CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

I suppose it was then about ten o'clock at night. After so many hours of hearing the loud water rushing, I heard silence; the water had stopped.

"We're going up," my uncle exclaimed.

"What!"

"Yes, we're going up. We're going up!"

I reached out to touch the wall and I discovered that we were going up very quickly. Hans then lit one of the lanterns and I could see that we were in a narrow passage, perhaps only twenty-five feet wide.

"The water has reached the bottom and is now going back up to its level, taking us with it."

"Where are we going?"

"I don't know, but we have to be ready for anything. We're rising nearly twelve feet a second or seven hundred and twenty feet a minute, or eight miles an hour. It shouldn't take too long to go a long distance."

"Hopefully, we'll be able to get out of this passage, but if it's blocked, the air will be replaced by water, and we'll be crushed!"

"Axel," my uncle said very calmly, "our situation is almost hopeless, but we may have a chance to survive. So, let's be looking for every opportunity to live."

"But what should we do?"

"We must eat to keep strong."

I then looked at him with disappointment. Now I had to tell him that there was not much food left.

"What!" my uncle cried. "We've lost our food?"

"Yes," I answered. "Here's all that's left, one piece of dried meat for the three of us."

He was silent.

"Well," I said, "do you still think we can be saved?"

He didn't answer.

An hour went by. I was beginning to feel hunger. Hans and my uncle were suffering, as well, but we all refused to eat the bit we had left.

We kept rising quickly. Sometimes, it was difficult to breathe, as we were rising so quickly. The heat was rising, as well, the temperature was surely over one hundred degrees. Why was the temperature rising so quickly now? Were we going into a part of the Earth with fire-hot temperatures?

Another hour went by. The temperature increased a bit, but our situation was still the same.

"Listen," said my uncle, "we must decide something."

"What?" I asked.

"We must get our strength back. If we attempt to lengthen our lives by a few hours, waiting to eat our food, we'll be weak till our deaths."

"Yes, and the end of our lives will come quickly."

"If we have an opportunity to save ourselves, we must be strong. I suggest that we eat the bit of food we have left now."

"What? You still think we have a chance to survive?"

"Yes, of course. As long as we are alive, we have a chance to survive."

How brave my uncle was!

"What do you think we should do?" I asked.

"Eat the rest of the food. Then, we'll be strong."

"All right, then, let's eat," I said.

We ate in silence. My uncle ate quickly, Hans ate calmly, and I ate without tasting the food. After the meal, I began thinking of my life in Germany and my darling Grauben. My uncle was still thinking about our situation, thinking of how we could escape death. He was talking to himself, and examining the rock wall, which was now quite hot, as well. I began thinking about our situation, as well, listening to my uncle. The water was boiling hot, so were the rocks. I looked at the instrument giving our direction, but it was going around in circles.

It had gone mad! We were at the center of the Earth!

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