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

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