Then he returned to the rocks, against which the furious waves were beating, to save what he could. I was unable to speak. I was shattered with fatigue and excitement; I wanted a whole hour to recover even a little. But a deluge of rain was still falling, though with that violence which generally denotes the near cessation of a storm. A few overhanging rocks afforded us some shelter from the storm. Hans prepared some food, which I could not touch; and each of us, exhausted with three sleepless nights, fell into a broken and painful sleep. The next day the weather was splendid. The sky and the sea had sunk into sudden repose. Every trace of the awful storm had disappeared. The exhilarating voice of the Professor fell upon my ears as I awoke; he was ominously cheerful. "Well, my boy," he cried, "have you slept well?" Would not any one have thought that we were still in our cheerful little house on the Königstrasse and that I was only just coming down to breakfast, and that I was to be married to Gräuben that day? Alas! if the tempest had but sent the raft a little more east, we should have passed under Germany, under my beloved town of Hamburg, under the very street where dwelt all that I loved most in the world. Then only forty leagues would have separated us! But they were forty leagues perpendicular of solid granite wall, and in reality we were a thousand leagues asunder! All these painful reflections rapidly crossed my mind before I could answer my uncle's question. "Well, now," he repeated, "won't you tell me how you have slept?" "Oh, very well," I said. "I am only a little knocked up, but I shall soon be better." "Oh," says my uncle, "that's nothing to signify. You are only a little bit tired." "But you, uncle, you seem in very good spirits this morning." "Delighted, my boy, delighted. We have got there." "To our journey's end?" "No; but we have got to the end of that endless sea. Now we shall go by land, and really begin to go down! down! down!" "But, my dear uncle, do let me ask you one question." "Of course, Axel." "How about returning?" "Returning? Why, you are talking about the return before the arrival." "No, I only want to know how that is to be managed." "In the simplest way possible. When we have reached the centre of the globe, either we shall find some new way to get back, or we shall come back like decent folks the way we came. I feel pleased at the thought that it is sure not to be shut against us." "But then we shall have to refit the raft." "Of course." "Then, as to provisions, have we enough to last?" "Yes; to be sure we have. Hans is a clever fellow, and I am sure he must have saved a large part of our cargo. But still let us go and make sure."