CHAPTER NINETEEN

At six o'clock the next morning—Tuesday, June 30—we continued our journey into the Earth. We were still following the passage until seventeen minutes past noon.

"Ah!" my uncle exclaimed. "We've come to the end of the passageway!"

I looked around to see that there were now two passageways we could take. Which one should we take? It was a difficult decision.

My uncle, however, decided we should go into the eastern passage, and we were soon inside it. My uncle had to guess, as there was no reason for choosing one or the other. The downward walk was still gentle. The temperature was still bearable. As we walked, I often thought of how unbearably hot that passage must have been as lava went through on its way to Sneffels where it would burst out the top. Now, however, it was so calm and quiet. I only hope, I thought, that the old volcano doesn't decide to awake again after all this time!

I didn't tell my uncle about my fears; he wouldn't have understood them. He only had one idea: to keep going forward. He was determined to continue.

By six o'clock in the evening, after a day of walking that hadn't been too difficult, we had gone five miles south, but only a quarter of a mile down towards the center of the Earth. My uncle decided that we would stop to sleep. We ate without talking, then went to sleep without thinking too much.

We woke up the next morning ready to continue on our journey. We continued to follow the same path, although I noticed that at ten in the morning, our path began going upward. The walk became so tiring that I had to walk slower.

"What's wrong, Axel?" the professor asked impatiently.

"What's wrong is that I'm tired," I answered.

"What—you're tired after three hours of walking on such an easy path?"

"It's not that easy, it's tiring."

"Tiring? When all we have to do is go down?"

"Go down? I believe we're going up."

"Up?" my uncle said.

"That's right, the path changed half an hour ago, and I believe we'll soon come back to the surface of Iceland,"

The professor still could not believe me. My uncle said nothing more, and we began walking again. I was determined to walk faster, with my uncle and Hans, our fearless leader. Although walking upward was more difficult, I was content that we were getting closer to the surface of the Earth. I decided that I must walk quickly to stay with Hans and my uncle, as I greatly feared being alone in that frightening passageway.

At noon, I noticed that the rock that covered the walls was no longer lava, but a rock type that was found in England in ancient times, during a time when the first plants and animals appeared on earth. I mentioned my discovery to my uncle, who didn't seem to share my excitement. Perhaps he was upset that he had chosen the eastern passage, or was he determined to explore the passageway farther? It was clear that this path would not take us into the Earth, but would only take us closer to the Earth.

Perhaps, however, I was wrong myself. "If I'm right", I thought, "I'll find some ancient plants that will show my uncle that I am correct. I'll keep looking."

I had walked another hundred steps when I found such a plant. I had stepped on dried pieces of an ancient plant. Professor Lidenbrock would, of course, recognize them. He refused to look at the plant, however, continuing on his journey through the passage. I could not bear this any longer. I picked up the remains of an animal that lived on the Earth thousands of years ago. "Look at this!" I said to my uncle.

"Well," he said, "it's the remains of an ancient animal that lived thousands of years ago. That's all."

"But doesn't it mean that we ... "

"Yes, perhaps I've chosen the wrong passage, and we're going back up to the surface of the Earth, but I won't be sure I made a mistake till I've reached the end of this passage."

"You're right, uncle, I would agree with you if we weren't running out of water."

"Well, then, Axel, we'll have to drink less water. We must be careful about saving the water."

(end of section)