With my last flickering ray of consciousness I turned mechanically
toward the distance meter. It stood at exactly five hundred miles
from the earth's surface--and then of a sudden the huge thing that
bore us came to a stop. The rattle of hurtling rock through the
hollow jacket ceased. The wild racing of the giant drill betokened
that it was running loose in AIR--and then another truth flashed
upon me. The point of the prospector was ABOVE us. Slowly it
dawned on me that since passing through the ice strata it had been
above. We had turned in the ice and sped upward toward the earth's
crust. Thank God! We were safe!

I put my nose to the intake pipe through which samples were to have
been taken during the passage of the prospector through the earth,
and my fondest hopes were realized--a flood of fresh air was pouring
into the iron cabin. The reaction left me in a state of collapse,
and I lost consciousness.



II

A STRANGE WORLD


I WAS UNCONSCIOUS LITTLE MORE THAN AN INSTANT, for as I lunged
forward from the crossbeam to which I had been clinging, and fell
with a crash to the floor of the cabin, the shock brought me to
myself.