CHAPTER XV.
A ZONE OF LIGHT DEEP WITHIN THE EARTH.
"Oh! for one glimpse of light, a ray of sunshine!"
In reply to this my mental ejaculation, my guide said: "Can not youperceive that the darkness is becoming less intense?"
"No," I answered, "I can not; night is absolute."
"Are you sure?" he asked. "Cover your eyes with your hands, then uncoverand open them." I did so and fancied that by contrast a faint gray huewas apparent.
"This must be imagination."
"No; we now approach a zone of earth light; let us hasten on."
"A zone of light deep in the earth! Incomprehensible! Incredible!" Imuttered, and yet as we went onward and time passed the darkness wasless intense. The barely perceptible hue became gray and somber, andthen of a pearly translucence, and although I could not distinguish theoutline of objects, yet I unquestionably perceived light.
"I am amazed! What can be the cause of this phenomenon? What is thenature of this mysterious halo that surrounds us?" I held my open handbefore my eyes, and perceived the darkness of my spread fingers.
"It is light, it is light," I shouted, "it is really light!" and fromnear and from far the echoes of that subterranean cavern answered backjoyfully, "It is light, it is light!"
I wept in joy, and threw my arms about my guide, forgetting in theecstasy his clammy cuticle, and danced in hysterical glee andalternately laughed and cried. How vividly I realized then that theimprisoned miner would give a world of gold, his former god, for a rayof light.
"Compose yourself; this emotional exhibition is an evidence of weakness;an investigator should neither become depressed over a reverse, norunduly enthusiastic over a fortunate discovery."
"But we approach the earth's surface? Soon I will be back in thesunshine again."
"Upon the contrary, we have been continually descending into the earth,and we are now ten miles or more beneath the level of the ocean."
"WE APPROACH DAYLIGHT, I CAN SEE YOUR FORM."]
I shrank back, hesitated, and in despondency gazed at his hazy outline,then, as if palsied, sank upon the stony floor; but as I saw the lightbefore me, I leaped up and shouted:
"What you say is not true; we approach daylight, I can see your form."
"Listen to me," he said. "Can not you understand that I have led youcontinually down a steep descent, and that for hours there has been nostep upward? With but little exertion you have walked this distancewithout becoming wearied, and you could not, without great fatigue, haveascended for so long a period. You are entering a zone of inner earthlight; we are in the surface, the upper edge of it. Let us hasten on,for when this cavern darkness is at an end--and I will say we havenearly passed that limit--your courage will return, and then we willrest."
"You surely do not speak the truth; science and philosophy, and I amsomewhat versed in both, have never told me of such a light."
"Can philosophers more than speculate about that which they have notexperienced if they have no data from which to calculate? Name thestudent in science who has reached this depth in earth, or has seen aman to tell him of these facts?"
"I can not."
"Then why should you have expected any of them to describe oursurroundings? Misguided men will torture science by refuting facts withtheories; but a fact is no less a fact when science opposes."
"SEATED HIMSELF ON A NATURAL BENCH OF STONE."]
I recognized the force of his arguments, and cordially grasped his handin indication of submission. We continued our journey, and rapidlytraveled downward and onward. The light gradually increased inintensity, until at length the cavern near about us seemed to be asbright as diffused daylight could have made it. There was apparently nocentral point of radiation; the light was such as to pervade and existin the surrounding space, somewhat as the vapor of phosphorus spreads aself-luminous haze throughout the bubble into which it is blown. Thevisual agent surrounding us had a permanent, self-existing luminosity,and was a pervading, bright, unreachable essence that, without anobvious origin, diffused itself equally in all directions. It remindedme of the form of light that in previous years I had seen described asepipolic dispersion, and as I refer to the matter I am of the opinionthat man will yet find that the same cause produces both phenomena. Iwas informed now by the sense of sight, that we were in a cavern room ofconsiderable size. The apartment presented somewhat the appearance ofthe usual underground caverns that I had seen pictured in books, and yetwas different. Stalactites, stalagmites, saline incrustations,occurring occasionally reminded me of travelers' stories, but theseobjects were not so abundant as might be supposed. Such accretions ordeposits of saline substances as I noticed were also disappointing, inthat, instead of having a dazzling brilliancy, like frosted snowcrystals, they were of a uniform gray or brown hue. Indeed, my formerimaginative mental creations regarding underground caverns weredispelled in this somber stone temple, for even the floor and thefragments of stone that, in considerable quantities, strewed the floor,were of the usual rock formations of upper earth. The glitteringcrystals of snowy white or rainbow tints (fairy caverns) pictured bytravelers, and described as inexpressibly grand and beautiful in othercavern labyrinths, were wanting here, and I saw only occasional smallclusters of quartz crystals that were other than of a dull gray color.Finally, after hours or perhaps days of travel, interspersed withrestings, conversations, and arguments, amid which I could form no ideaof the flight of time, my companion seated himself on a natural bench ofstone, and directed me to rest likewise. He broke the silence, and spokeas follows: