This was
bad enough, but imagine my horror when Umslopogaas having turned
him on to his back with the paddle, we recognized in the sunken
features the lineaments of -- whom do you suppose? None other
than our poor servant who had been sucked down two days before
in the waters of the subterranean river. It quite frightened
me. I thought that we had left him behind for ever, and behold!
borne by the current, he had made the awful journey with us,
and with us had reached the end. His appearance also was dreadful,
for he bore traces of having touched the pillar of fire -- one
arm being completely shrivelled up and all his hair being burnt
off. The features were, as I have said, sunken, and yet they
preserved upon them that awful look of despair that I had seen
upon his living face as the poor fellow was sucked down. Really
the sight unnerved me, weary and shaken as I felt with all that
we had gone through, and I was heartily glad when suddenly and
without any warning the body began to sink just as though it
had had a mission, which having been accomplished, it retired;
the real reason no doubt being that turning it on its back allowed
a free passage to the gas. Down it went to the transparent depths
-- fathom after fathom we could trace its course till at last
a long line of bright air-bubbles, swiftly chasing each other
to the surface, alone remained where it had passed.
Pages:
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195