CHAPTER XXV.
THE MOTHER OF A VOLCANO.--"YOU CAN NOT DISPROVE, AND YOU DARE NOT ADMIT."
A year from the evening of the departure of the old man, found me in myroom, expecting his presence; and I was not surprised when he opened thedoor, and seated himself in his accustomed chair.
"Are you ready to challenge my statements?" he said, taking up thesubject as though our conversation had not been interrupted.
"No."
"Do you accept my history?"
"No."
"You can not disprove, and you dare not admit. Is not that yourpredicament?" he asked. "You have failed in every endeavor to discreditthe truth, and your would-be scientists, much as they would like to doso, can not serve you. Now we will continue the narrative, and I shallawait your next attempt to cast a shadow over the facts."
Then with his usual pleasant smile, he read from his manuscript acontinuation of the intra-earth journey as follows:
"Be seated," said my eyeless guide, "and I will explain some facts thatmay prove of interest in connection with the nature of the superficialcrust of the earth. This crystal liquid spreading before us is a placidsheet of water, and is the feeder of the volcano, Mount Epomeo."
"Can that be a surface of water?" I interrogated. "I find it hard torealize that water can be so immovable. I supposed the substance beforeus to be a rigid material, like glass, perhaps."
"There is no wind to ruffle this aqueous surface,--why should it not bequiescent? This is the only perfectly smooth sheet of water that youhave ever seen. It is in absolute rest, and thus appears a rigid levelplane."
"Grant that your explanation is correct," I said, "yet I can notunderstand how a quiet lake of water can give rise to a convulsion suchas the eruption of a volcano."
"Not only is this possible," he responded, "but water usually causes theexhibition of phenomena known as volcanic action. The Island of Ischia,in which the volcanic crater Epomeo is situated, is connected by atortuous crevice with the peaceful pool by which we now stand, and atperiods, separated by great intervals of time, the lake is partlyemptied by a simple natural process, and a part of its water is expelledabove the earth's surface in the form of super-heated steam, whichescapes through that distant crater."
"But I see no evidence of heat or even motion of any kind."
"Not here," he replied; "in this place there is none. The energy isdeveloped thousands of miles away, but since the phenomena of volcanicaction are to be partially explained to you at a future day, I willleave that matter for the present. We shall cross this lake."
I observed as we walked along its edge that the shore of the lake wasprecipitous in places, again formed a gradually descending beach, andthe dead silence of the space about us, in connection with thedeath-like stillness of that rigid mass of water and its surroundings,became increasingly impressive and awe-inspiring. Never before had Iseen such a perfectly quiet glass-like surface. Not a vibration orundulation appeared in any direction. The solidity of steel wasexemplified in its steady, apparently inflexible contour, and yet thepure element was so transparent that the bottom of the pool was asclearly defined as the top of the cavern above me. The lights and shadesof the familiar lakes of Western New York were wanting here, and itsuddenly came to my mind that there were surface reflections, but noshadows, and musing on this extraordinary fact, I stood motionless on ajutting cliff absorbed in meditation, abstractedly gazing down into thattransparent depth. Without sun or moon, without apparent source oflight, and yet perfectly illuminated, the lofty caverns seemed cut bythat aqueous plane into two sections, one above and one below atransparent, rigid surface line. The dividing line, or horizontal plane,appeared as much a surface of air as a surface of water, and thematerial above that plane seemed no more nor less a gas, or liquid, thanthat beneath it. If two limpid, transparent liquids, immiscible, but ofdifferent gravities, be poured into the same vessel, the line ofdemarkation will be as a brilliant mirror, such as I now beheld partingand yet uniting the surfaces of air and water.
Lost in contemplation, I unconsciously asked the mental question:
"Where are the shadows?"
My guide replied:
"You have been accustomed to lakes on the surface of the earth; waterthat is illuminated from above; now you see by a light that is developedfrom within and below, as well as from above. There is no outside pointof illumination, for the light of this cavern, as you know, is neithertransmitted through an overlying atmosphere nor radiated from a luminouscenter. It is an inherent quality, and as objects above us and withinthe lake are illuminated alike from all sides, there can be no shadows."
Musingly, I said:
"That which has occurred before in this journey to the unknown countryof which I have been advised, seemed mysterious; but each succeedingstep discovers to me another novelty that is more mysterious, withunlooked-for phenomena that are more obscure."
"This phenomenon is not more of a mystery than is the fact that lightradiates from the sun. Man can not explain that, and I shall not nowattempt to explain this. Both conditions are attributes of force, butwith this distinction--the crude light and heat of the sun, such as menexperience on the surface of the earth, is here refined and softened,and the characteristic glare and harshness of the light that is known tothose who live on the earth's surface is absent here. The solar ray,after penetrating the earth's crust, is tempered and refined by agencieswhich man will yet investigate understandingly, but which he can not nowcomprehend."
"WE CAME TO A METAL BOAT."]
"Am I destined to deal with these problems?"
"Only in part."
"Are still greater wonders before us?"
"If your courage is sufficient to carry you onward, you have yet toenter the portal of the expanse we approach."
"Lead on, my friend," I cried; "lead on to these undescribed scenes, theoccult wonderland that--"
He interrupted me almost rudely, and in a serious manner said:
"Have you not learned that wonder is an exemplification of ignorance?The child wonders at a goblin story, the savage at a trinket, the man ofscience at an unexplained manifestation of a previously unperceivednatural law; each wonders in ignorance, because of ignorance. Accept nowthat all you have seen from the day of your birth on the surface of theearth, to the present, and all that you will meet here are wonderfulonly because the finite mind of man is confused with fragments ofevidence, that, from whatever direction we meet them, spring from anunreachable infinity. We will continue our journey."
Proceeding farther along the edge of the lake we came to a metallicboat. This my guide picked up as easily as though it were of paper, forbe it remembered that gravitation had slackened its hold here. Placingit upon the water, he stepped into it, and as directed I seated myselfnear the stern, my face to the bow, my back to the shore. The guide,directly in front of me, gently and very slowly moved a small lever thatrested on a projection before him, and I gazed intently upon him as wesat together in silence. At last I became impatient, and asked him if wewould not soon begin our journey.
"We have been on our way since we have been seated," he answered.
I gazed behind with incredulity: the shore had disappeared, and thediverging wake of the ripples showed that we were rapidly skimming thewater.
"This is marvelous," I said; "incomprehensible, for without sail or oar,wind or steam, we are fleeing over a lake that has no current."
"True, but not marvelous. Motion of matter is a result of disturbance ofenergy connected therewith. Is it not scientifically demonstrated, atleast in theory, that if the motion of the spirit that causes themagnetic needle to assume its familiar position were really arrested inthe substance of the needle, either the metal would fuse and vaporize or(if the forces did not appear in some other form such as heat,electricity, magnetism, or other force) the needle would be hurledonward with great speed?"