se conjunction with the planets. My body was subtilized, or
rather became volatile, and commingled in a state of atomic vapor, with
the prodigious clouds, which rushed forward like a mighty comet into
infinite space!

What an extraordinary dream! Where would it finally take me? My feverish
hand began to write down the marvelous details--details more like the
imaginings of a lunatic than anything sober and real. I had during this
period of hallucination forgotten everything--the Professor, the guide,
and the raft on which we were floating. My mind was in a state of
semioblivion.

"What is the matter, Harry?" said my uncle suddenly.

My eyes, which were wide opened like those of a somnambulist, were fixed
upon him, but I did not see him, nor could I clearly make out anything
around me.

"Take care, my boy," again cried my uncle, "you will fall into the sea."

As he uttered these words, I felt myself seized on the other side by the
firm hand of our devoted guide. Had it not been for the presence of mind
of Hans, I must infallibly have fallen into the waves and been drowned.

"Have you gone mad?" cried my uncle, shaking me on the other side.

"What--what is the matter?" I said at last, coming to myself.

"Are you ill, Henry?" continued the Professor in an anxious tone.

"No--no; but I have had an extraordinary dream. It, however, has passed
away. All now seems well," I added, looking around me with strangely
puzzled eyes.

"All right," said my uncle; "a beautiful breeze, a splendid sea. We are
going along at a rapid rate, and if I am not out in my calculations we
shall soon see land. I shall not be sorry to exchange the narrow limits
of our raft for the mysterious strand of the subterranean ocean."

As my uncle uttered these words, I rose and carefully scanned the
horizon. But the line of water was still confounded with the lowering
clouds that hung aloft, and in the distance appeared to touch the edge
of the water.

CHAPTER 30

TERRIFIC SAURIAN COMBAT

Saturday, August 15th. The sea still retains its uniform monotony. The
same leaden hue, the same eternal glare from above. No indication of
land being in sight. The horizon appears to retreat before us, more and
more as we advance.

My head, still dull and heavy from the effects of my extraordinary
dream, which I cannot as yet banish from my mind.

The Professor, who has not dreamed, is, however, in one of his morose
and unaccountable humors. Spen