Chapter 5
chapter five of journey to the centre of the earth journey to the centre of the earth by chapter v first lessons in climbing at altona a suburb of hamburg is the chief station of the keel railway which was to take us to the shores of the belt in twenty minutes from the moment of our departure we were in holstein and our carriage entered the station our heavy luggage was taken out weighed labelled and placed in a huge van we then took our tickets and exactly at seven o'clock were seated opposite each other in a first-class railway carriage my uncle said nothing he was too busy examining his papers among which of course was the famous parchment and some letters of introduction from the danish consul which were to pave the way to an introduction to the governor of iceland my only amusement was looking out of the window but as we passed through a flat though fertile country this occupation was slightly monotonous
in three hours we reached keel and our baggage was at once transferred to the steamer we had now a day before us a delay of about ten hours which fact put my uncle in a towering passion we had nothing to do but to walk about the pretty town and bay at length however we went on board and at half-past ten were steaming down the great belt it was a dark night with a strong breeze and a rough sea nothing being visible but the occasional fires on shore with here and there a lighthouse at seven in the morning we left corseur a little town on the western side of sealand here we took another railway which in three hours brought us to the capital copenhagen where scarcely taking time for refreshment my uncle hurried out to present one of his letters of introduction it was to the director of the museum of antiquities who having been informed that we were tourists bound for iceland did all he could to assist us
one wretched hope sustained me now perhaps no vessel was bound for such distant parts alas a little danish schooner the valkyrie was to sail on the second of june for the captain m bjarne was on board and was rather surprised at the energy and cordiality with which his future passenger shook him by the hand to him a voyage to iceland was merely a matter of course my uncle on the other hand considered the event of sublime importance the honest sailor took advantage of the professor's enthusiasm to double the fare on tuesday morning at seven o'clock be on board said m bjarne handing us our receipts excellent capital glorious remarked my uncle as we sat down to a late breakfast refresh yourself my boy and we will take a run through the town our meal concluded we went to the commens nythorv to the king's magnificent palace to the beautiful bridge of the canal near the museum
to the immense cenotaph of thorvaldsen with its hideous naval groups to the castle of rosenberg and to all the other lions of the place none of which my uncle even saw so absorbed was he in his anticipated triumphs but one thing struck his fancy and that was a certain singular steeple situated on the island of amak which is the south-east quarter of the city of copenhagen my uncle at once ordered me to turn my steps that way and accordingly we went on board the steam ferry-boat which does duty on the canal and very soon reached the noted dockyard in the first instance we crossed some narrow streets where we met numerous groups of galley slaves with parti-colored trousers gray and yellow working under the orders and the sticks of severe taskmasters and finally reached the vor frälsares this church exhibited nothing remarkable in itself in fact the worthy professor had only been attracted to it by one circumstance which was that its rather elevated steeple started from a circular platform
after which there was an exterior staircase which wound round to the very summit let us ascend said my uncle but i never could climb church towers i cried i am subject to dizziness in my head the very reason why you should go up i want to cure you of a bad habit but my good sir i tell you to come what is the use of wasting so much valuable time it was impossible to dispute the dictatorial commands of my uncle i yielded with a groan on payment of a fee a verger gave us the key he for one was not partial to the ascent my uncle at once showed me the way running up the steps like a schoolboy i followed as well as i could though no sooner was i outside the tower than my head began to swim there was nothing of the eagle about me the earth was enough for me and no ambitious desire to soar ever entered my mind still things did not go badly until i had descended hundred and fifty steps and was near the platform when i began to feel the rush of cold air
i could scarcely stand when clutching the railings i looked upwards the railing was frail enough but nothing to those which skirted the terrible winding staircase that appeared from where i stood to ascent to the skies now then henry i can't do it i cried in accents of despair are you after all a coward sir said my uncle in his pitiless tone go up i say to this there was no reply possible and yet the keen air acted violently on my nervous system sky earth all seemed to swim round while the steeple rocked like a ship my legs gave way like those of a drunken man i crawled upon my hands and knees i hauled myself up slowly crawling like a snake presently i closed my eyes and allowed myself to be dragged upwards look around you said my uncle in a stern voice heaven knows what profound abysses you may have to look down this is excellent practice
slowly and shivering all the while with cold i opened my eyes what then did i see my first glance was upwards at the cold fleecy clouds which as by some optical delusion appeared to stand still while the steeple the weathercock and our two selves were carried swiftly along far away on one side could be seen the grassy plain while on the other lay the sea bathed in translucent light the sund or sound as we call it could be discovered beyond the point of elsinore crowded with white sails which at that distance looked like the wings of sea-gulls while to the east could be made out the far-off coast of sweden the whole appeared a magic panorama but faint and bewildered as i was there was no remedy for it rise and stand up i must despite my protestations my first lesson lasted quite an hour when nearly two hours later i reached the bosom of mother earth i was like a rheumatic old man bent double with pain enough for one day said my uncle rubbing his hands we will begin again to-morrow
there was no remedy my lessons lasted five days and at the end of that period i ascended blithely enough and found myself able to look down into the depths below without even winking and with some degree of pleasure End of chapter 5 Read by Lars Rolander
