October 29, 2025 • 10 mins
https://www.solgoodmedia.com Listen to hundreds of audiobooks, thousands of short stories, and ambient sounds all ad-free! Embark on a journey beyond the ordinary with our Sci-Fi podcast, where each day a new chapter unfolds from classic tales that defy the limits of imagination. Dive into worlds of mystery and adventure with timeless stories like "Anthem," "Around The World in Eighty Days," "Baron's Marvellous Underground Journey," "Flatland - A Romance of Many Dimensions," "Journey to the Center of the Earth," "Out of Time's Abyss," "The Door Through Space," "The Flying Inn," "The Gods of Mars," "The House of Arden," "The Invisible Man," "The Island of Dr. Moreau," "The Machine Stops," "The New Atlantis," "The Time Machine," "The War of The Worlds," and "Thuvia, Maid of Mars." Each chapter is a portal to a different universe, offering a fresh dose of excitement and wonder. Subscribe now and let your imagination soar as we transport you to realms unknown, one chapter at a time.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Chapter twenty one under the Ocean. By the next day
we had nearly forgotten all our past sufferings. The first
sensation I had experienced was surprise at not being thirsty,
and I actually asked myself the reason. The running stream,
which flowed in rippling wavelets at my feet was the
(00:23):
satisfactory reply. We breakfasted with a good appetite, and then
drank our fill of the excellent water. I felt myself
quite a new man, ready to go anywhere my uncle
chose to lead. I began to think, why should not
a man as seriously convinced as my uncle succeed with
(00:46):
so excellent a guide as worthy Hans, and so devoted
a nephew as myself. These were the brilliant ideas which
now invaded my brain. Had the proposition now been made
to go back to the summit of Mount Sneffels, I
should have declined the offer in a most indignant manner.
(01:07):
But fortunately there was no question of going up. We
are about to distend farther into the interior of the earth.
Let us be moving, I cried, awakening the echoes of
the old world. We resumed our march on Thursday at
eight o'clock in the morning. The great granite tunnel, as
(01:28):
it went round by sinuous and winding ways, presented every
now and then sharp turns, and in fact all the
appearance of a labyrinth. Its direction, however, was in general
toward the southwest. My uncle made several pauses in order
to consult his compass. The gallery now began to trend
(01:52):
downwards in a horizontal direction, with about two inches of
fall in every furlong. The murmuring stream flowed quietly at
our feet. I could not but compare it to some
familiar spirit guiding us through the earth, and I dabbled
my fingers in its tepid water, which sang like a naiad.
(02:13):
As we progressed, my good humor began to assume a
mythological character. As for my uncle, he began to complain
of the horizontal character of the road. His route, he found,
began to be indefinitely prolonged instead of sliding down the
celestial ray, according to his expression, But we had no choice,
(02:39):
and as long as our road led toward the center,
however little progress we made, there was no reason to complain. Moreover,
from time to time the slopes were much greater. The
Naiad sang more loudly, and we began to dip downward
in earnest as. Yet, however, I felt no panful sensation.
(03:02):
I had not got over the excitement of the discovery
of water. That day and the next we did a
considerable amount of horizontal and relatively little vertical traveling. On
Friday evening, the tenth of July, according to our estimation,
we ought to have been thirty leagues to the southeast
(03:23):
of Rekivik, and about two leagues and a half deep.
We now received a rather startling surprise. Under our feet
there opened a horrible well. My uncle was so delighted
that he actually clapped his hands as he saw how
steep and sharp was the descent. Ah ah, he cried
(03:45):
in rapturous delight. This takes us a long way. Look
at the projections of the rock. Ha, he claimed, It's
a fearful staircase. Hans, however, who in all our troubles
had never given up the ropes, took care so to
dispose of them as to prevent any accidents. Our descent
(04:06):
then began. I dare not call it a perilous descent,
for I was already too familiar with that sort of
work to look upon it as anything but a very
ordinary affair. This well was a kind of narrow opening
in the massive granite, of the kind known as a fissure.
The contraction of the terrestrial scaffolding when it suddenly cooled,
(04:31):
had been evidently the cause. If it had ever served
in former times as a kind of funnel through which
passed the eruptive masses vomited by Snaefels, I was at
a loss to explain how it had left no mark.
We were, in fact descending in a spiral, something like
those winding staircases in use in modern homes. We were
(04:56):
compelled every quarter of an hour or thereabouts to down
in order to rest our legs our calves ached. We
then seated ourselves on some projecting rock, with our legs
hanging over, and gossiped while we ate a mouthful, drinking
still from the pleasantly warm running stream, which had not
(05:17):
deserted us. It is scarcely necessary to say that in
this curiously shaped fissure the Hansbach had become a cascade.
To the detriment of its size. It was still, however,
sufficient and more for our wants. Besides, we knew that
as soon as the declivity ceased to be so abrupt,
(05:40):
the stream must resume its peaceful course. At this moment
it reminded me of my uncle his impatience and rage,
while when it flowed more peacefully, I pictured to myself
the placidity of the Icelandic guide. During the whole of
two days, the sixth and seventh of July, we followed
(06:01):
the extraordinary spiral staircase of the fissure, penetrating two leagues
farther into the crust of the earth, which put us
five leagues below the level of the sea. On the eighth, however,
at twelve o'clock in the day, the fissure suddenly assumed
a much more gentle slope, still trending in a southeast direction.
(06:25):
The road now became comparatively easy and at the same
time dreadfully monotonous. It would have been difficult for matters
to have turned out otherwise. Our peculiar journey had no
chance of being diversified by landscape and scenery at all events,
such was my idea. At length. On Wednesday, the fifteenth,
(06:48):
we were actually seven leagues twenty one miles below the
surface of the earth, and fifty leagues distant from the
mountain of Snaefels. Though if the truth betoldld, we were
very tired, our health had resisted all suffering and was
in a most satisfactory state. Our traveler's box of medicaments
(07:12):
had not even been opened. My uncle was careful to
note every hour the indications of the compass, of the manometer,
and of the thermometer, all of which he afterwards published
in his elaborate philosophical and scientific account of our remarkable voyage.
(07:32):
He was therefore able to give an exact relation of
the situation. When therefore he informed me that we were
fifty leagues in a horizontal direction, distant from our starting point.
I could not suppress a loud exclamation. What is the
matter now, cried my uncle. Nothing very important. Only an
(07:55):
idea has entered my head, was my reply. Well out
with it, my boy. It is my opinion that, if
your calculations are correct, we are no longer under Iceland.
Do you think so? We can very easily find out,
I replied, pulling out a map and compasses. You see,
(08:17):
I said, after careful measurement, that I am not mistaken.
We are far beyond Cape Portland and those fifty leagues
to the southeast will take us into the open sea.
Under the open sea, cried my uncle, rubbing his hands
with a delighted air. Yes, I cried, no doubt, old
(08:40):
ocean flows over our heads. Well, my dear boy, what
can be more natural? Do you not know that in
the neighborhood of Newcastle there are coal mines which have
been worked far out under the sea. Now, my worthy uncle,
the Professor, no doubt, regarded this discovery as a very
simple fact. But to me the idea was by no
(09:04):
means a pleasant one. And Yet, when one came to
think the matter over seriously, what mattered it whether the
plains and mountains of Iceland were suspended over our devoted
heads or the mighty billows of the Atlantic Ocean. The
whole question rested on the solidity of the granite roof
above us. However, I soon got used to the ideal,
(09:28):
for the passage, now level, now running down, and still
always to the southeast, kept going deeper and deeper into
the profound abysses of Mother Earth. Three days later, on
the eighteenth of July, on a Saturday, we reached a
kind of vast grotto. My uncle here paid Hans his
(09:50):
usual ricks dollars, and it was decided that the next
day should be a day of rest. End of chapter
Chapter twenty one under the Ocean. By the next day
we had nearly forgotten all our past sufferings. The first
sensation I had experienced was surprise at not being thirsty,
and I actually asked myself the reason. The running stream,
which flowed in rippling wavelets at my feet was the
(00:23):
satisfactory reply. We breakfasted with a good appetite, and then
drank our fill of the excellent water. I felt myself
quite a new man, ready to go anywhere my uncle
chose to lead. I began to think, why should not
a man as seriously convinced as my uncle succeed with
(00:46):
so excellent a guide as worthy Hans, and so devoted
a nephew as myself. These were the brilliant ideas which
now invaded my brain. Had the proposition now been made
to go back to the summit of Mount Sneffels, I
should have declined the offer in a most indignant manner.
(01:07):
But fortunately there was no question of going up. We
are about to distend farther into the interior of the earth.
Let us be moving, I cried, awakening the echoes of
the old world. We resumed our march on Thursday at
eight o'clock in the morning. The great granite tunnel, as
(01:28):
it went round by sinuous and winding ways, presented every
now and then sharp turns, and in fact all the
appearance of a labyrinth. Its direction, however, was in general
toward the southwest. My uncle made several pauses in order
to consult his compass. The gallery now began to trend
(01:52):
downwards in a horizontal direction, with about two inches of
fall in every furlong. The murmuring stream flowed quietly at
our feet. I could not but compare it to some
familiar spirit guiding us through the earth, and I dabbled
my fingers in its tepid water, which sang like a naiad.
(02:13):
As we progressed, my good humor began to assume a
mythological character. As for my uncle, he began to complain
of the horizontal character of the road. His route, he found,
began to be indefinitely prolonged instead of sliding down the
celestial ray, according to his expression, But we had no choice,
(02:39):
and as long as our road led toward the center,
however little progress we made, there was no reason to complain. Moreover,
from time to time the slopes were much greater. The
Naiad sang more loudly, and we began to dip downward
in earnest as. Yet, however, I felt no panful sensation.
(03:02):
I had not got over the excitement of the discovery
of water. That day and the next we did a
considerable amount of horizontal and relatively little vertical traveling. On
Friday evening, the tenth of July, according to our estimation,
we ought to have been thirty leagues to the southeast
(03:23):
of Rekivik, and about two leagues and a half deep.
We now received a rather startling surprise. Under our feet
there opened a horrible well. My uncle was so delighted
that he actually clapped his hands as he saw how
steep and sharp was the descent. Ah ah, he cried
(03:45):
in rapturous delight. This takes us a long way. Look
at the projections of the rock. Ha, he claimed, It's
a fearful staircase. Hans, however, who in all our troubles
had never given up the ropes, took care so to
dispose of them as to prevent any accidents. Our descent
(04:06):
then began. I dare not call it a perilous descent,
for I was already too familiar with that sort of
work to look upon it as anything but a very
ordinary affair. This well was a kind of narrow opening
in the massive granite, of the kind known as a fissure.
The contraction of the terrestrial scaffolding when it suddenly cooled,
(04:31):
had been evidently the cause. If it had ever served
in former times as a kind of funnel through which
passed the eruptive masses vomited by Snaefels, I was at
a loss to explain how it had left no mark.
We were, in fact descending in a spiral, something like
those winding staircases in use in modern homes. We were
(04:56):
compelled every quarter of an hour or thereabouts to down
in order to rest our legs our calves ached. We
then seated ourselves on some projecting rock, with our legs
hanging over, and gossiped while we ate a mouthful, drinking
still from the pleasantly warm running stream, which had not
(05:17):
deserted us. It is scarcely necessary to say that in
this curiously shaped fissure the Hansbach had become a cascade.
To the detriment of its size. It was still, however,
sufficient and more for our wants. Besides, we knew that
as soon as the declivity ceased to be so abrupt,
(05:40):
the stream must resume its peaceful course. At this moment
it reminded me of my uncle his impatience and rage,
while when it flowed more peacefully, I pictured to myself
the placidity of the Icelandic guide. During the whole of
two days, the sixth and seventh of July, we followed
(06:01):
the extraordinary spiral staircase of the fissure, penetrating two leagues
farther into the crust of the earth, which put us
five leagues below the level of the sea. On the eighth, however,
at twelve o'clock in the day, the fissure suddenly assumed
a much more gentle slope, still trending in a southeast direction.
(06:25):
The road now became comparatively easy and at the same
time dreadfully monotonous. It would have been difficult for matters
to have turned out otherwise. Our peculiar journey had no
chance of being diversified by landscape and scenery at all events,
such was my idea. At length. On Wednesday, the fifteenth,
(06:48):
we were actually seven leagues twenty one miles below the
surface of the earth, and fifty leagues distant from the
mountain of Snaefels. Though if the truth betoldld, we were
very tired, our health had resisted all suffering and was
in a most satisfactory state. Our traveler's box of medicaments
(07:12):
had not even been opened. My uncle was careful to
note every hour the indications of the compass, of the manometer,
and of the thermometer, all of which he afterwards published
in his elaborate philosophical and scientific account of our remarkable voyage.
(07:32):
He was therefore able to give an exact relation of
the situation. When therefore he informed me that we were
fifty leagues in a horizontal direction, distant from our starting point.
I could not suppress a loud exclamation. What is the
matter now, cried my uncle. Nothing very important. Only an
(07:55):
idea has entered my head, was my reply. Well out
with it, my boy. It is my opinion that, if
your calculations are correct, we are no longer under Iceland.
Do you think so? We can very easily find out,
I replied, pulling out a map and compasses. You see,
(08:17):
I said, after careful measurement, that I am not mistaken.
We are far beyond Cape Portland and those fifty leagues
to the southeast will take us into the open sea.
Under the open sea, cried my uncle, rubbing his hands
with a delighted air. Yes, I cried, no doubt, old
(08:40):
ocean flows over our heads. Well, my dear boy, what
can be more natural? Do you not know that in
the neighborhood of Newcastle there are coal mines which have
been worked far out under the sea. Now, my worthy uncle,
the Professor, no doubt, regarded this discovery as a very
simple fact. But to me the idea was by no
(09:04):
means a pleasant one. And Yet, when one came to
think the matter over seriously, what mattered it whether the
plains and mountains of Iceland were suspended over our devoted
heads or the mighty billows of the Atlantic Ocean. The
whole question rested on the solidity of the granite roof
above us. However, I soon got used to the ideal,
(09:28):
for the passage, now level, now running down, and still
always to the southeast, kept going deeper and deeper into
the profound abysses of Mother Earth. Three days later, on
the eighteenth of July, on a Saturday, we reached a
kind of vast grotto. My uncle here paid Hans his
(09:50):
usual ricks dollars, and it was decided that the next
day should be a day of rest. End of chapter
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!