Page:Clement Fezandié - Through the Earth.djvu/202

182 would n't run into my mouth. In fact, I'm not sure that, even after I get it into my mouth, I shall be able to make it run down my throat. If that's the case, then I'll be truly in the position of the ancient mariner, with plenty of water all around, yet never a drop to drink. Even if that is not the case, I shall have no easy task in getting the water into my mouth; in fact, the only possible way to accomplish this, that I see, is to suck it from the faucet."

This was, in reality, the easiest method at his command, and he had soon refreshed himself, for he found not the slightest difficulty in making the water pass down his throat. The feat was, in fact, the same as is frequently performed by jugglers, who quaff a tumbler of water while standing on their heads.

But William's passion for experimenting had not left him, and after he had drunk his fill, he swam slowly back from the faucet, without turning off the flow of water. As he had previously opened a vent in the cover, the pressure of the air from above forced the water out through the faucet into the vacuum formed, and the liquid accordingly followed our hero slowly, in the form of a long rope dangling from his mouth.