"Quite correct, David. Are you frightened?"

"I do not know. It all has come so suddenly that I scarce believe
that either of us realizes the real terrors of our position. I feel
that I should be reduced to panic; but yet I am not. I imagine that
the shock has been so great as to partially stun our sensibilities."

Again I turned to the thermometer. The mercury was rising with less
rapidity. It was now but 140 degrees, although we had penetrated
to a depth of nearly four miles. I told Perry, and he smiled.

"We have shattered one theory at least," was his only comment, and
then he returned to his self-assumed occupation of fluently cursing
the steering wheel. I once heard a pirate swear, but his best
efforts would have seemed like those of a tyro alongside of Perry's
masterful and scientific imprecations.

Once more I tried my hand at the wheel, but I might as well have
essayed to swing the earth itself. At my suggestion Perry stopped
the generator, and as we came to rest I again threw all my strength
into a supreme effort to move the thing even a hair's breadth--but
the results were as barren as when we had been traveling at top
speed.

I shook my head sadly, and motioned to the starting lever. Perry
pulled it toward him, and once again we were plunging downward
toward eternity at the rate of seven miles an hour. I sat with my
eyes glued to the thermometer and the distance meter. The mercury
was rising very slowly now, though even at 145 degrees it was almost
unbearable within the narrow confines of our metal prison.