They would kill me afterwards.

Still, what would that matter! Would it not be better to end in this way than to spend years and years amid these infernal and infamous surroundings?
However, while there is life there is hope, I reflect, and this thought restrains me.
I have scarcely set eyes upon Thomas Roch since the _Ebba_ went away.
He shuts himself up in his laboratory and works unceasingly.

If he utilizes all the substances placed at his disposition there will be enough to blow up Back Cup and the whole Bermudan archipelago with it! I cling to the hope that he will never consent to give up the secret of his deflagrator, and that Engineer Serko's efforts to acquire it will remain futile.
_September 3_ .-- To-day I have been able to witness with my own eyes the power of Roch's explosive, and also the manner in which the fulgurator is employed.
During the morning the men began to pierce the passage through the wall of the cavern at the spot fixed upon by Engineer Serko, who superintended the work in person.

The work began at the base, where the rock is as hard as granite.

To have continued it with pickaxes would have entailed long and arduous labor, inasmuch as the wall at this place is not less than from twenty to thirty yards in thickness, but thanks to Roch's fulgurator the passage will be completed easily and rapidly.
I may well be astonished at what I have seen.