CHAPTER XXIX. THALATTA! THALATTA!

 When I came to myself, I was stretched in half darkness, covered with thick coats and blankets. My uncle was watching over me, to discover the least sign of life. At my first sigh he took my hand; when I opened my eyes he uttered a cry of joy.

 

"He lives! he lives!" he cried.

 

"Yes, I am still alive," I answered feebly.

 

"My dear nephew," said my uncle, pressing me to his breast, "you are saved."

 

I was deeply touched with the tenderness of his manner as he uttered these words, and still more with the care with which he watched over me. But such trials were wanted to bring out the Professor's tenderer qualities.

 

At this moment Hans came, he saw my hand in my uncle's, and I may safely say that there was joy in his countenance¹.

 

"God dag," said he.

 

"How do you do, Hans? How are you? And now, uncle, tell me where we are at the present moment?"

 

"To-morrow, Axel, to-morrow. Now you are too faint and weak. I have bandaged your head with compresses which must not be disturbed. Sleep now, and to-morrow I will tell you all."

 

"But do tell me what time it is, and what day."

 

"It is Sunday, the 8th of August, and it is ten at night. You must ask me no more questions until the 10th."

 

In truth I was very weak, and my eyes involuntarily closed. I wanted a good night's rest; and I therefore went off to sleep, with the knowledge that I had been four long days alone in the heart of the earth.

 

Next morning, on awakening², I looked round me. My couch, made up of all our travelling gear, was in a charming grotto³, adorned⁴ with splendid stalactites, and the soil of which was a fine sand. It was half light. There was no torch, no lamp, yet certain mysterious glimpses of light came from without through a narrow opening in the grotto. I heard too a vague and indistinct noise, something like the murmuring of waves breaking upon a shingly⁵ shore, and at times I seemed to hear the whistling of wind.

 

I wondered whether I was awake, whether I was dreaming, whether my brain, crazed by my fall, was not affected⁶ by imaginary noises. Yet neither eyes, nor ears could be so utterly⁷ deceived.

 

It is a ray of daylight, I thought, sliding in through this cleft⁸ in the rock! That is indeed the murmuring of waves! That is the rustling⁹ noise of wind. Am I quite mistaken, or have we returned to the surface of the earth? Has my uncle given up the expedition, or is it happily terminated?

 

I was asking myself these unanswerable questions when the Professor entered.

 

"Good morning, Axel," he cried cheerily. "I feel sure you are better."

 

"Yes, I am indeed," said I, sitting up on my couch.

 

"You can hardly fail to be better, for you have slept quietly. Hans and I watched you by turns, and we have noticed you were evidently recovering."

 

"Indeed, I do feel a great deal better, and I will give you a proof of that presently if you will let me have my breakfast."

 

"You shall eat, lad. The fever has left you. Hans rubbed your wounds with some ointment¹⁰ or other of which the Icelanders keep the secret, and they have healed marvellously. Our hunter is a splendid fellow!"

 

Whilst he went on talking, my uncle prepared a few provisions, which I devoured¹¹ eagerly, notwithstanding his advice to the contrary. All the while I was overwhelming him with questions which he answered readily.

 

I then learnt that my providential fall had brought me exactly to the extremity¹² of an almost perpendicular¹³ shaft¹⁴; and as I had landed in the midst of an accompanying torrent¹⁵ of stones, the least of which would have been enough to crush me, the conclusion was that a loose portion of the rock had come down with me. This frightful¹⁶ conveyance¹⁷ had thus carried me into the arms of my uncle, where I fell bruised¹⁸, bleeding, and insensible.

 

"Truly it is wonderful that you have not been killed a hundred times over. But, for the love of God, don't let us ever separate again, or we many never see each other more."

 

"Not separate! Is the journey not over, then?" I opened a pair of astonished eyes, which immediately called for the question:

 

"What is the matter, Axel?"

 

"I have a question to ask you. You say that I am safe and sound?"

 

"No doubt you are."

 

"And all my limbs unbroken?"

 

"Certainly."

 

"And my head?"

 

"Your head, except for a few bruises¹⁹, is all right; and it is on your shoulders, where it ought to be."

 

"Well, I am afraid my brain is affected."

 

"Your mind affected!"

 

"Yes, I fear so. Are we again on the surface of the globe?"

 

"No, certainly not."

 

"Then I must be mad; for don't I see the light of day, and don't I hear the wind blowing, and the sea breaking on the shore?"

 

"Ah! is that all?"

 

"Do tell me all about it."

 

"I can't explain the inexplicable²⁰, but you will soon see and understand that geology has not yet learnt all it has to learn."

 

"Then let us go," I answered quickly.

 

"No, Axel; the open air might be bad for you."

 

"Open air?"

 

"Yes; the wind is rather strong. You must not expose yourself."

 

"But I assure you I am perfectly²¹ well."

 

"A little patience, my nephew. A relapse might get us into trouble, and we have no time to lose, for the voyage may be a long one."

 

"The voyage!"

 

"Yes, rest to-day, and to-morrow we will set sail."

 

"Set sail!"—and I almost leaped up.

 

What did it all mean? Had we a river, a lake, a sea to depend upon?

Was there a ship at our disposal in some underground harbour?

My curiosity was highly excited, my uncle vainly tried to restrain me. When he saw that my impatience²² was doing me harm, he yielded.

 

I dressed in haste. For greater safety I wrapped myself in a blanket, and came out of the grotto.

1 countenance   

n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同

参考例句：

• At the sight of this photograph he changed his countenance.他一看见这张照片脸色就变了。
• I made a fierce countenance as if I would eat him alive.我脸色恶狠狠地，仿佛要把他活生生地吞下去。

2 awakening   

n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的

参考例句：

• the awakening of interest in the environment 对环境产生的兴趣
• People are gradually awakening to their rights. 人们正逐渐意识到自己的权利。

3 grotto   

n.洞穴

参考例句：

• We reached a beautiful grotto,whose entrance was almost hiden by the vine.我们到达了一个美丽的洞穴，洞的进口几乎被藤蔓遮掩著。
• Water trickles through an underground grotto.水沿着地下岩洞流淌。

4 adorned   

[计]被修饰的

参考例句：

• The walls were adorned with paintings. 墙上装饰了绘画。
• And his coat was adorned with a flamboyant bunch of flowers. 他的外套上面装饰着一束艳丽刺目的鲜花。

5 shingly   

adj.小石子多的

参考例句：

• I prefer a sandy beach to a shingly one. 我喜欢沙滩，不喜欢遍布小圆石的海滩。 来自辞典例句

6 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

7 utterly   

adv.完全地，绝对地

参考例句：

• Utterly devoted to the people,he gave his life in saving his patients.他忠于人民，把毕生精力用于挽救患者的生命。
• I was utterly ravished by the way she smiled.她的微笑使我完全陶醉了。

8 cleft   

n.裂缝；adj.裂开的

参考例句：

• I hid the message in a cleft in the rock.我把情报藏在石块的裂缝里。
• He was cleft from his brother during the war.在战争期间，他与他的哥哥分离。

9 rustling   

n. 瑟瑟声，沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的

参考例句：

• the sound of the trees rustling in the breeze 树木在微风中发出的沙沙声
• the soft rustling of leaves 树叶柔和的沙沙声

10 ointment   

n.药膏，油膏，软膏

参考例句：

• Your foot will feel better after the application of this ointment.敷用这药膏后，你的脚会感到舒服些。
• This herbal ointment will help to close up your wound quickly.这种中草药膏会帮助你的伤口很快愈合。

11 devoured   

吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光

参考例句：

• She devoured everything she could lay her hands on: books, magazines and newspapers. 无论是书、杂志，还是报纸，只要能弄得到，她都看得津津有味。
• The lions devoured a zebra in a short time. 狮子一会儿就吃掉了一匹斑马。

12 extremity   

n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度

参考例句：

• I hope you will help them in their extremity.我希望你能帮助在穷途末路的他们。
• What shall we do in this extremity?在这种极其困难的情况下我们该怎么办呢？

13 perpendicular   

adj.垂直的，直立的；n.垂直线，垂直的位置

参考例句：

• The two lines of bones are set perpendicular to one another.这两排骨头相互垂直。
• The wall is out of the perpendicular.这墙有些倾斜。

14 shaft   

n.(工具的)柄，杆状物

参考例句：

• He was wounded by a shaft.他被箭击中受伤。
• This is the shaft of a steam engine.这是一个蒸汽机主轴。

15 torrent   

n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发

参考例句：

• The torrent scoured a channel down the hillside. 急流沿着山坡冲出了一条沟。
• Her pent-up anger was released in a torrent of words.她压抑的愤怒以滔滔不绝的话爆发了出来。

16 frightful   

adj.可怕的；讨厌的

参考例句：

• How frightful to have a husband who snores!有一个发鼾声的丈夫多讨厌啊！
• We're having frightful weather these days.这几天天气坏极了。

17 conveyance   

n.(不动产等的)转让，让与；转让证书；传送；运送；表达；（正）运输工具

参考例句：

• Bicycles have become the most popular conveyance for Chinese people.自行车已成为中国人最流行的代步工具。
• Its another,older,usage is a synonym for conveyance.它的另一个更古老的习惯用法是作为财产转让的同义词使用。

18 bruised   

[医]青肿的，瘀紫的

参考例句：

• his bruised and bloodied nose 他沾满血的青肿的鼻子
• She had slipped and badly bruised her face. 她滑了一跤，摔得鼻青脸肿。

19 bruises   

n.瘀伤，伤痕，擦伤( bruise的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was covered with bruises after falling off his bicycle. 他从自行车上摔了下来，摔得浑身伤痕。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The pear had bruises of dark spots. 这个梨子有碰伤的黑斑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 inexplicable   

adj.无法解释的，难理解的

参考例句：

• It is now inexplicable how that development was misinterpreted.当时对这一事态发展的错误理解究竟是怎么产生的，现在已经无法说清楚了。
• There are many things which are inexplicable by science.有很多事科学还无法解释。

21 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

22 impatience   

n.不耐烦，急躁

参考例句：

• He expressed impatience at the slow rate of progress.进展缓慢，他显得不耐烦。
• He gave a stamp of impatience.他不耐烦地跺脚。