شهر گمشده

Chapter seven

The Lost City

Captain Nemo took us north, through the Indian Ocean, to the Red Sea. But the Red Sea had no exit. As we got closer to Egypt, I went upstairs to the glass room at the top of the ship. It was dark outside. We were a long way under the sea. Captain Nemo turned on the outside lights.

“I don’t understand, Captain. There is no exit here. We cannot go through the land.”

‘But we can go under it. Watch!”

We moved down below the country of Egypt. Suddenly, I saw a large hole in the rock.

“A tunnel!”

“That’s right, Professor. And we are going through.”

The Nautilus shook as we went through the small tunnel. It looked like an old cave. Then, water surrounded the ship and there was no more land.

When Conseil and Ned woke up, I told them that we were in the Mediterranean Sea.

“But how?”

“Who cares how? Now’s our chance. When we go up again, we’re going to escape. We’re close to Europe, and we can take the small boat to get to land. Do you agree?”

I could not think only of myself. Conseil loved the sea, but I did not think he wanted to live his life there. Ned Land could not escape without our help.

“I agree. Only tell me when you are ready.”

But the Nautilus did not go near the surface of the water again for some time. In fact, we went further down. Ned Land stayed in his room. I felt sorry for him, but I loved the sea. For many hours, I stood in front of the window in the museum.

We sailed through the Mediterranean Sea and entered the deep mysterious Atlantic Ocean. The ocean became dark, and we continued to go further and further down. Captain Nemo came into the museum as I studied the ocean floor.

“I have a little surprise for you, Professor.”

As he said this, a bright light appeared from behind the mountain of rocks in front of us.

“What is it?”

“Just watch!”

We came closer to the light, and I could see trees on the ocean floor.

“That’s not possible!”

The Nautilus moved up over the mountain, and I saw that the light came from an old underwater volcano. There was no fire, but the hot lava still produced light.

The light showed us part of the ocean floor. There were stone houses and ancient temples on it. I did not understand how such things could be there.

“It looks like a city from thousands of years ago.”

“It is. It’s the lost city of Atlantis!”

I looked up at Captain Nemo. He never took his eyes off the window. I looked down again. So it was true, I thought. Atlantis did exist, but only Captain Nemo knew for sure.