"Axel, we found an underground sea. There are trees here and the bones of
y
voice.
animals that lived thousands of years ago. When you get better
, we are setting of
across this sea. Oh Axel, you can't imagine how happy I am!"
I could not move much for two days. I heard Hans building a boat for us to sal
in, but I could not understand how there was light. The Professor explained this to
me.
"It is a mystery, like so many things, but it is something like electricity coming
from the heat of these rocks. We are inside something like a giant cave. The top
of it is a few miles high. There are even clouds because of the water."
I looked up and saw the clouds. I could not see the top of this cave, but it was
difficult to believe that all of this was under the Earth.
When I felt strong again, I took a walk along the beach. There were shells there
from a time before man walked on the Earth. I saw the bones of something which
looked like a huge elephant. I thought, 'Can things live under the earth? Are there
any animals alive down here?'
The boat was ready and we were ready to sail. We left the beach and a strong
wind pushed us quickly out to sea. After a few hours on this strange sea, Hans tied
the pickaxe to a rope and threw it into the water. The Professor wanted to know
how deep the sea was. It never touched the bottom. When Hans pulled it back into
the boat, its metal head looked different. There were large marks on it.
"What's that?"
Hans looked at it closely.
"Teeth."​