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13 - The Shadow of Scartaris - Journey to the Center of the Earth - Jules Verne · Daily Classic Science Fiction Books

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  Speaker 1: Chapter thirteen, The Shadow of Scataris. Our supper was eaten
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  Speaker 1: with ease and rapidity, after which everybody did the best
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  Speaker 1: he could for himself within the hollow of the crater.
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  Speaker 1: The bed was hard, the shelter on satisfactory, the situation painful,
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  Speaker 1: lying in the open air five thousand feet above the
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  Speaker 1: level of the sea. Nevertheless, it has seldom happened to
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  Speaker 1: me to sleep so well as I did on that
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  Speaker 1: particular night. I did not even dream so much for
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  Speaker 1: the effects of what my uncle called wholesome fatigue. Next day,
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  Speaker 1: when we awoke under the rays of a bright and
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  Speaker 1: glorious sun, we were nearly frozen by the keen air.
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  Speaker 1: I left my granite couch and made one of the
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  Speaker 1: party to enjoy a view of the magnificent spectacle which
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  Speaker 1: developed itself PANORAMAI like at our feet I stood upon
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  Speaker 1: the lofty summit of Mount Sneffel's southern peak. Thence I
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  Speaker 1: was able to obtain a view of the greater part
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  Speaker 1: of the island. The optical delusion, common to all lofty heights,
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  Speaker 1: raised the sh shores of the island. While the central
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  Speaker 1: portions appeared depressed, it was by no means too great
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  Speaker 1: a flight of fancies to believe that a giant picture
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  Speaker 1: was stretched out before me. I could see the deep
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  Speaker 1: valleys that crossed each other in every direction. I could
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  Speaker 1: see precipices looking like the sides of wells, lakes that
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  Speaker 1: seemed to be changed into ponds, ponds that looked like puddles,
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  Speaker 1: and rivers that were transformed into petty brooks. To my
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  Speaker 1: right were glaciers upon glaciers, and multiplied peaks topped with
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  Speaker 1: light clouds of smoke. The undulation of these infinite numbers
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  Speaker 1: of mountains, whose snowy summits make them look as if
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  Speaker 1: covered by foam, recalled to my remembrance the surface of
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  Speaker 1: a storm beaten ocean. If I looked towards the west,
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  Speaker 1: the ocean lay before me in all its majestic grandeur,
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  Speaker 1: a continuation, as it were, of these fleecy hilltops where
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  Speaker 1: the earth ended and the sea began. It was impossible
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  Speaker 1: for the eye to distinguish. I soon felt that strange
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  Speaker 1: and mysterious sensation which is awakened in the mind when
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  Speaker 1: looking down from lofty hilltops, and now I was able
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  Speaker 1: to do so without any feeling of nervousness, having fortunately
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  Speaker 1: hardened myself to that kind of sublime contemplation, I wholly
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  Speaker 1: forgot who I was and where I was. I became
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  Speaker 1: intoxicated with a sense of lofty sublimity, without thought of
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  Speaker 1: the abysses into which my daring was soon about to
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  Speaker 1: plunge me. I was, presently, however, brought back to the
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  Speaker 1: realities of life by the arrival of the Professor and Hans,
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  Speaker 1: who joined me upon the lofty summit of the peak.
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  Speaker 1: My uncle, turning in a westerly direction, pointed out to
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  Speaker 1: me a light cloud of vapor, a kind of haze,
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  Speaker 1: with a faint outline of land rising out of the waters. Greenland,
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  Speaker 1: said he Greenland, I cried in reply. Yes, continued my uncle,
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  Speaker 1: who always, when explaining anything, spoke as if he were
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  Speaker 1: in a professor's chair. We are not more than thirty
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  Speaker 1: five leagues distant from that wonderful land. When the great
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  Speaker 1: annual break up of the ice takes place, white bears
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  Speaker 1: come over to Iceland, carried by the floating masses of
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  Speaker 1: ice from the north. This, however, is a matter of
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  Speaker 1: little consequence. We are now on the summit of the great,
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  Speaker 1: the transcendent Sneffels, and here are its two peaks north
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  Speaker 1: and south. Hands will tell you the name by which
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  Speaker 1: the people of Iceland call that on which we stand.
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  Speaker 1: My uncle turned to the imperturbable guide, who nodded and spoke,
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  Speaker 1: as usual, one word, Scotdaris. My uncle looked at me
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  Speaker 1: with a proud and triumphant glance. A crater, he said,
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  Speaker 1: you hear, I did hear, but I was totally unable
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  Speaker 1: to make reply. The crater of Mount Sneffels represented an
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  Speaker 1: inverted cone, the gaping orifice apparently half a mile across,
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  Speaker 1: the depth indefinite feet. Conceive what this hole must have
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  Speaker 1: been like when full of flame and thunder and lightning.
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  Speaker 1: The bottom of the funnel shaped hollow was about five
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  Speaker 1: hundred feet in circumference, by which it will be seen
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  Speaker 1: that the slope from the summit to the bottom was
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  Speaker 1: very gradual, and we were therefore clearly able to get
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  Speaker 1: there without much fatigue or difficulty. Involuntarily I compared this
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  Speaker 1: crater to an enormous loaded cannon, and the comparison completely
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  Speaker 1: terrified me. To descend into the interior of a cannon,
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  Speaker 1: I thought to myself, when perhaps it is loaded and
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  Speaker 1: will go off at the least shock is the act
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  Speaker 1: of a madman. But there was no longer any opportunity
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  Speaker 1: for me to hesitate. Hans, with a perfectly calm and
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  Speaker 1: indifferent air, took his usual post at the head of
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  Speaker 1: the adventurous little band. I followed without uttering a syllable.
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  Speaker 1: I felt like the lamb led to the slaughter. In
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  Speaker 1: order to render the descent less difficult, Hans took his
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  Speaker 1: way down the interior of the cone in rather a
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  Speaker 1: zigzag fashion, making, as the sailors say, long tracks to
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  Speaker 1: the eastward followed by equally long ones to the west.
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  Speaker 1: It was necessary to walk through the midst of ieruptive rocks,
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  Speaker 1: some of which, shaken in their balance, went rolling down
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  Speaker 1: with thundering clamor to the bottom of the abyss. These
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  Speaker 1: continual falls awoke echoes of singular power and effect. Many
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  Speaker 1: portions of the cone consisted of inferior glaciers. Hands. Whenever
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  Speaker 1: he met one of these obstacles, advanced with a great
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  Speaker 1: show of precaution, sounding the soil with his long iron pole,
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  Speaker 1: in order to discover fissures and layers of deep soft snow.
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  Speaker 1: In many doubtful or dangerous places. It became necessary for
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  Speaker 1: us to be tied together by a long rope, in
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  Speaker 1: order that should any one of us be unfortunate enough
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  Speaker 1: to slip, he would be supported by his companions. This
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  Speaker 1: connecting link was doubtless a prudent precaution, but not by
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  Speaker 1: any means unattended with danger. Nevertheless, and despite all the
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  Speaker 1: manifold difficulties of the descent along slopes with which our
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  Speaker 1: guide was wholly unacquainted, we made considerable progress Without accident.
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  Speaker 1: One of our great parcels of ropes slipped from one
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  Speaker 1: of the Iceland porters and rushed a short cut to
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  Speaker 1: the bottom of the abyss. By midday we were at
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  Speaker 1: the end of our journey. I looked upwards and saw
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  Speaker 1: only the upper orifice of the cone, which served as
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  Speaker 1: a circular frame to a very small portion of the sky,
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  Speaker 1: a portion which seemed to me singularly beautiful should I
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  Speaker 1: ever again gaze on that lovely sunlit sky. The only
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  Speaker 1: exception to this extraordinary landscape was the peak of Scutaris,
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  Speaker 1: which seemed lost in the great void of the heavens.
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  Speaker 1: The bottom of the crater was composed of three separate shafts,
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  Speaker 1: through which, during periods of eruption, when sneffels was in action.
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  Speaker 1: The great central furnace sent forth its burning lava and
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  Speaker 1: poisonous vapors. Each of these chimneys or shafts gaped open
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  Speaker 1: mouthed in our path. I kept as far away from
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  Speaker 1: them as possible, not even venturing to take the faintest
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  Speaker 1: peep downwards. As for the Professor, after a rapid examination
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  Speaker 1: of their disposition and characteristics, he became breathless and panting.
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  Speaker 1: He ran from one to the other like a delighted schoolboy,
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  Speaker 1: gesticulating wildly and uttering incomprehensible and disjointed phrases in all
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  Speaker 1: sorts of languages. Has the Guide and his humbler companions
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  Speaker 1: seated themselves on some piles of lava and looked silently on.
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  Speaker 1: They clearly took my uncle for a lunatic, and waited
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  Speaker 1: for the result. Suddenly the Professor uttered a wild, unearthly cry.
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  Speaker 1: At first I imagined he had lost his footing and
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  Speaker 1: was falling headlong into one of the yawning gulfs. Nothing
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  Speaker 1: of the kind I saw him. His arms spread out
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  Speaker 1: to their widest extent, his legs stretched apart, standing upright
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  Speaker 1: before an enormous pedestal high enough and black enough to
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  Speaker 1: bear a gigantic stature of Pluto. His attitude and mien
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  Speaker 1: were that of a man utterly stupefied. But his stupefaction
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  Speaker 1: was speedily changed to the wildest joy. Harry, hurry, come here,
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  Speaker 1: he cried, make haste, wonderful, wonderful. Unable to understand what
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  Speaker 1: he meant, I turned to obey his commands. Neither hands
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  Speaker 1: nor the Iceland has moved a step lork, said the professor,
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  Speaker 1: in something of the manner of the French general, pointing
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  Speaker 1: out the pyramids to his army, and fully partaking his stupefaction,
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  Speaker 1: if not his joy. I read on the eastern side
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  Speaker 1: of the huge block of stone, the same characters, half
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  Speaker 1: eaten away by the corrosive action of time. The name
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  Speaker 1: to me a thousand times accursed. Ah Sacnussum, cried my uncle. Now, unbeliever,
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  Speaker 1: you begin to have faith. It was totally impossible for
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  Speaker 1: me to answer a single word. I went back to
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  Speaker 1: my pile of lava in a state of silent awe.
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  Speaker 1: The evidence was unanswerable, overwhelming. In a few moments, however,
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  Speaker 1: my thoughts were far away, back in my German home
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  Speaker 1: with Gretchen and the old cook. What would I have
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  Speaker 1: given for one of my cousin's smiles, for one of
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  Speaker 1: the ancient domestic's omelets, and for my own feather bed.
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  Speaker 1: How long I remained in this state I know not.
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  Speaker 1: All I can say is that, when at last I
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  Speaker 1: raised my head from between my hands, there remained at
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  Speaker 1: the bottom of the crater only myself, my uncle and hands.
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  Speaker 1: The Icelandic porters had been dismissed, and were now descending
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  Speaker 1: the exterior slopes of Mount Sneffels on their way to Stapy.
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  Speaker 1: How heartily did I wish myself with them. Hans slept
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  Speaker 1: tranquility at the foot of a rock, in a kind
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  Speaker 1: of rill of lava, where he had made himself a
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  Speaker 1: rough and ready bed. My uncle was walking about the
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  Speaker 1: bottom of the crater like a wild beast in a cage.
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  Speaker 1: I had no desire, neither had either strength to move
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  Speaker 1: from my recumbent position. Taking example by the guide, I
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  Speaker 1: gave way to a kind of painful somnolency, during which
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  Speaker 1: I seemed both to hear and feel continued heavings and
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  Speaker 1: shudderings in the mountain. In this way we passed our
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  Speaker 1: first night in the interior of the crater. Next morning,
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  Speaker 1: a gray, cloudy, heavy sky hung like a funereal pall
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  Speaker 1: over the summit of the volcanic cone. I did not
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  Speaker 1: notice it so much from the obscurity that reigned about us,
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  Speaker 1: as from the rage from which my uncle was devoured.
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  Speaker 1: I fully understood the reason, and again a glimpse of
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  Speaker 1: hope made my heart leap with joy. I will briefly
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  Speaker 1: explain the cause of the three openings which yawned beneath
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  Speaker 1: our steps. Only one could have been followed by the
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  Speaker 1: adventurous Sagnussum. According to the words of the learned Icelander,
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  Speaker 1: it was only to be known by that one particular
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  Speaker 1: mentioned in the cryptograph, that the shadow of Scartaris fell
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  Speaker 1: upon it, just touching its mouth. In the last days
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  Speaker 1: of the month of June. We were, in fact to
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  Speaker 1: consider the pointed peak as the stylus of an immense
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  Speaker 1: sun dial, the shadow of which pointed on one given day,
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  Speaker 1: like the inexorable finger of fate to the yawning chasm
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  Speaker 1: which led into the interior of the earth. Now, as
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  Speaker 1: often happens in these regions, should the sun fail to
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  Speaker 1: burst through the clouds, no shadow, consequently, no chance of
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  Speaker 1: discovering the right aperture. We had already reached the twenty
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  Speaker 1: fifth of June. If the kindly heavens would only remain
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  Speaker 1: densely clouded for six more days, we should have to
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  Speaker 1: put off our voyage of discovery for another year, when
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  Speaker 1: certainly there would be one person fewer in the party.
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  Speaker 1: I already had sufficient of the mad and monstrous enterprise.
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  Speaker 1: It would be utterly impossible to depict the impotent rage
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  Speaker 1: of Professor Hardwig. The day passed away, and not the
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  Speaker 1: faintest outline of a shadow could be seen at the
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  Speaker 1: bottom of the crater. Hans the guide never moved from
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  Speaker 1: his place. He must have been curious to know what
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  Speaker 1: we were about, if indeed he could believe we were
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  Speaker 1: about anything. As for my uncle, he never addressed a
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  Speaker 1: word to me. He was nursing his wrath to keep
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  Speaker 1: it warm, his eyes fixed on the black and foggy atmosphere,
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  Speaker 1: his complexion hideous with suppressed passion. Never had his eyes
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  Speaker 1: appeared so fierce, his nose so aquiline, his mouth so
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  Speaker 1: hard and firm. On the twenty sixth, no change for
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  Speaker 1: the better. A mixture of rain and snow fell during
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  Speaker 1: the day Hans very quietly built himself a hut of lava,
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  Speaker 1: into which he retired, like Diogenes into his tub. I
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  Speaker 1: took malicious delight in watching the thousand little cascades that
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  Speaker 1: flowed down the side of the cone, carrying with them
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  Speaker 1: at times a stream of stones into the vastly deep below.
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  Speaker 1: My uncle was almost frantic, to be sure. It was
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  Speaker 1: enough to make even a patient man angry. He had
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  Speaker 1: reached to a certain extent the goal of his desires,
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  Speaker 1: and yet he was likely to be wrecked in port.
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  Speaker 1: But if the heavens and the elements are capable of
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  Speaker 1: causing as much pain and sorrow, there are two sides
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  Speaker 1: to a medal, and there was reserved for Professor Hardwig
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  Speaker 1: a brilliant and sudden surprise, which was to compensate him
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  Speaker 1: for all his sufferings. Next day the sky was still overcast.
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  Speaker 1: But on Sunday, the twenty eighth, the last day but
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  Speaker 1: two of the month, with a sudden change of wind
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  Speaker 1: and a new moon, there came a change of weather.
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  Speaker 1: The sun poured its beaming rays to the very bottom
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  Speaker 1: of the crater. Each hillock, every rock, every stone, every
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  Speaker 1: asperity of the soil had its share of the luminous effulgence,
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  Speaker 1: and its shadow fell heavily on the soil, among others.
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  Speaker 1: To his insane delight. The shadow of Scutaris was marked
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  Speaker 1: and clear, and moved slowly with the radiant start of day.
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  Speaker 1: My uncle moved with it in a state of mental ecstasy.
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  Speaker 1: At twelve o'clock, exactly when the sun had attained its
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  Speaker 1: highest altitude for the day, the shadow fell upon the
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  Speaker 1: edge of the central pit. Here it is, gasped the Professor,
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  Speaker 1: in an agony of joy. Here it is we have
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  Speaker 1: found it. Forward, my friends, into the interior of the earth.
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  Speaker 1: I look curiously at hands to see what reply he
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  Speaker 1: would make to this terrific announcement. For it said the
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  Speaker 1: guide tranquility. Forward, it is, answered my uncle, who was
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  Speaker 1: now in the seventh Heaven of Delight. When we were
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  Speaker 1: quite ready, our watches indicated thirteen minutes pass one. End
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  Speaker 1: Chapter thirteen,