/> awhile a certain amount of heat at the heart after the extremities have

become cold and dead. In the more interior galleries there was still a

certain degree of warmth, and hither Servadac and his companions were

glad enough to retreat.



Here they found the professor, who, startled by the sudden cold, had

been fain to make a precipitate retreat from his observatory. Now would

have been the opportunity to demand of the enthusiast whether he would

like to prolong his residence indefinitely upon his little comet. It is

very likely that he would have declared himself ready to put up with any

amount of discomfort to be able to gratify his love of investigation;

but all were far too disheartened and distressed to care to banter him

upon the subject on which he was so sensitive.



Next morning, Servadac thus addressed his people. "My friends, except

from cold, we have nothing to fear. Our provisions are ample--more than

enough for the remaining period of our sojourn in this lone world of

ours; our preserved meat is already cooked; we shall be able to

dispense with all fuel for cooking purposes. All that we require is

warmth--warmth for ourselves; let us secure that, and all may be well.

Now, I do not entertain a doubt but that the warmth we require is

resident in the bowels of this mountain on which we are living; to

the depth of those bowels we must penetrate; there we shall obtain the

warmth which is indispensable to our very existence."



His tone, quite as much as his words, restored confidence to many of his

people, who were already yielding to a feeling of despair. The count and

the lieutenant fervently, but silently, grasped his hand.



"Nina," said the captain, "you will not be afraid to go down to the

lower depths of the mountain, will you?"



"Not if Pablo goes," replied the child.



"Oh yes, of course, Pablo will go. You are not afraid to go, are you,

Pablo?" he said, addressing the boy.



"Anywhere with you, your Excellency," was the boy's prompt reply.



And certain it was that no time must be lost in penetrating below

the heart of the volcano; already the most protected of the many

ramifications of Nina's Hive were being pervaded by a cold that was

insufferable. It was an acknowledged impossibility to get access to the

crater by the exterior declivities of the mountain-side; they were far

too steep and too slippery to afford a foothold. It must of necessity be

entered from the interior.



Lieutenant Procope accordingly undertook the task of exploring all the

galleries, and was soon able to report that he had discovered one which

he had every reason to believe abutted upon the central funnel. His

reason for coming to this conclusion was that the caloric emitted by the

rising vapors of the hot lava seemed to be oozing, as it were, out of

the tellurium, which had been demonstrated already to be a conductor

of heat. Only succeed in piercing through this rock for seven or eight

yards, and the lieutenant did not doubt that his way would be opened

into the old lava-course, by following which he hoped descent would be

easy.



Under the lieutenant's direction the Russian sailors were immediately

set to work. Their former experience had convinced them that spades and

pick-axes were of no avail, and their sole resource was to proceed

by blasting with gunpowder. However skillfully the operation might be

carried on, it must necessarily occupy several days, and during that

time the sufferings from cold must be very severe.



"If we fail in our object, and cannot get to the depths of the mountain,

our little colony is doomed," said Count Timascheff.



"That speech is not like yourself," answered Servadac, smiling. "What

has become of the faith which has hitherto carried you so bravely

through all our difficulties?"



The count shook his head, as if in despair, and said, sadly, "The Hand

that has hitherto been outstretched to help seems now to be withdrawn."



"But only to test our powers of endurance," rejoined the captain,

earnestly. "Courage, my friend, courage! Something tells me that this

cessation of the eruption is only partial; the internal fire is not all

extinct. All is not over yet. It is too soon to give up; never despair!"



Lieutenant Procope quite concurred with the captain. Many causes, he

knew, besides the interruption of the influence of the oxygen upon the

mineral substances in Gallia's interior, might account for the stoppage

of the lava-flow in this one particular spot, and he considered it more

than probable that a fresh outlet had been opened in some other part of

the surface, and that the eruptive matter had been diverted into the new

channel. But at present his business was to prosecute his labors so

that a retreat might be immediately effected from their now untenable

position.



Restless and agitated, Professor Rosette, if he took any interest in

these discussions, certainly took no share in them. He had brought his

telescope down from the observatory into the common hall, and there at

frequent intervals, by night and by day, he would endeavor to continue

his observations; but the intense cold perpetually compelled him to

desist, or he would literally have been frozen to death. No sooner,

however, did he find himself obliged to retreat from his study of the

heavens, than he would begin overwhelming everybody about him with

bitter complaints, pouring out his regrets that he had ever quitted his

quarters at Formentera.



On the 4th of January, by persevering industry, the process of boring

was completed, and the lieutenant could hear that fragments of the

blasted rock, as the sailors cleared them away with their spades, were

rolling into the funnel of the crater. He noticed, too, that they did

not fall perpendicularly, but seemed to slide along, from which he

inferred that the sides of the crater were sloping; he had therefore

reason to hope that a descent would be found practicable.



Larger and larger grew the orifice; at length it would admit a man's

body, and Ben Zoof, carrying a torch, pushed himself through it,

followed by the lieutenant and Servadac. Procope's conjecture proved

correct. On entering the crater, they found that the sides slanted at

the angle of about 4 degrees; moreover, the eruption had evidently been

of recent origin, dating probably only from the shock which had invested

Gallia with a proportion of the atmosphere of the earth, and beneath

the coating of ashes with which they were covered, there were various

irregularities in the rock, not yet worn away by the action of the lava,

and these afforded a tolerably safe footing.



"Rather a bad staircase!" said Ben Zoof, as they began to make their way

down.



In about half an hour, proceeding in a southerly direction, they had

descended nearly five hundred feet. From time to time they came

upon large excavations that at first sight had all the appearance of

galleries, but by waving his torch, Ben Zoof could always see their

extreme limits, and it was evident that the lower strata of the mountain

did not present the same system of ramification that rendered the Hive

above so commodious a residence.



It was not a time to be fastidious; they must be satisfied with such

accommodation as they could get, provided it was warm. Captain Servadac

was only too glad to find that his hopes about the temperature were to

a certain extent realized. The lower they went, the greater was the

diminution in the cold, a diminution that was far more rapid than that

which is experienced in making the descent of terrestrial mines. In

this case it was a volcano, not a colliery, that was the object of

exploration, and thankful enough they were to find that it had not

become extinct. Although the lava, from some unknown cause, had

ceased to rise in the crater, yet plainly it existed somewhere in an

incandescent state, and was still transmitting considerable heat to

inferior strata.



Lieutenant Procope had brought in his hand a mercurial thermometer,

and Servadac carried an aneroid barometer, by means of which he could

estimate the depth of their descent below the level of the Gallian Sea.

When they were six hundred feet below the orifice the mercury registered

a temperature of 6 degrees below zero.



"Six degrees!" said Servadac; "that will not suit us. At this low

temperature we could not survive the winter. We must try deeper down. I

only hope the ventilation will hold out."



There was, however, nothing to fear on the score of ventilation.

The great current of air that rushed into the aperture penetrated

everywhere, and made respiration perfectly easy.



The descent was continued for about another three hundred feet, which

brought the explorers to a total depth of nine hundred feet from their

old quarters. Here the thermometer registered 12 degrees above zero--a

temperature which, if only it were permanent, was all they wanted. There

was no advantage in proceeding any further along the lava-course; they

could already hear the dull rumblings that indicated that they were at

no great distance from the central focus.



"Quite near enough for me!" exclaimed Ben Zoof. "Those who are chilly

are welcome to go as much lower as they like. For my part, I shall be

quite warm enough here."



After throwing the gleams of torch-light in all directions, the

explorers seated themselves on a jutting rock, and began to debate

whether it was practicable for the colony to make an abode in these

lower depths of the mountain. The prospect, it must be owned, was not

inviting. The crater, it is true, widened out into a cavern sufficiently

large, but here its accommodation ended. Above and below were a few

ledges in the rock that would serve as receptacles for provisions; but,

with the exception of a small recess that must be reserved for Nina,

it was clear that henceforth they must all renounce the idea of

having separate apartments. The single cave must be their dining-room,

drawing-room, and dormitory, all in one. From living the life of rabbits

in a warren, they were reduced to the existence of moles, with the

difference that they could not, like them, forget their troubles in a

long winter's sleep.



The cavern, however, was quite capable of being lighted by means of

lamps and lanterns. Among the stores were several barrels of oil and

a considerable quantity of spirits of wine, which might be burned when

required for cooking purposes. Moreover, it would be unnecessary for

them to confine themselves entirely to the seclusion of their gloomy

residence; well wrapped up, there would be nothing to prevent them

making occasional excursions both to the Hive and to the sea-shore. A

supply of fresh water would be constantly required; ice for this purpose

must be perpetually carried in from the coast, and it would be necessary

to arrange that everyone in turn should perform this office, as it would

be no sinecure to clamber up the sides of the crater for 900 feet, and

descend the same distance with a heavy burden.



But the emergency was great, and it was accordingly soon decided that

the little colony should forthwith take up its quarters in the cave.

After all, they said, they should hardly be much worse off than

thousands who annually winter in Arctic regions. On board the

whaling-vessels, and in the establishments of the Hudson's Bay Company,

such luxuries as separate cabins or sleeping-chambers are never thought

of; one large apartment, well heated and ventilated, with as few corners

as possible, is considered far more healthy; and on board ship the

entire hold, and in forts a single floor, is appropriated to this

purpose. The recollection of this fact served to reconcile them, in a

great degree, to the change to which they felt it requisite to submit.



Having remounted the ascent, they made the result of their exploration

known to the mass of the community, who received the tidings with a

sense of relief, and cordially accepted the scheme of the migration.



The first step was to clear the cavern of its accumulation of ashes,

and then the labor of removal commenced in earnest. Never was a task

undertaken with greater zest. The fear of being to a certainty frozen

to death if they remained where they were, was a stimulus that

made everyone put forth all his energies. Beds, furniture, cooking

utensils--first the stores of the Dobryna, then the cargo of the

tartan--all were carried down with the greatest alacrity, and the

diminished weight combined with the downhill route to make the labor

proceed with incredible briskness.



Although Professor Rosette yielded to the pressure of circumstances,

and allowed himself to be conducted to the lower regions, nothing would

induce him to allow his telescope to be carried underground; and as it

was undeniable that it would certainly be of no service deep down in the

bowels of the mountain, it was allowed to remain undisturbed upon its

tripod in the great hall of Nina's Hive.



As for Isaac Hakkabut, his outcry was beyond description lamentable.

Never, in the whole universe, had a merchant met with such reverses;

never had such a pitiable series of losses befallen an unfortunate man.

Regardless of the ridicule which his abject wretchedness excited, he

howled on still, and kept up an unending wail; but meanwhile he kept

a keen eye upon every article of his property, and amidst universal

laughter insisted on having every item registered in an inventory as it

was transferred to its appointed place of safety. Servadac considerately

allowed the whole of the cargo to be deposited in a hollow apart by

itself, over which the Jew was permitted to keep a watch as vigilant as

he pleased.



By the 10th the removal was accomplished. Rescued, at all events, from

the exposure to a perilous temperature of 60 degrees below zero, the

community was installed in its new home. The large cave was lighted by

the Dobryna's lamps, while several lanterns, suspended at intervals

along the acclivity that led to their deserted quarters above, gave

a weird picturesqueness to the scene, that might vie with any of the

graphic descriptions of the "Arabian Nights' Entertainments."



"How do you like this, Nina?" said Ben Zoof.



"Va bene!" replied the child. "We are only living in the cellars

instead of upon the ground floor."



"We will try and make ourselves comfortable," said the orderly.



"Oh yes, we will be happy here," rejoined the child; "it is nice and

warm."



Although they were as careful as they could to conceal their misgivings

from the rest, Servadac and his two friends could not regard their

present situation without distrust. When alone, they would frequently

ask each other what would become of them all, if the volcanic heat

should really be subsiding, or if some unexpected perturbation should

retard the course of the comet, and compel them to an indefinitely

prolonged residence in their grim abode. It was scarcely likely that the

comet could supply the fuel of which ere long they would be in urgent

need. Who could expect to find coal in the bowels of Gallia,--coal,

which is the residuum of ancient forests mineralized by the lapse of

ages? Would not the lava-cinders exhumed from the extinct volcano be

their last poor resource?



"Keep up your spirits, my friends," said Servadac; "we have plenty of

time before us at present. Let us hope that as fresh difficulties arise,

fresh ways of escape will open. Never despair!"



"True," said the count; "it is an old saying that 'Necessity is the

mother of invention.' Besides, I should think it very unlikely that the

internal heat will fail us now before the summer."



The lieutenant declared that he entertained the same hope. As the reason

of his opinion he alleged that the combustion of the eruptive matter

was most probably of quite recent origin, because the comet before

its collision with the earth had possessed no atmosphere, and that

consequently no oxygen could have penetrated to its interior.



"Most likely you are right," replied the count; "and so far from

dreading a failure of the internal heat, I am not quite sure that we may

not be exposed to a more terrible calamity still?"



"What?" asked Servadac.



"The calamity of the eruption breaking out suddenly again, and taking us

by surprise."



"Heavens!" cried the captain, "we will not think of that."



"The outbreak may happen again," said the lieutenant, calmly; "but

it will be our fault, our own lack of vigilance, if we are taken by

surprise." And so the conversation dropped.



The 15th of January dawned; and the comet was 220,000,000 leagues from

the sun.



Gallia had reached its aphelion.