Page:Clement Fezandié - Through the Earth.djvu/254

234 papers, telephoned to his mother and friends to let them know he was safe, and then leisurely made his way home, stopping at all the interesting countries on his long journey.

Wherever William went he was hailed as a hero. Magnificent pageants of air-ships bearing wonderful electric lights were arranged in honor of the intrepid youth who had dared to make the first journey through the earth. In a word, he was everywhere received with ovations that might well have turned the head of a less sensible lad.

An hour had sufficed to make the trip going, but it took him over a month to return. He was rich now, and neither he nor his mother need ever fear want again. Dr. Giles received him with open arms, and Flora fairly beamed with delight as she listened to the tale of his curious adventures.

The account of our hero's trip was published far and wide, and the celebrity thus obtained brought him numerous demands for contributions from the various magazines of the day, and thus led him to take up writing as a vocation, a field in which he achieved a high degree of success.

As for the transportation company Dr. Giles had organized, I regret to say that it was dissolved, as the dangers from the central heat of the earth