“ God dag ,” said he.

“How do you do, Hans? How are you? And now, uncle, tell me where we are at the present moment?”

“Tomorrow, Axel, tomorrow. Now you are too faint and weak. I have bandaged your head with compresses which must not be disturbed. Sleep now, and tomorrow I will tell you all.”

“But do tell me what time it is, and what day.”

“It is Sunday, the 8th of August, and it is ten at night. You must ask me no more questions until the 10th.”

In truth I was very weak, and my eyes involuntarily closed. I wanted a good night’s rest; and I therefore went off to sleep, with the knowledge that I had been four long days alone in the heart of the earth.