“Which means,” the Canadian went on, “since I’ve never fished these waterways, I don’t know the whales that frequent them?” “That’s what I’ve been telling you, Ned.” “All the more reason to get to know them,” Conseil answered. “Look! Look!” the Canadian exclaimed, his voice full of excitement. “It’s approaching! It’s coming toward us! It’s thumbing its nose at me! It knows I can’t do a blessed thing to it!” Ned stamped his foot. Brandishing an imaginary harpoon, his hands positively trembled. “These cetaceans,” he asked, “are they as big as the ones in the northernmost seas?” “Pretty nearly, Ned.” “Because I’ve seen big baleen whales, sir, whales measuring up to 100 feet long! I’ve even heard that those rorqual whales off the Aleutian Islands sometimes get over 150 feet.” “That strikes me as exaggerated,” I replied. “Those animals are only members of the genus Balaenoptera furnished with dorsal fins, and like sperm whales, they’re generally smaller than the bowhead whale.” “Oh!” exclaimed the Canadian, whose eyes hadn’t left the ocean. “It’s getting closer, it’s coming into the Nautilus’s waters!” Then, going on with his conversation: “You talk about sperm whales,” he said, “as if they were little beasts! But there are stories of gigantic sperm whales. They’re shrewd cetaceans. I hear that some will cover themselves with algae and fucus plants. People mistake them for islets. They pitch camp on top, make themselves at home, light a fire—” “Build houses,” Conseil said. “Yes, funny man,” Ned Land replied. “Then one fine day the animal dives and drags all its occupants down into the depths.” “Like in the voyages of Sinbad the Sailor,” I answered, laughing. “Oh, Mr. Land, you’re addicted to tall tales! What sperm whales you’re handing us! I hope you don’t really believe in them!” “Mr. Naturalist,” the Canadian replied in all seriousness, “when it comes to whales, you can believe anything! (Look at that one move! Look at it stealing away!) People claim these animals can circle around the world in just fifteen days.” “I don’t say nay.” “But what you undoubtedly don’t know, Professor Aronnax, is that at the beginning of the world, whales traveled even quicker.” “Oh really, Ned! And why so?” “Because in those days their tails moved side to side, like those on fish, in other words, their tails were straight up, thrashing the water from left to right, right to left. But spotting that they swam too fast, our Creator twisted their tails, and ever since they’ve been thrashing the waves up and down, at the expense of their speed.” “Fine, Ned,” I said, then resurrected one of the Canadian’s expressions. “You expect us to fall for that?” “Not too terribly,” Ned Land replied, “and no more than if I told you there are whales that are 300 feet long and weigh 1,000,000 pounds.”