The professor stated very deliberately what he had already communicated to me, viz.: that we were really descending to the interior of the earth, that the bows of the ship were gradually pointing to its centre, and that if the voyage were continued we would find ourselves swallowed up in a vast polar gulf leading to God knows what infernal regions.
The terror inspired by the professor's words was plainly visible on every face.
"Let us turn back!" shouted some of the sailors.
"My opinion," said the captain, "is that we have entered a polar depression; it is impossible to think that the earth is a hollow shell into which we may sail so easily as this."
"If I might venture a remark," said Pilot Rowe, "I think Professor Starbottle is right. If the earth is a hollow shell having a subterranean ocean, we can sail thereon bottom upward and masts downward, just as easily as we sail on the surface of the ocean here."
"I believe an interior ocean an impossibility," said the captain.
"You're right, sorr," said the master-at-arms, "for what would keep the ship sticking to the wather upside down?"
THE TERROR INSPIRED BY THE PROFESSOR'S WORDS WAS PLAINLY VISIBLE ON EVERY FACE.