vibrating, the enthusiasm of the spectators was intense.
The doctor had succeeded! He had successfully carried out a piece of engineering work such as had never been dreamed of before, and whose difficulties can be realized only by those who have made a lifelong study of mechanics. This last triumph of making the two tubes meet together in the center of the earth, with a discrepancy well within the margin of error allowed for by the doctor, in itself entitled him to a high rank as a civil engineer.
Of course there had been many minor accidents in the course of his stupendous task; but now that victory had crowned the efforts of the intrepid doctor, he felt amply repaid for all the sleepless nights he had passed. Even James Curtis, skeptical as he was, was forced to acknowledge that the word "impossible" was one which deserved to be stricken from the dictionaries of the twentieth century. As for his daughter Flora, she danced about with delight at the success of the undertaking.
"Well, doctor, when does the first car start?" asked Mr. Curtis, hardly five minutes after the tubes had met in the center of the earth.
