CHAPTER XXXVIII
No Outlet— Blasting the Rock
VER since the commencement of our marvel-
ous journey, I had experienced many sur-
/ prises, had suffered from many illusions. I
thought that I was case-hardened against all sur-
prises and could neithersee nor hear anything to
amaze me again. However, when I saw these two
letters, which had heen engraved three hundred
years before, I stood fixed in an attitude of mute
surprise. >
Not only was there the signature of the learned
and enterprising alchemist written in the rock, but
I held in my hand the identical instrument with
which he had laboriously engraved it. It was im-
possible, without showing an amount of incredulity
ecarcely becoming a sane man, to deny the existence
of the traveler, and the reality of that voyage which
I believed all along to have been a myth — the mysti-
fication of some fertile brain.
While these reflections were passing through my
mind, my uncle, the Professor, gave way to an ac-
cess of feverish and poetical excitement. "Wonder-
ful and glorious Genius, great Saknussem," he
cried, "you have omitted no resourse to show to
other mortals the way into the interior of our
mighty globe, and your fellow-creatures can find
the trail left by your illustrious footsteps, three
hundred years ago. You have been careful to secure
for others the contemplation of these wonders and
marvels of creation. Your name engraved at every
important stage of your glorious journey, leads the
hopeful traveler direct to the mighty discovery to
which you devoted such energy and courage. The
audacious traveler, who shall follow your footsteps
to the last, will doubtless find your initials engraved
with your own hand upon the center of the earth.
I will be that audacious traveler — 7, too, will sign
my name upon the very same spot, upon the central
granite stone of this wondrous work of the Creator.
But in justice to your devotion, and to your being
the first to indicate the road, let this Cape, seen by
you upon the shores of this sea discovered by you,
be called for all time, Cape Saknussem."
This is what I heard, and I began to be roused to
the pitch of enthusiasm indicated by those words.
A fierce excitement roused me. I forgot everything.
The dangers of the voyage, and the perils of the re-
turn journey, were now as nothing! What another
man had done in ages past, could, I felt be done
again; I was determined to do it myself, and now
nothing that man had accomplished appeared to me
impossible. "Forward — forward/' I cried in a
burst of genuine and hearty enthusiasm.
Where the Raft Brought Them
I HAD already started in the direction of the
somber and gloomy gallery, when the Profes-
sor stopped me ; he, the man so rash and hasty,
he, the man so easily roused to the highest pitch of
anthusiasm, checked me, and asked me to be patient
and show more calm, "Let us return to our good
friend, Hans," he said; "we will then bring the raft
down to this place."
I must say that though I at once yielded to my
uncle's request; it was not without dissatisfaction,
and I hastened along the rocks of that wonderful
coast. "Do you know, my dear uncle," I said, as
we walked along, "that we have been singularly
helped by a concurrence of circumstances, right up
to this very moment."
"So you begin to see it, do you, Harry?" said the
Professor, with a smile.
"Doubtless," I responded, "and strangely enough,
even the tempest has been the means of putting us
on the right road. Blessings on the tempest! It
brought us safely back to the very spot from which
fine weather would have driven us forever. Sup-
posing we had succeeded in reaching the southern
and distant shores of this extraordinary sea, what
would have become of us? The name of Saknussem
would never have appeared to us, and at this mo-
ment we should have been cast away upon an in-
hospitable coast, probably without an outlet."
"Yes, Harry, my boy, there is certainly some-
thing providential in that wandering at the mercy
of wind and waves towards the south; we have come
back exactly north; and what is better still, we
fall upon this great discovery. There is something
in it which is far beyond my comprehension. The
coincidence is unheard-of, marvelous!"
"What matter! It is not our duty to explain
facts, but to make the best possible use of them."
"Doubtless, my boy; but if you will allow me
" said the really-delighted Professor.
A Discussion of Geography
<« T~~* XCUSE me, sir, but I see exactly how it will
&-^ be; we shall. take the northern route; we
I J shall pass under the northern regions of
Europe, under Sweden, under Russia, under Siberia,
and who knows here — instead of burying ourselves
under the burning plains and deserts of Africa, or
beneath the mighty waves of the ocean; and that is
all, at this stage of our journey, that I care to know.
Let us advance, and Heaven will be our guide!"
"Yes, Harry, you are right; quite right; all is
for the best. Let us abandon this horizontal sea,
which could never have led to anything satisfactory.
We shall descend, descend, and everlastingly de-
scend. Do you know, my dear boy, that to reach the
interior of the earth we have only five thousand
miles to travel!"
"Bah!" I cried, carried away by a burst of en-
thusiasm, "the distance is scarcely worth .speaking
about. The thing is to make a start."
My wild, mad, and incoherent speeches continued
until we rejoined our patient and phlegmatic guide.
All was, we found, prepared for an immediate de-
parture. There was not a single parcel out of it3
proper place. We all took up our posts on the raft,
and the sail being hoisted, Hans received his direc-
tions, and guided the frail barque towards Cape
Saknussem, as we had definitely named it.
The wind was very unfavorable to a craft that
was unable to sail close to the wind. We were con-
tinually reduced to pushing ourselves forward by
means of poles. On several occasions the rocks ran
far out into deep water and we were compelled to
make a long round. At last, after three long and
weary hours of navigation, that is to say, about six
o'clock in the evening, we found a place at which
we could land.
I jumped on shore first. In my present state of
excitement and enthusiasm, I was always first. My
Page:Amazing Stories Volume 01 Number 04.djvu/76
This page needs to be proofread.
364
AMAZING STORIES
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/16/Amazing_Stories_Volume_01_Number_04.djvu/page76-1024px-Amazing_Stories_Volume_01_Number_04.djvu.jpg)