Page:Clement Fezandié - Through the Earth.djvu/110

90 in answer to the advertisement. There was something appalling in the thought of dropping eight thousand miles, and not a man could be found willing to undertake the strange voyage.

"What a pack of cowards they are!" the doctor exclaimed angrily. "If I could only trust these machines with some one else, I should n't hesitate an instant to go myself! But so much depends upon the proper working of the electrical currents that I could not possibly delegate so difficult a task to even my most competent assistant. The mere work of regulating the charge of repellent electricity in the tube to counteract the centrifugal force of the earth will, in itself, demand the closest attention. The least inadvertence or error on the part of the operator would jeopardize the success of the whole undertaking."

"Have you been able to get this part of the apparatus in good working order at such short notice?" asked Mr. Curtis, to whom these remarks were addressed.

"Oh, yes; there was no trouble about that," replied the doctor. "I have, as you know, a large corps of workmen, and the task was really a simple one. But although everything is in perfect condition, the proper control of the