When the World Screamed Part 2

**Ben Tucker** (0:00)
Part 2 of When the World Screamed by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
The Slibbervox recording is in the public domain. Read by Ben Tucker.
Part 2 When I got back to my office, I found Ted Malone waiting with a broad grin upon his face to know the result of my interview.
Well, he cried, None the worse, no case of assault and battery. You must have handled him very tactfully. What do you think of the old boy?
The most aggravating, insolent, intolerant, self-opinionated man I've ever met. But... Exactly, cried Malone. We all come to see that but. Of course, he is all you see and a lot more. But one feels that so big a man is not to be measured in our skill, and that we can endure from him what we would not stand from any other living mortal. Is that not so? Well, I don't know him well enough yet to say. But I will admit that if he is not a mere bullying megalomaniac, and if what he says is true, then he certainly is in a class by himself. But is it true?
Of course it's true. Challenger always delivers the goods. Now where are you exactly in the matter? Has he told you about Hengist Down?
Yes, in a sketchy sort of way. Well, you may take it from me that the whole thing is colossal. Colossal in conception, and colossal in execution. He hates pressmen, but I am in his confidence, for he knows that I will publish no more than he authorizes. Therefore I have his plans, or some of his plans. He is such a deep old bird that one never is sure if one has really touched bottom. Anyhow, I know enough to assure you that Hengist Down is a practical proposition, and nearly complete it. My advice to you now is simply to wait events. And meanwhile to get your gear all ready. You'll hear soon enough either from him or from me.
As it happened, it was from Malone himself that I heard. He came round quite early to my office some weeks later as the bearer of a message. I've come from Challenger, said he. You're like the pilot fish to the shark. I'm proud to be anything to him. He really is a wonder. He has done it all right.
It's your turn now, and then he is ready to ring up the curtain.
Well, I can't believe it till I see it, but I have everything ready and loaded on a lorry. I could start it off at any moment. Then do so at once. I've given you a tremendous character for energy and punctuality, so mind you don't let me down. In the meantime, come down with me by reel, and I will give you an idea of what has to be done.
It was a lovely spring morning, May 22, to be exact, when we made that fateful journey which brought me on to a stage which is destined to be historical. On the way, Malone handed me a note from Challenger which I was to accept as my instructions. Sir, it ran. Upon arriving at Hengist Down, you will put yourself at the disposal of Mr. Barforth, the chief engineer, who was in possession of my plans. My young friend Malone, the bearer of this, is also in touch with me and may protect me from any personal contact. We have now experienced certain phenomena in the shaft, at and below the 14,000 foot level which fully bear out my views as to the nature of a planetary body. But some more sensational proof is needed before I can hope to make an impression upon the torpid intelligence of the modern scientific world.
That proof you are destined to afford and they to witness. As you descend in the lifts, you will observe, presuming that you have the rare quality of observation, that you pass in succession the secondary chalk beds, the cold measures, some Devonian and Cambrian indications, and finally the granite through which the greater part of our tunnel is conducted. The bottom is now covered with tarpaulin, which I order you not to tamper with, as any clumsy handling of the sensitive inner cuticle of the earth might bring about premature results. At my instruction, two strong beams have been laid across the shaft twenty feet above the bottom, with a space between them. The space will act as a clip to hold up your artesian tube. Fifty feet of drill will suffice, twenty of which will project below the beams, so that the point of the drill comes nearly down to the tarpaulin. As you value your life, do not let it go further. Thirty feet will then project upwards in the shaft, and when you have released it, we may assume that not less than forty feet of drill will bury itself in the earth's substance. As this substance is very soft, I find that you will probably need no drive-in power, and that simply a release of the tube will suffice by its own weight to drive it into the layer which we have uncovered. These instructions would seem to be sufficient for any ordinary intelligence, but I have little doubt that you will need more, which can be referred to me through our young friend Malone, George Edward Challenger.