Chapter 4 Papuan Spears

After two months on the Nautilus, we were near the coast of Australia. Captain Nemo wanted to take us to Asia, but the seas in front of us were very difficult. The coral reefs are famous because they are beautiful. But they are famous, too, because boats often hit them. There are a lot of dead seamen in those waters.

We went slowly, and looked for coral reefs under the water in front of us. For a long time we didn't have any problems. Then, suddenly, there was a big noise. The Nautilus stopped.

“What's wrong?” I asked the captain.

“The Nautilus is sitting on a coral reef. It can't move,” he answered quietly. “But it's not a problem. After five days, the sea's going to take us away from here.”

The sea goes up and down every day, of course, and it goes up and down every month, too. Was Captain Nemo right?

Ned didn't want to wait and see. “We can escape from the Nautilus today,” he said. “The coast is near. Let's go!”

“No, Ned,” I answered. “The Papuans live on that coast. Papuans often kill and eat their visitors.”

Every day, Ned looked across the water at the beautiful coast.“Perhaps we can go there and look for food,” he said.

We asked the captain. “Of course you can go,” he said, with a smile.“Take the little boat, but be back here before night-time.”

Ned, Conseil and I arrived on the coast, and for a long time we didn't stop eating. There was a lot of fruit on the trees, and it was very good. Conseil and I looked at the beautiful animals. Ned looked at the animals, too, but he wanted them for food. He worked quickly, and that evening we had a lot of dead animals, and fruit, for the Nautilus's kitchen.

We started to put things in the little boat. But suddenly Conseil said, “Ow! What was that on my hand?”

“Look!” Ned said.“There are men in the trees. They've got spears. They're going to kill us!”

Conseil and I were quickly in the boat, but Ned wanted to get the food first. A rain of small spears came from the trees, then one hundred men started to run to our boat. We went quickly across the water to the Nautilus. The Papuans stayed on the coast, because they didn't have boats.

In the morning, there were six hundred Papuans on the coast, and some of them had boats. They came across the sea to the Nautilus.

“We've got a big problem now,” I said to Captain Nemo. “The Papuans can't get into the Nautilus today, because the doors are closed. But tomorrow there isn't going to be any air in here, because we can't open the doors. What are we going to do then?”

Captain Nemo didn't look unhappy.“We're going to wait and see,” he said.

I didn't sleep well that night. In the morning there were a lot of Papuans on the Nautilus. There wasn't much air for us now, but the doors stayed closed.

“We're going this afternoon,” the captain said.

That afternoon, after five days on the coral reef, the Nautilus suddenly started to move. Captain Nemo was right. The sea was up— and the submarine was in water again! We moved quickly away from the coast. We looked back, and the Papuans were in the sea. Then we opened the doors, and air came into the boat.