CHAPTER XXI. THE CAVE OF LIGHT
Margaret was put into the charge of her faithful house-keeper, andRoland did not see her again until the evening. As she met him she beganimmediately to talk upon some unimportant subject, and there was thatin her face which told him that it was her desire that the greatthought which filled both their minds should not be the subject of theirconversation. She told him she was going to the sea-shore for a shorttime; she needed a change, and she would go the next day. He understoodher perfectly, and they discussed various matters of business connectedwith the Works. She said nothing about the time of her return, and hedid not allude to it.
On the day that Margaret left Sardis, Roland began his preparations fordescending the shaft. He had so thoroughly considered the machinery andappliances necessary for the undertaking, and had worked out all hisplans in such detail, in his mind and upon paper, that he knew exactlywhat he wanted to do. His orders for the great length of chain exhaustedthe stock of several manufactories, and the engines he obtained wereeven more powerful than he had intended them to be; but these he couldprocure immediately, and for smaller ones he would have been obliged towait.
The circular car which was intended to move up and down the shaft, andthe peculiar machinery connected with it, with the hoisting apparatus,were all made in his Works. His skilled artisans labored steadily dayand night.
It was ten days before he was ready to make his descent. Margaret wasstill at the sea-shore. They had written to each other frequently, butneither had made mention of the great shaft. Even when he was readyto go down he said nothing to any one of any immediate intention ofdescending. There was a massive door which covered the mouth of the pit;this he ordered locked and went away.
The next morning he walked into the building a little earlier than washis custom, called for the engineers, and for Mr. Bryce, who was to takecharge of everything connected with the descent, and announced that hewas going down as soon as preparations could be made.
Mr. Bryce and the men who were to assist him were very serious. Theysaid nothing that was not necessary. If their employer had been anyother man than Roland Clewe it is possible they might have remonstratedwith him. But they knew him, and they said and did nothing more than wastheir duty.
The door of the shaft was removed, the car which had hung high above itwas lowered to the mouth of the opening, and Roland stepped within itand seated himself. Above him and around him were placed geologicaltools and instruments of many kinds; a lantern, food and drink;everything, in fact, which he could possibly be presumed to need uponthis extraordinary journey. A telephone was at his side by which hecould communicate at any time with the surface of the earth. There wereelectric bells; there was everything to make his expedition safe andprofitable. When he gave the word to start the engines, there were noceremonies, and nothing was said out of the common.
When the conical top of the car had descended below the surface, a steelgrating, with orifices for the passage of the chains, was let down overthe mouth of the shaft, and the downward journey was begun. In thefloor of the car were grated openings, through which Clewe could lookdownward; but although the shaft below him was brilliantly illuminatedby electric lights placed under the car, it did not frighten him or makehim dizzy to look down, for the aperture did not appear to be very farbelow him. The upper part of the car was partially open, and brightlights shone upon the sides of the shaft.
As he slowly descended, he could see the various strata appearing anddisappearing in the order in which he knew them. Not far below thesurface he passed cavities which he believed held water; but there wasno water in them now. He had expected these, and had feared thatupon their edges there might be loosened patches of rock or soil, buteverything seemed tightly packed and hard. If anything had been loosenedit had gone down already.
Down, down he went until he came to the eternal rocks, where the insideof the shaft was polished as if it had been made of glass. It becamewarmer and warmer, but he knew that the heat would soon decrease. Thecharacter of the rocks changed, and he studied them as he went down, andcontinually made notes.
After a time the polished rocky sides of the shaft grew to be of asolemn sameness. Clewe ceased to take notes; he lighted a cigar andsmoked. He tried to quietly imagine what he would come to when he gotto the bottom; it would be some sort of a cave into which his shell hadmade an opening. He wondered what sort of a cave it would be, and howhigh the roof of it was from the bottom. He wondered if his gardener hadremembered what he had told him about the flower-beds in front of hishouse; he wanted certain changes made which Margaret had suggested. Hetried to keep his mind on the flower-beds, but it drifted away to thecave below. He began to wonder if he would come to some undergroundbody of water where he would be drowned; but he knew that was a sillythought. If the shaft had gone through subterranean reservoirs, thewater of these would have run out, and before they reached the bottom ofthe shaft would have dissipated into mist.
Down, down he went. He looked at his watch; he had been in that car onlyan hour and a half. Was that possible? He had supposed he was almostat the bottom. Suddenly he thought of the people above, and of thetelephone. Why had not some of them spoken to him? It was shameful! Heinstantly called Bryce, and his heart leaped with joy when he heard thefamiliar voice in his ear. Now he talked steadily on for more than anhour. He had his gardener called, and he told him all that he wanteddone in the flower-beds. He gave many directions in regard to thevarious operations of the Works. Things had been put back a great dealof late. He hoped soon to have everything going on in the ordinary way.There were two or three inventions in which he took particular interest,and of these he talked at great length with Mr. Bryce. Suddenly, in themidst of some talk about hollow steel rods, he told Bryce to let theengines move faster; there was no reason why the car should go soslowly.
The windlasses moved with a little more rapidity, and Clewe now turnedand looked at an indicator which was placed on the side of the car, alittle over his head. This instrument showed the depth to which he haddescended, but he had not looked at it before, for if there shouldbe anything which would make him nervous it would be the continualconsideration of the depth to which he had descended.
The indicator showed that he had gone down fourteen and one eighthmiles. Clewe turned and sat stiffly in his seat. He glanced down and sawbeneath him only an illuminated hole, fading away at the bottom. Then heturned to speak to Bryce, but to his surprise he could think of nothingto say. After that he lighted another cigar and sat quietly.
Some minutes passed--he did not know how many--and he looked downthrough the gratings at the floor of the car. The electric lightstreamed downward through a deep orifice, which did not fade away andend in nothing; it ended in something dark and glittering. Then, as hecame nearer and nearer to this glittering thing, he saw that it was hisautomatic shell, lying on its side, but he could see only a part of itthrough the opening of the bottom of the shaft which he was descending.In an instant, as it seemed to him, the car emerged from the narrowshaft, and he seemed to be hanging in the air-at least there was nothinghe could see except that great shell, lying some forty feet below him.But it was impossible that the shell should be lying on the air! He rangto stop the car.
"Anything the matter?" cried Bryce, almost at the same instant.
"Nothing at all," Clewe replied. "It's all right, I am near the bottom."
In a state of the highest nervous excitement, Clewe gazed about him.He was no longer in a shaft; but where was he? Look out on what side hewould, he saw nothing but the light going out from his lamps, but whichseemed to extend indefinitely all about him. There seemed to be no limitto his vision in any direction. Then he leaned over the side of his carand looked downward. There was the great shell directly under him, butunder it and around it, extending as far beneath it as it extended inevery other direction, was the light from his own lamps, and yet thatgreat shell, weighing many tons, lay as if it rested upon the solidground!
After a fe
w moments Clewe shut his eyes; they pained him. Somethingseemed to be coming into them like a fine frost in a winter wind. Thenhe called to Bryce to let the car descend very slowly. It went down,down, gradually approaching the great shell. When the bottom of the carwas within two feet of it, Clewe rang to stop. He looked down at thecomplicated machine he had worked upon so long, with something like afeeling of affection. This he knew, it was his own. Looking uponits familiar form, he felt that he had a companion in this region ofunreality.
Pushing back the sliding door of the car, Clewe sat upon the bottom andcautiously put out his feet and legs, lowering them until they touchedthe shell. It was firm and solid. Although he knew it must be so,the immovability of the great mass of iron gave him a sudden shock ofmysterious fear. How could it be immovable when there was nothing underit?
But he must get out of that car, he must explore, he must find out.There certainly could be no danger so long as he could cling to hisshell.
He now cautiously got out of the car and let himself down upon theshell. It was not a pleasant surface to stand upon, being uneven, withgreat spiral ribs, and Clewe sat down upon it, clinging to it withhis hands. Then he leaned over to one side and looked beneath him. Theshadows of that shell went down, down, down, until it made him sick tolook at it. He drew back quickly, clutched the shell with his arms,and shut his eyes. He felt as if he were about to drop with it into ameasureless depth of atmosphere.
But he soon raised himself. He had not come down here to be frightened,to let his nerves run away with him. He had come to find out things.What was it that this shell rested upon? Seizing two of the ribs with astrong clutch, he let himself hang over the sides of the shell untilhis feet were level with its lower side. They touched something hard.He pressed them downward; it was very hard. He raised himself and stoodupon the substance which supported the shell. It was as solid as anyrock. He looked down and saw his shadow stretching far beneath him. Itseemed as if he were standing upon petrified air. He put out one footand he moved a little, still holding on to the shell. He walked, as ifupon solid air, to the foremost end of the long projectile. It relievedhim to turn his thoughts from what was around him to this familiarobject. He found its conical end shattered and broken.
After a little he slowly made his way back to the other end of theshell, and now his eyes became somewhat accustomed to the great radianceabout him. He thought he could perceive here and there faint indicationsof long, nearly horizontal lines--lines of different shades of light.Above him, as if it hung in the air, was the round, dark hole throughwhich he had descended.
He rose, took his hands from the shell, and made a few steps. He trodupon a horizontal surface, but in putting one foot forward, he felt aslight incline. It seemed to him that he was about to slip downward!Instantly he retreated to the shell and clutched it in a sudden frenzyof fear.
Standing thus, with his eyes still wandering, he heard the bell of thetelephone ring. Without hesitation he mounted the shell and got into thecar. Bryce was calling him.
"Come up," he said. "You have been down there long enough. No matterwhat you have found, it is time for you to come up."
Roland Clewe was not accustomed to receive commands, but he instantlyclosed the sliding door of the car, seated himself, and put his mouth tothe telephone.
"All right," he said. "You can haul me up, but go very slowly at first."
The car rose. When it reached the orifice in the top of the cave oflight, Clewe heard the conical steel top grate slightly as it touchedits edge, for it was still swinging a little from the motion given to itby his entrance; but it soon hung perfectly vertical and went silentlyup the shaft.