"Certainly, Harry; a dozen if you think proper."

"One will suffice. How about getting back?" I asked.

"How about getting back? What a question to ask. We have not as yet
reached the end of our journey."

"I know that. All I want to know is how you propose we shall manage the
return voyage?"

"In the most simple manner in the world," said the imperturbable
Professor. "Once we reach the exact centre of this sphere, either we
shall find a new road by which to ascend to the surface, or we shall
simply turn round and go back by the way we came. I have every reason to
believe that while we are traveling forward, it will not close behind
us."

"Then one of the first matters to see to will be to repair the raft,"
was my rather melancholy response.

"Of course. We must attend to that above all things," continued the
Professor.

"Then comes the all-important question of provisions," I urged. "Have we
anything like enough left to enable us to accomplish such great, such
amazing, designs as you contemplate carrying out?"

"I have seen into the matter, and my answer is in the affirmative. Hans
is a very clever fellow, and I have reason to believe that he has saved
the greater part of the cargo. But the best way to satisfy your scruples
is to come and judge for yourself."

Saying which, he led the way out of the kind of open grotto in which we
had taken shelter. I had almost begun to hope that which I should rather
have feared, and this was the impossibility of such a shipwreck leaving
even the slightest signs of what it had carried as freight. I was,
however, thoroughly mistaken.

As soon as I reached the shores of this inland sea, I found Hans
standing gravely in the midst of a large number of things laid out in
complete order. My uncle wrung his hands with deep and silent gratitude.
His heart was too full for speech.

This man, whose superhuman devotion to his employers I not only never
saw surpassed, nor even equaled, had been hard at work all the time we
slept, and at the risk of his life had succeeded in saving the most
precious articles of our cargo.

Of course, under the circumstances, we necessarily experienced several
severe losses. Our weapons had wholly vanished. But experience had
taught us to do without them. The provision of powder had, however,
remained intact, after having narrowly escaped blowing us all to atoms
in the storm.

"Well," said the Professor, who was now ready to make the best of