What Went Before

£TT}ROFESSOR HARDWIGG, chemist, philoso- /—"pher, mineralogist, etc., while delighting in a -*• rare old book by a famous Iceland author, comes upon a mysterious parchment containing a secret message. The professor and his nephew Harry, have deciphered- it: "Descend into the crater of the Yokul of Sneffels, which the shade of Scar- tans covers before the kalends of Jtdy, audacious traveler, and you will reach the center of the earth. I did it. — Arne Saknussem." The professor and Harry (in the case of the lat- ter imieh against his will and better judgment) start for Iceland and Mount Sneffels, with the good wishes of Gretchen, the professor's ward and Harry's fianc6e. In Iceland, they -very fortunately obtain the services of Hans, a true Icelandic guide —calm, stolid and dependable. After numerous ad- actites and stalagmites, etc. In' their search for a spring, they hear and, tap a tremendous torrent of hot water, which for a time also acts as a guide to them in their descent. Then, to cap it all, Harry strays from his companions and in his attempt to rejoin them gets hopelessly lout. When he has about given up all hope of finding his com- panions or of being found, he hears voices and dis- covers a "whispering gallery." Thus they are able to communicate with each other and after some calcu- lation, they effect a reunion. They continue on their way until they come to an enormous expanse of water — the Central Sea. Hans succeeds in building a raft and they start off for an- other shore. But they meet some huge sea monsters among other dangers and after many days on the ventures and many interesting encounters and diffi- ™ ater cannot see W si 9 ns °f a shore - And then cull climbing, then reach. Mount Sneffels and descend into its crater. They go deeper and deeper, lower- ing themselves into the bigger shafts by means of sturdy ropes doubled over the rocks above. Once now, they were reassured of the validity of the mysterious message when they noticed the inscription "Arne Saknussem" on some rocks. Also, they see all kinds of rock formations, gypsum, stal- of a terrific hurricane and storm t very rudely brought back to a point on the same side from, which they started. There were lots of time lost, but they are not discouraged. While Hans is repairing the raft, Professor Hardwigg and Harry go off on a tour of further discovery and they are not disappointed. New wonders unfold them- selves at every turn. A Trip to the Center of the Earth JULES VERNE Part HI CHAPTER XXXVI What Is It? sembled to a certain extent, the mysterious person- age in one of Hoffmann's fantastic tales — the man who lost his shadow.* FOR a long and weary hour we tramped over After we had walked about a mile farther, we thfs great bed of bones. We advanced re- came to the edge of a vast forest, not, however, one gardless of everything, drawn on by ardent of the vast mushroom forests we had discovered curiosity. What other marvels did this great cavern near Port Gretchen. It was the glorious and wild contain — what other wondrous treasures for the vegetation of the tertiaiy period, in all its superb scientific man? My eyes were quite prepared for magnificence. Huge palms, of a species now un- any number of surprises, my imagination lived in known, superb palmacites — a genus of fossil palms expectation of something new and wonderful. The borders of the great -Central Ocean had J ULES !&****!£ s " a * ~ , . , . -i issue. II is possible thai tor some time disappeared - ■ behind the hills that scattered over the ground occupied by the plain of bones. The imprudent and enthusiastic Profes- sor, who did not care whether Iib lost himself or not, hurried me forward. W e advanced silently, WS^^BHSI bathed in waves of elec- tric fluid. The light illumined equally the sides of every hill and rock. The appearance presented was that of a tropical country at mid-day in summer — in the midst of the equatorial regions and under the vertical rays of the sun. The rocks, the distant mountains, some confused masses of far-off forests, assumed a weird and mysterious aspect under this is concluded in litis , Air readers may find fault with the vehicle that Verne chose to bring back the travelers from the earth's interior. But it should be re- membered that bach they had to come, and we know of no better method than the one which Vertic chose. At least it is logical, although the chances arc that our heroes would not have survived such an ordeal. But we should not be too critical on stick points, for the story certainly is and remains one of the great classics of scientific! ion. Some of the most breathless and hair-raising episodes occur in the closing chapters. from the coal formation- pines, yews, cypress, and conifers or cone-bearing trees, the whole bound to- gether by an inextricable and complicated mass of creeping plants. A beau- tiful carpet of mosses and ferns grew beneath the trees. Pleasant brooks murmured beneath um- brageous boughs, little ■ worthy of this name, for ■Bwa w BWrTwwfiiirigaa no shade did they give. Upon their borders grew small tree-like shrubs, sueh as are seen in the hot countries on our own inhabited globe. The one thing wanted to these plants, these shrubs, these trees — was color! Forever deprived of the vivifying warmth of the sun, they were vapid and colorless. All shade was lost in one uniform tint, of a brown and faded character. The leaves equal distribution of the luminous fluid! We re- were wholly devoid of green, and the flowers, so

• Error. The author was Adelbert van Chamisso.