch of manatees; the crew hunts down a half-dozen and does a little fishing, too. They use a bunch of strange animals with suckers to catch sea turtles. Yeah, Captain Nemo really is a master of the sea.
- The turtles, Aronnax notes, taste really, really good.
- Fishing done, the Nautilus leaves the mouth of the Amazon and heads back to sea.