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33 - Our Route Reversed - Journey to the Center of the Earth - Jules Verne · Daily Classic Science Fiction Books

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  Speaker 1: Chapter thirty three, our route reversed. Here ends what I
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  Speaker 1: call my journal of our voyage on board the raft,
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  Speaker 1: which journal was happily saved from the wreck. I proceed
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  Speaker 1: with my narrative as I did before I commenced my
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  Speaker 1: daily notes. What happened when the terrible shock took place
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  Speaker 1: when the raft was cast upon the rocky shore. It
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  Speaker 1: would be impossible for me now to say I felt
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  Speaker 1: myself precipitated violently into the boiling waves, and if I
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  Speaker 1: escaped from a certain and cruel death, it was folly,
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  Speaker 1: owing to the determination of the faithful hands, who, clutching
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  Speaker 1: me by the arm, saved me from the yawning abyss.
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  Speaker 1: The courageous Icelander then carried me in his powerful arms
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  Speaker 1: far out of the reach of the waves, and laid
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  Speaker 1: me down upon a burning expanse of sand, where I
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  Speaker 1: found myself some time afterwards, in the company of my uncle,
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  Speaker 1: the Professor. Then he quietly returned towards the fatal rocks
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  Speaker 1: against which the furious waves were beating, in order to
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  Speaker 1: save any stray waves from the wreck. This man was
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  Speaker 1: always practical and thoughtful. I could not utter a word.
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  Speaker 1: I was quite overcome with emotion. My whole body was
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  Speaker 1: broken and bruised with fatigue. He took hours before I
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  Speaker 1: was anything like myself. Meanwhile, there fell a fearful deluge
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  Speaker 1: of rain, drenching us to the skin. Its very violence, however,
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  Speaker 1: proclaimed the approaching end of the storm. Some overhanging rocks
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  Speaker 1: afforded us a slight protection from the torrents. Under this shelter,
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  Speaker 1: Hans prepared some food, which, however, I was unable to touch.
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  Speaker 1: And exhausted by the three weary days and nights of watching,
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  Speaker 1: we fell into a deep and painful sleep. My dreams
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  Speaker 1: were fearful, but at last, exhausted nature asserted her supremacy,
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  Speaker 1: and I slumbered. Next day. When I awoke, the change
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  Speaker 1: was magical. The weather was magnificent, air and sea, as
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  Speaker 1: if by mutual consent, had regained their serenity. Every trace
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  Speaker 1: of the storm, even the faintest, had disappeared. I was
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  Speaker 1: saluted on my awakening by the first joyous tones I
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  Speaker 1: had heard from the Professor for many a day. His gayety,
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  Speaker 1: indeed was something terrible. Well, my lad, he cried, rubbing
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  Speaker 1: his hands together. Have you slept so? Only might it
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  Speaker 1: not have been supposed that we were in the old
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  Speaker 1: house on the Kernistrasse, that I had just come down
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  Speaker 1: quietly to my breakfast, and that my marriage with Gretchen
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  Speaker 1: was to take place that very day. My uncle's coolness
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  Speaker 1: was exasperating, alas considering how the tempest had driven us
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  Speaker 1: in an easterly direction. We had passed under the whole
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  Speaker 1: of Germany, under the city of Hamburg, where I had
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  Speaker 1: been so happy, under the very street which contained all
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  Speaker 1: I loved and cared for in the world. It was
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  Speaker 1: a positive fact that I was only separated from her
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  Speaker 1: by a distance of forty leagues, But these forty leagues
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  Speaker 1: were of hard, impenetrable granite. All these dreary and miserable
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  Speaker 1: reflections passed through my mind before I attempted to answer
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  Speaker 1: my uncle's question. Why what is the matter? He cried,
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  Speaker 1: cannot you say whether you have slept well or not?
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  Speaker 1: I have slept very well, was my reply. But every
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  Speaker 1: bone in my body aches. I suppose that will lead
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  Speaker 1: to nothing, nothing at all, my boy. It is only
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  Speaker 1: the result of the fatigue of the last few days.
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  Speaker 1: That is all you appear, if I may be allowed
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  Speaker 1: to say so, To be very jolly this morning, I
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  Speaker 1: said delighted, My dear boy, delighted. Was never happier in
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  Speaker 1: my life. We have at last reached the wished for
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  Speaker 1: port the end of our expedition, cried I, in a
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  Speaker 1: tone of considerable surprise. No, but to the confines of
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  Speaker 1: that sea which I began to fear would never end,
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  Speaker 1: but go round the whole world. We will, now tranquility
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  Speaker 1: resume our journey by land, and once again endeavor to
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  Speaker 1: dive into the center of the earth. My dear uncle,
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  Speaker 1: I began, in a hesitating kind of way, Allow me
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  Speaker 1: to ask you one question. Certainly, hurry a dozen if
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  Speaker 1: you think proper one will suffice. How about getting back?
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  Speaker 1: I asked, How about getting back? What a question to ask?
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  Speaker 1: We have, as not yet reached the end of our journey.
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  Speaker 1: I know that all I want to know is how
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  Speaker 1: you propose we shall manage the return voyage in the
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  Speaker 1: most simple manner in the world, said the imperturbable professor.
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  Speaker 1: Once we reached the exact center of this swear, either
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  Speaker 1: we shall find a new road by which to ascend
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  Speaker 1: to the surface, or we shall simply turn round and
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  Speaker 1: go back by the way we came. I have every
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  Speaker 1: reason to believe that while we are traveling forward, it
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  Speaker 1: will not close behind us. Then one of the first
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  Speaker 1: matters to see to will be to repair the raft,
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  Speaker 1: was my rather melancholy response. Of course, we must attend
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  Speaker 1: to that above all things. Continued the professor then comes
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  Speaker 1: the all important question of provisions. I urged, have we
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  Speaker 1: anything like enough left to enable us to accomplish such great,
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  Speaker 1: such amazing designs as you contemplate carrying out. I have
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  Speaker 1: seen into the matter, and my answer is in the affirmative.
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  Speaker 1: Hans is a very clever fellow, and I have reason
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  Speaker 1: to believe that he has saved the greater part of
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  Speaker 1: the cargo. But the best way to satisfy your scruples
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  Speaker 1: is to come and judge for yourself. Saying which he
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  Speaker 1: led the way out of the kind of open grotto
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  Speaker 1: in which we had taken shelter. I had almost begun
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  Speaker 1: to hope that which I should rather have feared. And
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  Speaker 1: this was the impossibility of such a shipwrecked, leaving even
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  Speaker 1: the slightest signs of what it had carried as freight.
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  Speaker 1: I was, however, thoroughly mistaken. As soon as I reached
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  Speaker 1: the shores of this inland sea, I found hands standing
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  Speaker 1: gravely in the midst of a large number of things
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  Speaker 1: laid out in complete order. My uncle wrung his hands
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  Speaker 1: with deep and silent gratitude. His heart was too full
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  Speaker 1: for speech. This man, whose superhuman devotion to his employers
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  Speaker 1: I not only never so surpassed nor even equalled, had
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  Speaker 1: been hard at work all the time we slept, and
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  Speaker 1: at the risk of his life, had succeeded in saving
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  Speaker 1: the most precious articles of our cargo. Of course, under
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  Speaker 1: the circumstances we necessarily experienced several severe losses. Our weapons
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  Speaker 1: had fully vanished, but experience had taught us to do
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  Speaker 1: without them. The provision of powder had, however, remained intact,
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  Speaker 1: after having narrowly escaped, blowing us all to atoms in
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  Speaker 1: the storm. Well, said the professor, who was now ready
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  Speaker 1: to make the best of everything. As we have no guns,
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  Speaker 1: all we have to do is to give up all
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  Speaker 1: idea of hunting. Yes, my dear sir, we can do
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  Speaker 1: without them. But what about all our instruments. Here is
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  Speaker 1: the manometer, the most useful of all, and which I
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  Speaker 1: gladly accept in lieu of the rest. With it alone,
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  Speaker 1: I can calculate the depth as we proceed by its
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  Speaker 1: means alone, I shall be able to decide when we
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  Speaker 1: have reached the center of the earth. Ha. But for
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  Speaker 1: this little instrument we might make a mistake and run
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  Speaker 1: the risk of coming out at the antipodes. All this
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  Speaker 1: was said amid bursts of unnatural laughter. But the compass,
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  Speaker 1: I cried, without that, what can we do here? It
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  Speaker 1: is safe and sound, he cried, with real joy. Ah
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  Speaker 1: ha ha, And here we have the chronometer and the thermometers. Hans,
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  Speaker 1: the hunter is indeed an invaluable man. It was impossible
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  Speaker 1: to deny this fact. As far as the nautical and
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  Speaker 1: other instruments were concerned, nothing was wanting. Then, on further
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  Speaker 1: examination I found ladders, cords, peack axes, crowbars and shovels
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  Speaker 1: all scattered about on the shore. There was, however, finally
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  Speaker 1: the most important question of all, and that was provisions.
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  Speaker 1: But what are we to do for food? I asked,
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  Speaker 1: Let us see to the commissaryot department, replied my uncle gravely.
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  Speaker 1: The boxes which contained our supply of food for the
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  Speaker 1: voyage were placed in a row along the strand, and
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  Speaker 1: were in a capital state of preservation. The sea had
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  Speaker 1: in every case respected their contents, and to sum up
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  Speaker 1: in one sentence, taking into consideration biscuits, salt meat, sheedam,
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  Speaker 1: and dried fish, we could still calculate on having about
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  Speaker 1: four months supply, if used with prudence and caution. Four months,
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  Speaker 1: cried the sanguine professor in Highgli. Then we shall have
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  Speaker 1: plenty of time both to go and come, and with
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  Speaker 1: what remains I undertake to give a grand dinner to
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  Speaker 1: my colleagues of the Johanneum. I sighed, I should by
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  Speaker 1: this time have come used to the temperament of my uncle.
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  Speaker 1: And yet this man astonished me more and more every day.
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  Speaker 1: He was the greatest human enigma I ever had known. Now,
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  Speaker 1: he said, before we do anything else, we must lay
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  Speaker 1: in a stock of fresh water. The rain has fallen
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  Speaker 1: in abundance and filled the hollows of the granite. There
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  Speaker 1: is a rich supply of water, and we have no
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  Speaker 1: fear of suffering from thirst, which in our circumstances is
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  Speaker 1: of the last importance. As for the raft, I shall
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  Speaker 1: recommend hands to repair it to the best of his abilities,
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  Speaker 1: though I have every reason to believe we shall not
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  Speaker 1: require it again. How is that I cried more amazed
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  Speaker 1: than ever at my uncle's style of reasoning. I have
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  Speaker 1: an idea, my dear boy. It is none other than
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  Speaker 1: this simple fact. We shall not come out by the
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  Speaker 1: same opening as that by which we entered. I began
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  Speaker 1: to look at my uncle with vague suspicion. An idea
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  Speaker 1: had more than once taken possession of me, and this
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  Speaker 1: was that he was going mad. And yet little did
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  Speaker 1: I think how true and prophetic his words were doomed
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  Speaker 1: to be. And now he said, having seen to all
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  Speaker 1: these matters of detail, to breakfast. I followed him to
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  Speaker 1: a sort of projecting cape after he had given his
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  Speaker 1: last instructions to our guide. In this original position, with
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  Speaker 1: dried meat, biscuit, and a delicious cup of tea, we
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  Speaker 1: made a satisfactory meal, I may say, one of the
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  Speaker 1: most welcome and pleasant I ever remember. Exhaution, the keen atmosphere,
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  Speaker 1: the state of calm after so much agitation, all contributed
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  Speaker 1: to give me an excellent appetite. Indeed, it contributed very
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  Speaker 1: much to producing a pleasant and cheerful state of mind.
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  Speaker 1: While breakfast was in hand, and between the SIPs of
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  Speaker 1: worn tea, I asked my uncle if he had any
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  Speaker 1: idea of how we now stood in relation to the
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  Speaker 1: world above. For my part, I added, I think it
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  Speaker 1: will be rather difficult to determine well, if we were
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  Speaker 1: compelled to fix the exact spot, said my uncle, it
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  Speaker 1: might be difficult, since during the three days of that
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  Speaker 1: awful tempest I could keep no account either of the
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  Speaker 1: quickness of our pace or of the direction in which
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  Speaker 1: the raft was going. Still, we will endeavor to approximate
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  Speaker 1: to the truth. We shall not, I believe, be so
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  Speaker 1: very far out. Well, if I recollect rightly, I replied,
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  Speaker 1: our last observation was made at the geyser Island, Harris Island,
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  Speaker 1: My boy, Harris Island, do not decline the honor of
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  Speaker 1: having named it, given your name to an island discovered
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  Speaker 1: by us, the first human beings who trod it since
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  Speaker 1: the creation of the world. Let it be so. Then,
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  Speaker 1: at Harris Island we had already gone over two hundred
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  Speaker 1: and seventy leagues of sea, and we were I believe,
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  Speaker 1: about six hundred leagues more or less from Iceland. God,
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  Speaker 1: I am glad to see that you remember so well.
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  Speaker 1: Let us start from that point, and let us count
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  Speaker 1: four days of storm, during which our rate of traveling
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  Speaker 1: must have been very great. I should say that our
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  Speaker 1: velocity must have been about eighty leagues to the twenty
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  Speaker 1: four hours. I agreed that I thought this affair calculation.
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  Speaker 1: There were then three hundred leagues to be added to
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  Speaker 1: the grand total. Yes, and the Central Sea must extend
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  Speaker 1: at least six hundred leagues from side to side. Do
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  Speaker 1: you know, my boy, hurry, that we have discovered an
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  Speaker 1: inland lake larger than the Mediterranean. Certainly, and we only
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  Speaker 1: know of its extent in one way, it may be
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  Speaker 1: hundreds of miles in length. Very likely, then, said I,
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  Speaker 1: after calculating for some minutes. If your provisions are right,
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  Speaker 1: we are at this moment exactly under the Mediterranean itself.
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  Speaker 1: Do you think so? Yes, I'm alwast certain of it.
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  Speaker 1: Are we not nine hundred leagues distant from Raekavik? That
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  Speaker 1: is perfectly true, and a famous bit of road we
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  Speaker 1: have traveled, my boy. But why we should be under
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  Speaker 1: the Mediterranean more than under Turkey or the Atlantic Ocean
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  Speaker 1: can only be known when we are sure of not
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  Speaker 1: having deviated from our course, and of this we know nothing.
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  Speaker 1: I do not think we were driven very far from
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  Speaker 1: our course. The wind appears to me to have been
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  Speaker 1: always about the same, My opinion is that this shore
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  Speaker 1: must be situated to the southeast of Port Gretchen God
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  Speaker 1: I hope so. It will, however, be easy to decide
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  Speaker 1: the matter by taking the bearings from our departure by
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  Speaker 1: means of the compe Come along, and we will consult
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  Speaker 1: that invaluable invention. The professor now walked eagerly in the
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  Speaker 1: direction of the rock, where the indefatigable hands had placed
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  Speaker 1: the instruments in safety. My uncle was gay and light hearted.
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  Speaker 1: He rubbed his hands and assumed all sorts of attitudes.
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  Speaker 1: He was, to all appearance once more a young man.
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  Speaker 1: Since I had known him, never had he been so
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  Speaker 1: aimable and pleasant. I followed him, rather curious to know
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  Speaker 1: whether I had made any mistake in my estimation of
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: our position. As soon as we had reached the rock,
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: my uncle took the compass, placed it horizontally before him,
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  Speaker 1: and looked keenly at the needle. As he had at
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  Speaker 1: first shaken it to give it vivacity. It oscillated considerably,
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  Speaker 1: and then slowly assumed its right position under the influence
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: of the magnetic power. The Professor bent his eyes curiously
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  Speaker 1: over the wondrous instrument. A violent start immediately showed the
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  Speaker 1: extent of his emotion. He closed his eyes, rubbed them,
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  Speaker 1: and took another and a keener survey. Then he turned
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  Speaker 1: slowly round to me, stupefaction depicted on his countenance. What
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  Speaker 1: is the matter, said I, beginning to be alarmed. He
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: could not speak, he was too overwhelmed for words. He
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  Speaker 1: simply pointed to the instrument. I examined it eagerly according
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  Speaker 1: to his mute directions, and a loud cry of surprise
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: escaped my lips. The needle of the compass pointed due north,
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: in the direction we expected was the south. It pointed
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: to the shore instead of to the high seas. I
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: shook the compass. I examined it with a curious and
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  Speaker 1: anxious eye. It was in a state of perfection, no
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: blemish in any way explained the phenomenon. Whatever position we
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: forced the needle into, it returned invariably to the same
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: unexpected point. It was useless attempting to conceal from ourselves
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: the fatal truth. There could be no doubt about it. Unwelcome,
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: as was the fact that during the tempest there had
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: been a sudden slant of wind, of which we had
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: been unable to take any account, and thus the raft
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  Speaker 1: had carried us back to the shores we had left,
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  Speaker 1: apparently for ever so many days before end of chapter
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  Speaker 1: thirty three.