This was where the Nautilus had been sent accidentally--or perhaps deliberately--by its captain. It was sweeping around in a spiral whose radius kept growing smaller and smaller. The skiff, still attached to the ship's plating, was likewise carried around at dizzying speed. I could feel us whirling. I was experiencing that accompanying nausea that follows such continuous spinning motions. We were in dread, in the last stages of sheer horror, our blood frozen in our veins, our nerves numb, drenched in cold sweat as if from the throes of dying! And what a noise around our frail skiff! What roars echoing from several miles away! What crashes from the waters breaking against sharp rocks on the seafloor, where the hardest objects are smashed, where tree trunks are worn down and worked into "a shaggy fur," as Norwegians express it!

就在这里，“鹦鹉螺号”船只——无意或有意地——被他的船长引了进来。我清楚地感觉到，“鹦鹉螺号”划出了一道半径越来越小的螺旋线，还附在船身上的小艇，也随着它被飞速地卷进涡漩里。我体验着持续过度的回旋运动引起的惯性旋转，我们处于极度惊恐和骇惧中，血液停止了循环，神经反应也消失了，浑身上下一阵阵垂死前的冷汗！我们脆弱的小艇周围发出怎样骇人的声响啊！几海里内回荡着惊天动地的呼啸声！海水撞碎在海底，尖利的岩石上时发出的震耳欲聋的碎裂声！在那里，连最坚硬的物体也会被撞得粉碎，按挪威人的说法，树干也变成了“茸茸皮毛”！

What a predicament! We were rocking frightfully. The Nautilus defended itself like a human being. Its steel muscles were cracking. Sometimes it stood on end, the three of us along with it!

那是怎样的处境啊！我们可怕地摇晃着。“鹦鹉螺号”像一个人一样在自卫着，它的钢铁筋骨在咔咔作响，它不时直起身，我们也跟着它竖起来。

"We've got to hold on tight," Ned said, "and screw the nuts down again! If we can stay attached to the Nautilus, we can still make it... !"

“要好好撑住，”尼德说，“拧紧螺丝！紧贴着‘鹦鹉螺号’，说不定我们还会有救！”

He hadn't finished speaking when a cracking sound occurred. The nuts gave way, and ripped out of its socket, the skiff was hurled like a stone from a sling into the midst of the vortex.

他还没说完，咔嚓一声，螺丝松了，脱离了巢穴的小艇，像一块被投石器射出的石头一样，坠进了漩涡之中。

My head struck against an iron timber, and with this violent shock I lost consciousness.

我一头撞在一根铁条上。在这一重击下，我失去了知觉。