to the first, and this would be
wound upon another windlass and worked by another engine, as powerful as
the first one. Thus, even if one of these double chains should break--an
accident almost impossible--or if anything should happen to one of these
engines, there would be another engine more than sufficient for the
work. The top of this car would be conical, ending in a sharp point, and
made of steel, so that if any fragment in the wall of the tunnel should
become dislodged and fall, it would glance from this roof and fall
between the side of the car and the inner surface of the shaft; for the
car is to be only twenty-six inches in diameter-quite wide enough for
my purpose--and this would leave at least ten inches of space all around
the car. But, as I have said before, the sides of this tunnel are hard
and smooth. The substances of which they are composed have been pressed
together by a tremendous force. It is as unlikely that anything should
fall from them as that particles should drop from the inside of a
rifle-barrel.

"I admit, Margaret, that this proposed journey into the depths of the
earth is a very peculiar one, but, after all, it is comparatively an
easy and safe performance when compared to other things that men have
done. The mountain-climbers of our fathers' time, who used to ascend the
highest peaks with nothing but spiked shoes and sharpened poles, ran far
more danger than would be met by one who would descend such a shaft as
mine.

"And then, Margaret, think of what our friends on board the Dipsey have
been and are doing! Think of the hundreds of miles they have travelled
through the unknown depths of the sea! Their expedition was fifty times
as hazardous as the trip of a few hours which I propose."

Now Margaret spoke.

"But I am not engaged to be married to Samuel Block, or to Mr. Gibbs, or
to any of the rest of them."

He drew his chair closer to her, and he took both of her hands in his
own. He held them as if they had been two lifeless things.

"Margaret," he said, "you know I love you, and--"

"Yes," she interrupted, "but I know that you love science more."

"Not at all," said he, "and I am going to show you how greatly mistaken
you are. Tell me not to go down that shaft, tell me to live on without
ever knowing what it is I have discovered, tell me to explode bombs in
that great hole until I have blocked it up, and I will obey you. That is
how I love you, Margaret."

She gazed into hi