“In this, friend Ned is right,” said Conseil, “and I agree with him. Could not master obtain permission from his friend Captain Nemo to put us on land, if only so as not to lose the habit of treading on the solid parts of our planet?” “I can ask him, but he will refuse.” “Will master risk it?” asked Conseil, “and we shall know how to rely upon the Captain’s amiability.” To my great surprise, Captain Nemo gave me the permission I asked for, and he gave it very agreeably, without even exacting from me a promise to return to the vessel; but flight across New Guinea might be very perilous, and I should not have counselled Ned Land to attempt it. Better to be a prisoner on board the _Nautilus_ than to fall into the hands of the natives. At eight o’clock, armed with guns and hatchets, we got off the _Nautilus_. The sea was pretty calm; a slight breeze blew on land. Conseil and I rowing, we sped along quickly, and Ned steered in the straight passage that the breakers left between them. The boat was well handled, and moved rapidly. Ned Land could not restrain his joy. He was like a prisoner that had escaped from prison, and knew not that it was necessary to re-enter it. “Meat! We are going to eat some meat; and what meat!” he replied. “Real game! no, bread, indeed.” “I do not say that fish is not good; we must not abuse it; but a piece of fresh venison, grilled on live coals, will agreeably vary our ordinary course.” “Glutton!” said Conseil, “he makes my mouth water.” “It remains to be seen,” I said, “if these forests are full of game, and if the game is not such as will hunt the hunter himself.” “Well said, M. Aronnax,” replied the Canadian, whose teeth seemed sharpened like the edge of a hatchet; “but I will eat tiger—loin of tiger—if there is no other quadruped on this island.” “Friend Ned is uneasy about it,” said Conseil. “Whatever it may be,” continued Ned Land, “every animal with four paws without feathers, or with two paws without feathers, will be saluted by my first shot.” “Very well! Master Land’s imprudences are beginning.” “Never fear, M. Aronnax,” replied the Canadian; “I do not want twenty-five minutes to offer you a dish, of my sort.” At half-past eight the _Nautilus_ boat ran softly aground on a heavy sand, after having happily passed the coral reef that surrounds the Island of Gilboa. CHAPTER XX A FEW DAYS ON LAND I was much impressed on touching land. Ned Land tried the soil with his feet, as if to take possession of it. However, it was only two months before that we had become, according to Captain Nemo, “passengers on board the _Nautilus_,” but, in reality, prisoners of its commander.