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14 - The Real Journey Commences - Journey to the Center of the Earth - Jules Verne · Classic Science Fiction Books

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  Speaker 1: Chapter fourteen, The real journey commences. Our real journey had
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  Speaker 1: now commenced hitherto, our courage and determination had overcome all difficulties.
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  Speaker 1: We were fatigued at times, and that was all. Now
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  Speaker 1: we were about to encounter unknown and fearful dangers. I
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  Speaker 1: had not as yet ventured to take a glimpse down
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  Speaker 1: the horrible abyss into which in a few minutes more
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  Speaker 1: I was about to plunge. The fatal moment had, however,
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  Speaker 1: at last arrived. I had still the option of refusing
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  Speaker 1: or accepting a share in this foolish and audacious enterprise.
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  Speaker 1: But I was ashamed to show more fear than the
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  Speaker 1: eider duck hunter Hans seemed to accept the difficulties of
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  Speaker 1: the journey so tranquility, with such calm indifference, with such
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  Speaker 1: perfect recklessness of all danger, that I actually blushed to
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  Speaker 1: appear less of a man than he. Had I been
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  Speaker 1: alone with my uncle, I should certainly have sat down
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  Speaker 1: and argued the point fully, But in the presence of
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  Speaker 1: the guide I held my tongue. I gave one moment
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  Speaker 1: to the thought of my charming cousin, and then I
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  Speaker 1: advanced into the mouth of the central shaft. It measured
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  Speaker 1: about a hundred feet in diameter, which made about three
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  Speaker 1: hundred in circumference. I leaned over a rock which stood
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  Speaker 1: on its edge, and looked down. My hair stood on end,
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  Speaker 1: my teeth chattered, my limbs trembled. I seemed utterly to
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  Speaker 1: lose my center of gravity, while my head was in
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  Speaker 1: a sort of whirl like that of a drunken man.
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  Speaker 1: There is nothing more powerful than this attraction towards an abyss.
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  Speaker 1: I was about to fall headlong into the gaping well
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  Speaker 1: when I was drawn back by a firm and powerful hand.
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  Speaker 1: It was that of hands I had not taken lessons
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  Speaker 1: enough at Frelsa Kerk's of Copenhagen in the art of
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  Speaker 1: looking down from lofty eminences without blinking. However, few as
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  Speaker 1: the minutes were during which I gazed down this tremendous
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  Speaker 1: and even wondrous shaft, I had a sufficient glimpse of
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  Speaker 1: it to give me some idea of its physical conformation.
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  Speaker 1: Its sides, which were almost as perpendicular as those of
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  Speaker 1: a well, presented numerous projections which doubtless would assist our descent.
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  Speaker 1: It was a sort of wild and savage staircase without
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  Speaker 1: banister or fence. A rope fastened above near the surface
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  Speaker 1: would certainly support our weight and enable us to reach
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  Speaker 1: the bottom. But how when we had arrived at its
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  Speaker 1: utmost depth were we to loosen it above? This was,
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  Speaker 1: I thought a question of some importance. My uncle, however,
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  Speaker 1: was one of those men who are nearly always prepared
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  Speaker 1: with expedients. He hit upon a very simple method of
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  Speaker 1: obviating this difficulty. He unrolled a cord about as thick
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  Speaker 1: as my thumb and at least four hundred feet in length.
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  Speaker 1: He allowed about half of it to go down the
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  Speaker 1: pit and catch in a hitch over a great block
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  Speaker 1: of lava which stood on the edge of the precipice.
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  Speaker 1: This done, he threw the second half after the first.
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  Speaker 1: Each of us could now descend By catching the two
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  Speaker 1: cords in one hand. When about two hundred feet below,
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  Speaker 1: all the explorer had to do was to let go
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  Speaker 1: one end and pull away at the other when the
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  Speaker 1: cord would come falling at his feet. In order to
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  Speaker 1: go down, father, all that was necessary was to continue
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  Speaker 1: the same operation. This was a very excellent proposition, and
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  Speaker 1: no doubt a correct one. Going down appeared to me
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  Speaker 1: easy enough. It was the coming up again that now
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  Speaker 1: occupied my thoughts. Now said my uncle, as soon as
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  Speaker 1: he had completed this important preparation, let us see about
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  Speaker 1: the baggage. It must be divided into three separate parcels,
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  Speaker 1: and each of us must carry one on his back.
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  Speaker 1: I allude to the more important and fragile articles. My
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  Speaker 1: worthy and ingenious uncle did not appear to consider that
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  Speaker 1: we came under the denomination Hans. He continued, you will
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  Speaker 1: take charge of the tools and some provisions. Harry, you
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  Speaker 1: must take possession of another third of the provisions and
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  Speaker 1: of the arms. I will load myself with the rest
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  Speaker 1: of the eatables, and with the more delicate instruments. But
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  Speaker 1: I exclaimed, our clothes, this mass of cord and ladders,
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  Speaker 1: who will undertake to carry them down? They will go
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  Speaker 1: down of themselves. And how so I asked you shall
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  Speaker 1: see my uncle was not fond of half measures, nor
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  Speaker 1: did he like anything in the way of hesitation. Giving
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  Speaker 1: his orders to Hans, he had the whole of the
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  Speaker 1: non fragile articles made up into one bundle, and the packet,
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  Speaker 1: firmly and solidly fastened, was simply pitched over the edge
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  Speaker 1: of the gulf. I heard the moaning of the suddenly
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  Speaker 1: displaced air and the noise of falling stones. My uncle,
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  Speaker 1: leaning over the abyss, followed the descent of his luggage
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  Speaker 1: with a perfectly self satisfied air, and did not rise
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  Speaker 1: until it had completely disappeared from sight. Now, then he cried,
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  Speaker 1: it is our turn. I put it in good faith
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  Speaker 1: to any man of common sense. Was it possible to
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  Speaker 1: hear this energetic cry without a shudder? The professor fastened
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  Speaker 1: his case of instruments on his back. Hans took charge
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  Speaker 1: of the tools, I of the arms. The descent then
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  Speaker 1: commenced in the following order. Hans went first, my uncle followed,
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  Speaker 1: and I went last. My progress was made in profound silence,
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  Speaker 1: a silence only troubled by the fall of pieces of rock,
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  Speaker 1: which bred making from the jagged sides, fell with a
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  Speaker 1: roar into the depths below. I allowed myself to slide,
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  Speaker 1: so to speak, holding frantically on the double cord with
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  Speaker 1: one hand, and with the other, keeping myself off the
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  Speaker 1: rocks by the assistance of my iron shod pole. One
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  Speaker 1: idea was all the time impressed upon my brain. I
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  Speaker 1: feared that the upper support would fail me. The cord
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  Speaker 1: appeared to me far too fragile, to bear the weight
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  Speaker 1: of three such persons. As we were with our luggage.
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  Speaker 1: I made as little use of it as possible, trusting
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  Speaker 1: to my own agility, and doing miracles in the way
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  Speaker 1: of feats of dexterity and strength upon the projecting shelves
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  Speaker 1: and spurs of lava, in which my feet seemed to
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  Speaker 1: clutch as strongly as my hands. The guide went first,
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  Speaker 1: I have said, And when one of the slippery and
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  Speaker 1: frail supports broke from under his feet, he had recourse
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  Speaker 1: to his usual monosyllabic way of speaking. Gift, act, attention,
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  Speaker 1: look out, repeated my uncle. In about half an hour
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  Speaker 1: we reached a kind of small terrace formed by a
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  Speaker 1: fragment of rock, projecting some distance from the sides of
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  Speaker 1: the shaft. Hands now began to haul upon the cord
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  Speaker 1: on one side, only the other, going as quietly upwards
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  Speaker 1: as the other came down. It fell at last, bringing
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  Speaker 1: with it a shower of small stones, lava, and dust,
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  Speaker 1: a disagreeable kind of rain or hail. While we were
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  Speaker 1: seated on this extraordinary bench, I ventured once more to
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  Speaker 1: look downwards. With a sigh. I discovered that the bottom
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  Speaker 1: was still wholly invisible. Were we then going direct to
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  Speaker 1: the interior of the earth. The performance with the cord recommenced,
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  Speaker 1: and a quarter of an hour later we had reached
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  Speaker 1: to the depth of another two hundred feet. I have
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  Speaker 1: very strong doubts if the most determined geologist would, during
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  Speaker 1: that descent have studied the nature of the different layers
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  Speaker 1: of the earth around him. I did not trouble my
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  Speaker 1: head much about the matter whether we were among the
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  Speaker 1: combustible carbons, salurions, or primitive soil. I neither knew, nor
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  Speaker 1: cared to know. Not so the inveterate professor, he must
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  Speaker 1: have taken notes all the way down, for at one
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  Speaker 1: of our halts he began a brief lecture. The farther
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  Speaker 1: we advance, said he. The greater is my confidence of
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  Speaker 1: the results. The disposition of these volcanic strata absolutely confirms
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  Speaker 1: the theories of Sir Humphry Davy. We are still within
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  Speaker 1: the region of the primordial soil, the soil in which
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  Speaker 1: took place the chemical operation of metals becoming inflamed by
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  Speaker 1: coming in contact with the air and water. I at
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  Speaker 1: once regret the old and now forever exploded theory of
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  Speaker 1: a central fire. At all events, we shall soon know
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  Speaker 1: the truth. Such was the everlasting conclusion to which he came. I, however,
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  Speaker 1: was very far from being in humor to discuss the matter.
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  Speaker 1: I had something else to think of. My silence was
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  Speaker 1: taken for consent, and still we continued to go down.
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  Speaker 1: At the expiration of three hours, we were to all
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  Speaker 1: appearance as far off as ever from the bottom of
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  Speaker 1: the well. When I looked upwards, however, I could see
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  Speaker 1: that the upper orifice was every minute decreasing in size.
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  Speaker 1: The sides of the shaft were getting closer and closer together.
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  Speaker 1: We were approaching the regions of eternal night. And still
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  Speaker 1: we continued to descend. At length. I noticed when pieces
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  Speaker 1: of stone were detached from the sides of this stupendous precipice,
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  Speaker 1: they were swallowed up with less noise than before. The
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  Speaker 1: final sound was soon heard. We were approaching the bottom
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  Speaker 1: of the abyss. As I had been very careful to
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  Speaker 1: keep account of all the changes of cord which took place,
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  Speaker 1: I was able to tell exactly what was the depth
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  Speaker 1: we had reached, as well as the time it had taken.
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  Speaker 1: We had shifted the rope twenty eight times, each operation,
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  Speaker 1: taking a quarter of an hour, which in all made
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  Speaker 1: seven hours. To this had to be added twenty eight pauses,
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  Speaker 1: in all ten hours and a half. We started at one.
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  Speaker 1: It was now therefore about eleven o'clock at night. It
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  Speaker 1: does not require great knowledge of arithmetic to know that
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  Speaker 1: twenty eight times two hundred feet makes five thousand, six
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  Speaker 1: hundred feet in all more than an English mile. While
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  Speaker 1: I was making this mental calculation, a voice broke the silence.
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  Speaker 1: It was the voice of Hans Halt. He cried. I
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  Speaker 1: checked myself very suddenly, just at the moment when I
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  Speaker 1: was about to kick my uncle on the head. We
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  Speaker 1: have reached the end of our journey, said the worthy
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  Speaker 1: professor in a satisfied tone. What in the interior of
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  Speaker 1: the earth? I said, slipping down to his side. No,
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  Speaker 1: you stupid fellow. But we have reached the bottom of
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  Speaker 1: the well, and I suppose there is no farther progress
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  Speaker 1: to be made, I hopefully exclaimed. Oh yes, I can
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  Speaker 1: dimly see a sort of tunnel which turns off obliquely
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  Speaker 1: to the right. At all events, we must see about
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  Speaker 1: that to morrow. Let us sup now and seek slumber
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  Speaker 1: as best we may. I thought it time, but made
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  Speaker 1: no observations on that point I was fairly launched on
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  Speaker 1: a desperate course, and all I had to do was
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  Speaker 1: to go forward, hopefully and trustingly. It was not even
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  Speaker 1: now quite dark, the light filtering down. In a most
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  Speaker 1: extraordinary manner, we opened the provision bag ate a frugal supper,
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  Speaker 1: and each did his best to find a bed amid
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  Speaker 1: the pile of stones, dirt, and lava which had accumulated
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  Speaker 1: for ages at the bottom of the shaft. I happened
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  Speaker 1: to grope out the pile of ropes, ladders, and clothes
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  Speaker 1: which we had thrown down, and upon them I stretched myself.
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  Speaker 1: After such a day's labor, my rough bed seemed as
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  Speaker 1: soft as down. For a while I lay in a
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  Speaker 1: sort of pleasant trance. Presently, after lying quietly for some minutes,
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  Speaker 1: I opened my eyes and looked upwards. As I did so,
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  Speaker 1: I made out a brilliant little dot at the extremity
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  Speaker 1: of this long, gigantic telescope. It was a star without
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  Speaker 1: scintillating rays. According to my calculation, it must be Beata
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  Speaker 1: in the constellation of the Little Bear. After this little
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  Speaker 1: bit of astronomical recreation, I dropped into a sound sleep.
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  Speaker 1: End of Chapter fourteen