t from his observatory. Now would
have been the opportunity to demand of the enthusiast whether he would
like to prolong his residence indefinitely upon his little comet. It is
very likely that he would have declared himself ready to put up with any
amount of discomfort to be able to gratify his love of investigation;
but all were far too disheartened and distressed to care to banter him
upon the subject on which he was so sensitive.

Next morning, Servadac thus addressed his people. "My friends, except
from cold, we have nothing to fear. Our provisions are ample--more than
enough for the remaining period of our sojourn in this lone world of
ours; our preserved meat is already cooked; we shall be able to
dispense with all fuel for cooking purposes. All that we require is
warmth--warmth for ourselves; let us secure that, and all may be well.
Now, I do not entertain a doubt but that the warmth we require is
resident in the bowels of this mountain on which we are living; to
the depth of those bowels we must penetrate; there we shall obtain the
warmth which is indispensable to our very existence."

His tone, quite as much as his words, restored confidence to many of his
people, who were already yielding to a feeling of despair. The count and
the lieutenant fervently, but silently, grasped his hand.

"Nina," said the captain, "you will not be afraid to go down to the
lower depths of the mountain, will you?"

"Not if Pablo goes," replied the child.

"Oh yes, of course, Pablo will go. You are not afraid to go, are you,
Pablo?" he said, addressing the boy.

"Anywhere with you, your Excellency," was the boy's prompt reply.

And certain it was that no time must be lost in penetrating below
the heart of the volcano; already the most protected of the many
ramifications of Nina's Hive were being pervaded by a cold that was
insufferable. It was an acknowledged impossibility to get access to the
crater by the exterior declivities of the mountain-side; they were far
too steep and too slippery to afford a foothold. It must of necessity be
entered from the interior.

Lieutenant Procope accordingly undertook the task of exploring all the
galleries, and was soon able to report that he had discovered one which
he had every reason to believe abutted upon the central funnel. His
reason for coming to this conclusion was that the caloric emitted by the
rising vapors of the hot lava seemed to be oozing, as it were, out of
the tellurium,