But at last a noise of footsteps was heard in the dark abyss. Hans was approaching. A flickering3 light was beginning to glimmer4 on the wall of our darksome prison; then it came out full at the mouth of the gallery. Hans appeared.
He drew close to my uncle, laid his hand upon his shoulder, and gently woke him. My uncle rose up.
"What is the matter?" he asked.
"Watten!" replied the huntsman.
No doubt under the inspiration of intense pain everybody becomes endowed with the gift of divers5 tongues. I did not know a word of Danish, yet instinctively6 I understood the word he had uttered.
"Water! water!" I cried, clapping my hands and gesticulating like a madman.
"Water!" repeated my uncle. "Hvar?" he asked, in Icelandic.
"Nedat," replied Hans.
"Where? Down below!" I understood it all. I seized the hunter's hands, and pressed them while he looked on me without moving a muscle of his countenance7.
The preparations for our departure were not long in making, and we were soon on our way down a passage inclining two feet in seven. In an hour we had gone a mile and a quarter, and descended8 two thousand feet.
Then I began to hear distinctly quite a new sound of something running within the thickness of the granite9 wall, a kind of dull, dead rumbling10, like distant thunder. During the first part of our walk, not meeting with the promised spring, I felt my agony returning; but then my uncle acquainted me with the cause of the strange noise.
"A torrent?" I exclaimed.
"There can be no doubt; a subterranean12 river is flowing around us."
We hurried forward in the greatest excitement. I was no longer sensible of my fatigue13. This murmuring of waters close at hand was already refreshing14 me. It was audibly increasing. The torrent, after having for some time flowed over our heads, was now running within the left wall, roaring and rushing. Frequently I touched the wall, hoping to feel some indications of moisture: But there was no hope here.
Yet another half hour, another half league was passed.
Then it became clear that the hunter had gone no farther. Guided by an instinct peculiar15 to mountaineers he had as it were felt this torrent through the rock; but he had certainly seen none of the precious liquid; he had drunk nothing himself.
Soon it became evident that if we continued our walk we should widen the distance between ourselves and the stream, the noise of which was becoming fainter.
We returned. Hans stopped where the torrent seemed closest. I sat near the wall, while the waters were flowing past me at a distance of two feet with extreme violence. But there was a thick granite wall between us and the object of our desires.
Without reflection, without asking if there were any means of procuring16 the water, I gave way to a movement of despair.
Hans glanced at me with, I thought, a smile of compassion17.
He rose and took the lamp. I followed him. He moved towards the wall. I looked on. He applied18 his ear against the dry stone, and moved it slowly to and fro, listening intently. I perceived at once that he was examining to find the exact place where the torrent could be heard the loudest. He met with that point on the left side of the tunnel, at three feet from the ground.
I was stirred up with excitement. I hardly dared guess what the hunter was about to do. But I could not but understand, and applaud and cheer him on, when I saw him lay hold of the pickaxe to make an attack upon the rock.
"We are saved!" I cried.
"Yes," cried my uncle, almost frantic19 with excitement. "Hans is right. Capital fellow! Who but he would have thought of it?"
Yes; who but he? Such an expedient20, however simple, would never have entered into our minds. True, it seemed most hazardous21 to strike a blow of the hammer in this part of the earth's structure. Suppose some displacement22 should occur and crush us all! Suppose the torrent, bursting through, should drown us in a sudden flood! There was nothing vain in these fancies. But still no fears of falling rocks or rushing floods could stay us now; and our thirst was so intense that, to satisfy it, we would have dared the waves of the north Atlantic.
Hans set about the task which my uncle and I together could not have accomplished23. If our impatience24 had armed our hands with power, we should have shattered the rock into a thousand fragments. Not so Hans. Full of self possession, he calmly wore his way through the rock with a steady succession of light and skilful25 strokes, working through an aperture26 six inches wide at the outside. I could hear a louder noise of flowing waters, and I fancied I could feel the delicious fluid refreshing my parched27 lips.
The pick had soon penetrated28 two feet into the granite partition, and our man had worked for above an hour. I was in an agony of impatience. My uncle wanted to employ stronger measures, and I had some difficulty in dissuading29 him; still he had just taken a pickaxe in his hand, when a sudden hissing30 was heard, and a jet of water spurted31 out with violence against the opposite wall.
Hans, almost thrown off his feet by the violence of the shock, uttered a cry of grief and disappointment, of which I soon under-. stood the cause, when plunging32 my hands into the spouting33 torrent, I withdrew them in haste, for the water was scalding hot.
"The water is at the boiling point," I cried.
"Well, never mind, let it cool," my uncle replied.
The tunnel was filling with steam, whilst a stream was forming, which by degrees wandered away into subterranean windings34, and soon we had the satisfaction of swallowing our first draught35.
Could anything be more delicious than the sensation that our burning intolerable thirst was passing away, and leaving us to enjoy comfort and pleasure? But where was this water from? No matter. It was water; and though still warm, it brought life back to the dying. I kept drinking without stopping, and almost without tasting.
At last after a most delightful36 time of reviving energy, I cried,
"Why, this is a chalybeate spring!"
"Nothing could be better for the digestion," said my uncle. "It is highly impregnated with iron. It will be as good for us as going to the Spa, or to Töplitz."
"Well, it is delicious!"
"Of course it is, water should be, found six miles underground. It has an inky flavour, which is not at all unpleasant. What a capital source of strength Hans has found for us here. We will call it after his name."
"Agreed," I cried.
And Hansbach it was from that moment.
Hans was none the prouder. After a moderate draught, he went quietly into a corner to rest.
"Now," I said, "we must not lose this water."
"What is the use of troubling ourselves?" my uncle, replied. "I fancy it will never fail."
"Never mind, we cannot be sure; let us fill the water bottle and our flasks37, and then stop up the opening."
My advice was followed so far as getting in a supply; but the stopping up of the hole was not so easy to accomplish. It was in vain that we took up fragments of granite, and stuffed them in with tow, we only scalded our hands without succeeding. The pressure was too great, and our efforts were fruitless.
"It is quite plain," said I, "that the higher body of this water is at a considerable elevation38. The force of the jet shows that."
"No doubt," answered my uncle. "If this column of water is 32,000 feet high—that is, from the surface of the earth, it is equal to the weight of a thousand atmospheres. But I have got an idea."
"Well?"
"Why should we trouble ourselves to stop the stream from coming out at all?"
"Because—" Well, I could not assign a reason.
"When our flasks are empty, where shall we fill them again? Can we tell that?"
No; there was no certainty.
"Well, let us allow the water to run on. It will flow down, and will both guide and refresh us."
"That is well planned," I cried. "With this stream for our guide, there is no reason why we should not succeed in our undertaking39."
"Ah, my boy! you agree with me now," cried the Professor, laughing.
"Well, let us rest awhile; and then we will start again."
I was forgetting that it was night. The chronometer41 soon informed me of that fact; and in a very short time, refreshed and thankful, we all three fell into a sound sleep.
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1
delirious
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| adj.不省人事的，神智昏迷的 | |
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tranquil
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| adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
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3
flickering
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| adj.闪烁的，摇曳的，一闪一闪的 | |
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glimmer
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| v.发出闪烁的微光；n.微光，微弱的闪光 | |
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5
divers
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| adj.不同的；种种的 | |
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instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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7
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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8
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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9
granite
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| adj.花岗岩，花岗石 | |
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10
rumbling
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| n. 隆隆声, 辘辘声 adj. 隆隆响的 动词rumble的现在分词 | |
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11
torrent
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| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
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12
subterranean
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| adj.地下的，地表下的 | |
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fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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14
refreshing
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| adj.使精神振作的，使人清爽的，使人喜欢的 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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16
procuring
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的现在分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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17
compassion
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| n.同情，怜悯 | |
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applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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expedient
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| adj.有用的，有利的；n.紧急的办法，权宜之计 | |
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21
hazardous
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| adj.(有)危险的，冒险的；碰运气的 | |
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22
displacement
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| n.移置，取代，位移，排水量 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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skilful
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| (=skillful)adj.灵巧的，熟练的 | |
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aperture
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| n.孔，隙，窄的缺口 | |
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parched
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| adj.焦干的；极渴的；v.（使）焦干 | |
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penetrated
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| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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29
dissuading
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| 劝（某人）勿做某事，劝阻( dissuade的现在分词 ) | |
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30
hissing
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| n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式 | |
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31
spurted
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| （液体，火焰等）喷出，（使）涌出( spurt的过去式和过去分词 )； （短暂地）加速前进，冲刺 | |
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32
plunging
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| adj.跳进的，突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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33
spouting
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| n.水落管系统v.（指液体）喷出( spout的现在分词 )；滔滔不绝地讲；喋喋不休地说；喷水 | |
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34
windings
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| （道路、河流等）蜿蜒的，弯曲的( winding的名词复数 )； 缠绕( wind的现在分词 )； 卷绕； 转动（把手） | |
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35
draught
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| n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计 | |
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36
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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37
flasks
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| n.瓶，长颈瓶， 烧瓶( flask的名词复数 ) | |
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38
elevation
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| n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高 | |
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39
undertaking
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| n.保证，许诺，事业 | |
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40
heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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41
chronometer
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| n.精密的计时器 | |
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