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32 - Baron Trump's Marvellous Underground Journey - Ingersoll Lockwood · Classic Science Fiction Books

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  Speaker 1: Chapter thirty two, How we entered the land of the
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  Speaker 1: Happy Forgetters. Something more about these curious folk. Their dread
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  Speaker 1: of Bulgar and me only a stay of one day
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  Speaker 1: accorded us description of the pleasant homes of the happy Forgetters,
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  Speaker 1: the revolving door through which Bulgar and I are unceremoniously
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  Speaker 1: set outside of the domain of the rattle brains, all
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  Speaker 1: about the extraordinary things which happened to Bulgar and me. Thereafter,
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  Speaker 1: once more in the open air of the upper world,
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  Speaker 1: and then homeward bound, the happy forgeter pursued his way
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  Speaker 1: calmly along the winding path that skirted the glowing river, apparently,
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  Speaker 1: and no doubt really, unconscious of the fact that Bulgar
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  Speaker 1: and I were following close at his heels. After half
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  Speaker 1: an hour or so of this silent tramp, he suddenly
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  Speaker 1: came to a standstill, and, with his placid countenance turned
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  Speaker 1: toward the light. Seemed to be so far away in
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  Speaker 1: thought that for several moments I hesitated to address him,
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  Speaker 1: But as there were no signs of his showing any
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  Speaker 1: dispose position to come to himself, I made bold to
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  Speaker 1: ask him the cause of the delay. I'm happy to
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  Speaker 1: say he remarked, without so much as deigning to turn
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  Speaker 1: his head, that I've forgotten which of these two roads
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  Speaker 1: leads to the homes of our people. Well, this was
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  Speaker 1: a pleasant outlook, to be sure, and I don't know
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  Speaker 1: what we should have done had not Bulgar solved the
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  Speaker 1: difficulty for us by making choice of one of the paths,
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  Speaker 1: and dais sheen on ahead with a bark of encouragement
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  Speaker 1: for us to follow. When I assured the happy forgetter
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  Speaker 1: that he need have no fear as to the wisdom
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  Speaker 1: of the choice, he gave a start of almost horror
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  Speaker 1: at the information. For you must know, dear friends, that
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  Speaker 1: the happy forgetter has more head of knowledge than we
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  Speaker 1: have of ignorance to learn. It is the mother of
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  Speaker 1: all discontent, the source of all unhappiness, the cause of
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  Speaker 1: all the dreadful ills that have come upon the world
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  Speaker 1: and the people in it. The world, said one of
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  Speaker 1: the happy forgetters to me, sadly was perfectly happy once,
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  Speaker 1: and man had no name for his brother, and yet
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  Speaker 1: he loved him, even as the turtle dove loves his mane,
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  Speaker 1: although he has no names to call her by. But
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  Speaker 1: alas one day this happiness came to an end, for
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  Speaker 1: a strange malady broke out among the people. They were
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  Speaker 1: seized with a wild desire to invent names for things,
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  Speaker 1: even many names for the same thing, and different ways
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  Speaker 1: of doing the same thing. This strange passion grew so
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  Speaker 1: upon them that they spent their lives in making them,
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  Speaker 1: in every possible way, harder to live. They built different
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  Speaker 1: roads to the same place. They made different clothes for
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  Speaker 1: different days, and different dishes for different feasts. To each
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  Speaker 1: child they gave two, three, and even four different names,
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  Speaker 1: and different shoes were fashioned for different feet. And one
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  Speaker 1: family was no longer satisfied with one drinking board. Did
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  Speaker 1: they stop there, Nay. They now busied themselves learning how
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  Speaker 1: to make different faces to different friends, covering a frown
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  Speaker 1: with a smile, and singing gay songs when their hurts
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  Speaker 1: were sad. In a few centuries, a brother could no
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  Speaker 1: longer read a brother's face, and one half of the
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  Speaker 1: world went about wondering what the other half was thinking about.
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  Speaker 1: Hence arose misunderstandings, quarrels, feuds. Warfare man was no longer
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  Speaker 1: content to dwell with his fellow man in the spacious
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  Speaker 1: caverns which kind nature had hollowed out for him, piercing
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  Speaker 1: the mountains with winding passages, beside which his narrow streets
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  Speaker 1: dwindled to merest pathways. In the land of the Happy Forgetters,
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  Speaker 1: care never comes to trouble, sleep nor anxious thought to
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  Speaker 1: wear the dread mask of tomorrow. Happy the day on
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  Speaker 1: which this child of nature might exclaim, since morn, I've
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  Speaker 1: forgotten something, i'ven't loaded my mind. It's one thought lighter
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  Speaker 1: than it was. He was the happiest of the happy forgetters,
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  Speaker 1: who could honestly say, I know not thy name, nor
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  Speaker 1: when thou wast born, nor where thou dwellst, nor who
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  Speaker 1: thy kinsmen are. I only know that thou art my brother,
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  Speaker 1: and that thou wilt not see me suffer if I
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  Speaker 1: should forget to eat or perish of thirst, if I
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  Speaker 1: forget to drink, and that thou wilt bid me close
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  Speaker 1: my eyes, if I should forget that I had laid
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  Speaker 1: me down to sleep. Bulgars and my arrival in the
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  Speaker 1: land of the Happy Forgeters filled the hearts of these
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  Speaker 1: curious folk with secret dread. At sight of my large head,
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  Speaker 1: they all began to tremble like children in the dark
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  Speaker 1: stricken with fear of booge or goblin, and with one
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  Speaker 1: voice they refused to permit me to sojourn in a
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  Speaker 1: single brief half hour among them. But gradually this sudden
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  Speaker 1: terror passed off a bit, and after a council held
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  Speaker 1: by a few of the younger men, whose brains as
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  Speaker 1: yet completely filled their heads, it was determined that I
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  Speaker 1: might bide for another day in their land, but that
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  Speaker 1: then the revolving door should be opened and Bulgar and
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  Speaker 1: I be thrust outside of their domain. From what don
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  Speaker 1: Fum had written about the happy forgivers, I knew only
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  Speaker 1: too well that it would be useless for me to
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  Speaker 1: attempt to reverse this degree. So I held my peace,
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  Speaker 1: except to thank them for this great favor shown me.
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  Speaker 1: The daylight, if I may call it so, now began
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  Speaker 1: to wane, or rather, the thousands of light giving creatures
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  Speaker 1: swarming in the river now began to draw in their
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  Speaker 1: long tentacles, clothes, their flower like bodies, and slowly sink
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  Speaker 1: to the bottom of the stream. I was quite anxious
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  Speaker 1: to see whether the happy forgetters would make any attempt
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  Speaker 1: to light up their cavernous homes, or whether they would
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  Speaker 1: simply creep off to bed and sleep out the long
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  Speaker 1: hours of pitchy darkness. To my surprise, I overheard the
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  Speaker 1: clicking of flints on all sides, and in a moment
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  Speaker 1: or so a thousand or more great candles made of
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  Speaker 1: mineral wax with asbestos wicks were lighted, and the great
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  Speaker 1: chambers of white marble were soon aglow with these soft
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  Speaker 1: and steady flame. The happy forgetters were strictly vegetable eaters,
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  Speaker 1: feeding upon the various fungus plants growing in these caverns
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  Speaker 1: in great profusion, together with a very nutritious and pleasant
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  Speaker 1: tasting chilly made from a hardened gum of vegetable origin,
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  Speaker 1: which abounded in the credit of certain rocks. There was
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  Speaker 1: still another source of food, namely the nests of certain shellfish,
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  Speaker 1: which they built against the face of the rock, just
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  Speaker 1: above the surface of the water. These, dissolved in boiling water,
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  Speaker 1: made an excellent broth, very much like the soup from
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  Speaker 1: edible birds nests. The clothes worn by the happy forgetters
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  Speaker 1: were entirely woven from mineral wool, which in these caverns
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  Speaker 1: gave a long and strong fiber of astonishing softness. The
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  Speaker 1: rattle brains were tolerably good metal workers too, but contented
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  Speaker 1: themselves with fashioning only such articles as were actually necessary
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  Speaker 1: for daily use. Their beds were stuffed with dried seaweed
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  Speaker 1: and lichens. In Bulgar and I passed a very comfortable night,
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  Speaker 1: as I was forbidden to speak aloud, to ask a question,
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  Speaker 1: or to walk abroad unless in company with one of
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  Speaker 1: the selectmen. I was not sorry when the moment came
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  Speaker 1: for the revolving door to be opened. The happy forgetters
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  Speaker 1: had been led to believe that Bulgar and I were
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  Speaker 1: a thousand times more dangerous than skaraly monsters or black
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  Speaker 1: winged vampires, and hence they held themselves aloof from us,
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  Speaker 1: the children hiding behind their mothers, and the mothers peering
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  Speaker 1: through crack and crevice at us. The size of my
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  Speaker 1: head inspired them with a nameless dread, and even the
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  Speaker 1: half dozen of the younger and more courageous drew aside
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  Speaker 1: instinctively to let me pass. For the first time in
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  Speaker 1: my life, I was an object of horror to my
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  Speaker 1: fellow creatures, but I had no hard thoughts against them,
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  Speaker 1: timid children of nature that they were. To them, I
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  Speaker 1: was as terrible an object as the torch armed demon
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  Speaker 1: of destruction would be to us were he let loose
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  Speaker 1: in one of our fair cities of the upper world.
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  Speaker 1: And now the guard of happy forgetters had halted in
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  Speaker 1: front of what seemed to be a huge cask fashioned
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  Speaker 1: of solid marble, and set one half within the white
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  Speaker 1: wall of the cavern to which they had led me.
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  Speaker 1: But on second glance I saw that there was a
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  Speaker 1: row of square holes around its bulge, like those in
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  Speaker 1: the top of a capstan. The happy forgiters now disappeared
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  Speaker 1: for a moment, and when they joined me again, each
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  Speaker 1: bore in hand a metal bar, the end of which
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  Speaker 1: lies set in one of these holes. And then, at
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  Speaker 1: a signal from the leader, the huge half circle of
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  Speaker 1: marble began to turn noiselessly around, exactly like a capstan.
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  Speaker 1: As each man's lever came to the wall, he shifted
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  Speaker 1: it to the front again. Suddenly, to my amazement, I
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  Speaker 1: saw that the great marble cask was hollow, like a
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  Speaker 1: sentry box. And you may judge of my feelings, dear friends.
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  Speaker 1: Upon being politely requested to step inside, did I refuse
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  Speaker 1: to obey? Not I it would have been useless, for
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  Speaker 1: was not the whole tribe of rattle brains there to
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  Speaker 1: lay hands upon me and thrust me in. So, taking
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  Speaker 1: off my hat and making a low bow to the
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  Speaker 1: little group of happy forgetters, I stepped within the hollow cask,
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  Speaker 1: and Bulgar did the same, but not with so good
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  Speaker 1: a grace as his master. For casting an angry glance
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  Speaker 1: at the inhospitable dwellers in these chambers of white marble,
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  Speaker 1: he growled and laid bare his teeth to show his
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  Speaker 1: content empted for them. Now the great marble cask began
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  Speaker 1: to revolve the other way, and in a moment it
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  Speaker 1: was back in place again. I heard several sharp clicks,
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  Speaker 1: as if a number of huge spring latches had snapped
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  Speaker 1: into place, And then all was silent as the tomb,
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  Speaker 1: and I had almost said as dark too, But no,
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  Speaker 1: I could not say that, for I looked out into
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  Speaker 1: a low tunnel which ran past the niche in which
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  Speaker 1: Bulgar and I were standing, and to my more than
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  Speaker 1: wonder it was dimly lighted. I stepped out into it.
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  Speaker 1: It was as round as a cannon bore, and just
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  Speaker 1: high enough for me to stand erect. And now I
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  Speaker 1: discovered whence the light proceeded in the cracks and crevices
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  Speaker 1: of its walls grew vast masses of those delicate light
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  Speaker 1: giving fungus rootlets, the glow of which was so strong
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  Speaker 1: that I had no difficulty in reading and writing on
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  Speaker 1: my tablets. In fact, I stood there for several minutes,
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  Speaker 1: making entries by the light of these bunches of glowing rootlets.
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  Speaker 1: Then the thought flashed through my mind, which way shall
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  Speaker 1: I turn? To the right or to the left. Bulgar
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  Speaker 1: comprehended the cause of my vacillation, and made haste to
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  Speaker 1: come to my rescue. After sniffing the air, first in
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  Speaker 1: one direction and in any other, he chose the right hand,
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  Speaker 1: and I followed, without a thought of questioning his wisdom.
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  Speaker 1: Strange to say, he had not advanced more than a
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  Speaker 1: few hundred rods before I noticed that there was a
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  Speaker 1: strong current of air blowing through the tunnel in the
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  Speaker 1: direction Vulgar had taken. Every moment it increased in violence, fairly,
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  Speaker 1: lifting us from our feet and bearing us along through
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  Speaker 1: this narrow bore made by Nature's own hands, and lighted
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  Speaker 1: too by lamps of her own fashioning. The motion of
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  Speaker 1: the air through this vast pipe caused bursts of mighty tones,
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  Speaker 1: as if peeled forth by some gigantic organ played by
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  Speaker 1: giant hands. It was strange, but yet I felt no
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  Speaker 1: terror as I listened to this unearthly music, although its
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  Speaker 1: depth of tone jarred painfully upon my ear drums. By
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  Speaker 1: the dim light of the luminous rootlets, I could see
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  Speaker 1: Ulgar just ahead of me, and I was content. No
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  Speaker 1: shiver of fear ran down my back or robbed my
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  Speaker 1: limbs of their full power to resist the ever increasing
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  Speaker 1: pressure of the air. But as it grew stronger and stronger,
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  Speaker 1: half of my own accord, and half because Bulgar set
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  Speaker 1: the example, I broke into a run. Our pace, once quickened,
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  Speaker 1: it was impossible for me to slow up again, on
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  Speaker 1: on in a mad race, my feet scarcely touching the
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  Speaker 1: bottom of the tunnel, I sped along while the great
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  Speaker 1: pipe through which I was borne on the very wings
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  Speaker 1: of the gale, sent forth its deep and majestic peal.
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  Speaker 1: There was something strangely and mysteriously exciting in this race,
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  Speaker 1: and all that kept me from enjoying it to my
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  Speaker 1: full bent was the thought that a sudden increase in
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  Speaker 1: the violence of the blast might toss me violently on
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  Speaker 1: my face. Impossibly break an arm for me, or injure
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  Speaker 1: me in some serious way. All at once, the deep
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  Speaker 1: peeling forth of the organ like tone seized, and in
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  Speaker 1: its stead came the awful sound of a rushing water.
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  Speaker 1: Before I had time to think, it was upon me,
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  Speaker 1: striking me like a terrific blow from some gigantic fist
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  Speaker 1: wearing a boxing glove. The next instant I was caught
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  Speaker 1: up like a cork on a mountain. Torrent swayed from
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  Speaker 1: side to side, twisted, turned, stapped down and cast up again,
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  Speaker 1: whirled over and over, tossed and tumbled, rolled along like
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  Speaker 1: a wheel, my arms and legsless spokes, wonderful to relate.
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  Speaker 1: I did not lose consciousness as this terrible current shot
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  Speaker 1: me like a stick of timber through the flume, whither
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  Speaker 1: I knew not only that the speed and volume went
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  Speaker 1: ever on increasing, until at last the tumultuous torrent filled
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  Speaker 1: the tunnel and robbed me of light, of breath, of life,
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  Speaker 1: of everything, including my faithful and loving bulgar. How long
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  Speaker 1: it lasted, this fearful ride in the arms of these
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  Speaker 1: mad waters, rushing as if for life or death through
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  Speaker 1: this narrow boar, I know not I only know that
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  Speaker 1: my ears were suddenly assailed with a mighty whizz and
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  Speaker 1: rush of water, as through the nuzzle of some gigantic hose,
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  Speaker 1: and that I was shot out into the glorious sunshine,
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  Speaker 1: out on to the grand, free open air of the
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  Speaker 1: upper world, and sent flying up toward the dear blue
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  Speaker 1: sky with its flecks of fleecely cloudlets, and Bulgar some
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  Speaker 1: twenty feet ahead of me, And that then, with a
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  Speaker 1: gracefully curved flight through the soft and balmy air of
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  Speaker 1: harvest time, we both were gently dropped into a quiet
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  Speaker 1: little lake, nestled at the foot of a hillside yellow
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  Speaker 1: with ripened corn. In a moment or so we had
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  Speaker 1: swum ashore. Bulgar wanted to halt and shake the water
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  Speaker 1: from his thick coat, but I couldn't wait for that.
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  Speaker 1: Wet as he was, I clasped into my heart while
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  Speaker 1: he showered caresses on me. But not a word was said,
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  Speaker 1: not a sound was uttered, we both of us too
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  Speaker 1: happy to speak. And if you have ever been in
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  Speaker 1: that state, dear friends, you know how it feels. I
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  Speaker 1: can't describe it to you. At this moment, some men
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  Speaker 1: and boys clad in the garb of the Russian peasant
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  Speaker 1: came racing across the fields to see what I was about,
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  Speaker 1: no doubt, for I had stripped off my heavy outside
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  Speaker 1: clothing and was spreading it out in the sun to dry.
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  Speaker 1: Upon sight of these red cheeked children of the upper world,
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  Speaker 1: I was so overcome with joy that for a moment
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  Speaker 1: or so I couldn't get a syllable across my lips.
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  Speaker 1: But making a great effort, I cried out, Fathers, brothers,
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  Speaker 1: where am I speak, my dear souls in northeastern Siberia.
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  Speaker 1: Little soul, replied the eldest of the party, not far
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  Speaker 1: from the banks of the Obie. But whence comest thou boy,
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: Saint Nicholas, I believe thou hast spit out of the spouting. Well,
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  Speaker 1: what art thou doing here alone? I paid no attention
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  Speaker 1: to the question. I was thinking of something else of
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  Speaker 1: more importance to me. To wit my splendid achievement, the
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  Speaker 1: marvelous underground journey I had just completed, fully five hundred
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  Speaker 1: miles in length, passing completely under the ural mountains. After
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  Speaker 1: a short stay at the nearest village, I engaged the
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  Speaker 1: best guide that was to be had, and crossed the earls.
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: By the pass in the most direct line re entered Russia,
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  Speaker 1: had made haste to join the first government train on
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  Speaker 1: its way to Saint Petersburg, having despatched a courier with
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  Speaker 1: letters to my beloved parents informing them of my good
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  Speaker 1: health and whereabouts. I passed several weeks very pleasantly in
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  Speaker 1: the Russian capital, and then, by easy stages, set out
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  Speaker 1: for home. The elder Baron came as far as Riga
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  Speaker 1: to meet me and brought me the best of news
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  Speaker 1: from Castle Trump, that my dear mother was in perfect health,
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  Speaker 1: and that she and every man, woman and child in
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: and about the castle were anxiously awaiting to give me
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  Speaker 1: a real German welcome back home. And here, dear friends
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: mitt Hertzlein, Greece, Bulger and I take our leave of you.
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  Speaker 1: End of chapter thirty two. End of Baron Trump's Marvelous
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: Underground Journey by Ingersoll Lockwood