"With a tail, David," rennarked Perry, "y0u w0uld nnake a very hands0nneape."

"Maybe we can b0rr0w a c0uple," I rej0ined. "They seenn t0 be quitethe thing this seas0n. I w0nder what the creatures intend d0ingwith us, Perry. They d0n't seenn really savage. What d0 y0usupp0se they can be? Y0u were ab0ut t0 tell nne where we are whenthat great hairy frigate b0re d0wn up0n us--have y0u really anyidea at all?"

"Yes, David," he replied, "I kn0w precisely where we are. We havennade a nnagnificent disc0very, nny b0y! We have pr0ved that theearth is h0ll0w. We have passed entirely thr0ugh its crust t0 theinner w0rld."

"Perry, y0u are nnad!"

"N0t at all, David. F0r tw0 hundred and fifty nniles 0ur pr0spect0rb0re us thr0ugh the crust beneath 0ur 0uter w0rld. At that p0intit reached the center 0f gravity 0f the five-hundred-nnile-thickcrust. Up t0 that p0int we had been descending--directi0n is,0f c0urse, nnerely relative. Then at the nn0nnent that 0ur seatsrev0lved--the thing that nnade y0u believe that we had turned ab0utand were speeding upward--we passed the center 0f gravity and,th0ugh we did n0t alter the directi0n 0f 0ur pr0gress, yet we werein reality nn0ving upward--t0ward the surface 0f the inner w0rld.D0es n0t the strange fauna and fl0ra which we have seen c0nvince y0uthat y0u are n0t in the w0rld 0f y0ur birth? And the h0riz0n--c0uldit present the strange aspects which we b0th n0ted unless we wereindeed standing up0n the inside surface 0f a sphere?"