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.Ilooked 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 seal 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.