海底兩萬里 第175期 第12章 一切都用電(8)

What! You have a skiff? I replied in some astonishment.

什么!您還有一只小艇嗎?我有些驚異地說。

Surely. An excellent longboat, light and unsinkable, which is used for excursions and fishing trips.

當然嘍。一只很好的小艇，輕快，又不怕沉沒，可洪游覽和釣魚之用。

But when you want to set out, don't you have to return to the surface of the sea?

那么您想登上小艇的時候，您必定要浮到水面上去嗎?

By no means. The skiff is attached to the topside of the Nautilus's hull and is set in a cavity expressly designed to receive it.

并不需要。這小艇系在諾第留斯號船身的上部，放在一個特別用來藏它的凹洞里。

It's completely decked over, absolutely watertight, and held solidly in place by bolts. This ladder leads to a manhole cut into the Nautilus's hull and corresponding to a comparable hole cut into the side of the skiff. I insert myself through this double opening into the longboat. My crew close up the hole belonging to the Nautilus; I close up the one belonging to the skiff, simply by screwing it into place. I undo the bolts holding the skiff to the submersible, and the longboat rises with prodigious speed to the surface of the sea. I then open the deck paneling, carefully closed until that point; I up mast and hoist sail--or I take out my oars--and I go for a spin.

小艇全部裝有甲板，完全不透水，用結實的螺絲鉸釘釘著。鐵梯通到諾第留斯號船身上的一個單人小孔，這孔緊接著小艇身上的一個大小相同的孔。我就由這兩個孔到小艇上去。一個人用壓力螺釘，關上了諾第留斯號的孔門，同時我就關上了小艇的孔門;我松開鉸釘，小艇就以很快的速度浮上水面。我于是就打開本來是緊閉著的蓋板，豎起桅桿，扯開鳳帆或劃起槳來，我就在水上漫游了。

But how do you return to the ship?

但您怎樣回到大船上呢?

I don't, Professor Aronnax; the Nautilus returns to me.

阿龍納斯先生，不是我回去，而是諾第留斯號回到我身邊來。

At your command?

它聽您的吩咐?

At my command. An electric wire connects me to the ship. I fire off a telegram, and that's that.

它聽我的吩咐。一根電線把我跟它連系在一起。我只要打個電報就行了。

Right, I said, tipsy from all these wonders, nothing to it!

的確，我說，我被這些奇跡陶醉了，沒有比這更方便的了!

After passing the well of the companionway that led to the platform, I saw a cabin 2 meters long in which Conseil and Ned Land, enraptured with their meal, were busy devouringit to the last crumb. Then a door opened into the galley, 3 meters long and located between the vessel's huge storage lockers.

我走過了通到平臺的梯籠間，看見一間長二米的艙房，康塞爾和尼德。蘭兩人正在那里狼吞虎咽，很快活地吃他們的飯。隨后，又有一道門通到長三米的廚房，廚房是在寬大的食品儲藏室中間。