102
" Help!"
This was my last cry. My mouth filled with water, I struggled against being drawn the abyss. Suddenly my clothes were seized by a strong hand, and I felt myself quickly drawn up to the surface of the sea; and I heard, yes, I heard these words pronounced in my ear:
"If master would be so good as to lean on my shoulder, master would swim with much greater ease."
I seized with one hand my faithful Conseil's arm.
"Is it you?" said I, "you?"
"Myself," answered Conseil; "and waiting master's orders."
"That shock threw you as well as me in the sea?"
"No; but, being in my master's service, I followed him."
The worthy fellow thought that was but natural. "
― Jules Verne , Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
105
" An indisputable event, my gallant Ned. Accordingly, people have proposed naming this devil fish Bouguer's Squid.
And how long was it? the Canadian asked. Didn't it measure about six metres? said Conseil, who was stationed at the window and examining anew the crevices in the cliff.
Precisely, I replied
Wasn't its head, Conseil went on, crowned by eight tentacles that quivered in the water like a nest of snakes?
Precisely.
Weren't its eyes prominently placed and considerably enlarged?
Yes, Conseil.
And wasn't its mouth a real parrot's beak but of fearsome size?
Correct, Conseil.
Well, with all due respect to master, Conseil replied serenely, if this isn't Bouguers Squid, it's at least one of his close relatives! "
― Jules Verne , Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea