The Hans-bach and beyond
Hans has discovered a stream further down the western tunnel. The water is boiling hot and has a peculiar inky flavour but it soon cools and is by no means disagreeable. Harry and the Professor name the stream the "Hans-bach" after its discoverer but Hans is unperturbed.
Restored to health, the adventurers follow the stream along and down the gallery. The next day and the next they walk onwards until the Hans-bach disappears down a horrible well. By now they are thirty leagues to the south-west of Reykjavik and about two and a half leagues deep. The Professor is delighted by the opportunity to descend yet further. By his own calculation, there is a long way to go!
For two days the party climb down the dangerous and twisting fissure in the rock until it finally starts to level out. On they go, following the path deeper and deeper underground.
On Saturday, after five days of comparatively easy but dreadfully monotonous walking, they are relieved to reach a kind of vast grotto. They are very tired by now and decide the next day should be one of rest.
On Sunday, 21st July, the Professor calculates that they are two hundred and fifty miles from the base of Sneffels and sixteen leagues, that is fourty-eight miles, below the level of the sea. In turn, Harry calculates that at this rate, it will take them two thousand days, that is about five and a half years, to reach their goal. Either that, or they will return to the circumference a long way from home and long before they can hope to reach the center.
"Bother your calculations!" says the Professor in one of his old rages.