第4章

One hundred and fifty-three degrees had been the maximum temperature above the ice stratum. Would it stop at this point again, or would it continue its merciless climb? We knew that there was no hope, and yet with the persistence of life itself we continued to hope against practical certainty.

Already the air tanks were at low ebb--there was barely enough of the precious gases to sustain us for another twelve hours. But would we be alive to know or care?

It seemed incredible.

At four hundred and twenty miles I took another reading.

"Perry!" I shouted. "Perry, man! She's going down! She's going down! She's 152 degrees again.""Gad!" he cried. "What can it mean? Can the earth be cold at the center?""I do not know, Perry," I answered; "but thank God, if I am to die it shall not be by fire--that is all that Ihave feared. I can face the thought of any death but that."Down, down went the mercury until it stood as low as it had seven miles from the surface of the earth, and then of a sudden the realization broke upon us that death was very near. Perry was the first to discover it. I saw him fussing with the valves that regulate the air supply.

And at the same time I experienced difficulty in breathing.

My head felt dizzy--my limbs heavy.

I saw Perry crumple in his seat. He gave himself a shake and sat erect again. Then he turned toward me.

"Good-bye, David," he said. "I guess this is the end,"and then he smiled and closed his eyes.

"Good-bye, Perry, and good luck to you," I answered, smiling back at him. But I fought off that awful lethargy.

I was very young--I did not want to die.

For an hour I battled against the cruelly enveloping death that surrounded me upon all sides. At first Ifound that by climbing high into the framework above me I could find more of the precious life-giving elements, and for a while these sustained me. It must have been an hour after Perry had succumbed that I at last came to the realization that I could no longer carry on this unequal struggle against the inevitable.

With my last flickering ray of consciousness I turned mechanically toward the distance meter. It stood at exactly five hundred miles from the earth's surface--and then of a sudden the huge thing that bore us came to a stop.

The rattle of hurtling rock through the hollow jacket ceased.

The wild racing of the giant drill betokened that it was running loose in AIR--and then another truth flashed upon me. The point of the prospector was ABOVE us.

Slowly it dawned on me that since passing through the ice strata it had been above. We had turned in the ice and sped upward toward the earth's crust. Thank God! We were safe!

I put my nose to the intake pipe through which samples were to have been taken during the passage of the prospector through the earth, and my fondest hopes were realized--a flood of fresh air was pouring into the iron cabin.

The reaction left me in a state of collapse, and Ilost consciousness.

II

A STRANGE WORLD

I was unconscious little more than an instant, for as I lunged forward from the crossbeam to which Ihad been clinging, and fell with a crash to the floor of the cabin, the shock brought me to myself.

My first concern was with Perry. I was horrified at the thought that upon the very threshold of salvation he might be dead.

Tearing open his shirt I placed my ear to his breast.

I could have cried with relief--his heart was beating quite regularly.

At the water tank I wetted my handkerchief, slapping it smartly across his forehead and face several times.

In a moment I was rewarded by the raising of his lids.

For a time he lay wide-eyed and quite uncomprehending.

Then his scattered wits slowly foregathered, and he sat up sniffing the air with an expression of wonderment upon his face.

"Why, David," he cried at last, "it's air, as sure as I live.

Why--why what does it mean? Where in the world are we?

What has happened?"

"It means that we're back at the surface all right, Perry," I cried;"but where, I don't know. I haven't opened her up yet.

Been too busy reviving you. Lord, man, but you had a close squeak!""You say we're back at the surface, David? How can that be? How long have I been unconscious?""Not long. We turned in the ice stratum.

Don't you recall the sudden whirling of our seats?

After that the drill was above you instead of below.

We didn't notice it at the time; but I recall it now.""You mean to say that we turned back in the ice stratum, David? That is not possible. The prospector cannot turn unless its nose is deflected from the outside--by some external force or resistance--the steering wheel within would have moved in response. The steering wheel has not budged, David, since we started. You know that."I did know it; but here we were with our drill racing in pure air, and copious volumes of it pouring into the cabin.

"We couldn't have turned in the ice stratum, Perry, I know as well as you," I replied; "but the fact remains that we did, for here we are this minute at the surface of the earth again, and I am going out to see just where.""Better wait till morning, David--it must be midnight now."I glanced at the chronometer.

"Half after twelve. We have been out seventy-two hours, so it must be midnight. Nevertheless I am going to have a look at the blessed sky that I had given up all hope of ever seeing again," and so saying I lifted the bars from the inner door, and swung it open. There was quite a quantity of loose material in the jacket, and this Ihad to remove with a shovel to get at the opposite door in the outer shell.

In a short time I had removed enough of the earth and rock to the floor of the cabin to expose the door beyond.

Perry was directly behind me as I threw it open.

The upper half was above the surface of the ground.

With an expression of surprise I turned and looked at Perry--it was broad daylight without!

"Something seems to have gone wrong either with our calculations or the chronometer," I said. Perry shook his head--there was a strange expression in his eyes.

"Let's have a look beyond that door, David," he cried.