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to make a precipitate retreat from his observatory. Now would have been the
opportunity to demand of the enthusiast whether he would like to prolong his
residence indefinitely upon his little comet. It is very likely that he would
have declared himself ready to put up with any amount of discomfort to be able
to gratify his love of investigation; but all were far too disheartened and
distressed to care to banter him upon the subject on which he was so
sensitive.
Next morning, Servadac thus addressed his people. "My friends, except from
cold, we have nothing to fear.
Our provisions are amplemore than enough for the remaining period of our
sojourn in this lone world of ours; our preserved meat is already cooked; we
shall be able to dispense with all fuel for cooking purposes.
All that we require is warmth warmth for ourselves; let us secure that, and
all may be well. Now, I do not entertain a doubt but that the warmth we
require is resident in the bowels of this mountain on which we are living; to
the depth of those bowels we must penetrate; there we shall obtain the warmth
which is indispensable to our very existence."
His tone, quite as much as his words, restored confidence to many of his
people, who were already yielding to a feeling of despair. The count and the
lieutenant fervently, but silently, grasped his hand.
"Nina," said the captain, "you will not be afraid to go down to the lower
depths of the mountain, will you?"
"Not if Pablo goes," replied the child.
"Oh yes, of course, Pablo will go. You are not afraid to go, are you, Pablo?"
he said, addressing the boy.
"Anywhere with you, your Excellency," was the boy's prompt reply.
And certain it was that no time must be lost in penetrating below the heart of
the volcano; already the most protected of the many ramifications of Nina's
Hive were being pervaded by a cold that was insufferable. It was an
acknowledged impossibility to get access to the crater by the exterior
declivities of the mountainside; they were far too steep and too slippery to
afford a foothold. It must of necessity be entered from the interior.
Off on a Comet
CHAPTER XII. THE BOWELS OF THE COMET
138
Lieutenant Procope accordingly undertook the task of exploring all the
galleries, and was soon able to report that he had discovered one which he had
every reason to believe abutted upon the central funnel. His reason for coming
to this conclusion was that the caloric emitted by the rising vapors of the
hot lava seemed to be oozing, as it were, out of the tellurium, which had been
demonstrated already to be a conductor of heat. Only succeed in piercing
through this rock for seven or eight yards, and the lieutenant did not doubt
that his way would be opened into the old lavacourse, by following which he
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hoped descent would be easy.
Under the lieutenant's direction the Russian sailors were immediately set to
work. Their former experience had convinced them that spades and pickaxes were
of no avail, and their sole resource was to proceed by blasting with
gunpowder. However skillfully the operation might be carried on, it must
necessarily occupy several days, and during that time the sufferings from cold
must be very severe.
"If we fail in our object, and cannot get to the depths of the mountain, our
little colony is doomed," said
Count Timascheff.
"That speech is not like yourself," answered Servadac, smiling. "What has
become of the faith which has hitherto carried you so bravely through all our
difficulties?"
The count shook his head, as if in despair, and said, sadly, "The Hand that
has hitherto been outstretched to help seems now to be withdrawn."
"But only to test our powers of endurance," rejoined the captain, earnestly.
"Courage, my friend, courage!
Something tells me that this cessation of the eruption is only partial; the
internal fire is not all extinct. All is not over yet. It is too soon to give
up; never despair!"
Lieutenant Procope quite concurred with the captain. Many causes, he knew,
besides the interruption of the influence of the oxygen upon the mineral
substances in Gallia's interior, might account for the stoppage of the
lavaflow in this one particular spot, and he considered it more than probable
that a fresh outlet had been opened in some other part of the surface, and
that the eruptive matter had been diverted into the new channel.
But at present his business was to prosecute his labors so that a retreat
might be immediately effected from their now untenable position.
Restless and agitated, Professor Rosette, if he took any interest in these [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]