manner.

We opened the provision bag, ate a frugal supper, and each did his best
to find a bed amid the pile of stones, dirt, and lava which had
accumulated for ages at the bottom of the shaft.

I happened to grope out the pile of ropes, ladders, and clothes which we
had thrown down; and upon them I stretched myself. After such a day's
labor, my rough bed seemed as soft as down!

For a while I lay in a sort of pleasant trance.

Presently, after lying quietly for some minutes, I opened my eyes and
looked upwards. As I did so I made out a brilliant little dot, at the
extremity of this long, gigantic telescope.

It was a star without scintillating rays. According to my calculation,
it must be Beta in the constellation of the Little Bear.

After this little bit of astronomical recreation, I dropped into a sound
sleep.

CHAPTER 15

WE CONTINUE OUR DESCENT

At eight o'clock the next morning, a faint kind of dawn of day awoke us.
The thousand and one prisms of the lava collected the light as it passed
and brought it to us like a shower of sparks.

We were able with ease to see objects around us.

"Well, Harry, my boy," cried the delighted Professor, rubbing his hands
together, "what say you now? Did you ever pass a more tranquil night in
our house in the Konigstrasse? No deafening sounds of cart wheels, no
cries of hawkers, no bad language from boatmen or watermen!"

"Well, Uncle, we are quite at the bottom of this well--but to me there
is something terrible in this calm."

"Why," said the Professor hotly, "one would say you were already
beginning to be afraid. How will you get on presently? Do you know, that
as yet, we have not penetrated one inch into the bowels of the earth."

"What can you mean, sir?" was my bewildered and astonished reply.

"I mean to say that we have only just reached the soil of the island
itself. This long vertical tube, which ends at the bottom of the crater
of Sneffels, ceases here just about on a level with the sea."

"Are you sure, sir?"

"Quite sure. Consult the barometer."

It was quite true that the mercury, after rising gradually in the
instrument, as long as our descent was taking place, had stopped
precisely at twenty-nine degrees.

"You perceive," said the Professor, "we have as yet only to endure the
pressure of air. I am curious to replace the barometer by the
manometer."

The barometer, in fact, was about to become useless--as soon as the
weight of the a