CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

The real journey was beginning. So far, we had to deal with being tired, more than with difficulties, but now we were going to see many more difficulties.

I hadn't yet looked down into the hole I was climbing into. I could still refuse to go any farther, but I would have been ashamed in front of Hans. He accepted the adventure so calmly, disregarding all danger. If I had been alone with my uncle, I would have given him several arguments as to why we should not go any farther, but as Hans was with us, I said nothing. I thought of my lovely Grauben and stepped into the hole. I looked down and saw that the walls were almost vertical, but there were rocks sticking out from the walls, which we would use to climb down.

"Now," my uncle said when he had finished his preparations, "let's take care of the baggage. We'll divide it into three bundles, and each of us will carry one on his back. I'm only talking about the measuring instruments, tools, and some food." "Hans," he continued, "will take the tools and a third of the food. You, Axel, will take the guns and another third of the food. I'll take the rest of it, and the breakable instruments."

"But what about the clothes and our other tools?" I asked. "Who will take them down?"

"They'll go down by themselves," he answered.

"How?"

"You'll see."

Hans then tied the rest of our things together and threw them down the hole. My uncle watched with satisfaction as he watched our things drop into the hole.

"Good," he said. "Now, we must go down."

Is it possible to listen to those words without fear?

We prepared to climb down into the Earth. Hans went first, then my uncle, and I followed. We were silent, but, at times, heard loose rocks fall. We were tied together, and tied the rope to rocks as we went down to be safe.

"Gif akt," I heard Hans say as we went down.

"Be careful," my uncle would translate for me.

After going down for an hour, I still could not see the bottom of the hole. Although I have a great interest in studying the Earth's surface and rocks, I was paying no attention as we climbed down, feeling nothing but fear as we went farther into the Earth. The professor, however, was making observations or taking notes as we went down.

"Axel," he said to me, "the farther down we go, the more confident I feel that the inside of the Earth is not too hot. The groupings of those volcanic rocks tell me that there has been water here. I must believe that there is not heat at the Earth's center, but we shall soon see for ourselves."

After another three hours, I still couldn't see the bottom. Each time I looked down, I saw the hole get smaller.

Ten hours later, I still could not see the bottom, although we had gone down nearly twenty-eight hundred feet.

Soon after coming to this conclusion, Hans told us to stop.

"We've arrived," said my uncle.

"Where?" I asked.

"At the bottom of the hole."

"Is there another opening?" I asked, looking around into the darkness.

"Yes, I can see a passageway off to the right. We'll look into that tomorrow. First, we'll have dinner, and then we'll sleep."

We had some food, then got ready to sleep. Looking up, I saw a bright spot overhead. It was a star in the sky. I then fell asleep.

(end of section)