But at last the time came when my limbs refused to carry me longer.I contended heroically against the terrible tortures Iendured,because I did not wish to compel my uncle to halt.To him Iknew this would be the last fatal stroke.
Suddenly I felt a deadly faintness come over me.My eyes could no longer see;my knees shook.I gave one despairing cry-and fell!
"Help,help,I am dying!
My uncle turned and slowly retraced his steps.He looked at me with folded arms,and then allowed one sentence to escape,in hollow accents,from his lips:
"All is over."
The last thing I saw was a face fearfully distorted with pain and sorrow;and then my eyes closed.
When I again opened them,I saw my companions lying near me,motionless,wrapped in their huge traveling rugs.Were they asleep or dead?For myself,sleep was wholly out of the question.My fainting fit over,I was wakeful as the lark.I suffered too much for sleep to visit my eyelids-the more,that I thought myself sick unto death-dying.The last words spoken by my uncle seemed to be buzzing in my ears-all is over!And it was probable that he was right.In the state of prostration to which I was reduced,it was madness to think of ever again seeing the light of day.
Above were miles upon miles of the earth's crust.As I thought of it,I could fancy the whole weight resting on my shoulders.I was crushed,annihilated!and exhausted myself in vain attempts to turn in my granite bed.
Hours upon hours passed away.A profound and terrible silence reigned around us-a silence of the tomb.Nothing could make itself heard through these gigantic walls of granite.The very thought was stupendous.
Presently,despite my apathy,despite the kind of deadly calm into which I was cast,something aroused me.It was a slight but peculiar noise.While I was watching intently,I observed that the tunnel was becoming dark.Then gazing through the dim light that remained,Ithought I saw the Icelander taking his departure,lamp in hand.
Why had he acted thus?Did Hans the guide mean to abandon us?My uncle lay fast asleep-or dead.I tried to cry out,and arouse him.My voice,feebly issuing from my parched and fevered lips,found no echo in that fearful place.My throat was dry,my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth.The obscurity had by this time become intense,and at last even the faint sound of the guide's footsteps was lost in the blank distance.My soul seemed filled with anguish,and death appeared welcome,only let it come quickly.
"Hans is leaving us,"I cried."Hans-Hans,if you are a man,come back."These words were spoken to myself.They could not be heard aloud.
Nevertheless,after the first few moments of terror were over,I was ashamed of my suspicions against a man who hitherto had behaved so admirably.Nothing in his conduct or character justified suspicion.
Moreover,a moment's reflection reassured me.His departure could not be a flight.Instead of ascending the gallery,he was going deeper down into the gulf.Had he had any bad design,his way would have been upwards.
This reasoning calmed me a little and I began to hope!
The good,and peaceful,and imperturbable Hans would certainly not have arisen from his sleep without some serious and grave motive.
Was he bent on a voyage of discovery?During the deep,still silence of the night had he at last heard that sweet murmur about which we were all so anxious?