Had the casting succeeded? They were reduced to mere conjecture. There was indeed every reason to expect success, since the mould has absorbed the entire mass of the molten metal; still some considerable time must elapse before they could arrive at any certainty upon the matter.
The patience of the members of the Gun Club was sorely tried during this period of time. But they could do nothing. J. T. Maston escaped roasting by a miracle.
Fifteen days after the casting an immense column of smoke was still rising in the open sky and the ground burned the soles of the feet within a radius of two hundred feet round the summit of Stones Hill. It was impossible to approach nearer.
All they could do was to wait with what patience they might. 'Here we are at the 10th of August,' exclaimed J. T. Maston one morning, 'only four months to the 1st of December! We shall never be ready in time! ' Barbicane said nothing, but his silence covered serious irritation.
However, daily observations revealed a certain change going on in the state of the ground. About the 15th of August the vapors ejected had sensibly diminished in intensity and thickness.
Some days afterward the earth exhaled only a slight puff of smoke, the last breath of the monster enclosed within its circle of stone.
Little by little the belt of heat contracted, until on the 22nd of August, Barbicane, his colleagues, and the engineer were enabled to set foot on the iron sheet which lay level upon the summit of Stones Hill. 'At last!
' exclaimed the president of the Gun Club, with an immense sigh of relief. The work was resumed the same day. They proceeded at once to extract the interior mould, for the purpose of clearing out