CHAPTER
XV.
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 hand, then
uncover and open them." I did so and fancied that by contrast a faint gray
line 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 all 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."
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."
I recognized tile 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 leave
made it. There was apparently no central point of radiation; the light was such
as to pervade and exist in tile 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 rain bow 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: