Latest / Science Fiction Books / 37 - The Mysterious Dagger - Journey to the Center of the Earth - Jules Verne

Transcript

37 - The Mysterious Dagger - Journey to the Center of the Earth - Jules Verne · Science Fiction Books

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Chapter thirty seven, The Mysterious Dagger. During this time we
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: had left the bright and transparent forest far behind us.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: We were mute with astonishment, overcome by a kind of
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: feeling which was next door to apathy. We kept running
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: in spite of ourselves. It was a perfect right, which
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: resembled one of those horrible sensations we sometimes meet in
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: our dreams. Instinctively, we made our way towards the Central Sea,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: and I cannot now tell what wild thoughts passed through
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: my mind, nor of what follies I might have been guilty,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: but for a very serious preoccupation which brought me back
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: to practical life. Though I was aware that we were
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: treading on a soil quite new to us. I, however,
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: every now and then noticed certain aggregations of rock, the
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: shape of which forcibly reminded me of those near Port Gretchen.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: This confirmed moreover the indications of the compass, and our
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: extraordinary and unlooked for, as well as involuntary returned to
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: the north of this great Central Sea. It was so
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: like our starting point that I could scarcely doubt the
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: reality of our position. Streams and cascades fell in hundreds
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: over the numerous predictions of the rocks. I actually thought
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: I could see our faithful and monotonous hands and the
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: wonderful grotto in which I had come back to life
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: after my tremendous fall. Then, as we advanced still farther,
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: the position of the cliffs, the appearance of a stream,
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: the unexpected profile of a rock threw me again into
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: a state of bewildering doubt. After some time I explained
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: my state of mental indecision to my uncle. He confessed
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: to a similar feeling of hesitation. He was totally unable
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: to make up his mind in the midst of this
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: extraordinary but uniform panorama. There can be no doubt, I
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: insisted that we have not landed exactly at the place
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: whence we first took our departure. But the tempest has
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: brought us above our starting point. I think therefore that
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: if we follow the coast, we shall once more find
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Port Gretchen. In that case, cried my uncle, it is
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: useless to continue our exploration. The very best thing we
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: can do is to make our way back to the raft.
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: Are you quite sure, hurry, that you are not mistaken.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: It is difficult, was my reply to come to any decision.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: For all these rocks are exactly alike. There's no marked
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: difference between them. At the same time, the impression on
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: my mind is that I recognize the promontory at the
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: foot of which our worthy hands constructed the raft. We are.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: I am nearly convince near the little porch. If this
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: be not it, I added, carefully examining a creek which
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: appeared singularly familiar to my mind. My dear Harim, if
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: this were the case, we should find traces of our
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: own footsteps, some signs of our passage. And I can
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: really see nothing to indicate our having passed this way.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: But I see something, I cried in an impetuous tone
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: a voice, as I rushed forward and eagerly picked up
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: something which shone in the sand under my feet. What
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: is it? Cried the astonished and bewildered professor. This was
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: my reply, and I handed to my startled relative a
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: rusty dagger of singular shape. What made you bring with
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: you so useless a weapon? He exclaimed, It was needlessly
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: hampering yourself. I bring it. It is quite new to me.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: I never saw it before. Are you sure it's not
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: out of your collection? Nor that I know of, said
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: the professor, puzzled. I have no recollection of the circumstance.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: It was never my property. This is very extraordinary, I said,
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: musing over the novel and singular incident. Not at all.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: There is a very simple explanation, Harry. The Icelanders are
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: known to keep up the use of these antiquated weapons,
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: and this must have belonged to Hans, who has let
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: it fall without knowing it. I shook my head. That
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: dagger had never been in the possession of the Pacific
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: and taciturn hands. I knew him and his habits too well.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: Then what can it be unless it be the weapon
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: of some antediluvian warrior, I continued, of some living man,
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: a contemporary of that mighty shepherd from whom we have
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: just escaped. But no mystery upon mystery. This is no
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: weapon of the Stony epoch, nor even of the Bronze period.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: It is made of excellent steel. Ere I could finish
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: my sentence, my uncle stopped me short from entering upon
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: a whole train of theories, and spoke, in his most
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: cold and decided tone of voice, Calm your salt, my
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: dear boy, and endeavor to use your reason. This weapon
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: upon which we have fallen so unexpectedly is a true dug,
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: one of those worn by gentlemen in their belts during
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: the sixteenth century. Its use was to give the coup
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: de grass the final blow to the foe who would
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: not surrender. It is clearly of Spanish workmanship. It belongs
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: neither to you, nor to me, nor to the eider
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: down hunter, nor to any of the living beings who
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: may still exist so marvelously in the interior of the earth.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: What can you mean, uncle, I said, Now lost in
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: a host of surmises, look closely at it, he continued.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: These jagged edges were never made by the resistance of
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: human blood and bone. The blade discovered with a regular
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: coating of iron, mold and rust, which is not a
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: day old, not a year old, nor a century old,
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: but much more. The professor began to get quite excited,
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: according to custom, and was allowing himself to be carried
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: away by his fertile imagination. I could have said something.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: He stopped me hurrying. He cried, we are now on
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: the verge of a great discovery. This blade of a
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: dagger you have so marvelously discovered after being abandoned upon
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: the sand for more than a hundred, two hundred, even
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: three hundred years, has been indented by some one endeavoring
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: to carve an inscription on these rocks. But this poniard
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: never got here of itself, I exclaimed, it could not
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: have twisted itself. Some one therefore must have preceded us
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: upon the shores of this extraordinary sea. Yes, a man.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: But what man has been sufficiently desperate to do such
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: a thing? A man who has somewhat written his name
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: with this very dagger, A man who has endeavored once
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: more to indicate the right road to the interior of
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: the earth. Let us look round, my boy, you know
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: not the importance of your singular and happy discovery. Prodigiously interested,
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: we walked along the wall of rock, examining the smallest
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: fissures which might finally expand into the much wished for
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: gully or shaft. We at last reached a spot where
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: the shore became extremely narrow. The sea almost bathed the
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: foot of the rocks, which were here very lofty and steep.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: There was scarcely a path wider than two yards at
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: any point. At last, under a duge overhanging rock, we
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: discovered the entrance of a dark and gloomy tunnel. There,
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: on a square tablet of granite, which had been smoothed
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: by rubbing it with another stone, we could see two
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: mysterious and much worn letters, the two initials of the
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: bold and extraordinary traveler who had preceded us on our
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: adventurous journey. A S. Cried my uncle. You see I
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: was right, arn A Sacknossem always arn A Sacknossem. End
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: of Chapter thirty seven