Off on a Comet! a Journey through Planetary Space

  CHAPTER XII. THE BOWELS OF THE COMET

  The whole night was spent in speculating, with gloomy forebodings, uponthe chances of the future. The temperature of the hall, now entirelyexposed to the outer air, was rapidly falling, and would quickly becomeunendurable. Far too intense was the cold to allow anyone to remain atthe opening, and the moisture on the walls soon resolved itself intoicicles. But the mountain was like the body of a dying man, that retainsawhile a certain amount of heat at the heart after the extremities havebecome cold and dead. In the more interior galleries there was still acertain degree of warmth, and hither Servadac and his companions wereglad enough to retreat.

  Here they found the professor, who, startled by the sudden cold, hadbeen fain to make a precipitate retreat from his observatory. Now wouldhave been the opportunity to demand of the enthusiast whether he wouldlike to prolong his residence indefinitely upon his little comet. It isvery likely that he would have declared himself ready to put up with anyamount of discomfort to be able to gratify his love of investigation;but all were far too disheartened and distressed to care to banter himupon the subject on which he was so sensitive.

  Next morning, Servadac thus addressed his people. "My friends, exceptfrom cold, we have nothing to fear. Our provisions are ample--more thanenough for the remaining period of our sojourn in this lone world ofours; our preserved meat is already cooked; we shall be able todispense with all fuel for cooking purposes. All that we require iswarmth--warmth for ourselves; let us secure that, and all may be well.Now, I do not entertain a doubt but that the warmth we require isresident in the bowels of this mountain on which we are living; tothe depth of those bowels we must penetrate; there we shall obtain thewarmth which is indispensable to our very existence."

  His tone, quite as much as his words, restored confidence to many of hispeople, who were already yielding to a feeling of despair. The count andthe lieutenant fervently, but silently, grasped his hand.

  "Nina," said the captain, "you will not be afraid to go down to thelower depths of the mountain, will you?"

  "Not if Pablo goes," replied the child.

  "Oh yes, of course, Pablo will go. You are not afraid to go, are you,Pablo?" he said, addressing the boy.

  "Anywhere with you, your Excellency," was the boy's prompt reply.

  And certain it was that no time must be lost in penetrating belowthe heart of the volcano; already the most protected of the manyramifications of Nina's Hive were being pervaded by a cold that wasinsufferable. It was an acknowledged impossibility to get access to thecrater by the exterior declivities of the mountain-side; they were fartoo steep and too slippery to afford a foothold. It must of necessity beentered from the interior.

  Lieutenant Procope accordingly undertook the task of exploring all thegalleries, and was soon able to report that he had discovered one whichhe had every reason to believe abutted upon the central funnel. Hisreason for coming to this conclusion was that the caloric emitted by therising vapors of the hot lava seemed to be oozing, as it were, out ofthe tellurium, which had been demonstrated already to be a conductorof heat. Only succeed in piercing through this rock for seven or eightyards, and the lieutenant did not doubt that his way would be openedinto the old lava-course, by following which he hoped descent would beeasy.

  Under the lieutenant's direction the Russian sailors were immediatelyset to work. Their former experience had convinced them that spades andpick-axes were of no avail, and their sole resource was to proceedby blasting with gunpowder. However skillfully the operation might becarried on, it must necessarily occupy several days, and during thattime the sufferings from cold must be very severe.

  "If we fail in our object, and cannot get to the depths of the mountain,our little colony is doomed," said Count Timascheff.

  "That speech is not like yourself," answered Servadac, smiling. "Whathas become of the faith which has hitherto carried you so bravelythrough all our difficulties?"

  The count shook his head, as if in despair, and said, sadly, "The Handthat has hitherto been outstretched to help seems now to be withdrawn."

  "But only to test our powers of endurance," rejoined the captain,earnestly. "Courage, my friend, courage! Something tells me that thiscessation of the eruption is only partial; the internal fire is not allextinct. All is not over yet. It is too soon to give up; never despair!"

  Lieutenant Procope quite concurred with the captain. Many causes, heknew, besides the interruption of the influence of the oxygen upon themineral substances in Gallia's interior, might account for the stoppageof the lava-flow in this one particular spot, and he considered it morethan probable that a fresh outlet had been opened in some other part ofthe surface, and that the eruptive matter had been diverted into the newchannel. But at present his business was to prosecute his labors sothat a retreat might be immediately effected from their now untenableposition.

  Restless and agitated, Professor Rosette, if he took any interest inthese discussions, certainly took no share in them. He had brought histelescope down from the observatory into the common hall, and there atfrequent intervals, by night and by day, he would endeavor to continuehis observations; but the intense cold perpetually compelled him todesist, or he would literally have been frozen to death. No sooner,however, did he find himself obliged to retreat from his study of theheavens, than he would begin overwhelming everybody about him withbitter complaints, pouring out his regrets that he had ever quitted hisquarters at Formentera.

  On the 4th of January, by persevering industry, the process of boringwas completed, and the lieutenant could hear that fragments of theblasted rock, as the sailors cleared them away with their spades, wererolling into the funnel of the crater. He noticed, too, that they didnot fall perpendicularly, but seemed to slide along, from which heinferred that the sides of the crater were sloping; he had thereforereason to hope that a descent would be found practicable.

  Larger and larger grew the orifice; at length it would admit a man'sbody, and Ben Zoof, carrying a torch, pushed himself through it,followed by the lieutenant and Servadac. Procope's conjecture provedcorrect. On entering the crater, they found that the sides slanted atthe angle of about 4 degrees; moreover, the eruption had evidently beenof recent origin, dating probably only from the shock which had investedGallia with a proportion of the atmosphere of the earth, and beneaththe coating of ashes with which they were covered, there were variousirregularities in the rock, not yet worn away by the action of the lava,and these afforded a tolerably safe footing.

  "Rather a bad staircase!" said Ben Zoof, as they began to make their waydown.

  In about half an hour, proceeding in a southerly direction, they haddescended nearly five hundred feet. From time to time they cameupon large excavations that at first sight had all the appearance ofgalleries, but by waving his torch, Ben Zoof could always see theirextreme limits, and it was evident that the lower strata of the mountaindid not present the same system of ramification that rendered the Hiveabove so commodious a residence.

  It was not a time to be fastidious; they must be satisfied with suchaccommodation as they could get, provided it was warm. Captain Servadacwas only too glad to find that his hopes about the temperature were toa certain extent realized. The lower they went, the greater was thediminution in the cold, a diminution that was far more rapid than thatwhich is experienced in making the descent of terrestrial mines. Inthis case it was a volcano, not a colliery, that was the object ofexploration, and thankful enough they were to find that it had notbecome extinct. Although the lava, from some unknown cause, hadceased to rise in the crater, yet plainly it existed somewhere in anincandescent state, and was still transmitting considerable heat toinferior strata.

  Lieutenant Procope had brought in his hand a mercurial thermometer,and Servadac carried an aneroid barometer, by means of which he couldestimate the depth of their descent below the level of the Gallian Sea.When they were six hundred feet below the orifice the mercury registereda temperature of 6 degrees below zero.

 
"Six degrees!" said Servadac; "that will not suit us. At this lowtemperature we could not survive the winter. We must try deeper down. Ionly hope the ventilation will hold out."

  There was, however, nothing to fear on the score of ventilation.The great current of air that rushed into the aperture penetratedeverywhere, and made respiration perfectly easy.

  The descent was continued for about another three hundred feet, whichbrought the explorers to a total depth of nine hundred feet from theirold quarters. Here the thermometer registered 12 degrees above zero--atemperature which, if only it were permanent, was all they wanted. Therewas no advantage in proceeding any further along the lava-course; theycould already hear the dull rumblings that indicated that they were atno great distance from the central focus.

  "Quite near enough for me!" exclaimed Ben Zoof. "Those who are chillyare welcome to go as much lower as they like. For my part, I shall bequite warm enough here."

  After throwing the gleams of torch-light in all directions, theexplorers seated themselves on a jutting rock, and began to debatewhether it was practicable for the colony to make an abode in theselower depths of the mountain. The prospect, it must be owned, was notinviting. The crater, it is true, widened out into a cavern sufficientlylarge, but here its accommodation ended. Above and below were a fewledges in the rock that would serve as receptacles for provisions; but,with the exception of a small recess that must be reserved for Nina,it was clear that henceforth they must all renounce the idea ofhaving separate apartments. The single cave must be their dining-room,drawing-room, and dormitory, all in one. From living the life of rabbitsin a warren, they were reduced to the existence of moles, with thedifference that they could not, like them, forget their troubles in along winter's sleep.

  The cavern, however, was quite capable of being lighted by means oflamps and lanterns. Among the stores were several barrels of oil anda considerable quantity of spirits of wine, which might be burned whenrequired for cooking purposes. Moreover, it would be unnecessary forthem to confine themselves entirely to the seclusion of their gloomyresidence; well wrapped up, there would be nothing to prevent themmaking occasional excursions both to the Hive and to the sea-shore. Asupply of fresh water would be constantly required; ice for this purposemust be perpetually carried in from the coast, and it would be necessaryto arrange that everyone in turn should perform this office, as it wouldbe no sinecure to clamber up the sides of the crater for 900 feet, anddescend the same distance with a heavy burden.

  But the emergency was great, and it was accordingly soon decided thatthe little colony should forthwith take up its quarters in the cave.After all, they said, they should hardly be much worse off thanthousands who annually winter in Arctic regions. On board thewhaling-vessels, and in the establishments of the Hudson's Bay Company,such luxuries as separate cabins or sleeping-chambers are never thoughtof; one large apartment, well heated and ventilated, with as few cornersas possible, is considered far more healthy; and on board ship theentire hold, and in forts a single floor, is appropriated to thispurpose. The recollection of this fact served to reconcile them, in agreat degree, to the change to which they felt it requisite to submit.

  Having remounted the ascent, they made the result of their explorationknown to the mass of the community, who received the tidings with asense of relief, and cordially accepted the scheme of the migration.

  The first step was to clear the cavern of its accumulation of ashes,and then the labor of removal commenced in earnest. Never was a taskundertaken with greater zest. The fear of being to a certainty frozento death if they remained where they were, was a stimulus thatmade everyone put forth all his energies. Beds, furniture, cookingutensils--first the stores of the _Dobryna_, then the cargo of thetartan--all were carried down with the greatest alacrity, and thediminished weight combined with the downhill route to make the laborproceed with incredible briskness.

  Although Professor Rosette yielded to the pressure of circumstances,and allowed himself to be conducted to the lower regions, nothing wouldinduce him to allow his telescope to be carried underground; and as itwas undeniable that it would certainly be of no service deep down in thebowels of the mountain, it was allowed to remain undisturbed upon itstripod in the great hall of Nina's Hive.

  As for Isaac Hakkabut, his outcry was beyond description lamentable.Never, in the whole universe, had a merchant met with such reverses;never had such a pitiable series of losses befallen an unfortunate man.Regardless of the ridicule which his abject wretchedness excited, hehowled on still, and kept up an unending wail; but meanwhile he kepta keen eye upon every article of his property, and amidst universallaughter insisted on having every item registered in an inventory as itwas transferred to its appointed place of safety. Servadac consideratelyallowed the whole of the cargo to be deposited in a hollow apart byitself, over which the Jew was permitted to keep a watch as vigilant ashe pleased.

  By the 10th the removal was accomplished. Rescued, at all events, fromthe exposure to a perilous temperature of 60 degrees below zero, thecommunity was installed in its new home. The large cave was lighted bythe _Dobryna's_ lamps, while several lanterns, suspended at intervalsalong the acclivity that led to their deserted quarters above, gavea weird picturesqueness to the scene, that might vie with any of thegraphic descriptions of the "Arabian Nights' Entertainments."

  "How do you like this, Nina?" said Ben Zoof.

  "_Va bene!_" replied the child. "We are only living in the cellarsinstead of upon the ground floor."

  "We will try and make ourselves comfortable," said the orderly.

  "Oh yes, we will be happy here," rejoined the child; "it is nice andwarm."

  Although they were as careful as they could to conceal their misgivingsfrom the rest, Servadac and his two friends could not regard theirpresent situation without distrust. When alone, they would frequentlyask each other what would become of them all, if the volcanic heatshould really be subsiding, or if some unexpected perturbation shouldretard the course of the comet, and compel them to an indefinitelyprolonged residence in their grim abode. It was scarcely likely that thecomet could supply the fuel of which ere long they would be in urgentneed. Who could expect to find coal in the bowels of Gallia,--coal,which is the residuum of ancient forests mineralized by the lapse ofages? Would not the lava-cinders exhumed from the extinct volcano betheir last poor resource?

  "Keep up your spirits, my friends," said Servadac; "we have plenty oftime before us at present. Let us hope that as fresh difficulties arise,fresh ways of escape will open. Never despair!"

  "True," said the count; "it is an old saying that 'Necessity is themother of invention.' Besides, I should think it very unlikely that theinternal heat will fail us now before the summer."

  The lieutenant declared that he entertained the same hope. As the reasonof his opinion he alleged that the combustion of the eruptive matterwas most probably of quite recent origin, because the comet beforeits collision with the earth had possessed no atmosphere, and thatconsequently no oxygen could have penetrated to its interior.

  "Most likely you are right," replied the count; "and so far fromdreading a failure of the internal heat, I am not quite sure that we maynot be exposed to a more terrible calamity still?"

  "What?" asked Servadac.

  "The calamity of the eruption breaking out suddenly again, and taking usby surprise."

  "Heavens!" cried the captain, "we will not think of that."

  "The outbreak may happen again," said the lieutenant, calmly; "butit will be our fault, our own lack of vigilance, if we are taken bysurprise." And so the conversation dropped.

  The 15th of January dawned; and the comet was 220,000,000 leagues fromthe sun.

  Gallia had reached its aphelion.