And in order to give some figures for comparison it
has been calculated that an object thrown from the
towers of Notre Dame, the altitude of which is only
200 feet, would reach the pavement with a velocity
of 120 leagues an hour. Here the projectile would
strike the earth with a velocity of 57,600 leagues
an hour.
“We are lost men,” said Nicholl coldly.
“Well, if we die,” answered Barbicane,
with a sort of religious enthusiasm, “the result
of our journey will be magnificently enlarged!
God will tell us His own secret! In the other
life the soul will need neither machines nor engines
in order to know! It will be identified with
eternal wisdom!”
“True,” replied Michel Ardan: “the
other world may well console us for that trifling
orb called the moon!”
Barbicane crossed his arms upon his chest with a movement
of sublime resignation.
“God’s will be done!” he said.
THE SOUNDINGS OF THE SUSQUEHANNA.
Well, lieutenant, and what about those soundings?”
“I think the operation is almost over, sir.
But who would have expected to find such a depth so
near land, at 100 leagues only from the American coast?”
“Yes, Bronsfield, there is a great depression,”
said Captain Blomsberry. “There exists
a submarine valley here, hollowed out by Humboldt’s
current, which runs along the coasts of America to
the Straits of Magellan.”
“Those great depths,” said the lieutenant,
“are not favourable for the laying of telegraph
cables. A smooth plateau is the best, like the
one the American cable lies on between Valentia and
Newfoundland.”
“I agree with you, Bronsfield. And, may
it please you, lieutenant, where are we now?”
“Sir,” answered Bronsfield, “we
have at this moment 21,500 feet of line out, and the
bullet at the end of the line has not yet touched the
bottom, for the sounding-lead would have come up again.”
“Brook’s apparatus is an ingenious one,”
said Captain Blomsberry. “It allows us
to obtain very correct soundings.”
“Touched!” cried at that moment one of
the forecastle-men who was superintending the operation.
The captain and lieutenant went on to the forecastle-deck.
“What depth are we in?” asked the captain.
“Twenty-one thousand seven hundred and sixty-two
feet,” answered the lieutenant, writing it down
in his pocket-book.
“Very well, Bronsfield,” said the captain,
“I will go and mark the result on my chart.
Now have the sounding-line brought in—that
is a work of several hours. Meanwhile the engineer
shall have his fires lighted, and we shall be ready
to start as soon as you have done. It is 10 p.m.,
and with your permission, lieutenant, I shall turn
in.”
“Certainly, sir, certainly!” answered
Lieutenant Bronsfield amiably.
The captain of the Susquehanna, a worthy man if ever
there was one, the very humble servant of his officers,
went to his cabin, took his brandy-and-water with
many expressions of satisfaction to the steward, got
into bed, not before complimenting his servant on the
way he made beds, and sank into peaceful slumber.
