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Journey to the Center of the Earth
Chapter 33. OUR ROUTE REVERSED
Here ends what I call "My Journal" of our voyage on board the raft, which journal was happily saved from the wreck.
I proceed with my narrative as I did before I commenced my daily notes.
What happened when the terrible shock took place, when the raft was cast upon the rocky shore, it would be impossible for me now to say.
I felt myself precipitated violently into the boiling waves.
My escape from a certain and cruel death was wholly owing to the determination of the faithful Hans.
He clutched me by the arm and saved me from the yawning abyss.
The courageous Icelander then carried me in his powerful arms far out of the reach of the waves.
He laid me down upon a burning expanse of sand, where I found myself some time afterwards in the company of my uncle, the Professor.
Then he quietly returned towards the fatal rocks, against which the furious waves were beating, in order to save any stray waifs from the wreck.
This man was always practical and thoughtful, I couldn't utter a word.
I was quite overcome with emotion, my whole body was broken and bruised with fatigue, it took hours before I was anything like myself.
Meanwhile, there fell a fearful deluge of rain, drenching us to the skin.
Its very violence, however, proclaimed the approaching end of the storm.
Some overhanging rocks afforded us a slight protection from the torrents.
Under this shelter, Hans prepared some food, which I was unable to touch.
Exhausted by three weary days and nights of watching, we fell into a deep and painful sleep.
My dreams were fearful, but at last exhausted nature asserted her supremacy, and I slumbered.
Next day when I awoke the change was magical.
The weather was magnificent, Air and sea, as if by mutual consent, had regained their serenity.
Every trace of the storm, even the faintest, had disappeared.
I was saluted on my awakening by the first joyous tones I had heard from the Professor for many a day.
His gaiety, indeed, was something terrible to behold and almost alarming.
"Well, my lad," he cried, rubbing his hands together, "have you slept soundly?"
Might it not have been supposed that we were in the old house on the Konigstrasse?
Might it not have been supposed I had come down to breakfast and my marriage with Gretchen was to take place that day?
My uncle's coolness was exasperating, making me feel angry and utterly bewildered.
Alas, considering how the tempest had driven us in an easterly direction, we had passed under the whole of Germany.
We had passed under the city of Hamburg, where I had been so happy.
We had passed under the very street which contained all I loved and cared for in the world.
It was a positive fact that I was only separated from her by a distance of forty leagues.
But these forty leagues were of hard, impenetrable granite!
All these dreary and miserable reflections passed through my mind, before I attempted to answer my uncle's question.
"Why, what's the matter?" he cried.
"Can't you say whether you have slept well or not?"
"I have slept very well," was my reply, "but every bone in my body aches. I suppose that'll lead to nothing."
"Nothing at all, my boy. It's only the result of the fatigue of the last few days, that's all."
"You appear, if I may be allowed to say so, to be very jolly this morning," I said.
"Delighted, my dear boy, delighted. Was never happier in my life. We have at last reached the wished-for port."
"The end of our expedition?" cried I, in a tone of considerable surprise.
"No, but to the confines of that sea which I began to fear would never end, but go round the whole world."
"We'll now tranquilly resume our journey by land, and once again endeavor to dive into the centre of the earth."
"My dear uncle," I began, in a hesitating kind of way, "allow me to ask you one question."
"Certainly, Harry, a dozen if you think proper."
"One will suffice. How about getting back?" I asked.
"How about getting back? What a question to ask. We haven't as yet reached the end of our journey."
"I know that. All I want to know is how you propose we shall manage the return voyage?"
"In the most simple manner in the world," said the imperturbable Professor.
Once we reach the exact centre of this sphere, we shall either find a new road by which to ascend to the surface.
If not, we shall simply turn round and go back by the way we came.
"I have every reason to believe that while we're traveling forward, it won't close behind us."
"Then one of the first matters to see to will be to repair the raft," was my rather melancholy response.
"Of course. We must attend to that above all things," continued the Professor.
"Then comes the all-important question of provisions," I urged.
"Have we anything like enough left to enable us to accomplish such great, such amazing, designs as you contemplate carrying out?"
"I have seen into the matter, and my answer is in the affirmative."
"Hans is a very clever fellow, and I have reason to believe that he has saved the greater part of the cargo."
"But the best way to satisfy your scruples is to come and judge for yourself."
Saying which, he led the way out of the kind of open grotto in which we had taken shelter.
I had almost begun to hope for something I should rather have feared.
I had hoped that such a shipwreck could not have left even the slightest signs of its freight.
I was, however, thoroughly mistaken, there were in fact many signs of the wreck.
As soon as I reached the shore of the inland sea, I found Hans standing among many things laid out in order.
My uncle wrung his hands with deep and silent gratitude.
His heart was too full for speech.
This man had a superhuman devotion to his employers, which I had never seen surpassed or even equaled.
He had been hard at work all the time we slept.
At the risk of his life, he succeeded in saving the most precious articles of our cargo.
Of course, under the circumstances, we necessarily experienced several severe losses.
Our weapons had wholly vanished, but experience had taught us to do without them.
The provision of powder had, however, remained intact, after having narrowly escaped blowing us all to atoms in the storm.
"Well," said the Professor, who was now ready to make the best of everything.
"As we have no guns, all we have to do is to give up all idea of hunting."
"Yes, my dear sir, we can do without them, but what about all our instruments?"
"Here's the manometer, the most useful of all, and which I gladly accept in lieu of the rest."
"With it alone I can calculate the depth as we proceed, by its means alone I shall be able to decide when we have reached the centre of the earth."
"Ha, ha! but for this little instrument we might make a mistake, and run the risk of coming out at the antipodes!"
All this was said amid bursts of unnatural laughter.
"But the compass," I cried, "without that what can we do?"
"Here it's, safe and sound!"
He cried, with real joy, "ah, ah, and here we have the chronometer and the thermometers. Hans the hunter is indeed an invaluable man!"
It was impossible to deny this fact.
As far as the nautical and other instruments were concerned, nothing was wanting.
Then on further examination, I found ladders, cords, pickaxes, crowbars, and shovels, all scattered about on the shore.
There was, however, finally the most important question of all, and that was, provisions.
"But what are we to do for food?" I asked.
"Let us see to the commissariat department", replied my uncle gravely.
The boxes which contained our supply of food for the voyage were placed in a row along the strand.
They were in a capital state of preservation, the sea having in every case respected their contents.
Taking into consideration biscuits, salt meat, Schiedam, and dried fish, we could still calculate on about four months' supply if used with prudence and caution.
"Four months," cried the sanguine Professor in high glee.
"Then we shall have plenty of time both to go and to come, and with what remains I undertake to give a grand dinner to my colleagues of the Johanneum."
I sighed, feeling weary and helpless, staring out over the calm, empty sea.
I should by this time have become used to the temperament of my uncle, and yet this man astonished me more and more every day.
He was the greatest human enigma I ever had known.
"Now," he said, "before we do anything else, we must lay in a stock of fresh water."
"The rain had fallen in abundance and filled the hollows of the granite."
"There is a rich supply of water, so we have no fear of thirst in our circumstances."
"As for the raft, I shall have Hans repair it to the best of his abilities, though I think we shall not require it again."
"How is that?" I cried, more amazed than ever at my uncle's style of reasoning.
"I have an idea, my dear boy, it's none other than this simple fact, we shall not come out by the same opening as that by which we entered."
I began to look at my uncle with vague suspicion.
An idea had more than once taken possession of me, and this was, that he was going mad.
And yet, little did I think how true and prophetic his words were doomed to be.
"And now," he said, "having seen to all these matters of detail, to breakfast."
I followed him to a sort of projecting cape, after he had given his last instructions to our guide.
In this original position, with dried meat, biscuit, and a delicious cup of tea, we made a satisfactory meal.
I may say one of the most welcome and pleasant I ever remember.
Exhaustion, the keen atmosphere, the state of calm after so much agitation, all contributed to give me an excellent appetite.
Indeed, it contributed very much to producing a pleasant and cheerful state of mind.
While breakfast was in hand and between sips of warm tea, I asked my uncle a question.
I asked if he had any idea how we now stood in relation to the world above.
"For my part," I added, "I think it'll be rather difficult to determine."
"Well, if we were compelled to fix the exact spot," said my uncle.
It might be difficult, since during the three days of that tempest I could keep no account of our pace or the direction of the raft.
Still, we'll endeavor to approximate to the truth.
"We shall not, I believe, be so very far out."
"Well, if I recollect rightly," I replied, "our last observation was made at the geyser island."
"Harry's Island, my boy!"
"Don't refuse the honor of naming it, for you gave your name to an island first discovered by us, the first humans to tread it"!
"Let it be so, then."
"At Harry's Island we had already gone over two hundred and seventy leagues of sea,"
"And we were, I believe, about six hundred leagues, more or less, from Iceland."
"Good. I'm glad to see that you remember so well."
"Let us start from that point and count four stormy days, when our speed must have been about eighty leagues in twenty-four hours".
I agreed that I thought this a fair calculation.
There were then three hundred leagues to be added to the grand total.
"Yes, and the Central Sea must extend at least six hundred leagues from side to side."
"Do you know, my boy, Harry, that we have discovered an inland lake larger than the Mediterranean?"
"Certainly, and we only know of its extent in one way. It may be hundreds of miles in length."
"Very likely."
"Then," said I, after calculating for some for some minutes, "if your previsions are right, we're at this moment exactly under the Mediterranean itself."
"Do you think so?"
"Yes, I'm almost certain of it. Are we not nine hundred leagues distant from Reykjavik?"
"That's perfectly true, and a famous bit of road we have traveled, my boy".
Why we should be under the Mediterranean rather than Turkey or the Atlantic can only be known when we're sure we haven't strayed.
And about that, frankly, we know absolutely nothing for certain at the present moment.
"I don't think we were driven very far from our course, the wind appears to me to have been always about the same."
"My opinion is that this shore must be situated to the southeast of Port Gretchen."
Good. I hope so. However, we'll easily decide by taking bearings from our departure with the compass. Come, we'll consult that invaluable instrument.
The Professor now walked eagerly in the direction of the rock where the indefatigable Hans had placed the instruments in safety.
My uncle was gay and lighthearted, he rubbed his hands, and assumed all sorts of attitudes.
He was to all appearance once more a young man.
Since I had known him, never had he been so amiable and pleasant.
I followed him, rather curious to know whether I had made any mistake in my estimation of our position.
As soon as we had reached the rock, my uncle took the compass, placed it horizontally before him, and looked keenly at the needle.
When he first shook it to give it life, it oscillated considerably, then slowly assumed its position under the magnetic power.
The Professor bent his eyes curiously over the wondrous instrument.
A violent start immediately showed the extent of his emotion.
He closed his eyes, rubbed them, and took another and a keener survey.
Then he turned slowly round to me, stupefaction depicted on his countenance.
"What's the matter?" said I, beginning to be alarmed.
He couldn't speak, he was too overwhelmed for words, he simply pointed to the instrument.
I examined it eagerly according to his mute directions, and a loud cry of surprise escaped my lips.
The needle of the compass pointed due north, in the direction we expected was the south!
It pointed to the shore instead of to the high seas.
I shook the compass, I examined it with a curious and anxious eye.
It was in a state of perfection.
No blemish in any way explained the phenomenon.
Whatever position we forced the needle into, it returned invariably to the same unexpected point.
It was useless attempting to conceal from ourselves the fatal truth.
There could be no doubt about it, unwelcome as the fact was.
During the tempest there had been a sudden slant of wind that we couldn't account for.
Thus the raft had carried us back to the shores we had left so many days before, apparently forever.