Chapter 24 Chapter 24 Under the Sea
The next day we had forgotten our past hardships.At first I wondered if I wasn't thirsty and didn't know how.The babbling stream beneath my feet answered me.
After I finished my breakfast, I drank a very delicious iron-rich water.I felt very happy, and wanted to go further; with a man as confident as my uncle, with a guide as shrewd as Hanns, and a nephew as "firm" as myself, how could it not be successful?This beautiful idea got into my head.Had it been suggested to go back to the top of Snaefer, I would have refused angrily.Fortunately, however, we happened to be going down.
"Let's go!" I cried, my passionate voice calling again the ancient echoes of the earth.
At eight o'clock on Thursday morning we set off again.The winding granite corridor has various unexpected angles, but its general aspect has always been towards the southeast.Uncle never forgot to observe the compass and pay attention to the direction of our journey.
The tunnel is almost perfectly parallel, with a slope of only two inches for every six feet.The springs flowed quietly; I took them as familiar gods leading us through the labyrinths of the earth, and I touched their soft, warm waters and listened to its song that accompanied our steps.
Uncle has been cursing that the inclination of the slope is too small, and waiting for the straight tunnel.We don't have a choice, however, and if we're approaching the center of the Earth, however slowly it's always good.In addition, sometimes the rate of inclination of the slope becomes greater, and the spring water rolls down, and we also descend very quickly.However, this day and the next day, we are advancing in parallel, not going down much.
On the night of Friday, July 10, we were, by my calculations, ninety miles southeast of Reykjavik, and seven and a half miles underground.At this moment, a tunnel of terrible shape appeared under our feet, and its steepness made my uncle applaud.
"Now we will continue our descent," he cried, "and this time it will be easy, for the ledges of the rocks will serve as regular ladders!"
Hannes arranged the rope in the safest possible way, and we began our descent.I shouldn't say it's dangerous, because now I'm very used to this way of going forward.
The tunnel is a very narrow crack, also known as a "fault," in a mass of rock that forms as the Earth's crust contracts as it cools.There is no trace of any material passing through this tunnel due to volcanic eruptions.We are descending from a kind of spiral ladder that may have been created by human hands.
Every quarter of an hour we had to stop and take a break.Relaxes sore muscles in your legs.We enjoyed sitting on the ledge with our legs dangling, eating and talking and drinking from the spring.On this fault, of course, Hanns' Creek has become a waterfall because of its reduced size; but it is enough for us.Here the spring was as irritable and irritable as my uncle, and on the gentler slopes like our Icelandic guide.
On the 6th and 7th of July we followed the spiral of the fault and penetrated six miles into the earth's crust, at which point we were perhaps fifteen miles below sea level, but on the 8th the rate of inclination of the fault was much more gentle, toward The southeast obliquely goes at a forty-five degree angle.
The road is level, and there are no ups and downs--it cannot be otherwise; one cannot expect much variation in the character of the scenery!
On Wednesday the 15th we were twenty-one miles underground, and one hundred and fifty miles below Snaefer.Although a little tired, we are in good health and our medicine cabinet has not been touched.
Uncle watched the chronograph, fluid pressure gauge, and compass every hour (the figures were later published).I cried out when he told me we had walked a hundred and fifty miles parallel.
"What's the matter with you?" he asked me. "Nothing, I just thought of one thing."
"What is it, child?"
"If your calculations are correct, we are no longer under Iceland."
"Do you think so?"
"We can see that easily." I measured it with my compass and the scale of the map.
"I'm right," said I, "we've passed Cape Peterland, and the few miles we've gone to the southeast have brought us under the sea."
"Under the sea," repeated the uncle, wiping his hands happily.
"Just imagine," I said, "the ocean is right above us!"
"It doesn't matter, Aksai, there are coal mines under the sea."
It didn't matter whether we were above the mountains of Iceland or the waves of the Atlantic, for there were jagged rocks here too, but the idea of my uncle made me uncomfortable nonetheless.I soon got used to this idea too, for although the rate of inclination of this sometimes straight and sometimes winding tunnel varied from time to time, it always meandered to the southeast and continued to descend. , which soon took us deep.
Four days later, on the evening of Saturday, July 18th, we reached a large cave; my uncle gave Hannes his wages of three dollars a week, and decided that the next day would be a day of rest.
Notes:
Notes: