"All that," replied the Frenchman, "has been provided for. You probably do not know to what extent we had carried experiments in France on the deep submersion of submarines before their general abandonment when they were prohibited by international agreement in war. I was myself perhaps the leader in those investigations, and in the construction of the _Jules Verne_ I took pains to improve on all that had hitherto been done. "Without going into any description of my devices, I may simply remind you nature has pointed out ways of avoiding the consequences of the inconceivable pressures which calculation indicates at depths of a kilometer, or more, in her construction of the deep-sea fishes. It was by a study of them that I arrived at the secret of both penetrating to depths that would theoretically have seemed entirely impossible and of remaining at such depths." "Marvelous!" exclaimed Cosmo; "marvelous beyond belief!" "I may add," continued De Beauxchamps, smiling at the effect that his words had had upon the mind of the renowned Cosmo Versál, "that the peculiar properties of levium, which you so wisely chose for your Ark, aided _me_ in quite a different way. But I must return to my story. "We passed over the coast of France near the point where I knew lay the mouth of the Loire. I could have found my way by means of the compass sufficiently well; but since the sky was clear I frequently came to the surface in order, for greater certainty, to obtain sights of the sun and stars. "I dropped down at Tours and at Blois, and we plainly saw the walls of the old châteaux in the gleam of the searchlight below us. There were monsters of the deep, such as the eye of man never beheld, swimming slowly about them, many of them throwing a strange luminosity into the water from their phosphorescent organs, as if they were inspecting these novelties of the sea-bottom. "Arrived over Orleans, we turned in the direction of Paris. As we approached the site of the city I sank the submersible until we almost touched the higher hills. My searchlight is so arranged that it can be directed almost every way--up, down, to this side, and to that--and we swept it round us in every direction. "The light readily penetrated the water and revealed sights which I have no power to describe, and some--reminders of the immense population of human beings which had there met its end--which I would not describe if I could. To see a drowned face suddenly appear outside the window, almost within touch--ah, that was too horrible! "We passed over Versailles, with the old palace still almost intact; over Sèvres, with its porcelain manufactory yet in part standing--the tidal waves that had come up the river from the sea evidently caused much destruction just before the downpour began--and finally we 'entered' Paris.