ain his meaning.
"We must bring the professor to see this," he continued after a slight
pause. "And--look here, Elphinstone--if you wish to intensely gratify
the worthy man, call this geyser after him--`The Von Schalckenberg
Geyser'--eh? It doesn't sound half bad, does it?"
The baronet laughingly consented to his friend's proposal, the more
readily as he knew that what Lethbridge had said as to the professor's
gratification was perfectly true; and then the wanderers resumed their
journey, passing along the narrow strip of sand which divided the edge
of the water from the base of the cliffs.
"There is no doubt, I think, that this geyser produces the cloud of
vapour and the sudden flashing gleam, at tolerably regular intervals,
which so aroused our curiosity this morning," remarked the baronet as
they plodded somewhat wearily along side by side over the sand.
His companion assented, and then they both paused, and finally flung
themselves down upon the sand to witness a repetition of the eruption,
the premonitory signs of which at that moment made their appearance.
Then, when it was over, finding themselves very comfortable--and very
hungry--they concluded to take luncheon before again moving; and, this
being followed by a pipe, it was after four o'clock in the afternoon
when they once more made a move.
A saunter for three-quarters of an hour along the margin of the lake
enabled them to reach a spot almost directly opposite that where they
had emerged into daylight from the interior of the cavern; and here they
found the point of overflow from the lake. The chain of hills, which
from their first point of sight had appeared to completely surround the
sheet of water, was here pierced by a narrow valley, through which a
small shallow stream, emanating from the geyser lake, made its devious
way. As the course of this valley appeared to trend generally in a
northerly direction, or toward the high table-land of which the
travellers were in quest, and as, moreover, the valley appeared to offer
the only exit from the lake basin in a northerly direction, the
travellers decided to follow its course, which they did by keeping close
to the margin of the stream. This mode of procedure, whilst it afforded
them tolerably easy walking, also enabled them to estimate more
accurately than they had hitherto done, the enormous quantity of water
projected into the air by the geyser; for whilst the stream normally
consisted of a b
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