Jules Verne

“ Our fire is lighted! no stint of fuel! Nature provides that! Let us make haste and warm ourselves!”
Inspired by his confidence, the count and the lieutenant advanced bravely along the unseen and winding path. The temperature was now at least fifteen degrees above zero, and the walls of the gallery were beginning to feel quite warm to the touch, an indication, not to be overlooked, that the substance of which the rock was composed was metallic in its nature, and capable of conducting heat. ”

“ Mounted upon Zephyr and Galette, the captain and the count scoured the island in search of some available retreat Scarcely a yard of ground was left unexplored, the horses clearing every obstacle as if they were, like Pegasus, furnished with wings. But all in vain. Soundings were made again and again, but invariably with the same result; the rock, hard as adamant, never failed to reveal itself within a few feet of the surface of the ground. ”

“ One day, in the environs of Montmartre, where they were secure from eavesdroppers, Ben Zoof incidentally referred to the experiences in the depths of Nina's Hive; but stopped short and said:
“However, those things never happened, sir, did they?”
His master could only reply:
“Confound it. Ben Zoof! What is a man to believe?” ”

“ The time could not be far distant when ships' sides and ordinary walls would fail to give an adequate protection from the severity of the cold that must be expected; the stock of fuel was too limited to keep up a permanent supply of heat in their present quarters, and consequently they must be driven to seek some other refuge, the internal temperature of which would at least be bearable. ”

“ Like many other modern pleasure-yachts, the Dobryna, in addition to her four-oar, was fitted with a fast-going little steam-launch, its screw being propelled, on the Oriolle system, by means of a boiler, small but very effective. Early next morning, this handy little craft was sufficiently freighted with coal (of which there was still about ten tons on board the Dobryna) , and manned by nobody except the captain, the count, and the lieutenant, left the harbour of the Sheliff, much to the bewilderment of Ben Zoof, who had not yet been admitted into the secret. ”

“ Were the figures in the mysterious documents correct? and had Gallia, according to physical law, been travelling at a rate that was progressively increasing? If so, she must now be a hundred millions of leagues from the sun, nearly three times the distance of the earth at the remotest section of her orbit The intensity of the solar light and heat, too, was very seriously diminishing, although Gourbi Island (being on the equator of an orb which had its axes always perpendicular to the plane in which it revolved) enjoyed a position that gave it a permanent summer. ”

“ To-morrow, my dear Procope, to-morrow we will explore it all; no doubt the life, the heat we want is reserved for us in the heart and bowels of our own Gallia!”
Whilst the captain was indulging in his expressions of enthusiasm, Procope was endeavouring to collect his thoughts. Distinctly he remembered the long promontory which had barred the Dobryna's progress while coasting the southern confines of the sea, and which had obliged her to ascend northwards as far as the former latitude of Oran ”

“ In one respect they congratulated themselves that they should be better off than many of the whalers in the polar seas, for as it is impossible to get below the surface of a frozen ocean, these adventurers have to seek refuge in huts of wood and snow erected on their ships, which at best can give but slight protection from extreme cold ”

“ Spaniards and Russians alike joined heartily in the work, the diminution of atmospheric pressure and of the force of attraction contributing such an increase to their muscular force as materially facilitated all their labours.
The first business was to accommodate the building adjacent to the gourbi to the wants of the little colony. Here for the present the Spaniards were lodged, the Russians retaining their berths upon the yacht, while the Jew was permitted to pass his nights upon the Hansa. ”