hicago, that they
obtained some of their then radical ideas concerning the use of wind
power for propulsion. Therefore, before the Undersea Tube had been
completed, the engineers in charge had decided to make use of the new
method in the world's longest tunnel, and upon that decision work was
immediately commenced upon the blue-prints for the great air pumps that
were to rise at the two ends--Liverpool and New York. However, I will
touch upon the theory of wind-propulsion later and after the manner in
which it was explained to me.

It will be recalled that after great ceremonies, the Tube was begun
simultaneously at the two terminating cities and proceeded through solid
rock--low enough below the ocean floor to overcome the terrible pressure
of the body of water over it, and yet close enough to the sea to
overcome the intensity of subterranean heat. Needless to say, it was an
extremely hazardous undertaking, despite the very careful surveys that
had been made, for the little parties of workmen could never tell when
they would strike a crack or an unexpected crevice that would let down
upon them with a terrible rush, the waters of the Atlantic. But hazard
is adventure, and as the two little groups of laborers dug toward each
other, the eyes of the press followed them with more persistent interest
than it has ever followed the daily toil of any man or group of men,
either before or since.

* * * * *

Once the world was startled by the "extree-ee--" announcing that the
English group had broken into an extinct volcano, whose upper end had
apparently been sealed ages before, for it contained not water but
air--curiously close and choking perhaps, but at least it was not the
watery deluge of death. And then came the great discovery. No one who
lived through that time will forget the thrill that quickened the pulse
of mankind when the American group digging through a seam of old lava
under what scientists call the "ancient ridge," broke into a sealed
cavern which gleamed in the probing flashlights of the workers like the
scintillating points of a thousand diamonds. But when they found the
jeweled casket, through whose glass top they peered curiously down upon
the white body of a beautiful woman, partly draped in the ripples of her
heavy, red hair, the world gasped and wondered. As every school child
knows, the casket was opened by curious scientists, who flocked into the
tube from the length o