with another stone, we could see two mysterious, and much worn
letters, the two initials of the bold and extraordinary traveler who had
preceded us on our adventurous journey.

[Illustration: Runic Glyph]

"A. S.!" cried my uncle. "You see, I was right. Arne Saknussemm, always
Arne Saknussemm!"

CHAPTER 38

NO OUTLET--BLASTING THE ROCK

Ever since the commencement of our marvelous journey, I had experienced
many surprises, had suffered from many illusions. I thought that I was
case-hardened against all surprises and could neither see nor hear
anything to amaze me again.

I was like a many who, having been round the world, finds himself wholly
blase and proof against the marvelous.

When, however, I saw these two letters, which had been engraven three
hundred years before, I stood fixed in an attitude of mute surprise.

Not only was there the signature of the learned and enterprising
alchemist written in the rock, but I held in my hand the very identical
instrument with which he had laboriously engraved it.

It was impossible, without showing an amount of incredulity scarcely
becoming a sane man, to deny the existence of the traveler, and the
reality of that voyage which I believed all along to have been a
myth--the mystification of some fertile brain.

While these reflections were passing through my mind, my uncle, the
Professor, gave way to an access of feverish and poetical excitement.

"Wonderful and glorious genius, great Saknussemm," he cried, "you have
left no stone unturned, no resource omitted, to show to other mortals
the way into the interior of our mighty globe, and your fellow creatures
can find the trail left by your illustrious footsteps, three hundred
years ago, at the bottom of these obscure subterranean abodes. You have
been careful to secure for others the contemplation of these wonders and
marvels of creation. Your name engraved at every important stage of your
glorious journey leads the hopeful traveler direct to the great and
mighty discovery to which you devoted such energy and courage. The
audacious traveler, who shall follow your footsteps to the last, will
doubtless find your initials engraved with your own hand upon the centre
of the earth. I will be that audacious traveler--I, too, will sign my
name upon the very same spot, upon the central granite stone of this
wondrous work of the Creator. But in justice to your devotion, to your
courage, and to your being the first to