A Journey to the Centre of the Earth
think him particularly lukewarm and unenthusiastic.
"At any rate, my dear uncle," I said, "let us start without delay."
"Yes, my boy, I am quite as eager to do so as you can be. But, in the
first place, let us examine this mysterious gallery, in order to find if
we shall need to prepare and mend our ladders."
My uncle now began to see to the efficiency of our Ruhmkorff coil, which
would doubtless soon be needed; the raft, securely fastened to a rock,
was left alone. Moreover, the opening into the new gallery was not
twenty paces distant from the spot. Our little troop, with myself at the
head, advanced.
The orifice, which was almost circular, presented a diameter of about
five feet; the somber tunnel was cut in the living rock, and coated on
the inside by the different material which had once passed through it in
a state of fusion. The lower part was about level with the water, so
that we were able to penetrate to the interior without difficulty.
We followed an almost horizontal direction; when, at the end of about a
dozen paces, our further advance was checked by the interposition of an
enormous block of granite rock.
"Accursed stone!" I cried furiously, on perceiving that we were stopped
by what seemed an insurmountable obstacle.
In vain we looked to the right, in vain we looked to the left; in vain
examined it above and below. There existed no passage, no sign of any
other tunnel. I experienced the most bitter and painful disappointment.
So enraged was I that I would not admit the reality of any obstacle. I
stooped to my knees; I looked under the mass of stone. No hole, no
interstice. I then looked above. The same barrier of granite! Hans, with
the lamp, examined the sides of the tunnel in every direction.
But all in vain! It was necessary to renounce all hope of passing
through.
I had seated myself upon the ground. My uncle walked angrily and
hopelessly up and down. He was evidently desperate.
"But," I cried, after some moments' thought, "what about Arne
Saknussemm?"
"You are right," replied my uncle, "he can never have been checked by a
lump of rock."
"No--ten thousand times no," I cried, with extreme vivacity. "This huge
lump of rock, in consequence of some singular concussion, or process,
one of those magnetic phenomena which have so often shaken the
terrestrial crust, has in some unexpected way closed up the passage.
Many and many years have passed away since the return of Saknussemm, and
the fall of this huge block of granite. Is it not quite evident that
this gallery was formerly the outlet for the pent-up lava in the
interior of the earth, and that these eruptive matters then circulated
freely? Look at these recent fissures in the granite roof; it is
evidently formed of pieces of enormous stone, placed here as if by the
hand of a giant, who had worked to make a strong and substantial arch.
One day, after an unusually strong shock, the vast rock which stands in
our way, and which was doubtless the key of a kind of arch, fell through
to a level with the soil and has barred our further progress. We are
right, then, in thinking that this is an unexpected obstacle, with which
Saknussemm did not meet; and if we do not upset it in some way, we are
unworthy of following in the footsteps of the great discoverer; and
incapable of finding our way to the centre of the earth!"
In this wild way I addressed my uncle. The zeal of the Professor, his
earnest longing for success, had become part and parcel of my being. I
wholly forgot the past; I utterly despised the future. Nothing existed
for me upon the surface of this spheroid in the bosom of which I was
engulfed, no towns, no country, no Hamburg, no Koenigstrasse, not even
my poor Gretchen, who by this time would believe me utterly lost in the
interior of the earth!
"Well," cried my uncle, roused to enthusiasm by my words, "Let us go to
work with pickaxes, with crowbars, with anything that comes to hand--but
down with these terrible walls."
"It is far too tough and too big to be destroyed by a pickax or
crowbar," I replied.
"What then?"
"As I said, it is useless to think of overcoming such a difficulty by
means of ordinary tools."
"What then?"
"What else but gunpowder, a subterranean mine? Let us blow up the
obstacle that stands in our way."
"Gunpowder!"
"Yes; all we have to do is to get rid of this paltry obstacle."
"To work, Hans, to work!" cried the Professor.
The Icelander went back to the raft, and soon returned with a huge
crowbar, with which he began to dig a hole in the rock, which was to
serve as a mine. It was by no means a slight task. It was necessary for
our purpose to make a cavity large enough to hold fifty pounds of
fulminating gun cotton, the expansive power of which is four times as
great as that of ordinary gunpowder.
I had now roused myself to an almost miraculous state of excitement.
While Hans was at work, I actively assisted my uncle to prepare a long
wick, made from damp gunpowder, the mass of which we finally enclosed in
a bag of linen.
"We are bound to go through," I cried, enthusiastically.
"We are bound to go through," responded the Professor, tapping me on the
back.
At midnight, our work as miners was completely finished; the charge of
fulminating cotton was thrust into the hollow, and the match, which we
had made of considerable length, was ready.
A spark was now sufficient to ignite this formidable engine, and to blow
the rock to atoms!
"We will now rest until tomorrow."
It was absolutely necessary to resign myself to my fate, and to consent
to wait for the explosion for six weary hours!
CHAPTER 39
THE EXPLOSION AND ITS RESULTS
The next day, which was the twenty-seventh of August, was a date
celebrated in our wondrous subterranean journey. I never think of it
even now, but I shudder with horror. My heart beats wildly at the very
memory of that awful day.
From this time forward, our reason, our judgment, our human ingenuity,
have nothing to do with the course of events. We are about to become the
plaything of the great phenomena of the earth!
At six o'clock we were all up and ready. The dreaded moment was arriving
when we were about to seek an opening into the interior of the earth by
means of gunpowder. What would be the consequences of breaking through
the crust of the earth?
I begged that it might be my duty to set fire to the mine. I looked upon
it as an honor. This task once performed, I could rejoin my friends upon
the raft, which had not been unloaded. As soon as we were all ready, we
were to sail away to some distance to avoid the consequences of the
explosion, the effects of which would certainly not be concentrated in
the interior of the earth.
The slow match we calculated to burn for about ten minutes, more or
less, before it reached the chamber in which the great body of powder
was confined. I should therefore have plenty of time to reach the raft
and put off to a safe distance.
I prepared to execute my self-allotted task--not, it must be confessed,
without considerable emotion.
After a hearty repast, my uncle and the hunter-guide embarked on board
the raft, while I remained alone upon the desolate shore.
I was provided with a lantern which was to enable me to set fire to the
wick of the infernal machine.
"Go, my boy," said my uncle, "and Heaven be with you. But come back as
soon as you can. I shall be all impatience."
"Be easy on that matter," I replied, "there is no fear of my delaying on
the road."
Having said this, I advanced toward the opening of the somber gallery.
My heart beat wildly. I opened my lantern and seized the extremity of
the wick.
The Professor, who was looking on, held his chronometer in his hand.
"Are you ready?" cried he.
"Quite ready."
"Well, then, fire away!"
I hastened to put the light to the wick, which crackled and sparkled,
hissing and spitting like a serpent; then, running as fast as I could, I
returned to the shore.
"Get on board, my lad, and you, Hans, shove off," cried my uncle.
By a vigorous application of his pole Hans sent us flying over the
water. The raft was quite twenty fathoms distant.
It was a moment of palpitating interest, of deep anxiety. My uncle, the
Professor, never took his eyes off the chronometer.
"Only five minutes more," he said in a low tone, "only four, only
three."
My pulse went a hundred to the minute. I could hear my heart beating.
"Only two, one! Now, then, mountains of granite, crumble beneath the
power of man!"
What happened after that? As to the terrific roar of the explosion, I do
not think I heard it. But the form of the rocks completely changed in my
eyes--they seemed to be drawn aside like a curtain. I saw a fathomless,
a bottomless abyss, which yawned beneath the turgid waves. The sea,
which seemed suddenly to have gone mad, then became one great
mountainous mass, upon the top of which the raft rose perpendicularly.
We were all thrown down. In less than a second the light gave place to
the most profound obscurity. Then I felt all solid support give way not
to my feet, but to the raft itself. I thought it was going bodily down a
tremendous well. I tried to speak, to question my uncle. Nothing could
be heard but the roaring of the mighty waves. We clung together in utter
silence.
Despite the awful darkness, despite the noise, the surprise, the
emotion, I thoroughly understood what had happened.
Beyond the rock which had been blown up, there existed a mighty abyss.
The explosion had caused a kind of earthquake in this soil, broken by
fissures and rents. The gulf, thus suddenly thrown open, was about to
swallow the inland sea which, transformed into a mighty torrent, was
dragging us with it.
Only one idea filled my mind. We were utterly and completely lost!
One hour, two hours--what more I cannot say, passed in this manner. We
sat close together, elbow touching elbow, knee touching knee! We held
one another's hands not to be thrown off the raft. We were subjected to
the most violent shocks, whenever our sole dependence, a frail wooden
raft, struck against the rocky sides of the channel. Fortunately for us,
these concussions became less and less frequent, which made me fancy
that the gallery was getting wider and wider. There could be now no
doubt that we had chanced upon the road once followed by Saknussemm, but
instead of going down in a proper manner, we had, through our own
imprudence, drawn a whole sea with us!
These ideas presented themselves to my mind in a very vague and obscure
manner. I felt rather than reasoned. I put my ideas together only
confusedly, while spinning along like a man going down a waterfall. To
judge by the air which, as it were, whipped my face, we must have been
rushing at a perfectly lightning rate.
To attempt under these circumstances to light a torch was simply
impossible, and the last remains of our electric machine, of our
Ruhmkorff coil, had been destroyed during the fearful explosion.
I was therefore very much confused to see at last a bright light shining
close to me. The calm countenance of the guide seemed to gleam upon me.
The clever and patient hunter had succeeded in lighting the lantern; and
though, in the keen and thorough draft, the flame flickered and
vacillated and was nearly put out, it served partially to dissipate the
awful obscurity.
The gallery into which we had entered was very wide. I was, therefore,
quite right in that part of my conjecture. The insufficient light did
not allow us to see both of the walls at the same time. The slope of
waters, which was carrying us away, was far greater than that of the
most rapid river of America. The whole surface of the stream seemed to