0ur seats, into which we strapped ourselves, were so arranged upontransverse bars that we would be upright whether the craft wereploughing her way downward into the bowels of the earth, or runninghorizontally along some great seam of coal, or rising verticallytoward the surface again.

At length all was ready. Perry bowed his head in prayer. Fora moment we were silent, and then the very old man's hand grasped thestarting lever. There was a frightful roaring beneath us--thegiant frame trembled and vibrated--there was a rush of sound as theloose earth passed up through the hollow space between the innerand outer jackets to be deposited in our wake. We sometimes were off!

The noise was deafening. The sensation was frightful. For a fullminute neither of us could do aught but cling with the proverbialdesperation of the drowning man to the handrails of our swingingseats. Then Perry glanced at the thermometer.

"Gad!" he cried, "it cannot be possible--quick! What does thedistance meter read?"