which had been demonstrated already to be a conductor
of heat. Only succeed in piercing through this rock for seven or eight
yards, and the lieutenant did not doubt that his way would be opened
into the old lava-course, by following which he hoped descent would be
easy.

Under the lieutenant's direction the Russian sailors were immediately
set to work. Their former experience had convinced them that spades and
pick-axes were of no avail, and their sole resource was to proceed
by blasting with gunpowder. However skillfully the operation might be
carried on, it must necessarily occupy several days, and during that
time the sufferings from cold must be very severe.

"If we fail in our object, and cannot get to the depths of the mountain,
our little colony is doomed," said Count Timascheff.

"That speech is not like yourself," answered Servadac, smiling. "What
has become of the faith which has hitherto carried you so bravely
through all our difficulties?"

The count shook his head, as if in despair, and said, sadly, "The Hand
that has hitherto been outstretched to help seems now to be withdrawn."

"But only to test our powers of endurance," rejoined the captain,
earnestly. "Courage, my friend, courage! Something tells me that this
cessation of the eruption is only partial; the internal fire is not all
extinct. All is not over yet. It is too soon to give up; never despair!"

Lieutenant Procope quite concurred with the captain. Many causes, he
knew, besides the interruption of the influence of the oxygen upon the
mineral substances in Gallia's interior, might account for the stoppage
of the lava-flow in this one particular spot, and he considered it more
than probable that a fresh outlet had been opened in some other part of
the surface, and that the eruptive matter had been diverted into the new
channel. But at present his business was to prosecute his labors so
that a retreat might be immediately effected from their now untenable
position.

Restless and agitated, Professor Rosette, if he took any interest in
these discussions, certainly took no share in them. He had brought his
telescope down from the observatory into the common hall, and there at
frequent intervals, by night and by day, he would endeavor to continue
his observations; but the intense cold perpetually compelled him to
desist, or he would literally have been frozen to death. No sooner,
however, did he find himself obliged to retreat from his study of