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06 - Baron Trump's Marvellous Underground Journey - Ingersoll Lockwood · Classic Sci Fi Books - Daily

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  Speaker 1: Chapter six, my despair upon finding the pipe of the
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  Speaker 1: funnel too small for my body, A ray of hope
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  Speaker 1: breaks in upon me, full account of how I succeeded
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  Speaker 1: in entering the pipe of the funnel, my passage through it,
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  Speaker 1: Bulgar's timely aid, the Marble Highway, and some curious things
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  Speaker 1: concerning the entrance to the world within a world. The
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  Speaker 1: rocky sides of Polyphemus's funnel were apparently as well polished
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  Speaker 1: as those of any tin funnel that I had ever
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  Speaker 1: seen hanging in the kitchen of Castle Trump. So, making
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  Speaker 1: fast my tackle and taking Bulgar in my arms away,
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  Speaker 1: we went, sliding down the side, with the line passed
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  Speaker 1: under my arm. For safety's sake. It was nearly a
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  Speaker 1: hundred feet to the bottom, for I had measured off
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  Speaker 1: the full length of my line before I had come
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  Speaker 1: to the apex of this gigantic cone, And, not caring
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  Speaker 1: to tumble headlong down its pipe, I proceeded to light
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  Speaker 1: a taper and look about me, Ah, dear friends, I
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  Speaker 1: can feel that shudder. Now, so terrible was it? And
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  Speaker 1: what wonder too? For A glance at the pipe of
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  Speaker 1: the funnel told me that it was too small to
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  Speaker 1: let my body pass through the agonizing thought flashed through
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  Speaker 1: my mind that I had committed a terrible error, that
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  Speaker 1: I had mistaken some vast pit for the giants well,
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  Speaker 1: that I had thrown bulgars in my own life away
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  Speaker 1: in a mad and unreasoning haste, that I should never
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  Speaker 1: reach the wonderful world within a world, that there in
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  Speaker 1: that thick gloom we must lay our bodies and bones,
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  Speaker 1: or thought I may not the learned master of masters
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  Speaker 1: don fun have made an error himself, and holding not
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  Speaker 1: the idea that the pipe of Polypmus's funnel was large
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  Speaker 1: enough to admit the passage of a man's body. In
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  Speaker 1: my almost frenzy, I advanced to the mouth of the pipe, and,
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  Speaker 1: lowering myself into it, let my body sink as far
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  Speaker 1: as it would. It caught at the shoulders, and after
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  Speaker 1: a careful examination, I was forced to reach the brain
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  Speaker 1: racking conclusion that my faithful bulgar and I had traveled
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  Speaker 1: our last mile together. There was nothing for us to
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  Speaker 1: do but to lie down and die, lie down and
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  Speaker 1: die never. I had noticed, in making the descent into
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  Speaker 1: the Giant's well, that its side had much the appearance
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  Speaker 1: of being walled around by blocks of stone with bulgar
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  Speaker 1: strap to my back, I would slowly climb up from
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  Speaker 1: shelf to shelf until my strength failed me, and then
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  Speaker 1: I would wait until I thought old Juliana had come
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  Speaker 1: back together herbs, and possibly I might make her hear me.
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  Speaker 1: In my despair, I sighed and clutched my own arms,
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  Speaker 1: and as I did so, one of my hands came
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  Speaker 1: into contact with something cold and slippery, having the feel
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  Speaker 1: of tallow. Taking a pinch of the substance between my
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  Speaker 1: thumb and finger, I rubbed it thoughtfully for a moment,
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  Speaker 1: and then a ray of hope broke through the awful
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  Speaker 1: gloom that enshrouded me so piteously. It was black lead.
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  Speaker 1: There could be no doubt of it. It had made
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  Speaker 1: its way through a crack or crevice in Polyphemus's funnel,
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  Speaker 1: and I had rubbed it off in sliding down the side.
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  Speaker 1: With this greasy material to rub on the inside of
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  Speaker 1: the pipe to the funnel, and also to besmear myself with.
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  Speaker 1: Mayhap I might yet slip through into the world within
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  Speaker 1: a world. At any rate, I determined to make the trial,
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  Speaker 1: even if I left some of my skin on the
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  Speaker 1: flinty rock in order to collect my thoughts thoroughly, and
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  Speaker 1: that I might proceed step by step in that systematic
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  Speaker 1: order so characteristic of all my wonderful exploits. I sat down,
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  Speaker 1: and putting my arm around dear Bulgar's neck and drawing
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  Speaker 1: him up against me. I communed with myself for a
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  Speaker 1: good half hour. Then all was in readiness for action.
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  Speaker 1: And to prove to you, dear friends, how careful Bulgar
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  Speaker 1: was not to interrupt my train of thought, I have
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  Speaker 1: to report to you that although a small animal of
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  Speaker 1: the rat family came out from a crevice in the
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  Speaker 1: rock while I sat there, thinking as I could see
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  Speaker 1: by the light of my tiny wax taper, and had
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  Speaker 1: the temerity first to sniff at Bulgar's tail and then
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  Speaker 1: to give it a playful nip. Yet the sagacious animal
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  Speaker 1: never budged a hair's breath. Mind hath ordered. Now let
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  Speaker 1: hands obey, I exclaimed, as I sprang up and began
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  Speaker 1: stripping off my outer garments. This done, I clambered up
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  Speaker 1: on the side of the funnel and began to collect
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  Speaker 1: a supply of the black lead, which I deposited near
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  Speaker 1: the opening of the pipe. The next thing to do
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  Speaker 1: was to get Bulgar through the pipe ahead of me.
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  Speaker 1: To this end, I tied him up in my clothing
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  Speaker 1: bag fashion and began to lower away. After paying out
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  Speaker 1: sixty five or seventy feet of line, he struck bottom,
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  Speaker 1: and by his loud barking, gave me to understand that
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  Speaker 1: it was all rigid that I might make the descent myself.
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  Speaker 1: Upon hearing his voice, I gave the line a few
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  Speaker 1: sharp tugs. He was not so slow to comprehend my meaning,
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  Speaker 1: and in a moment or so had not only scrambled
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  Speaker 1: out of the bag himself, but pulled my clothing loose
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  Speaker 1: so that I might draw the line up again. My
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  Speaker 1: next step was to contrive a way to weight myself
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  Speaker 1: when the moment arrived to begin of the descent, for
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  Speaker 1: I felt sure that I never should be able to
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  Speaker 1: arrange it so as to slip through the pipe unless
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  Speaker 1: something was pulling at my heels. Cutting off about ten
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  Speaker 1: feet of the rope, I made fast one end of
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  Speaker 1: the piece to a long piece of rock weighing about
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  Speaker 1: a hundred pounds. This I laid near the mouth of
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  Speaker 1: the pipe, ready for use. But now came the most
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  Speaker 1: difficult thing of all. It was to draw my shoulders
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  Speaker 1: in on my breast and lash them securely in that position,
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  Speaker 1: by which plan I expected to reduce my width in
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  Speaker 1: at least two good inches. These two inches thus gained,
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  Speaker 1: or rather lost, might be the means by which I
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  Speaker 1: would be able to slip through the pipe of Polypmus's
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  Speaker 1: funnel and reach the vast underground passage leading to the
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  Speaker 1: world within a world. Putting a noose around my chest
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  Speaker 1: just below my collar bone, I drew my shoulders in
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  Speaker 1: as tight as I could bear, and changed the slip
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  Speaker 1: knot into a hard one. Then, having made the other
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  Speaker 1: into the line fast to the side of the funnel,
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  Speaker 1: I proceeded to wind myself up, as the housewives often do,
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  Speaker 1: a big sausage to keep it from bursting. This done,
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  Speaker 1: I set about rolling in the black lead until I
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  Speaker 1: was thoroughly smeared with it. There was now but one
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  Speaker 1: thing more to do before dropping myself into the pipe,
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  Speaker 1: and that was to make fast the weight to my feet.
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  Speaker 1: It was no easy task, wound up as I was
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  Speaker 1: with my arms lashed down against my body, but by
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  Speaker 1: the use of slip knots, I finally accomplished the feat and,
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  Speaker 1: sitting down, put my legs into the pipe and drew
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  Speaker 1: a long breath, for I felt as if I was
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  Speaker 1: skewered up in a strait jacket. Bending down, I called
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  Speaker 1: out to Bulgar. He answered with a yelp of joy
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  Speaker 1: that brought fresh vigor to my heart. Now was come
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  Speaker 1: the supreme moment, which was to witness success or failure? Failure? Oh,
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  Speaker 1: what a dread word is that? And yet how often
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  Speaker 1: must human lips pronounce it? And in so doing breathe
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  Speaker 1: out the sigh in which it ends. Quickly lowering the weight,
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  Speaker 1: I wriggled off the edge of the opening and straightened
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  Speaker 1: myself out as I slipped into the pipe. Had I
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  Speaker 1: stopped it like a cork? Or was I moving? Yes? Down, down, gently, slowly, noiselessly,
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  Speaker 1: I went slipping through the pipe to Polyphemus's funnel. What
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  Speaker 1: did I care how that weight caused the line to
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  Speaker 1: cut into my ankles. I was moving. I was drawing
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  Speaker 1: nearer and nearer to Bulgar, whose joyous spark I could
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  Speaker 1: hear now, and then nearer to the inner gates of
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  Speaker 1: the world within a world. But woe is me? I
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  Speaker 1: suddenly stopped, and, in spite of all my efforts to
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  Speaker 1: start again, by twisting, turning, and shaking my body. It
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  Speaker 1: refused to sink another inch, and there I stick, Oh, bulgar, bulgar,
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  Speaker 1: I moan, faithful friend, if thou couldst but reach me,
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  Speaker 1: one tug from thee might save thy little master. In
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  Speaker 1: a sort of wild and desperate way. I now began
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  Speaker 1: to feel about me as well as I could with
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  Speaker 1: my hands wedged in so close to my sides. But
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  Speaker 1: in a moment or so I had discovered the cause
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  Speaker 1: of my coming to such a sudden standstill. I had
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  Speaker 1: struck a portion of the pipe that had a thread
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  Speaker 1: to it, like that which encircles a bolt of iron
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  Speaker 1: and makes a screw of it. And the thought came
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  Speaker 1: to me that if I could only succeed in giving
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  Speaker 1: a revolving motion to my body, I would, with every
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  Speaker 1: turn twist myself further down toward the end of the pipe.
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  Speaker 1: I could feel that my knuckles and finger tips were
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  Speaker 1: being bruised and lacerated by this arduous work. But worft
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  Speaker 1: cared I for the keen pain that darted from hands
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  Speaker 1: to wrists and wrists to elbows. It was like twisting
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  Speaker 1: a screw slowly through a long nut, only the thread
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  Speaker 1: in this case was on the knut and the little
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  Speaker 1: grows in the screw, and that screw was my poor
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  Speaker 1: bruise little body. All of a sudden, by the swinging
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  Speaker 1: of the weight, I could tell that it had passed
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  Speaker 1: out at the lower end of the pipe. It was
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  Speaker 1: pulling cruelly hard on my tender ankles, but I could
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  Speaker 1: twist myself no more. My strength was gone. I was
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  Speaker 1: at the point of swooning when I heard Bulgar utter
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  Speaker 1: a loud yelp, And the next instant there was such
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  Speaker 1: a strong tug at my ankle, so I sent forth
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  Speaker 1: a groan. But that hug saved me. It was Bulgar
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  Speaker 1: who had leaped into the air, and catching the rope
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  Speaker 1: in his teeth, had dragged his little master out of
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  Speaker 1: the pipe of Polyphemus's tunnel. We all fell into the
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  Speaker 1: same heap, Bulger and I and the weight fully ten
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  Speaker 1: feet and very serious might have been the consequences for
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  Speaker 1: me had my fall not been broken by my striking
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  Speaker 1: on the pile of my clothing placed directly under the opening.
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  Speaker 1: And dear friends, if you talked until the crack of doom,
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  Speaker 1: you could not make me believe that my four footed
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  Speaker 1: brother hadn't placed those clothes there to catch me. They
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  Speaker 1: weren't thrown higglely piggledy into a heap, either, but were
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  Speaker 1: laid one upon the other, the heaviest at the bottom.
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  Speaker 1: Having unwound myself and lighted one of my wax tapers,
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  Speaker 1: I made haste to cast away the undergarment with its
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  Speaker 1: coating of black lead, and resume my clothing. Then, stooping down,
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  Speaker 1: I made anigas damination of the floor. It was composed
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  Speaker 1: of huge blocks of marble of various colors, polished almost
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  Speaker 1: as smooth as if the hand of man had brought
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  Speaker 1: the work. And then I knew that I was on
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  Speaker 1: Nature's marble highway leading to the cities of the underworld,
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  Speaker 1: which don Fum had mentioned in his book. And I
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  Speaker 1: remembered too that he had spoken of Nature's mighty mosaics,
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  Speaker 1: huge fantastic figures on the walls of these lofty corridors,
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  Speaker 1: made up of various colored blocks and fragments, laid one
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  Speaker 1: upon the other, as if with design, and not by
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  Speaker 1: the wild, tempestuous whims of upbursting forces thousands of years ago,
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  Speaker 1: when the Earth was in its mad and wayward youth.
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  Speaker 1: After a rest of several hours, during which I nursed
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  Speaker 1: my torn hands and bruised fingers. Bulgar and I were
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  Speaker 1: up and off again along this broad and glorious marble highway.
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  Speaker 1: Strange to say, it was not the inky darkness of
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  Speaker 1: the ordinary cavern which filled these magnificent chambers through which
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  Speaker 1: the marble Highway went winding in still lately and massive grandeur.
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  Speaker 1: Far from it. The gloom was tempered by a faint
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  Speaker 1: glow that met us on the way, Ever, and anon
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  Speaker 1: like a ray of twilight gone astray. Anyway, Bulgar, I noticed,
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  Speaker 1: could see perfectly well, so tying a bit of twine
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  Speaker 1: to his collar, I sent him on ahead, convinced that
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  Speaker 1: I could have no surer guide. At times our path
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  Speaker 1: would be lighted up for an instant by the bursting
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  Speaker 1: out of a little tongue of flame, either on the
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  Speaker 1: sides or from the roof of the gallery. I was
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  Speaker 1: puzzled for quite a while to tell what it proceeded from,
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  Speaker 1: but at last I caught sight of the source, or
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  Speaker 1: rather the maker, of this welcome illumination. It proceeded from
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  Speaker 1: a lizard like animal, which, by suddenly uncoiling its tail,
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  Speaker 1: had the power to emit this extremely bright flesh of
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  Speaker 1: phosphorescent light, and in so doing he made a sharp
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  Speaker 1: crack for all the world like the noise of an
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  Speaker 1: electric spark. Bulgar was delighted with this performance, and on
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  Speaker 1: one occasion, not being able to control his feelings, he
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  Speaker 1: uttered a sharp burke, whereupon apparently ten thousand of these
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  Speaker 1: little torch bearers snapped their tails at me at the
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  Speaker 1: same instant, and filled the vast place with a flash
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  Speaker 1: of light of almost lightning like intensity. Vulgar was so
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  Speaker 1: frightened by the result of his applause that he took
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  Speaker 1: good care to keep quiet after this end of chapter
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  Speaker 1: six