Page:Clement Fezandié - Through the Earth.djvu/104

84 one thousand miles per hour just as well as the car; so it seems to me the car ought to stay right in the middle of the hole during the entire trip."

"You forget," said Dr. Giles, "that it is only at the surface of the earth that the hole will be traveling at the rate of one thousand miles an hour. The lower portions of the hole, making much smaller daily circles, naturally travel at a much lower speed, whereas at the very center of the earth the hole, instead of moving toward the east at the rate of one thousand miles an hour, will only move a few feet in a whole day!"

"Well, then, what will happen to the car?" inquired Flora, anxiously.

"What will happen to it? Why, even though I took the precaution to drop the car down into the very middle of the tube, as the vehicle will retain its rapid rate toward the east during its entire passage, it will continually scrape against the eastern side of the tube. This friction will be so great that it will certainly prevent the car from going much beyond the center of the earth, and it will in all probability be sufficient to destroy both the car and the tube!"

Flora was silent, and the doctor continued:

"Do you wonder now that I feel so badly?