THE UNDERGROUND WORLD
The three commissioners for the first fortnight had little to say;
their report was meagre of incident. Behrend came morning and evening
to dine and sup with them in the little village inn; the rest of the
day and of the night he spent continuously underground. When they
asked him what he was doing, he said, shortly, that everything was
going on well.
Things might be going well, but there was nothing visible to the
commissioners. And, moreover, there was _one_ very suspicious
circumstance which struck Spitzhase especially, and this was that
Behrend spent his time in his _own colliery_. It was there that all
the expensive machines had been set up and all the chemical stuffs had
been taken. Not a single thing had been done to the company's mine;
not a bit of rubbish had been cleared away, not one of the entrances
had been opened; in fact, a fortnight had slipped away, and no work
had been undertaken. It was undoubtedly true that the machines were
always at work, and cart-loads of clay and stones were perpetually
being wheeled away.
The whole thing was incomprehensible, and Behrend would not give the
slightest explanation.
At the beginning of the following week Spitzhase lost all patience.
"Sir," he said to Ivan, with suppressed irritation, "you promised
that in a fortnight the conflagration in our mine would be
extinguished. The time is up, and I have not seen that anything has
been even attempted."
"That is very probable," returned Ivan, quietly.
"Do you maintain still that everything is progressing satisfactorily?"
"I do."
"Can I see for myself what has been done?"
"Where you are standing it would be impossible for you to judge."
"Well, let me go where I can see something."
"Do you really wish to go below? It is not a pleasant place."
"Where you go, so can I; for my part, I don't care if it was hell
itself."
"It is not unlike what hell must be."
"Well, I am resolved to pay it a visit. I want to make the
acquaintance of the devil; perhaps I could make an arrangement with
him to supply us with coal."
"You may come on one condition: if you accompany me you must
understand that I cannot let you stand gaping about. There is not room
in the place for more than two people, and they must both work."
"I am not afraid of work. I am the devil for work."
"Very good, then, come along," said Ivan; "and if the other gentlemen
would like to accompany us to where the machines are working they can
follow us."
The others seized the opportunity.
Ivan made them put on miners' dress. They were then hoisted into the
crane, and descended into the shaft. Each one had a safety-lamp
fastened to his belt and wore a thick felt hat.
Ivan led them through the different windings of the pit until they
came to the iron door of the cavern in which, not long since, the
pond used periodically to come and go. The middle of this space was
now filled by a large mill-like machine, which was kept in motion by
an endless strap worked from above. In this mill some substance was
being ground, and, when reduced to fine powder, was carried, by means
of certain mechanical contrivances, through a pipe and over a bridge,
where it disappeared from view.
Ivan led his guests through still more tortuous ways. Once they
descended the shaft of a well; once they mounted high ladders, finding
themselves when they had done so in a small chamber, not measuring six
feet in circumference, in which two miners were waiting--an old and a
young man.
"Now," said Ivan to Spitzhase, "here is our dressing-room; we must put
on our costume."
"What! have we another change of clothes?"
"Yes, we have to don a coat of mail in the tournament in which we are
going to take part; we require armor."
At a sign from him the miners came forward and began to prepare the
two gentlemen. The equipment was something similar to that of a
fireman--a coat and stockings, the outer stuff being made of asbestos,
while the space between that and the lining was filled with pulverized
charcoal; the hands and arms were also covered with long gloves made
of asbestos, the fingers being air-proof.
"We could pass for knights," said Spitzhase, jestingly.
"Wait until you see our helmets," returned Ivan.
The miners brought two helmets made of glass, each of which had a
hollow space with twelve joints and three apertures. Ivan explained
the use of these.
"The place into which we are about to descend is full of coal-gas. We
must have an apparatus which will enable us to pass through fire and
to dive under water."
Spitzhase began to repent that he had been so venturesome, but he was
ashamed to turn back now, and he had a certain amount of pluck.
"We need," continued Ivan, "an apparatus which is a combination of the
diver's and the fireman's dress. To the glass helmet, which will be
attached to the coat-collar by means of air-proof caoutchouc, there
will be fastened two tubes, through one of which the necessary amount
of air will be conveyed to us, and through the other the bad air will
be expelled. The ends of both the tubes will remain here, while we
drag them after us in the same manner as does the diver. Although all
bad air escapes from our helmets, still we shall find the air rather
warmer than it is up here, and it will smell like vulcanized
india-rubber; still we cannot suffocate. To this third aperture an
elastic tube will be fixed, which unites both helmets; through this
tube each will hear what the other says, for the glass is so thick
that no sound penetrates it, and when you have it on your head you
will with difficulty hear what is said by me."
Spitzhase had begun to feel very uncomfortable, for now the miner
proceeded to adjust the glass helmet to his head. When the tubes were
being fixed into the three apertures he perceived that he had become
suddenly stone deaf. He saw the lips of the two commissioners moving,
but not one word could he hear. He no longer belonged to the world.
Only one sound reached him, and that was the voice of the man to whose
head he was fastened.
"Take one end of the hose upon your arm," shouted the voice into his
helmet; yet the sound seemed to come from a long way off, or as if out
of a tunnel.
Mechanically he took the coil on his shoulder.
"Let us go," shouted Ivan, taking the other end of the coil on his
shoulder, and, opening a thick oak door, which had hitherto escaped
Spitzhase's observation, they passed through.
The two commissioners had heard nothing that had passed between the
two "knights"; but when they saw the oak door open they hurriedly
asked the miners whether the foul air did not come in. The older
workman reassured them; the carbon was much heavier than oxygen, and
even thicker than hydrogen. The foul air remained below, where the two
divers had gone. They might have every confidence so long as the
safety-lamps burned. Meantime, the others had penetrated into a roomy
cavern, the walls of which proved it had not been made by the hands of
men, but was a natural formation. Each partition of the wall fitted
into another, like the blocks of a puzzle, and each block was as
smooth as a steel mirror. They were masses of coal set obliquely one
upon another. The cavern was bridged over with thick, strong wooden
planks. The gearing strap, which had made its way from the cavern in
serpent-like fashion, had set a wheel in motion, and the noise of the
clapper resounded under the bridge, and made a sound as if it were
working in deep water. From this bridge a narrow path led obliquely
into the stone layers. Once beyond the entrance into this dark path
the lamps ceased to burn; the coal-gas had begun its sway. Upon the
bridge an electric machine was placed, whose brilliant light was
shaded by a wire screen.
The old miner set the machine working, and the light flashed into
every nook and cranny of the subterranean cavern. It lighted up the
narrow tunnel which, for the last month, Ivan had been boring from his
own mine to that of his neighbor. He had told no one what he had been
doing, but now the work was almost finished; it only required to be
broken through. This work, which would take another week to complete,
needed to be done in a diver's equipment. The length of the narrow
tunnel was perfectly illumined by the electric machine, as if in the
broad light of the sun. Where it turned out of its course high
looking-glasses of polished steel were placed in positions which
reflected the light itself until it faded away to a faint glimmer. The
two divers could now hardly discern an object.
"We shall soon be in darkness," said Spitzhase to Ivan.
"We shall have light enough," returned Ivan; and he led the way
farther into the tunnel.
Spitzhase was forced to follow, for his head was fastened to Ivan's
head. Wonderful pair of Siamese twins! If the pipe that bound them
together were to break, both were dead men.
"Halt!" cried Ivan. "Here is the pump. Give me the pipe."
In the half-darkness a little machine three feet high was discernible;
it was provided with a spring wheel. This suction-pipe had been
brought here only the day before. Ivan took the caoutchouc coil from
his companion's shoulder, and screwed the pipe to the aperture of the
machine; then he set the wheel in motion, and in a few seconds it,
with the heavy balls attached, was revolving with velocity. Then he
took the end of the pipe and gave the coil back to Spitzhase with this
difference: instead of putting it over his arm he hung the hose over
his neck. Spitzhase felt as if the pipe were about a hundredweight
heavier, and that it had grown suddenly stiff.
"Forward! quick march!" shouted Ivan into his helmet.
"It begins to be hot as hell itself," grumbled Spitzhase, who was
suffering horribly.
"Because we are in a part of the mine where the fire has been put
out."
Both the men wore on their feet glass slippers, otherwise they would
have felt that the ashes through which they were wading were glowing
with heat.
The india-rubber hose hung round Spitzhase's neck. It grew darker and
darker, until at last it was as dark as Erebus.
"I can see nothing," shouted Spitzhase.
"You are safe if you follow me," returned Ivan.
It began to grow somewhat lighter. The light, however, was rose color;
there was twilight, then, in the bowels of the earth.
Spitzhase complained he could hardly draw his breath.
"That will get better presently," said Ivan, encouraging him.
They had now turned the corner of the road, and the terrible tragedy
of hell itself lay before them. Yes, hell itself was there. A burning
labyrinth, in whose glowing passages the prismatic colors changed
every moment. The blue-green flames leaped from the ground and blended
with the flames of brilliant scarlet which played upon the burning
wall, and again faded in the far distance into a deep purple color. It
was like a fairy transparency at a pantomime. Through the fissures and
crevices sheets of white sun-rays poured like molten silver. Amid the
glowing coals there seemed to rise shapes as of demons dancing,
creatures with green hair and red beards, and from the red sulphate
of the vaulting there fell slowly a golden shower, a melting rain of
sparks. From the clefts in the side walls the gas, let loose from all
restraint, hissed like so many demoniacal serpents, and kindled a
subterranean flame of its own. Out of the depths of the pit a
waterspout of fire shot suddenly, sending in every direction a shower
of sparks. Over the whole floated a milk-colored cloud, which filled
the vault with a nebulous vapor, wandering as a will-o'-the-wisp here
and there, and threatening every moment to envelop the rash visitors
to hell in its chill embrace. Spitzhase, alarmed out of all control,
pressed closer to the wall; fright was overcoming him.
"Let go the hose!" shouted Ivan. The hose fell like a serpent
unchained, wriggling backward and forward. "Now follow me. Hold the
pipe on your arm;" and he drew Spitzhase after him.
He was constrained to follow, although his heart was in his mouth;
their heads were fastened to each other. If he had had sufficient
strength to free himself from this terrible companionship, it would
have in no way helped him, for the carbon would have killed him
instantaneously.
Mechanically he allowed himself to be drawn on. Hell with all its
horrors disclosed itself to his affrighted gaze. His companion seemed
to fear nothing. Was he a human being, or a fiend, who was in reality
possessed of power over the demons of hell? He dragged him to the very
border of the fiery lake; then he took from his shoulder the hose,
which lay in rings and coils, and, opening the mouth of the stop-cock,
directed its force at the bosom of hell. The hose shot forth a flash
like a diamond; the water-spirit fell into the glowing Gehenna.
"Hold tight!" shouted Ivan.
And from the force which the stream from the pipe exercised upon the
burning mass the air was filled with dark clouds of smoke, which
peopled the still brilliantly lighted cavern with strange, unearthly,
spectral-like shadows, which, dissolving suddenly into steam, covered
the two adventurous visitors with a damp moisture. One of them
tottered.
"Fear nothing," calls out the other; "we are quite safe here."
"It is suffocating; I am burning!" cried Spitzhase.
"Do not be afraid; follow me," said Ivan, and drew his trembling
comrade after him over the wet rocks, over the charred, burning
mounds. Every spot where he saw the flames rising he directed the
hose, and a shower of cool, refreshing water fell from the
india-rubber pipe upon the burning, seething demoniacal flames. The
gas hissed, the hot steam boiled round them, the flames, beaten down
in one place, sprang up in another, but on they went. He was afraid of
nothing. "Forward! go on! forward!" The mysterious clouds hovered over
him.
"We are lost!" moaned the other poor mortal, whose fear began to be
uncontrollable. He fell on his knees.
"You of little faith," said the conqueror of hell, "get up. Let us go
back." And he lifted him up, as the Redeemer did Peter on the stormy
Sea of Galilee.
Then he rolled the hose once more round his neck, and took it back to
the suction-pump; this he closed, and then led his comrade again to
the little room where they had put on their equipment.
Spitzhase sank back when he reached this haven. When his helmet was
taken off he panted like a man who was suffocating for want of air.
Ivan looked at him compassionately.
The miners gave each of them a glass of fresh lemonade to drink, and
rubbed their temples with vinegar. They then undressed them to the
skin, put them into a tub of cold water, took them out in two seconds,
and rubbed them with coarse towels. Spitzhase began to recover his
senses.
As they put on their usual clothes Ivan said to him, "Well, sir, how
did you like being below?"
Spitzhase was no fool, but he answered, good-humoredly, "I wouldn't
have missed going down for a hundred gulden, but I would pay twice
that sum rather than go there again."
"Now you know what to write to your board of directors. Paul, take
this gentleman home. I remain here to continue the work."
Spitzhase wrote a glowing account of what he called "the fight with
the world of spirits" to the Vienna papers.
The next day Ivan said to the commissioners, "We have now laid pipes
four inches in diameter to work upon the very heart of the fire. So
soon as I am ready we shall set the high-pressure machine at work.
This will empty in four hours ten thousand buckets of fluid on the
burning mass."
"The devil take it!" cried Spitzhase. "Will this farce never have an
end until the escaped gas blows up the colliery, and makes of it and
of us a new Pompeii?"
"Do not be afraid. I have thought of this danger. We have taken care
to stop all the outlets to the quarry gallery with sand-bags. We have
walled up every possible fissure, crevice, and exit. The entrance to
the well-shaft has been provided with a strong iron door, over which
we have fastened a thick bed of clay. If, therefore, it should happen
that in the gallery, where the conflagration is at its worst, and
where the fluid must be poured freely, the mass of gas should develop
in such force that it must explode, then the iron door will prove our
salvation. It will resist all attack, and the force of the gas will be
broken."
The members of the commission shook with fright. Here was a pleasant
prospect! Ivan, however, had no time to spare on reassuring them; the
crisis was at hand, and he had still much to do. Prudence, foresight
was necessary. At mid-day he returned to the quarry gallery.
As the clock struck twelve he gave the signal at which the large
suction-pump was to be set in motion. He remained from this time at
his post, never leaving the machine until the work was finished. To
their honor be it spoken, the three commissioners remained with him;
they kept their places without moving, never speaking a word. During
the awful time that followed no voice was heard but that of Ivan. Soon
after the signal was given a rushing sound was heard underground,
faint at first, but growing louder. It sounded as if in the distance
water was pouring from an open sluice.
At first the machine was worked at only half its strength. After half
an hour or so there mingled with the rushing sound a great tumult, as
if many bells were vibrating in the air. The noise did not die away;
on the contrary, the vibration grew every moment stronger.
The earth was in labor; the ground heaved and trembled, and those who
felt its throes trembled also. The earth's sufferings were shared by
her children. Only one man was calm; the master-spirit was not afraid.
With close attention Ivan watched the pendulum and the thermometer of
the machine; he marked the variations in the condition of the
barometer, the ozonometer, and electrometer, writing his observations
in his note-book. After another hour he made a sign to the man working
the machine to put on more pressure.
Thereupon arose from below a terrible uproar; it was the battle of the
Cyclops. The bowels of the earth sent up a dull roar like the rolling
of thunder; occasionally came a shock as of an earthquake. The houses
began to rock, the tops of the tall trees and the cross upon the tower
tottered, and its fall added to the anxiety felt by the entire valley.
The underground fight grew every moment fiercer; the giants joined
issue with their foes. They howled in rage; they put their gigantic
shoulders together and tried to upset the earth. To their cries was
added the bellowing of the hurricane confined in the cave, and the
tumult was indescribable.
The listeners to this fearful scene looked with a stony stare of
horror; they were speechless, but their look seemed to say, "What rash
act have you done? Are you inciting the spirits who dwell under the
earth to war against one another?"
Ivan answered with another look of calm superiority. "Fear nothing; I
have my foot upon the head of the giant."
The underground battle had lasted three hours. The people were beside
themselves with fright; they turned upon Ivan and cursed him.
"Do you think you are a God," they cried, "and can create an
earthquake?"
Ivan paid no attention either to their fears or their curses; he gave
another signal to the men at the machine--
"With the whole power!"
The machine, the outcome of the wonderful inventive genius of man,
stormed the very gates of hell itself. The underground tremblings
followed one another rapidly, growing stronger and stronger; the deep
groaning rose to a stentorian, deafening roar.
"It is all over!" shrieked the people in the valley, and fell upon
their knees.
In the air a shrill, whistling sound was now heard, as if an engine
had suddenly let off steam, and out of the shaft of the company's mine
there arose rapidly a white column of steam, which, as soon as it
encountered the cold regions of space, shot up into the sky, where it
formed itself into a white cloud, which cloud suddenly broke into a
deluge of rain. At once the underground convulsion ceased, and the
shrill whistling died away in the distance.
Ivan, looking round, said, quickly, "Paul, collect the rain-water; I
must know what it is made of." Upon this he gave the machinist the
signal to stop the machine. There was not even a drop of perspiration
upon his forehead. He took the bottle of rain-water that Paul brought
him and put it in his pocket. "Now, gentlemen," he said, "you can go
to supper. The work is accomplished."
"Is the fire extinguished?" asked Spitzhase.
"Absolutely."
"And the pillar of steam yonder?"
"Will remain in the sky until midnight and then slowly damp away. Go
to supper. I have something of importance to do at home."
Who cared to eat supper?
The pillar of steam still continued to rise from the shaft, and to
form a cloud from which a steady downpour of rain fell continuously,
occasionally interspersed by flashes of lightning; but no one thought
of going indoors. The richer members of society wrapped themselves in
mackintoshes, the workmen in their cloaks, and all continued to watch
the strange appearance, until at last, towards ten o'clock, it began
to grow smaller. The whistling sound was interrupted now and again by
a piercing shriek, and sometimes a flash of lightning illumined the
shadow of the pillar--the white cloud.
The steam giant then sank back; not all at once, but by degrees, into
the pit from which it had arisen. Only occasionally, from time to
time, its head reappeared for a second, but the whistling ceased
altogether; so, too, did the heaving of the earth. The unearthly
tumult was silenced. In the church the sound of the organ was heard,
and voices intoning "Alleluia! Alleluia!" The people walked in
procession, carrying lanterns and banners.
The commissioners made their way to the inn, where they found Ivan
eating his supper. He could eat now; it struck him that he was mortal
and wanted food.
"I have finished the chemical examination," he said to the other three
with polite indifference, "and I can give you the satisfactory news
that in the residue 0.75 of carbonic acid is to be found."
Spitzhase did not understand. "What good is it," he asked, "if
seventy-five parts of carbonic acid are in the residuum?"
"To-morrow we can open both entrances to the colliery, and after the
air-pumps have been settled the work can be resumed."
Alleluia! Alleluia!