Latest / Daily Sci-Fi Books / 25 - The Whispering Gallery - Journey to the Center of the Earth - Jules Verne

Transcript

25 - The Whispering Gallery - Journey to the Center of the Earth - Jules Verne · Daily Sci-Fi Books

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty five, The Whispering Gallery. When at last I
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: came back to a sense of life and being. My
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: face was wet, but wet as I soon knew with tears,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: how long this state of insensibility lasted. It is quite
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: impossible for me now to say I had no means
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: left to me of taking any account of time. Never
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: since the creation of the world had such a solitude
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: as mine existed. I was completely abandoned. After my fall,
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: I lost much blood. I felt myself flooded with the
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: life giving fluid. My first sensation was perhaps a natural one,
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: Why was I not dead? Because because I was alive,
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: there was something left to do. I tried to make
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: up my mind to think no longer. As far as
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: I was able, I drove away all ideas, and utterly,
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: overcome by pain and grief, I crouched against the granite wall.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: I just commenced to feel the fainting coming on again,
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: and the sensation that this was the last struggle before
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: complete annihilation. When on a sudden a violent uproar reached
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: my ears. It had some resemblance to the prolonged rumbling
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: voice of thunder, and I clearly distinguished sonorous voices lost
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: one after the other in the distant depths of the gulf.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: Whence came this noise, Naturally, it was to be supposed
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: from new phenomena which were taking place in the bosom
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: of the solid mass of Mother Earth, the explosion of
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: some gas's vapor, or the fall of some solid of
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: the granite or of the rock. Again, I listened with
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: deep attention. I was extremely anxious to hear if this
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: strange and inexplicable sound was likely to be renewed. A
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: whole quarter of an hour elapsed in painful expectation. Deep
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: and solemn silence reigned in the tunnel, so still that
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: I could hear the beatings of my own heart. I waited,
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: waited with a strange kind of hopefulness. Suddenly my ear,
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: which leaned accidentally against the wall, appeared to catch, as
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: it were, the faintest echo of a sound. I thought
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: that I heard, vague, incoherent and distant voices. I quivered
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: all over with excitement and hope. It must be hallucination,
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: I cried, it cannot be, it is not true. But no,
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: By listening more attentively, I really did convince myself that
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: what I heard was truly the sound of human voices.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: To make any meaning out of the sound, however, was
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: beyond my power. I was too weak even to hear distinctly. Still,
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: it was a positive fact that someone was speaking of
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: that I was quite certain. There was a moment of fear,
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: A dread fell upon my soul, that it might be
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: my own words brought back to me by a distant echo.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: Perhaps without knowing it, I might have been crying aloud.
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: I resolutely closed my lips and once more placed my
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: ear to the huge granite wall. Yes, for certain, it was,
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: in truth the sound of human voices. I now, by
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: the exercise of great determination, dragged myself along the sides
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: of the cavern until I reached a point where I
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: could hear more distinctly. But though I could detect the sound,
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: I could only make out uncertain, strange and incomprehensible words.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: They reached my ear as if they had been spoken
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: in a low tone, murmured, as if it were afar off.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: At last I made out the word for laurad, repeated
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: several times in a tone betokening great mental anguish and sorrow.
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: What could this word mean? And who was speaking it?
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: It must be either my uncle or the guide Hans.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: If therefore I could hear them, they must surely be
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: able to hear be Help, I cried at the top
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: of my voice. Help, I am dying. I then listened,
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: with scarcely a breath. I panted with the slightest sound
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: in the darkness, a cry, a sigh, a question, But
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: silence reigned supreme, no answer Kane. In this way, some
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: minutes passed A whole flood of ideas flashed through my mind.
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: I began to fear that my voice, weakened by sickness
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: and suffering, could not reach my companions, who were in
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: search for me.
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: It must be, they said, I cried. Who else could,
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: by any possibility, be buried one hundred miles below the
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: level of the earth. The mere supposition was preposterous. I began,
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: therefore to listen again with the most breathless attention. As
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: I moved my ears along the side of the place
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: I was in, I found a mathematical point, as it were,
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: where the voices appeared to attain their maximum of intel.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: The word for Lorad again distinctly reached my ear. Then
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: came again that rolling noise like thunder, which had awakened
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: me out of my torpur. I begin to understand, I
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: said to myself, after some little time devoted to reflection.
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: It is not through the solid mass that the sound
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: reaches my ears. The walls of my cavernous retreat are
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: of solid granite, and the most fearful explosion would not
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: make uproar enough to penetrate them. The sound must come
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: along the gallery itself. The place I was in must
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: possess some peculiar acoustic properties of its own. Again I listened,
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: and this time, yes, this time I heard my name
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: distinctly pronounced cast as it were into space. It was
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: my uncle, the professor, who was speaking. He was in
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: conversation with the guide, and the word which had so
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: often reached my ear, for lurad was a Danish word.
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: Then I understood it all. In order to make myself heard,
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: I too must speak as it were, along the side
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: of the gallery, which would carry the sound of my voice,
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: just as the wire carries the electric fluid from point
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: to point. But there was no time to lose. If
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: my companions were only to remove a few feet from
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: where they stood, the acoustic effect would be over. My
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: whispering gallery would be destroyed. I again, therefore crawled towards
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: the wall and said as clearly and distinctly as I could,
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: Uncle Hardwig. I then awaited a reply. Sound does not
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: possess the property of traveling with such extreme rapidity. Besides,
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: the density of the air at that depth from light
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: and motion was very far from adding to the rapidity
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: of circulation. Several seconds elapsed, which, to my excited imagination,
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: appeared ages, and these words reached my eager ears and
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: moved my wildly beating heart. Harry, my boy, is that
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: you a short delay between question and answer?
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: Yes? Yes, where are you lost? And your lamp out?
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: But the guiding stream is lost? Keep your courage, Harry,
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: We will do our best. One moment, my uncle, I cried,
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: I have no longer strength to answer your questions. But
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: for Heaven's sake, do you continue to speak to me?
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: Absolute silence, I felt, would be annihilation. Keep up your courage,
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: said my uncle. As you are so weak, do not speak.
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: We have been searching for you in all directions. But
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: by going upwards and downwards in the gallery, my dear boy,
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: I had begun to give over all hope, and you
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: can never know what bitter tears of sorrow and regret
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: I have shed at last, supposing you to be still
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: on the road beside Hansbach. We again descended firing off
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: guns as signals. Now, however, we have found you, and
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: that our voices reach each other, it may be a
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: long time before we actually meet. We are conversing by
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: means of some extraordinary acoustic arrangement of the labyrinth. But
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: do not despair, my dear boy. It is something gained
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: even to hear each other. While he was speaking, my
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: brain was at work reflecting a certain undefined oh vague
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: and shapeless as yet made my heart beat wildly. In
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: the first place, it was absolutely necessary for me to
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: know one thing. I once more therefore leaned my head
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: against the wall, which I almost touched with my lips,
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: and again spoke, Uncle, my boy, was his answer, after
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: a few moments. Is it the utmost consequence that we
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: should know how far we are asunder? That is not difficult.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: You have your chronumeter at hand, I asked, certainly, Well,
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: take it into your hand, pronounced my name, noting exactly
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: the second at which you speak. I will reply as
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: soon as I hear you your words, and you will
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: then note exactly the moment at which my reply reaches you,
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: very good, and the mean time between my question and
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: your answer will be the time occupied by my voice
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: in reaching you. That is exactly what I mean, Uncle,
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: was my eager reply. Are you ready? Yes, well, make ready.
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: I am about to pronounce your name, said the professor.
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: I applied my ear close to the sides of the
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: cavernous gallery, and as soon as the word Harry reached
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: my ear, I turned round, and, placing my lips to
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: the wall, repeated the sound forty seconds, said my uncle.
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: There has elapsed forty seconds between the two words. The
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: sound therefore takes twenty seconds to ascend. Now, allowing a
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: one thousand and twenty feet for every second, we have
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: twenty thousand, four hundred feet, a league and a half
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: and one eighth. These words fell on my soul like
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: a kind of death knell. A league and a half,
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: I'm muttered in a low and despairing voice. It shall
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: be got over, my boy, cried my uncle in a
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: cheery tone. Depend on us. But do you know whether
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: to ascend or descend? I asked faintly enough. We have
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: to dis end, and I will tell you why you
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: have reached a vast open space, a kind of bare crossroad,
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: from which galleries diverge in every direction. That in which
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: you are now lying must necessarily bring you to this point. Four.
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: It appears that all these mighty vissures, these fractures of
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: the globe's interior, radiate from the vast cavern which we
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: at this moment occupy. Rouse yourself, then have courage and
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: continue your out well if you can, if not, drag
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: yourself along slide.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: If nothing else is possible, the slow must be rather rapid,
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: and you will find strong arms to receive you at
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: the end of your journey. Make a start like a
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: good fellow. These words served to rouse some kind of
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: courage in my sinking frame. Farewell for the present, good uncle,
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: I am about to take my departure. As soon as
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: I start, our voices will cease to commingle. Farewell then
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: until we meet again, I do harry until we say welcome.
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: Sure were the last words which reached my anxious ears
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: before I commenced my weary and almost hopeless journey. This
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: wonderful and surprising conversation which took place through the vast
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: mass of the Earth's labyrinth these words exchanged, the speakers
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: being about five miles apart. Ended with hopeful and pleasant expressions,
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: I breathed one more prayer to Heaven. I sent up
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: words of thanksgiving, believing in my inmost heart that he
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: had led me to the only place where the voices
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: of my friends could reach my ears. This apparently astounding
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: acoustic mystery is easily explainable by simple natural laws. It
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: aroused from the conductibility of the rock. There are many
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: instances of this singular propagation of sound which are not
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: perceptible in its less mediate positions. In the interior gallery
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: of Saint Paul's and amid the curious caverns in Sicily,
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: these phenomena are observable. The most marvelous of them all
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: is known as the ear of Dionysius. These memories of
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: the past, of my early reading and studies came fresh
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: to my thoughts. Moreover, I began to reason that if
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: my uncle and I could communicate at such great a distance,
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: no serious obstacle could exist between us. All I had
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: to do was to follow the direction whence the sound
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: had reached me, and logically putting it, I must reach him.
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: If my strength did not fail. I accordingly rose to
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: my feet. I soon found, however, that I could not walk,
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: that I must drag myself along the slope. As I expected,
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: was very rapid, but I allowed myself to slip down.
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: Soon the rapidity of the decis and began to assume
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: frightful proportions, and menaced a fearful fall. I clutched at
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: the sides, I grasped at projections of rocks. I threw
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: myself backwards, all in vain. My weakness was so great
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: I could do nothing to save myself. Suddenly Earth failed me.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: I was first launched into a dark and gloomy void.
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: I then struck against the projecting asperities of a vertical gallery,
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: a perfect well. My head bounded against a pointed rock,
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: and I lost all knowledge of existence. As far as
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: I was concerned, death had claimed me for his own.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: End of Chapter twenty five