Besides M.Aronnax, you must see yourself that, during our submarine hunt, we can spend but little air and but few balls." "But it seems to me that in this twilight, and in the midst of this fluid, which is very dense compared with the atmosphere, shots could not go far, nor easily prove mortal." "Sir, on the contrary, with this gun every blow is mortal; and, however lightly the animal is touched, it falls as if struck by a thunderbolt." "Why ?" "Because the balls sent by this gun are not ordinary balls, but little cases of glass.

These glass cases are covered with a case of steel, and weighted with a pellet of lead; they are real Leyden bottles, into which the electricity is forced to a very high tension.

With the slightest shock they are discharged, and the animal, however strong it may be, falls dead.

I must tell you that these cases are size number four, and that the charge for an ordinary gun would be ten." "I will argue no longer," I replied, rising from the table.

"I have nothing left me but to take my gun.