Chapter 43

CHAPTER XLIII.

SHOT OUT OF A VOLCANO AT LAST!

Yes: our compass was no longer a guide; the needle flew from pole topole with a kind of frenzied impulse; it ran round the dial, and spunhither and thither as if it were giddy or intoxicated.

I knew quite well that according to the best received theories themineral covering of the globe is never at absolute rest; the changesbrought about by the chemical decomposition of its component parts,the agitation caused by great liquid torrents, and the magneticcurrents, are continually tending to disturb it -even when livingbeings upon its surface may fancy that all is quiet below. Aphenomenon of this kind would not have greatly alarmed me, or at anyrate it would not have given rise to dreadful apprehensions.

But other facts, other circumstances, of a peculiar nature, came toreveal to me by degrees the true state of the case. There cameincessant and continuous explosions. I could only compare them to theloud rattle of along train of chariots driven at full speed over thestones, or a roar of unintermitting thunder.

Then the disordered compass, thrown out of gear by the electriccurrents, confirmed me in a growing conviction. The mineral crust ofthe globe threatened to burst up, the granite foundations to cometogether with a crash, the fissure through which we were helplesslydriven would be filled up, the void would be full of crushedfragments of rock, and we poor wretched mortals were to be buried andannihilated in this dreadful consummation.

"My uncle," I cried, "we are lost now, utterly lost!"

"What are you in a fright about now?" was the calm rejoinder. "Whatis the matter with you?"

"The matter? Look at those quaking walls! look at those shiveringrocks. Don't you feel the burning heat? Don't you see how the waterboils and bubbles? Are you blind to the dense vapours and steamgrowing thicker and denser every minute? See this agitated compassneedle. It is an earthquake that is threatening us."

My undaunted uncle calmly shook his head.

"Do you think," said he, "an earthquake is coming?"

"I do."

"Well, I think you are mistaken."

"What! don't you recognise the symptoms?"

"Of an earthquake? no! I am looking out for something better."

"What can you mean? Explain?"

"It is an eruption, Axel."

"An eruption! Do you mean to affirm that we are running up the shaftof a volcano?"

"I believe we are," said the indomitable Professor with an air ofperfect self-possession; "and it is the best thing that couldpossibly happen to us under our circumstances."

The best thing! Was my uncle stark mad? What did the man mean? andwhat was the use of saying facetious things at a time like this?

"What!" I shouted. "Are we being taken up in an eruption? Our fatehas flung us here among burning lavas, molten rocks, boiling