jiidge of the rapidity of motion by looking at the
projecting masses of rock, which as soon as seen
were again invisible. I believe we were going at a
rate of not !ess than a hundred miles an hour.
My uncle and I looked at one another with wild
and haggard eyes; we clung convulsively to the
stump of the mast, which, at the moment when the
catastrophe took place, had snapped short off. We
turned our hacks as much as possible to the wind,
in order not to be stifled by a rapidity of motion
which nothing human could face and live.
And still the long monotonous hours went on. The
situation did not change in the least, though a dis-
covery I suddenly made seemed to complicate it very
much. When we had slightly recovered our equili-
brium, I proceeded to examine our cargo. I then
made the unsatisfactory discovery that the greater
part of it had utterly disappeared. I became
alarmed, and determined to discover what were
our resources. My heart beat at the idea, but it was
absolutely necessary to know on what we had to
depend. With this in view, I took the lantern and
looked around.
Of all our former collection of nautical and phil-
osophical instruments there remained only the
chronometer and the compass. The ladders and
ropes were reduced to a small piece of rope fastened
to the stump of the mast. Not a pickax, not a crow-
bar, not a hammer, and, far worse than all, no food
• — not enough for one day ! |
This discovery was a prelude to a certain and
horrible death. Seated gloomily on the raft, clasp-
ing the stump of the mast mechanically, I thought
of all I had read as to sufferings from starvation.
I remembered everything that history had taught
me on the subject, and I shuddered at the remem-
brance of the agonies to be endured. Maddened at
the prospect, I persuaded myself that I must be mis-
taken. I examined the cracks in the raft; I poked
between the joints and beams; I examined every
possible hole and corner. The result was — simply
nothing ! Our stock of provisions consisted of noth-
ing but a piece of dry meat and some soaked and
half -mouldy biscuits.
I gazed around me scared and frightened. I could
not understand the awful truth. And yet of what
consequence was it in regard to any new danger?
Supposing that we bad had provisions for months,
and even for years, how could we ever get out of the
awful abyss into which we were being hurled by
the irresistible torrent we had let loose? Why should
we trouble ourselves about the sufferings and tor-
tures to be endured from hunger, when death
stared us in the face under so many other swifter
and perhaps even more horrid forms?
An Alarming Ascent Through a Great ShaEt
}HAD the greatest mind to reveal all to my
uncle, to explain to him the extraordinary
and wretched position to which we were re-
duced, and in order that, between the two, we might
make a calculation as to the exact space of time
which remained for us to live. It was, it appeared to
me, the only thing to be done. But I had the courage
to hold my tongue, to gnaw at my entrails like the
Spartan boy. I wished to leave him all bis coolness.
At this moment, the light of the lantern slowly
burnt to an end. The obscurity became absolute. It
was no longer possible to see through the impene-
trable darkness! There was one torch left, but it
was impossible to keep it alight. Then, like a child,
I shut my eyes, that I might not see the darkness.
After a great lapse of time, the rapidity of our
journey increased. I could feel it by the rush of
air upon my face. The slope of the waters was ex-
cessive. I began to feel that we were no longer go-
ing down a slope; we were falling. I felt as one does
in a dream, going down bodily— falling ; falling;
falling I
I felt that the hands of my uncle and Hans were
vigorously clasping my arms. Suddenly, after a lapse
of time scarcely appreciable, I felt something like a
shock. The raft had not struck a bard body, but
had suddenly been checked in its course. A water-
spout, a liquid column of water, fell upon us. I was
suffocating. I was being drowned. Still the sud-
den inundation did not last. In a few seconds I felt
myself once more able to breathe. My uncle and
Hans pressed my arms, and the raft carried us all
three away.
CHAPTER XL
The Ape Gigans
T is difficult for me to determine what was the
I
the real time, but I should suppose, by after
calculation, that it must have been ten at night.
I lay in a stupor, a half dream, during which I
saw visions of astounding character. Monsters of
the deep were side by side with the mighty elephan-
tine shepherd. Gigantic fish and animals formed
strange conjunctions. It seemed in my vision that
the raft took a sudden turn, whirled round; entered
another tunnel; this time illumined in a most sing-
ular manner. The roof was formed of porous stal-
actite, through which a moon-lit vapor appeared to
pass, casting its brilliant light upon our gaunt and
haggard figures. The bght increased as we ad-
vanced, while the roof ascended; until at last, we
were once more in a kind of water cavern, the lofty
dome of which disappeared in a luminous cloud!
My uncle and the guide moved as men in a dream.
I was afraid to waken them, knowing the danger of
such a sudden start. I seated myself beside them
to watch.
As I did so, I became aware of something moving
in the distance, which at once fascinated my eyes.
It was floating, apparently, upon the surface of the
water, advancing by means of what at first appeared
paddles. I looked with glaring eyes. One glance
told me that it was something monstrous.
But what? It was the great Shark Crocodile of
the early writers on geology. About the size of an,
ordinary whale, with hideous jaws and two gigantic
eyes, it advanced. Its eyes fixed on me with terrible
sternness. Some indefinite warning told me that it
had marked me for its own.
I attempted to rise — to escape, no matter where,
but my knees shook under me; my limbs-trembled
violently; I almost lost my senses. And still the
mighty monster advanced. My uncle and the guide
made no effort to save themselves. With a strange
noise, like none other I had ever heard, the beast
ifel], and at last went out ! The wick had wholly, came on. His jaws were at least seven feet apart.
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A TRIP TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH
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