"With the Ruhmkorff apparatus, M. Aronnax. One is carried on the back, the other is fastened to the waist. It is composed of a [v]bunsen pile, which I do not work with bichromate of potash but with sodium. A wire is introduced which collects the electricity produced, and directs it toward a lantern. In this lantern is a spiral glass which contains a small quantity of carbonic acid gas. When the apparatus is at work, this gas becomes luminous, giving out a white and continuous light. Thus provided, I can breathe and I can see." "Captain Nemo, to all my objections you make such crushing answers that I dare no longer doubt. But if I am forced to admit the Rouquayrol and Ruhmkorff apparatus, I must be allowed some reservations with regard to the gun I am to carry." "But it is not a gun for powder," he said. "Then it is an air-gun?" I asked. "Doubtless. How would you have me manufacture gunpowder on board, without saltpeter, sulphur, or charcoal?" "Besides," I added, "to fire under water in a medium eight hundred and fifty times denser than the air, we must conquer a very considerable resistance." "That would be no difficulty. There exist guns which can fire under these conditions. But I repeat, having no powder, I use air under great pressure, which the pumps of the _Nautilus_ furnish abundantly." "But this air must be rapidly used?" "Well, have I not my Rouquayrol reservoir, which can furnish it at need? A tap is all that is required. Besides, M. Aronnax, you must see yourself that during our submarine hunt we can spend but little air." "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 or easily prove fatal." "On the contrary," replied Nemo, "with this gun every blow is mortal; however lightly the animal is touched, it falls dead as if struck by a thunderbolt." "Why?" "Because the balls sent by this gun are not ordinary balls, but little cases of glass, of which I have a large supply. These glass cases are covered with a shell of steel and weighted with a pellet of lead; they are real [v]Leyden jars, into which 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." Captain Nemo then led me aft; and in passing before Ned and Conseil's cabin, I called my two companions, who followed immediately. Conseil was delighted at the idea of exploring the sea, but Ned declined to go when he learned that the hunt was to be a submarine one. We came to a kind of cell near the machinery-room, in which we were to put on our walking-dress. It was, in fact, the arsenal and wardrobe of the _Nautilus_. A dozen diving-suits hung from the partition, awaiting our use.