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41 - Hunger - Journey to the Center of the Earth - Jules Verne · Classic Science Fiction Books

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  Speaker 1: Chapter forty one, hunger. Hunger prolonged its temporary madness. The
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  Speaker 1: brain is at work without its required food, and the
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  Speaker 1: most fantastic notions filled the mind. Hitherto I had never
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  Speaker 1: known what hunger really meant. I was likely to understand
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  Speaker 1: it now, and yet three months before I could tell
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  Speaker 1: my terrible story of starvation as I thought it. As
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  Speaker 1: a boy, I used to make frequent excursions in the
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  Speaker 1: neighborhood of the professor's house. My uncle always acted on system,
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  Speaker 1: and he believed that in addition to the day of
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  Speaker 1: rest and worship, there should be a day of recreation.
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  Speaker 1: In consequence, I was always free to do as I
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  Speaker 1: liked on a Wednesday, now, as I had a notion
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  Speaker 1: to combine the useful and agreeable. My favorite pastime was
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  Speaker 1: birds nesting. I had one of the best collections of
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  Speaker 1: eggs in all the town. They were classified and under
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  Speaker 1: glass cases. There was a certain wood which, by rising
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  Speaker 1: at early morn and taking the cheap train, I could
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  Speaker 1: reach at eleven in the morning. Here I would bought
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  Speaker 1: an eye or gear, or logize at my will. My
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  Speaker 1: uncle was all as glad of specimens for his herbarium
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  Speaker 1: and stones to examine when I had filled my wallet,
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  Speaker 1: I proceeded to search for nests. After about two hours
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  Speaker 1: of hard work, I one day sat down by stream
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  Speaker 1: to eat my humble but copious lunch. How the remembrance
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  Speaker 1: of the spice sausage, the weathen loaf, and the beer
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  Speaker 1: made my mouth water. Now I would have given every
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  Speaker 1: prospect of worldly wealth for such a meal, but to
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  Speaker 1: my story. While seated thus at my leisure, I looked
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  Speaker 1: up at the ruins of an old castle at no
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  Speaker 1: great distance. It was the remains of an hill historical
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  Speaker 1: dwelling I we clad and now falling to pieces. While looking,
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  Speaker 1: I saw two eagles circling about the summit of a
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  Speaker 1: lofty tower. I soon became satisfied that there was a nest.
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  Speaker 1: Now in all my collection I lacked eggs of the
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  Speaker 1: native eagle and the large owl. My mind was made up.
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  Speaker 1: I would reach the summit of that tower or perish.
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  Speaker 1: In the attempt. I went nearer and surveyed the ruins.
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  Speaker 1: The old staircase years before had fallen in. The outer
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  Speaker 1: walls were, however, intact. There was no change that way
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  Speaker 1: unless I looked to the ivy solely for support. This
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  Speaker 1: was as I soon found out futile. There remained the chimney,
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  Speaker 1: which still went up to the top and had once
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  Speaker 1: served to carry off the smoke from every story of
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  Speaker 1: the tower. Up this sid it termined to venture. It
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  Speaker 1: was narrow, rough, and therefore the more easily climbed. I
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  Speaker 1: took off my coat and crept into the chimney. Looking up,
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  Speaker 1: I saw a small light opening, proclaiming the summit of
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  Speaker 1: the chimney. Up Up I went for some time, using
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  Speaker 1: my hands and knees after the fashion of a chimney sweep.
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  Speaker 1: It was slow work, but there being continual prodictions, the
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  Speaker 1: task was comparatively easy. In this way, I reached half way.
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  Speaker 1: The chimney now became narrower, the atmosphere was close, and
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  Speaker 1: at last, to end the matter, I stuck fast. I
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  Speaker 1: could ascend no higher. There could be no doubt to this,
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  Speaker 1: and there remained no resource but to descend and give
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  Speaker 1: up my glorious prey. In despair, I yielded to fate
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  Speaker 1: and endeavored to descend, but I could not move. Some
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  Speaker 1: unseen and mysterious obstacle intervened and stopped me in an instant.
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  Speaker 1: The full horror of my situation seized me. I was
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  Speaker 1: unable to move either way, and was doomed to a
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  Speaker 1: terrible and horrible death that of starvation. In a boy's mind, however,
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  Speaker 1: there is an extraordinary amount of elasticity and hope, and
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  Speaker 1: I began to think of all sorts of plans to
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  Speaker 1: escape my gloomy fate. In the first place, I required
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  Speaker 1: no food just at present, having had an excellent meal,
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  Speaker 1: and was therefore allowed time for reflection. My first thought
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  Speaker 1: was to try and move the mortar with my hand.
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  Speaker 1: Had I possessed a knife, something might have been done,
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  Speaker 1: but that useful instrument I had left in my coat pocket.
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  Speaker 1: I soon found that all efforts of this kind were
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  Speaker 1: vain and useless, and that all I could hope to
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  Speaker 1: do was to wriggle downwards. But though I jerked and
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  Speaker 1: struggled and strode to turn, it was all in vain.
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  Speaker 1: I could not move an inch one way or the other,
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  Speaker 1: and time flew rapidly. My early rising probably contributed to
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  Speaker 1: the fact that I felt sleepy and gradually gave way
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  Speaker 1: to the sensation of drowsiness. I slept and awoke in darkness,
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  Speaker 1: ravenuously hungry. Night had come, and still I could not move.
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  Speaker 1: I was tight bound and did not succeed in changing
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  Speaker 1: my position. An inch, I groaned aloud. Never since the
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  Speaker 1: days of my happy childhood, when it was a hardship
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  Speaker 1: to go from meal to meal without eating, had I
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  Speaker 1: really experienced hunger. The sensation was as novel as it
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  Speaker 1: was painful. I began now to lose my head and
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  Speaker 1: to scream and cry out in my agony. Something appeared
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  Speaker 1: startled by my noise. It was a harmless lizard, but
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  Speaker 1: it appeared to me a loath some reptile. Again I
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  Speaker 1: made the old ruins resound with my cries, and finally
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  Speaker 1: so exhausted myself that I fainted. How long I lay
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  Speaker 1: in a kind of trance or sleep, I cannot say.
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  Speaker 1: But when again I recovered consciousness, it was day. How
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  Speaker 1: ill I felt, how hunger still ignored at me? It
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  Speaker 1: would be hard to say. I was too weak to scream,
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  Speaker 1: now far too weak to struggle. Suddenly I was startled
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  Speaker 1: by a roar. Are you there, Henri, said the voice
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  Speaker 1: of my uncle, Are you there, my boy? I could
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  Speaker 1: only faintly respond, but I also made a desperate effort
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  Speaker 1: to turn some water fell. To this I owed my
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  Speaker 1: being discovered. When the search took place, it was easily
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  Speaker 1: seen that mortar and small pieces of stone had recently
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  Speaker 1: fallen from above. Hence my uncle's cry, be calm, He cried,
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  Speaker 1: if we pull down the whole ruin, you shall be saved.
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  Speaker 1: They were delicious words, but I had little hope. Soon. However,
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  Speaker 1: about a quarter of an hour later, I heard a
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  Speaker 1: voice about me at one on the upper fireplaces. Are
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  Speaker 1: you below or above? Below? Was my reply? In an instant,
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  Speaker 1: a basket was load with milk, a biscuit, and an egg.
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  Speaker 1: My uncle was fearful to be too ready with a
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  Speaker 1: supply of food. I drank the milk first, for a
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  Speaker 1: thirst had nearly deadened hunger. I then much refreshed ate
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  Speaker 1: my bread and hard egg. They were now at work
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  Speaker 1: at the wall. I could hear a pickaxe. Wishing to
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  Speaker 1: escape all danger from this terrible weapon, I made a
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  Speaker 1: desperate struggle, and the belt which surrounded my waist and
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  Speaker 1: which had been hitched on a stone, gave way. I
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  Speaker 1: was free and only escaped, falling down by a rapid
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  Speaker 1: motion on my hands and knees. In ten minutes more,
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  Speaker 1: I was in my uncle's arms. After being two days
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  Speaker 1: and nights in that horrible prison. My occasional delirium prevented
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  Speaker 1: me from counting time. I was weeks recovering from that
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  Speaker 1: awful starvation adventure, And yet what was that to the
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  Speaker 1: hideous sufferings I now endured. After dreaming for some time
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  Speaker 1: and thinking of this and other matters, I once more
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  Speaker 1: looked around me. We were still ascending with fearful rapidity.
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  Speaker 1: Every now and then the air appeared to check our respiration,
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  Speaker 1: as it does that of aeronaut's when the ascension of
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  Speaker 1: the balloon is too rapid, But if they feel a
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  Speaker 1: degree of cold in proportion to the elevation they attained
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  Speaker 1: in the atmosphere, we experienced quite a contrary effect. The
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  Speaker 1: heat began to increase in a most threatening and exceptional manner.
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  Speaker 1: I cannot tell exactly the mean, but I think it
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  Speaker 1: must have reached one hundred twenty two degrees fahrenheight. What
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  Speaker 1: was the meaning of this extraordinary change in the temperature.
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  Speaker 1: As far as we had hitherto gone, facts had proved
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  Speaker 1: the theories of Davy and of Liedenbrock to be correct.
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  Speaker 1: Until now, all the peculiar conditions of refractory rocks of
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  Speaker 1: electricity of magnetis had modified the general laws of nature,
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  Speaker 1: and had created for us a moderate temperature. For the
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  Speaker 1: theory of this central fire remained in my eyes the
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  Speaker 1: only explainable one. Were we then going to reach a
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  Speaker 1: position in which these phenomena were to be carried out
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  Speaker 1: in all their rigor, and in which the heat would
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  Speaker 1: reduce the rocks to state a fusion. Such was my
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  Speaker 1: not unnatural fear, and I did not conceal the fact
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  Speaker 1: from my uncle. My way of doing so might be
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  Speaker 1: cold and heartless, but I could not help it. If
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  Speaker 1: we are not drowned or smashed into pancakes, and if
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  Speaker 1: we do not die of starvation, we have the satisfaction
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  Speaker 1: of knowing that we must be burnt alive. My uncle,
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  Speaker 1: in presence of this brusque attack, simply shrugged his shoulders
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  Speaker 1: and resumed his reflections, whatever they might be. An hour
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  Speaker 1: passed away, and except that there was a slight increase
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  Speaker 1: in the temperature, no incident modified the situation. My uncle,
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  Speaker 1: at last, of his own accord, broke silence. Well, Henry,
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  Speaker 1: my boy, he said, in a cheerful way. We must
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  Speaker 1: make up our minds. Make up our minds to what
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  Speaker 1: I asked in considerable surprise, well to something we must,
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  Speaker 1: at whatever risk, recruit our physical strength. If we make
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  Speaker 1: the fatal mistake of husbanding our little remnant of food,
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  Speaker 1: we may probably prolong our wretched existence a few hours,
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  Speaker 1: but we shall remain weak to the end. Yes, I
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  Speaker 1: growled to the end that, however, will not give us
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  Speaker 1: slong waiting. Well, only let a chance of safety present itself,
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  Speaker 1: only low, that a moment of action be necessary. Where
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  Speaker 1: shall we find the means of action if we allow
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  Speaker 1: ourselves to be reduced to physical weakness by inanition, When
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  Speaker 1: this piece of meat is devoured, Uncle, what hope will
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  Speaker 1: there remain unto us, none, my dear henry, None will
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  Speaker 1: it do you any good to devour it with your eyes?
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  Speaker 1: You appear to me to reason like one without will
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  Speaker 1: or decision, like a being without energy. Then, cried I,
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  Speaker 1: exasperated to a degree which is scarcely to be explained.
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  Speaker 1: You do not mean to tell me that you that
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  Speaker 1: you have not lost all hope? Certainly, not, replied the
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  Speaker 1: professor with consumed coolness. You mean to tell me, uncle,
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  Speaker 1: that we shall get out of this monstrous subterranean shaft.
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  Speaker 1: While there is life, there is hope. I beg tor,
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  Speaker 1: sir Henry, that as long as a man's heart beats,
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  Speaker 1: as long as a man's flesh quivers, I do not
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  Speaker 1: allow that a being gifted with thought and will can
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  Speaker 1: allow himself to despair. What a nerve. The man placed
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  Speaker 1: in a position like that we occupied must have been
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  Speaker 1: very brave to speak like this. Well, I cried, what
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  Speaker 1: do you mean to do? Eat what remains of the
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  Speaker 1: food we have in our hands. Let us swallow the
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  Speaker 1: last crumb. It will be heaven willing our last repast. Well,
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  Speaker 1: never mind, instead of being exhausted skeletons, we shall be men, true,
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  Speaker 1: muttered I, in a despairing tone. Let us take our
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  Speaker 1: fill we must, replied my uncle, with a deep sigh.
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  Speaker 1: Call it what you will. My uncle took a piece
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  Speaker 1: of the meat that remained, and some crusts of biscuit
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  Speaker 1: which had escaped the wreck. He divided the whole into
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  Speaker 1: three parts. Each had one pound of food to last
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  Speaker 1: him as long as he remained in the interior of
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  Speaker 1: the earth. Each now acted in accordance with his own
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  Speaker 1: private character. My uncle, the Professor ate greedily, but evidently
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  Speaker 1: without appetite, eating simply from some mechanical motion. I put
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  Speaker 1: the food inside my lips, and hungry as I was
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  Speaker 1: chewed my morsel without pleasure and without satisfaction. Hans the guide,
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  Speaker 1: just as if he had been either down hunting, swallowed
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  Speaker 1: every mouthful as though it were a usual affair. He
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  Speaker 1: looked like a man equally prepared to enjoy superfluity or
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  Speaker 1: total want. Hans, in all probability, was no more use
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  Speaker 1: to starvation than ourselves. But his hardy Icelandic nature had
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  Speaker 1: prepared him for many sufferings. As long as he received
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  Speaker 1: his three ricks dollars every Saturday night, he was prepared
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  Speaker 1: for anything. The fact was, Hans never troubled himself about
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  Speaker 1: much except his money. He had undertaken to serve a
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  Speaker 1: certain man at so much per week, and no matter
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  Speaker 1: what evil Spefeli's employer or himself, he never found fault
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  Speaker 1: or grumbled, so long as his wages were duly paid. Suddenly,
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  Speaker 1: my uncle roused himself. He had seen a smile on
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  Speaker 1: the face of our guide. I could not make it out.
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  Speaker 1: What is the matter, said my uncle? She dum said
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  Speaker 1: the guide, producing a bottle of this precious fluid. We drank.
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  Speaker 1: My uncle and myself will own to our dying day.
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  Speaker 1: That hence we derived strength to exist until the last
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  Speaker 1: bitter moment. That precious bottle of Holland's was in reality
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  Speaker 1: only half full, but under the circumstances it was nectar.
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  Speaker 1: He took some minutes for myself and my uncle to
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  Speaker 1: form a decided opinion on the subject. The worthy professor
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  Speaker 1: swallowed about half a pint and did not seem able
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  Speaker 1: to drink any more. For trifling, said Hans, swallowing nearly
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  Speaker 1: all that was left. Excellent, very good, said my uncle,
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  Speaker 1: with as much gusto as if he had just left
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  Speaker 1: the steps the club at Hamburg. I had begun to
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  Speaker 1: feel as if there had been one gleam of hope.
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  Speaker 1: Now all thought of the future vanished. We had consumed
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  Speaker 1: our last ounce of food, and it was five o'clock
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  Speaker 1: in the morning. End of Chapter forty one.