Chapter 20 Chapter 20 Dead End

Indeed we need rationing.As far as I learned at dinner, we only had enough water for three days.And unfortunately we have no hope of finding a spring at the bottom of this Silurian river. All day long the next day lay before our eyes the endless succession of arches of the tunnel.We walked on almost in silence, as if Hannes's reticence had infected us. The path does not slope upwards, at least not visibly; sometimes it even appears to slope downwards.This tendency, however, is not evident, and it does not reassure the professor, since the nature of the strata has not changed, while the transition period has become more and more certain.

The gneiss, limestone, and red ancient shale of the rock walls glisten in the light of electric lights.We really seemed to be in an open tunnel in which Devonshire had given its name to the old red sandstone.There is also a layer of beautiful marble on the surface of the rock wall, some are agate gray with mixed white veins, some are bright red, some are yellow with patches of rose, and some are dark red and brown. The spots are mixed together. Most of these marbles show traces of primitive animals; however since the preceding period there has been a marked progress in creation.Instead of fully-developed ancient arthropods, I saw the remains of more complete animals—among them keloids, lizards that paleontologists consider to be the oldest forms of reptiles.The Devon Sea is inhabited by large numbers of these animals, and they all settle on the bottom of the present New Age river.

Evidently we are observing the life of various animals, of which man is the highest; but Professor Liedenbrock does not seem to pay any attention to this, and he probably hopes to find a vertical tunnel to allow him to descend again, Or hope to meet obstacles that will force us to go back.When evening came, however, neither hope was fulfilled. On Friday, I was wracked with thirst, and our little party hurried on again after the night.After ten hours, I observed that the reflections on the rock face had greatly diminished.Marble, gneiss, limestone and sandstone were all replaced by something dull and dull.

At a certain place where the tunnel was very narrow, I leaned against the rock; I saw that my hands had grown very black.I looked around more carefully for a week.Coal is all around us! "It's a coal mine!" I yelled. "No miners have ever been here," replied the uncle. "Ah! who knows?" "I know," said my uncle curtly, "I'm sure this tunnel in the mine wasn't made by men. But what does it matter? It's supper time. Let's have supper." Hannes prepared some food.I ate very little and drank the small amount of water that was allotted to me.Only half of the water left in the guide's water bottle was reserved for the three of us to drink.

After supper, my two companions wrapped themselves in blankets and slept to refresh themselves.I can't sleep, counting the hours until dawn. At six o'clock on Saturday morning, we set off again, and within twenty minutes, we arrived at a large cave, which was obviously not dug by human hands, otherwise there must be some support under the dome; It seems to be supported by a magical balance force. The cave was a hundred feet wide and about a hundred and fifty feet high.The land here was once cracked by a violent earthquake, leaving this large gap.We are the first people on earth to come here.The entire history of this coal seam is written in the rock wall, and it is easy for the geologist to read the consecutive words to understand.Coal beds are separated by sandstone or fine-grained shale, which weighs heavily on them.

Before this age, which we call the Middle Ages, the earth was subjected to intense heat and a constant assault of moist air; every part of the earth was enveloped in a layer of vapor, from which not even sunlight could penetrate. There was no so-called "climate" at all during this period, and the surface of the earth was filled with a heat flow equivalent to the equator and the poles.Where did this heat flow come from?from the inside of the earth. Contrary to Professor Riedenbrock's theory, there is a great deal of heat in the interior of the earth, which acts all the way to the outermost layers of the crust.The plant neither blooms nor smells because of the absence of sunlight, yet its roots draw life force from the scorching interior of the earth.

There are few trees, but there are many grasses, ferns, stone pine, and seal wood. These are rare plants now, but there were thousands of them at that time. Coal originated from this lush plant.At this time, the earth's crust is still flexible, and it forms many grooves and depressions due to the flow of internal liquid.Submerged plants gradually form a huge piece.Slowly sedimentation took place, and the submerged mass of vegetation first turned into peat and then completely mineralized by fermentation.Thus formed this great bed of coal, for the consumption of all nations, which will remain inexhaustible for many centuries to come.

Yet I said to myself that these particular coal beds would not be mined—too much labor would be required to reach such remote sources.Besides, there is already a lot of coal in the ground, why come here?So these coal beds will always be like this until the trumpet of the end of the world is blown. We continued to move forward, and I was probably the only one who forgot the distance of the journey and was completely absorbed in the consideration of geological problems.The temperature remained almost constant, but my sense of smell told me that there was before me the hydrocarbons and methane whose explosions had wreaked such terrible havoc in the coal mines.How fortunate we are to have light here thanks to Lumkoff's ingenious invention!If we were unlucky enough to explore here with torches, a terrible explosion would have wiped out all of us prospectors and brought the expedition to a halt.

We walked over the coal seams until evening, and my uncle became more and more anxious because of the obstacles on the ground along the way.At this time, the surroundings were getting darker and darker, and there was no way to estimate the length of the tunnel.I began to think that this tunnel might not have a bottom.Suddenly at six o'clock in the afternoon, a stack of rock walls unexpectedly appeared in front of us.There are no openings left, right, up and down.We've reached the end of a dead end. "That's better!" cried the uncle. "I know where I am now. We're not on the Saconusan road, so we have to go back. We'll rest for the night, and in three days we'll be back where the two roads diverged." the forked place."

"Very well," I said, "if we have the strength!" "Why not?" "Because the water will be gone tomorrow." "Is our courage gone, then?" asked the professor, looking at me sternly.I dare not answer.

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