FIRST PART
CHAPTER 10: The Man of the Waters
(continued)
Our breakfast consisted of several dishes whose contents
were all supplied by the sea, and some foods whose nature
and derivation were unknown to me. They were good, I admit,
but with a peculiar flavor to which I would soon grow accustomed.
These various food items seemed to be rich in phosphorous, and I
thought that they, too, must have been of marine origin.
Captain Nemo stared at me. I had asked him nothing, but he read
my thoughts, and on his own he answered the questions I was itching
to address him.
"Most of these dishes are new to you," he told me. "But you can
consume them without fear. They're healthy and nourishing.
I renounced terrestrial foods long ago, and I'm none the worse for it.
My crew are strong and full of energy, and they eat what I eat."
"So," I said, "all these foods are products of the sea?"
"Yes, professor, the sea supplies all my needs. Sometimes I cast my nets
in our wake, and I pull them up ready to burst. Sometimes I go hunting
right in the midst of this element that has long seemed so far out of
man's reach, and I corner the game that dwells in my underwater forests.
Like the flocks of old Proteus, King Neptune's shepherd,
my herds graze without fear on the ocean's immense prairies.
There I own vast properties that I harvest myself, and which are
forever sown by the hand of the Creator of All Things."
I stared at Captain Nemo in definite astonishment, and I answered him:
"Sir, I understand perfectly how your nets can furnish excellent
fish for your table; I understand less how you can chase aquatic
game in your underwater forests; but how a piece of red meat,
no matter how small, can figure in your menu, that I don't
understand at all."
"Nor I, sir," Captain Nemo answered me. "I never touch the flesh
of land animals."
"Nevertheless, this . . . ," I went on, pointing to a dish where
some slices of loin were still left.
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