Latest / Classic Science Fiction Books / 09 - Our Start - We Meet with Adventures by the Way - Journey to the Center of the Earth - Jules Verne

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09 - Our Start - We Meet with Adventures by the Way - Journey to the Center of the Earth - Jules Verne · Classic Science Fiction Books

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  Speaker 1: Chapter nine. Our start, we meet with adventures. By the way,
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  Speaker 1: the weather was overcast but settled. When we commenced our
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  Speaker 1: adventurous and perilous journey. We had neither to fear fatiguing
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  Speaker 1: heat nor drenching rain. It was in fact real tourist weather.
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  Speaker 1: As there was nothing I liked better than horse exercise,
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  Speaker 1: the pleasure of riding through an unknown country caused the
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  Speaker 1: early part of our enterprise to be particularly agreeable to me.
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  Speaker 1: I began to enjoy the exhilarating delight of traveling a
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  Speaker 1: life of desire, gratification, and liberty. The truth is that
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  Speaker 1: my spirits rose so rapidly that I began to be
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  Speaker 1: indifferent to what had once appeared to be a terrible journey.
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  Speaker 1: After all, I said to myself, simply to take a
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  Speaker 1: journey through a curious country, to climb a remarkable mountain, and,
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  Speaker 1: if the worst comes to the worst, to descend into
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  Speaker 1: a crater of an extinct volcano. There could be no
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  Speaker 1: doubt that this was all this terrible sock Newsom had done.
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  Speaker 1: As to the existence of a gallery or of subterraneous
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  Speaker 1: passages leading to the interior of the Earth, the idea
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  Speaker 1: was simply absurd, the hallucinations of a distempered imagination. All
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  Speaker 1: then that may be required of me, I will do
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  Speaker 1: cheerfully and will create no difficulty. It was just before
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  Speaker 1: we left Rekievict that I came to this decision. Hans,
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  Speaker 1: our extraordinary guide, went first, walking with a steady, rapid,
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  Speaker 1: unvarying step. Our two horses with the luggage followed of
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  Speaker 1: their own accord, without requiring whip or spur. My uncle
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  Speaker 1: and I came behind, cutting a very tolerable figure upon
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  Speaker 1: our small but vigorous animals. Iceland is one of the
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  Speaker 1: largest islands in Europe. It contains thirty thousand square miles
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  Speaker 1: of surface and has about seventy thousand inhabitants. Geographers have
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  Speaker 1: divided it into four parts, and we had to cross
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  Speaker 1: the southwest quarter, which in the vernacular is called sud
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  Speaker 1: vest Furdinger. Hans, on taking his departure from Rekievic, had
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  Speaker 1: followed the line of the sea. We took our way
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  Speaker 1: through poor and sparse meadows, which made a desperate effort
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  Speaker 1: every year to show a little green. They very rarely
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  Speaker 1: succeeded in a good show of yellow. The rugged summits
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  Speaker 1: of the rocky hills were dimly visible on the edge
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  Speaker 1: of the horizon through the misty fogs. Every now and
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  Speaker 1: then some heavy flakes of snow showed conspicuous in the
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  Speaker 1: morning light, while certain lofty and pointed rocks were first
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  Speaker 1: lost in the gray low clouds, their summits clearly visible above,
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  Speaker 1: like jagged reefs rising from a troublous sea. Every now
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  Speaker 1: and then a spur of rock came down through the
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  Speaker 1: arid ground, leaving us scarcely room to pass. Our horses, however,
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  Speaker 1: appeared not only well acquainted with the country, but by
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  Speaker 1: a kind of instinct, knew which was the best road.
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  Speaker 1: My uncle had not even the satisfaction of urging forward
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  Speaker 1: his steed by whip, spur or voice. It was utterly
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  Speaker 1: useless to show any signs of impatience. I could not
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  Speaker 1: help smiling to see him look so big on his
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  Speaker 1: little horse. His long legs now and then touching the
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  Speaker 1: ground made him look like a six footed centaur. Good beast,
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  Speaker 1: Good beast, he would cry. I assure you that I
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  Speaker 1: begin to think no animal was more intelligent than an
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  Speaker 1: Icelandic horse. Snow, tempest, impracticable roads, rocks, icebergs, nothing stops him.
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  Speaker 1: He is brave, He is sober, he is safe. He
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  Speaker 1: never makes a false step, never glides or slips from
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  Speaker 1: his path. I dare say that if any river, any fiord,
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  Speaker 1: has to be crossed, and I have no doubt there
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  Speaker 1: will be many, you will see him enter the water
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  Speaker 1: without hesitation, like an amphibious animal, and reach the opposite
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  Speaker 1: side in safety. We must, not, however, attempt to hurry him.
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  Speaker 1: We must allow him to have his own way. And
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  Speaker 1: I will undertake to say that between us we shall
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  Speaker 1: do our ten leagues a day. We may do so,
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  Speaker 1: was my reply. But what about our worthy guide. I
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  Speaker 1: have not the slightest anxiety about him. That sort of
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  Speaker 1: people go ahead without even knowing what they are about.
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  Speaker 1: Look at Hans. He moves so little that it is
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  Speaker 1: impossible for him to become fatigued. Besides, if he were
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  Speaker 1: to complain of weariness, he could have the loan of
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  Speaker 1: my horse. I should have a violent attack of the
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  Speaker 1: cramp if I were not to have some sort of exercise.
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  Speaker 1: My arms are right, but my legs are getting a
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  Speaker 1: little stiff. All this while we were advancing at a
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  Speaker 1: rapid pace. The country we had reached was already nearly
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  Speaker 1: a day desert. Here and there could be seen an
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  Speaker 1: isolated farm, some solitary burr or Icelandic cows, built of wood,
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  Speaker 1: earth fragments of lava. Looking like beggars on the highway
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  Speaker 1: of life, these wretched and miserable huts excited in us
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  Speaker 1: such pity that we felt half disposed to leave alms
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  Speaker 1: at every door. In this country there are no roads,
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  Speaker 1: paths are nearly unknown, and vegetation poor, as it was
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  Speaker 1: slowly as it reached perfection, soon obliterated all trace of
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  Speaker 1: the few travelers who passed from place to place. Nevertheless,
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  Speaker 1: this division of the province, situated only a few miles
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  Speaker 1: from the capital, is considered one of the best cultivated
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  Speaker 1: and most thickly populated in all Iceland. What then, must
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  Speaker 1: be the state of the less known and more distant
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  Speaker 1: parts of the island. After traveling fully a half Danish mile,
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  Speaker 1: we had met neither a farmer at the door of
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  Speaker 1: his hut, nor even a wandering shepherd with his wild
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  Speaker 1: and savage flock. A few stray cows and sheep were
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  Speaker 1: only seen occasionally. What then, must we expect when we
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  Speaker 1: come to the upheaved regions, to the districts, broken and
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  Speaker 1: roughened from the volcanic eruptions and subterraneous commotions. We were
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  Speaker 1: to learn this all in good time. I say, however,
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  Speaker 1: on consulting the map, that we avoided a good deal
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  Speaker 1: of this rough country by following the winding and desolate
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  Speaker 1: shores of the sea. In reality, the great volcanic movement
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  Speaker 1: of the island and all its attendant phenomena are concentrated
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  Speaker 1: in the interior of the island. There, horizontal layers or
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  Speaker 1: strata of rocks piled one upon the other. Eruptions of
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  Speaker 1: basaltic origin and streams of lava have given this country
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  Speaker 1: a kind of supernatural reputation. Little did I expect, however,
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  Speaker 1: the spectacle which awaited us when we reached the peninsula
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  Speaker 1: of Snefels, where agglomerations of nature's ruins form a kind
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  Speaker 1: of terrible chaos. Some two hours or more after we
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  Speaker 1: had left the city of Rekievik, we reached the little
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  Speaker 1: town called Aolkirkia, or the Principal Church. It consists simply
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  Speaker 1: of a few houses, not what in England or Germany
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  Speaker 1: we should call a hamlet. Hans stopped here one half hour.
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  Speaker 1: He shared our frugal breakfast. Answered yes, and no to
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  Speaker 1: my uncle's quest estions as to the nature of the road,
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  Speaker 1: And at last, when asked where we were to pass
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  Speaker 1: the night, was as laconic as usual. Gardar was his
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  Speaker 1: one warded reply. I took occasion to consult the map
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  Speaker 1: to see where Garter was to be found. After looking keenly,
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  Speaker 1: I found a small town of that name on the
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  Speaker 1: borders of the Hilford, about four miles from Rekievik. I
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  Speaker 1: pointed this out to my uncle, who made a very
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  Speaker 1: energetic grimace only four miles out of twenty two. Why
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  Speaker 1: it is only a little walk. He was about to
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  Speaker 1: make some energetic observation to the guide, but Hans, without
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  Speaker 1: taking the slightest notice of him, went in front of
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  Speaker 1: the horses and walked ahead with the same imperturbable phlegm
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  Speaker 1: he had always exhibited. Three hours later, still traveling over
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  Speaker 1: those apparently interminable and sandy prairies, we were compelled to
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  Speaker 1: go around the Califiord, an easier and shorter cut than
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  Speaker 1: crossing the gulfs. Shortly after we entered a place of
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  Speaker 1: communal jurisdiction called Ayoberg, and the clock of which would
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  Speaker 1: then have struck twelve if any Icelandic Church had been
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  Speaker 1: rich enough to possess so valuable and useful an article.
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  Speaker 1: These sacred edifices are, however, very much like these people
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  Speaker 1: who do without watches and never miss them. Here the
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  Speaker 1: horses were allowed to take some rest and refreshment. Then,
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  Speaker 1: following a narrow strip of shore between high rocks and
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  Speaker 1: the sea, they took us without further halt to the
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  Speaker 1: Aeolkirkia of Brontar, and after another mile to sarbor Anexia,
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  Speaker 1: a chapel of ease, situated on the southern bank of
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  Speaker 1: the Hilfjord. It was about four o'clock in the evening,
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  Speaker 1: and we had traveled four Danish miles about equal to
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  Speaker 1: twenty English. The fiord was in this place about half
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  Speaker 1: a mile in width. The sweeping and broken waves came
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  Speaker 1: rolling in upon the pointed rocks. The gulf was surrounded
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  Speaker 1: by rocky walls, a mighty cliff three thousand feet in height,
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  Speaker 1: remarkable for its brown strata, separated here and there by
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  Speaker 1: beds of tufa of a reddish shoe. Now, whatever may
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  Speaker 1: have been the intelligence of our horses, I had not
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  Speaker 1: the slightest reliance upon them as a means of crossing
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  Speaker 1: a stormy arm of the sea to ride over salt
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  Speaker 1: water upon the back of a little horse seemed to
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  Speaker 1: me absurd. If they are really intelligent, I said to myself,
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  Speaker 1: they will certainly not make the attempt. In any case,
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  Speaker 1: I shall trust rather to my own intelligence than theirs.
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  Speaker 1: But my uncle was in no humor to wait. He
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  Speaker 1: dug his heels into the sides of his steed and
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  Speaker 1: made for the shore. His horse went to the very
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  Speaker 1: edge of the water, sniffed at the approaching wave, and retreated.
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  Speaker 1: My uncle, who was sooth to say, quite as obstinate
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  Speaker 1: as the beast he bestrode, insisted on making the desired advance.
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  Speaker 1: This attempt was followed by a new refusal on the
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  Speaker 1: part of the horse, which quietly shook its head. This
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  Speaker 1: demonstration of rebellion was followed by a volley of words
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  Speaker 1: and stout applications of whip cord, also followed by kicks
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  Speaker 1: on the part of the horse, which threw its head
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  Speaker 1: and heels upward and tried to throw his rider at length.
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  Speaker 1: The sturdy little pony, spreading out his legs in a
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  Speaker 1: stiff and ludicrous attitude, got from under the professor's legs
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  Speaker 1: and left him standing with both feet on a separate stone,
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  Speaker 1: like the Colossus of Rhodes. Wretched animal, cried, my uncle
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  Speaker 1: suddenly transformed into a foot passenger, and as angry and
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  Speaker 1: ashamed as a dismounted cavalry officer on the field of battle.
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  Speaker 1: Far Ya, said the guide, tapping him familiarly on the shoulder.
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  Speaker 1: What a ferry boat, durr, answered Hans, pointing to where
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  Speaker 1: lay the boat in question. There, well, I cried, delighted
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  Speaker 1: with the information, So it is. Why did you not
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  Speaker 1: say so before, cried my uncle. Why not start at once? Tiitvaughten,
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  Speaker 1: said the guide. What does he say? I asked, considerably
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  Speaker 1: puzzled by the delay and the dialog. He says tide,
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  Speaker 1: replied my uncle, translating the Danish word for my information.
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  Speaker 1: Of course, I understand. We must wait till the tide
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  Speaker 1: serves forbida, asked my uncle, Yah, replied Hans. My uncle frowned,
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  Speaker 1: stamped his feet, and then followed the horses to where
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  Speaker 1: the boat lay. I thoroughly understood and appreciated the necessity
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  Speaker 1: for waiting before crossing the fiord for that moment, when
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  Speaker 1: the sea at its highest point is in a state
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  Speaker 1: of slack water, as then neither eb nor flow can
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  Speaker 1: then be felt. The ferryboat was in no danger of
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  Speaker 1: being carried out the sea or dashed upon the rocky coast.
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  Speaker 1: The favorable moment did not come until six o'clock in
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  Speaker 1: the evening. Then my uncle, myself and guide, two boatmen
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  Speaker 1: and the four horses got into a very awkward, flat
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  Speaker 1: bottomed boat. Accustomed as I had been to the steam
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  Speaker 1: ferryboats of the Elbe, I found the long oars of
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  Speaker 1: the boatmen, but sorry means of locomotion. We were more
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  Speaker 1: than an hour in crossing the Fiord, but at length
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  Speaker 1: the passage was concluded without accident. Half an hour later
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  Speaker 1: we reached Gardar end of Chapter nine