Latest / Classic Sci Fi Books - Daily / 44 - The Journey Ended - Journey to the Center of the Earth - Jules Verne

Transcript

44 - The Journey Ended - Journey to the Center of the Earth - Jules Verne · Classic Sci Fi Books - Daily

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Chapter forty four of Journey to the Center of the Earth.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Reading by lsh Rulander Journey to
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: the Center of the Earth by Chulvin, Chapter forty four,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: The Journey Ended. This is the final conclusion of a
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: narrative which will be probably disbelieved even by people who
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: were astonished at nothing. I am, however, armed at all
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: points against human incredulity. We were kindly received by the
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Strombolite fishermen, who treated us as shipwrecked travelers. They gave
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: us clothes and food. After a delay of forty eight hours,
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: on the thirteenth of September, a little vessel took us
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: to Messina, where a few days of delightful and complete
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: repose restored us to ourselves. On Friday, the fourth of October,
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: we embarked in the Volturne, one of the postal packets
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: of the Imperial Messageries of France, and three days later
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: we landed at Marseilles, having no other care on our
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: minds but that of our precious but erratic compass. This
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: inexplicable circumstance tormented me terribly. On the ninth of October,
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: in the evening we reached Hamburg. What was the astonishment
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: of Martha? What the joy of Gretchen? I will not
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: attempt to define it now, then hurry that you really
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: are a hero, She said, there is no reason why
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: you should ever leave me again. I looked at her.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: She was weeping tears of joy. I leave it to
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: be imagined if the return of Professor Hartwick made or
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: did not make a sensation in Hamburg. Thanks to the
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: indiscretion of Martha. The news of his departure for the
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: interior of the earth had been spread over the whole world.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: No one would believe it, and when they saw him
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: come back in safety, they believed it all the less.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: But the presence of Hans and many stray scraps of
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: information by degrees modified public opinion. Then my uncle became
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: a great man, and I the nephew of a great man, which,
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: at all events is something. Hamburg gave a festival in
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: our honor. A public meeting of the Johannium Institution was held,
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: at which the Professor related the whole story of his adventures,
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: omitting only the facts in connection with a compass. That
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: same day he deposited in the archives of the town
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: the document he had found written by Sacnusm, and he
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: expressed his great regret that circumstances stronger than his will
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: did not allow him to follow the Icelandic traveler's track
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: into the very center of the earth. He was modest
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: in his glory, but his reputation only increased so much
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: honor necessarily created for him many envious enemies. Of course,
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: they existed, and as his theories, supported by certain facts,
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: contradicted the system of science upon the question of central heat,
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: he maintained his own views, both with pen and speech,
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: against the learned of every country. Although I still believe
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: in the theory of central heat, I confess that certain circumstances,
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: hitherto very ill defined, may modify the laws of such
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: natural phenomenon. At the moment when these questions were being
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: discussed with interest, my uncle received a rude shock, one
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: that he felt very much. Hans, despite everything he could
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: say to the contrary, quitted Hamburg, the man to whom
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: we owed so much, would not allow us to pay
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: our deep debt of gratitude. He was taken with nostalgia
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: a love for his Icelandic home. Farewell, said he one day,
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: and with this one short word of adieu, he started
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: for Reikiavik, which he soon reached in safety. We were
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: deeply attached to our brave Idodakanter. His absence will never
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: cause him to be forgotten by those whose lives he saved,
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: and I hope, at some not distant day to see
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: him again. To conclude, I may say that our journey
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: into the interior of the Earth created an enormous sensation
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: throughout the civilized world. It was translated and printed in
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: many languages, all the leading journals public distracts from it,
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: which were commentated, discussed, attack, and supported with equal animation
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: by those who believed in its episodes and by those
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: who were utterly incredulous wonderful. My uncle enjoyed during his
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: lifetime all the glory he deserved, and he was even
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: offered a large sum of money by mister Barnum to
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: exhibit himself in the United States, while I am credibly
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: informed by a traveler that he is to be seen
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: in waxwork at Madame Tussor's. But one care preyed upon
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: his mind a care which rendered him very unhappy. One
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: fact remained inexplicable, that of the compass. For a learning
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: man to be baffled by such an inexplicable phenomenon was
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: very aggravating, But Heaven was merciful, and in the end
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: my uncle was happy. One day, while he put some
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: minerals belonging to his collection in order, I fell upon
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: the famous compass and examined it. Keenly for six months,
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: it had lain unnoticed and untouched. I looked at it
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: with curiosity, which soon became surprise. I gave a loud cry.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: The professor, who was at hand, soon joined me. What
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: is the matter? He cried, the compass, What then, why
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: its needle points to the south and not to the north.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: My dear boy, you must be dreaming. I'm not dreaming.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: See the poles are changed changed. My uncle put on
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: his spectacles, examined the instrument, and leaped with joy, shaking
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: the whole house. A clear light fell upon our minds
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: here it is, he cried, as soon as he had
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: recovered the use of his speech. After we had once
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: passed Cape sutnussm. The needle of this compass pointed to
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: the southward instead of the northward. Evidently our error is
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: now easily explained. But to what phenomenon do we owe
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: this alteration in the needle? Nothing more simple? Explain yourself,
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: my boy, I am on thorns during the storm upon
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: the central sea. The ball of fire, which made a
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: magnet of the iron in our raft, turned our compast
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: topsy turvy. Ah, cried the professor with a loud and
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: ringing laugh. It was a trick of that inexplicable electricity.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: From that hour, my uncle was the happiest of learned men,
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: and I the happiest of ordinary mortals. For my pretty
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: Virlin girl, abdicating her position as ward took her place
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: in the house in the keernishe Strasse. In the double
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: quality of niece and wife, we need scarcely mention that
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: her uncle was the illustrous Professor Hartwig, corresponding member of
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: all the scientific, geographical, mineralogical and geological societies of the
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: five parts of the globe. End of the Voyage Extraordinariy
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: end of chapter forty four, and thereby also the end
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: of Journey to the Center of the Earth by Chilvan