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44 - The Journey Ended - Journey to the Center of the Earth - Jules Verne · Science Fiction Books

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  Speaker 1: Chapter forty four of Journey to the Center of the Earth.
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  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
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  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Reading by lsh Rulander Journey to
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  Speaker 1: the Center of the Earth by Chulvin, Chapter forty four,
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  Speaker 1: The Journey Ended. This is the final conclusion of a
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  Speaker 1: narrative which will be probably disbelieved even by people who
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  Speaker 1: were astonished at nothing. I am, however, armed at all
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  Speaker 1: points against human incredulity. We were kindly received by the
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  Speaker 1: Strombolite fishermen, who treated us as shipwrecked travelers. They gave
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  Speaker 1: us clothes and food. After a delay of forty eight hours,
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  Speaker 1: on the thirteenth of September, a little vessel took us
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  Speaker 1: to Messina, where a few days of delightful and complete
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  Speaker 1: repose restored us to ourselves. On Friday, the fourth of October,
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  Speaker 1: we embarked in the Volturne, one of the postal packets
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  Speaker 1: of the Imperial Messageries of France, and three days later
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  Speaker 1: we landed at Marseilles, having no other care on our
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  Speaker 1: minds but that of our precious but erratic compass. This
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  Speaker 1: inexplicable circumstance tormented me terribly. On the ninth of October,
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  Speaker 1: in the evening we reached Hamburg. What was the astonishment
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  Speaker 1: of Martha? What the joy of Gretchen? I will not
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  Speaker 1: attempt to define it now, then hurry that you really
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  Speaker 1: are a hero, She said, there is no reason why
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  Speaker 1: you should ever leave me again. I looked at her.
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  Speaker 1: She was weeping tears of joy. I leave it to
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  Speaker 1: be imagined if the return of Professor Hartwick made or
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  Speaker 1: did not make a sensation in Hamburg. Thanks to the
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  Speaker 1: indiscretion of Martha. The news of his departure for the
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  Speaker 1: interior of the earth had been spread over the whole world.
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  Speaker 1: No one would believe it, and when they saw him
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  Speaker 1: come back in safety, they believed it all the less.
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  Speaker 1: But the presence of Hans and many stray scraps of
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  Speaker 1: information by degrees modified public opinion. Then my uncle became
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  Speaker 1: a great man, and I the nephew of a great man, which,
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  Speaker 1: at all events is something. Hamburg gave a festival in
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  Speaker 1: our honor. A public meeting of the Johannium Institution was held,
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  Speaker 1: at which the Professor related the whole story of his adventures,
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  Speaker 1: omitting only the facts in connection with a compass. That
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  Speaker 1: same day he deposited in the archives of the town
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  Speaker 1: the document he had found written by Sacnusm, and he
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  Speaker 1: expressed his great regret that circumstances stronger than his will
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  Speaker 1: did not allow him to follow the Icelandic traveler's track
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  Speaker 1: into the very center of the earth. He was modest
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  Speaker 1: in his glory, but his reputation only increased so much
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  Speaker 1: honor necessarily created for him many envious enemies. Of course,
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  Speaker 1: they existed, and as his theories, supported by certain facts,
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  Speaker 1: contradicted the system of science upon the question of central heat,
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  Speaker 1: he maintained his own views, both with pen and speech,
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  Speaker 1: against the learned of every country. Although I still believe
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  Speaker 1: in the theory of central heat, I confess that certain circumstances,
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  Speaker 1: hitherto very ill defined, may modify the laws of such
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  Speaker 1: natural phenomenon. At the moment when these questions were being
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  Speaker 1: discussed with interest, my uncle received a rude shock, one
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  Speaker 1: that he felt very much. Hans, despite everything he could
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  Speaker 1: say to the contrary, quitted Hamburg, the man to whom
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  Speaker 1: we owed so much, would not allow us to pay
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  Speaker 1: our deep debt of gratitude. He was taken with nostalgia
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  Speaker 1: a love for his Icelandic home. Farewell, said he one day,
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  Speaker 1: and with this one short word of adieu, he started
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  Speaker 1: for Reikiavik, which he soon reached in safety. We were
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  Speaker 1: deeply attached to our brave Idodakanter. His absence will never
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  Speaker 1: cause him to be forgotten by those whose lives he saved,
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  Speaker 1: and I hope, at some not distant day to see
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  Speaker 1: him again. To conclude, I may say that our journey
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  Speaker 1: into the interior of the Earth created an enormous sensation
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  Speaker 1: throughout the civilized world. It was translated and printed in
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  Speaker 1: many languages, all the leading journals public distracts from it,
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  Speaker 1: which were commentated, discussed, attack, and supported with equal animation
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  Speaker 1: by those who believed in its episodes and by those
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  Speaker 1: who were utterly incredulous wonderful. My uncle enjoyed during his
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  Speaker 1: lifetime all the glory he deserved, and he was even
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  Speaker 1: offered a large sum of money by mister Barnum to
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  Speaker 1: exhibit himself in the United States, while I am credibly
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  Speaker 1: informed by a traveler that he is to be seen
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  Speaker 1: in waxwork at Madame Tussor's. But one care preyed upon
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  Speaker 1: his mind a care which rendered him very unhappy. One
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  Speaker 1: fact remained inexplicable, that of the compass. For a learning
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  Speaker 1: man to be baffled by such an inexplicable phenomenon was
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  Speaker 1: very aggravating, But Heaven was merciful, and in the end
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  Speaker 1: my uncle was happy. One day, while he put some
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  Speaker 1: minerals belonging to his collection in order, I fell upon
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  Speaker 1: the famous compass and examined it. Keenly for six months,
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  Speaker 1: it had lain unnoticed and untouched. I looked at it
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  Speaker 1: with curiosity, which soon became surprise. I gave a loud cry.
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  Speaker 1: The professor, who was at hand, soon joined me. What
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  Speaker 1: is the matter? He cried, the compass, What then, why
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  Speaker 1: its needle points to the south and not to the north.
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  Speaker 1: My dear boy, you must be dreaming. I'm not dreaming.
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  Speaker 1: See the poles are changed changed. My uncle put on
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  Speaker 1: his spectacles, examined the instrument, and leaped with joy, shaking
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  Speaker 1: the whole house. A clear light fell upon our minds
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  Speaker 1: here it is, he cried, as soon as he had
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  Speaker 1: recovered the use of his speech. After we had once
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  Speaker 1: passed Cape sutnussm. The needle of this compass pointed to
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  Speaker 1: the southward instead of the northward. Evidently our error is
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  Speaker 1: now easily explained. But to what phenomenon do we owe
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  Speaker 1: this alteration in the needle? Nothing more simple? Explain yourself,
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  Speaker 1: my boy, I am on thorns during the storm upon
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  Speaker 1: the central sea. The ball of fire, which made a
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  Speaker 1: magnet of the iron in our raft, turned our compast
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  Speaker 1: topsy turvy. Ah, cried the professor with a loud and
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  Speaker 1: ringing laugh. It was a trick of that inexplicable electricity.
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  Speaker 1: From that hour, my uncle was the happiest of learned men,
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  Speaker 1: and I the happiest of ordinary mortals. For my pretty
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  Speaker 1: Virlin girl, abdicating her position as ward took her place
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  Speaker 1: in the house in the keernishe Strasse. In the double
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  Speaker 1: quality of niece and wife, we need scarcely mention that
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  Speaker 1: her uncle was the illustrous Professor Hartwig, corresponding member of
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  Speaker 1: all the scientific, geographical, mineralogical and geological societies of the
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  Speaker 1: five parts of the globe. End of the Voyage Extraordinariy
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  Speaker 1: end of chapter forty four, and thereby also the end
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  Speaker 1: of Journey to the Center of the Earth by Chilvan