A ZONE OF LIGHT DEEP WITHIN THE EARTH.
"Oh! for one glimpse of light, a ray of sunshine!"
In reply to this my mental ejaculation, my guide said: "Can not you
perceive that the darkness is becoming less intense?"
"No," I answered, "I can not; night is absolute."
"Are you sure?" he asked. "Cover your eyes with your hands, then uncover
and open them." I did so and fancied that by contrast a faint gray hue
was apparent.
"This must be imagination."
"No; we now approach a zone of earth light; let us hasten on."
"A zone of light deep in the earth! Incomprehensible! Incredible!" I
muttered, and yet as we went onward and time passed the darkness was
less intense. The barely perceptible hue became gray and somber, and
then of a pearly translucence, and although I could not distinguish the
outline of objects, yet I unquestionably perceived light.
"I am amazed! What can be the cause of this phenomenon? What is the
nature of this mysterious halo that surrounds us?" I held my open hand
before my eyes, and perceived the darkness of my spread fingers.
"It is light, it is light," I shouted, "it is really light!" and from
near and from far the echoes of that subterranean cavern answered back
joyfully, "It is light, it is light!"
I wept in joy, and threw my arms about my guide, forgetting in the
ecstasy his clammy cuticle, and danced in hysterical glee and
alternately laughed and cried. How vividly I realized then that the
imprisoned miner would give a world of gold, his former god, for a ray
of light.
"Compose yourself; this emotional exhibition is an evidence of weakness;
an investigator should neither become depressed over a reverse, nor
unduly enthusiastic over a fortunate discovery."
"But we approach the earth's surface? Soon I will be back in the
sunshine again."
"Upon the contrary, we have been continually descending into the earth,
and we are now ten miles or more beneath the level of the ocean."
[Illustration: "WE APPROACH DAYLIGHT, I CAN SEE YOUR FORM."]
I shrank back, hesitated, and in despondency gazed at his hazy outline,
then, as if palsied, sank upon the stony floor; but as I saw the light
before me, I leaped up and shouted:
"What you say is not true; we approach daylight, I can see your form."
"Listen to me," he said. "Can not you understand that I have led you
continually down a steep descent, and that for hours there has been no
step upward? With but little exertion you have walked this distance
without becoming wearied, and you could not, without great fatigue, have
ascended for so long a period. You are entering a zone of inner earth
light; we are in the surface, the upper edge of it. Let us hasten on,
for when this cavern darkness is at an end--and I will say we have
nearly passed that limit--your courage will return, and then we will
rest."
"You surely do not speak the truth; science and philosophy, and I am
somewhat versed in both, have never told me of such a light."
"Can philosophers more than speculate about that which they have not
experienced if they have no data from which to calculate? Name the
student in science who has reached this depth in earth, or has seen a
man to tell him of these facts?"
"I can not."
"Then why should you have expected any of them to describe our
surroundings? Misguided men will torture science by refuting facts with
theories; but a fact is no less a fact when science opposes."
[Illustration: "SEATED HIMSELF ON A NATURAL BENCH OF STONE."]
I recognized the force of his arguments, and cordially grasped his hand
in indication of submission. We continued our journey, and rapidly
traveled downward and onward. The light gradually increased in
intensity, until at length the cavern near about us seemed to be as
bright as diffused daylight could have made it. There was apparently no
central point of radiation; the light was such as to pervade and exist
in the surrounding space, somewhat as the vapor of phosphorus spreads a
self-luminous haze throughout the bubble into which it is blown. The
visual agent surrounding us had a permanent, self-existing luminosity,
and was a pervading, bright, unreachable essence that, without an
obvious origin, diffused itself equally in all directions. It reminded
me of the form of light that in previous years I had seen described as
epipolic dispersion, and as I refer to the matter I am of the opinion
that man will yet find that the same cause produces both phenomena. I
was informed now by the sense of sight, that we were in a cavern room of
considerable size. The apartment presented somewhat the appearance of
the usual underground caverns that I had seen pictured in books, and yet
was different. Stalactites, stalagmites, saline incrustations,
occurring occasionally reminded me of travelers' stories, but these
objects were not so abundant as might be supposed. Such accretions or
deposits of saline substances as I noticed were also disappointing, in
that, instead of having a dazzling brilliancy, like frosted snow
crystals, they were of a uniform gray or brown hue. Indeed, my former
imaginative mental creations regarding underground caverns were
dispelled in this somber stone temple, for even the floor and the
fragments of stone that, in considerable quantities, strewed the floor,
were of the usual rock formations of upper earth. The glittering
crystals of snowy white or rainbow tints (fairy caverns) pictured by
travelers, and described as inexpressibly grand and beautiful in other
cavern labyrinths, were wanting here, and I saw only occasional small
clusters of quartz crystals that were other than of a dull gray color.
Finally, after hours or perhaps days of travel, interspersed with
restings, conversations, and arguments, amid which I could form no idea
of the flight of time, my companion seated himself on a natural bench of
stone, and directed me to rest likewise. He broke the silence, and spoke
as follows: