A Journey To The Center Of The Earth Part 14

"Lost, in the deepest darkness."

"But your lamp?"

"Extinguished."

"And the stream?"

"Disappeared."

"Axel, my poor Axel, take courage!"

"Wait a little, I'm exhausted! I don't have the strength to answer. But speak to me!"

"Courage," resumed my uncle. "Don't speak, listen to me. We've looked for you up and down the tunnel. Couldn't find you. Ah! I wept much for you, my child! At last, a.s.suming that you were still on the path of the Hansbach, we went back down and fired a few shots from our rifles. Now, if our voices are audible to each other, it's purely an acoustic effect! Our hands cannot touch! But don't despair, Axel! It's already something that we can hear each other!"

During this time I had been thinking. A certain hope, still vague, was returning to my heart. Above all, there was one thing that it was important to me to find out. I placed my lips close to the wall and said: "Uncle?"

"My boy?" came the reply after a few moments.

"We must first find out how far we are apart."

"That's easy."

"You have your chronometer?"

"Yes."

"Well, take it. p.r.o.nounce my name, noting exactly the second when you speak. I'll repeat it as soon as it reaches me, and you'll also note the exact moment when you get my answer."

"Yes, and half the time between my call and your answer will indicate exactly the time my voice takes to reach you."

"That's it, Uncle."

"Are you ready?"

"Yes."

"Now, attention. I'm going to p.r.o.nounce your name."

I put my ear to the wall, and as soon as the name 'Axel' reached me, I immediately replied "Axel," then waited.

"Forty seconds," said my uncle. "Forty seconds have pa.s.sed between the two words; so the sound takes twenty seconds. Now, at a rate of 1,020 feet per second, that adds up to 22,400 feet, or a league and a half, and one-eighth."

"A league and a half!" I murmured.

"Eh! That can be overcome, Axel."

"But must I go up or down?"

"Down-for this reason: We've arrived in a vast s.p.a.ce where a large number of tunnels end. Yours must lead into it, for it seems as if all the clefts and crevices of the globe radiate out from this immense cavern where we are. So get up, and start walking. Walk on, drag yourself along, if necessary slide down the steep slopes, and you'll find us with our arms open to receive you at the end of the path. Go ahead, my child, get going!"

These words cheered me up.

"Good-bye, Uncle!" I exclaimed. "I'm leaving. Our voices won't be able to communicate anymore once I leave this place. So good-bye!"

.... "Good-bye, Axel, I'll see you soon!"

These were the last words I heard.

This surprising conversation, carried on across the ma.s.s of the earth, with a distance of a league and a half between us, concluded with these words of hope. I prayed a prayer of grat.i.tude to G.o.d, for he had guided me through these immense dark s.p.a.ces to perhaps the only point where the voices of my companions could reach me.

This amazing acoustic effect is easily explained just in terms of the laws of physics. It came from the concave shape of the tunnel and the conducting power of the rock. There are many examples of this propagation of sounds which remain imperceptible in the intermediate s.p.a.ces. I remember that this phenomenon has been observed in many places, among others on the inner gallery of the dome of St. Paul's in London, and especially in the midst of those curious caverns in Sicily, those quarries near Syracuse, the most wonderful of which is known by the name of Ear of Dionysus.

These memories came back to my mind, and I realized clearly that since my uncle's voice did reach me, there was no obstacle between us. Following the direction of the sound, I would logically reach him, if my strength did not fail me.

I therefore rose. I dragged myself rather than walked. The slope was steep. I let myself slide.

Soon the speed of my descent increased in a frightening way, and threatened to turn into a fall. I no longer had the strength to stop myself.

Suddenly the ground failed under my feet. I felt myself revolving in the air, striking against the craggy projections of a vertical tunnel, a real well; my head struck a sharp rock, and I lost consciousness.

XXIX.

WHEN I REGAINED CONSCIOUSNESS, I found myself in half-darkness, lying on thick blankets. My uncle was watching over me, to discover the least sign of life on my face. At my first sigh he took my hand; when I opened my eyes he uttered a cry of joy.

"He's alive! He's alive!" he exclaimed.

"Yes," I answered feebly.

"My child," said my uncle, hugging me to his breast, "you're saved."

I was deeply touched by his tone as he uttered these words, and even more by the care that accompanied them. But it took trials such as this to trigger this kind of outpouring from the professor.

At this moment Hans came. He saw my hand in my uncle's, and I dare say that his eyes expressed a deep satisfaction.

"G.o.d dag," he said.

"h.e.l.lo, Hans, h.e.l.lo," I murmured. "And now, Uncle, tell me where we are at present?"

"Tomorrow, Axel, tomorrow. Now you're still too weak. I've bandaged your head with compresses which must not be disturbed. Sleep now, and tomorrow I'll tell you all."

"But at least," I insisted, "tell me what time it is, and what day?"