Chapter 41 - Page 2

blown-up rock was an abyss. The explosionhad caused a kind of earthquake in this fissured and abysmal region;a great gulf had opened; and the sea, now changed into a torrent, washurrying us along into it.

I gave myself up for lost.

An hour passed away - two hours, perhaps - I cannot tell. We clutchedeach other fast, to save ourselves from being thrown off the raft. Wefelt violent shocks whenever we were borne heavily against the craggyprojections. Yet these shocks were not very frequent, from which Iconcluded that the gully was widening. It was no doubt the same roadthat Saknussemm had taken; but instead of walking peaceably down it,as he had done, we were carrying a whole sea along with us.

These ideas, it will be understood, presented themselves to my mindin a vague and undetermined form. I had difficulty in associating anyideas together during this headlong race, which seemed like avertical descent. To judge by the air which was whistling past me andmade a whizzing in my ears, we were moving faster than the fastestexpress trains. To light a torch under these' conditions would havebeen impossible; and our last electric apparatus had been shatteredby the force of the explosion.

I was therefore much surprised to see a clear light shining near me.It lighted up the calm and unmoved countenance of Hans. The skilfulhuntsman had succeeded in lighting the lantern; and although itflickered so much as to threaten to go out, it threw a fitful lightacross the awful darkness.

I was right in my supposition. It was a wide gallery. The dim lightcould not show us both its walls at once. The fall of the waterswhich were carrying us away exceeded that of the swiftest rapids inAmerican rivers. Its surface seemed composed of a sheaf of arrowshurled with inconceivable force; I cannot convey my impressions by abetter comparison. The raft, occasionally seized by an eddy, spunround as it still flew along. When it approached the walls of thegallery I threw on them the light of the lantern, and I could judgesomewhat of the velocity of our speed by noticing how the jaggedprojections of the rocks spun into endless ribbons and bands, so thatwe seemed confined within a network of shifting lines. I supposed wewere running at the rate of thirty leagues an hour.

My uncle and I gazed on each other with haggard eyes, clinging to thestump of the mast, which had snapped asunder at the first shock ofour great catastrophe. We kept our backs to the wind, not to bestifled by the rapidity of a movement which no human power couldcheck.

Hours passed away. No change in our situation; but a discovery cameto complicate matters and make them worse.

In seeking to put our cargo into somewhat better order, I found thatthe greater part of the articles embarked had disappeared at themoment of the explosion, when the sea broke in upon us with suchviolence. I wanted to know exactly what we had saved, and with