Great Stone of Sardis

by Frank Richard Stockton

  CHAPTER XVIII. Mr. MARCY'S CANAL

  The twelve men and the one woman on board the Dipsey, now lying atanchor in the polar sea, were filled with a warming and cheering ardoras they began their preparations for the homeward journey, althoughthese preparations included what was to all of them a very painful pieceof work. It was found that it would be absolutely necessary to disengagethemselves from the electric cord which in all their voyaging in thesedesolate arctic regions, under water and above water, had connectedthem with the Works of Roland Clewe at Sardis, New Jersey. A sufficientlength of this cord, almost too slight to be called cable, to reachfrom Cape Tariff to the pole, with a margin adequate for all probableemergencies, had been placed on board the Dipsey, and it was expectedthat on her return these slender but immensely strong wires would bewound up, instead of being let out, and so still connect the vessel withMr. Clewe's office.

  But the Dipsey had sailed in such devious ways and in so many directionsthat she had laid a great deal of the cable upon the bottom of the polarsea, and it would be difficult, or perhaps impossible, to sail back overher previous tracks and take it up again; and there was not enough ofit left for her to proceed southward very far and still keep up hertelegraphic communication. Consequently it was considered best, uponstarting southward, that they should cut loose from all connection withtheir friends and the rest of the world. They would have to do thisanyway in a short time. If they left the end of the wire in somesuitable position on the coast of the polar sea, it might prove ofsubsequent advantage to science, whereas if they cut loose when theywere submerged in the ocean, this cable from Cape Tariff to the polemust always be absolutely valueless. It was therefore determined tobuild a little house, for which they had the material, and place thereina telegraph instrument connected with the wire, and provided with oneof the Collison batteries, which would remain in working order with acharge sufficient to last for forty years, and this, with a ground-wirerun down through the ice to the solid earth, might make telegraphiccommunication possible to some subsequent visitor to the pole.

  But apart from the necessity of giving up connection with Sardis, thejourney did not seem like such a strange and solemn progress throughunknown regions as the northern voyage had been. If they could getthemselves well down into the deep sea at a point on the seventieth lineof longitude, they would sail directly south with every confidence ofemerging safely into Baffin's Bay.

  The latest telegrams between Sardis and the polar sea were composedmostly of messages of the warmest friendship and encouragement. If Mr.Clewe and Mrs. Raleigh felt any fears as to the success of the firstpart of the return journey, they showed no signs of them, and Sammynever made any reference to his wife's frequently expressed opinion thatthere was good reason to believe that the end of this thing would bethat the Dipsey, with everybody on board of her, would suddenly, by oneof those mishaps which nobody can prevent, be blown into fine dust.

  Mr. Marcy's plan was a very simple one. The Dipsey carried a great storeof explosive appliances of various patterns and of the most improvedkinds, and some of them of immense power, and Mr. Marcy proposed that along line of these should be laid over the level ice and then exploded.The ice below them would be shivered into atoms, and he believed that anopen channel might thus be made, through which the Dipsey might easilyproceed. Then another line of explosives would be laid ahead of thevessel, and the length of the canal increased. This would be a slowmethod of proceeding, but it was considered a sure one.

  As to the progress over the snow and ice of those who were to lay thelines of shells, that would be easy enough. It had been supposed thatit might be necessary for the party to make overland trips, and for thispurpose twenty or more electric-motor sledges had been provided. Thesesledges were far superior to any drawn by dogs or reindeer; each one ofthem, mounted on broad runners of aluminium, was provided with a smallengine, charged at the vessel with electricity enough to last a week,and was propelled by means of a light metal wheel with sharp points uponits outer rim. This wheel was under the fore part of the sledge, and,revolving rapidly, its points caught in the ice or frozen snow andpropelled the sledge at a good rate of speed. The wheel could be raisedor lowered, so that its points should take more or less hold of the ice,according as circumstances demanded. In descending a declivity it couldbe raised entirely, so that the person on the sledge might coast, and itcould at any time be brought down hard to act as a brake.

  As soon as it was possible to get everything in order, a party of sixmen, on electric sledges, headed by Mr. Marcy, started southward overthe level ice, carrying with them a number of shells, which were placedin a long line, and connected by an electric wire with the Dipsey. Whenthe party had returned and the shells were exploded, the most sanguineanticipations of Mr. Marcy were realized. A magnificent canal threemiles long lay open to the south.

  Now the anchor of the Dipsey was weighed, and our party bade farewell tothe polar sea. The great ball buoy, with its tall pole and weathervane,floated proudly over the northern end of the earth's axis. The littletelegraph-house was all in order, and made as secure as possible, andunder it the Dipsey people made a "cache" of provisions, leaving a notein several languages to show what they had done.

  "If the whale wants to come ashore to get somethin' to eat and send amessage, why, here's his chance!" said Sammy; "but it strikes me that ifany human beings ever reach this pole again, they won't come the waywe came, and they'll not see this little house, for it won't takemany snow-storms--even if they are no worse than some of those we haveseen--to cover it up out o' sight."

  "I don't believe the slightest good will ever result on account ofleaving this instrument here," said Mr. Gibbs; "but it seemed the rightthing to do, and I would not be satisfied to go away and leave theuseless end of the cable in these regions. We will set up the highestrod we have by the little house, and then we can do no more."

  When the Dipsey started, everybody on board looked over the stern to seeif they could catch a glimpse of their old companion, the whale. Nearlyall of them were sorry that it was necessary to go away and desert thisliving being in his lonely solitude. They had not entered the canal whenthey saw the whale. Two tall farewell spouts rose into the air, and thenhis tail with its damaged fluke was lifted aloft and waved in a sort ofgigantic adieu. Cheers and shouts of good-bye came from the Dipsey, andthe whale disappeared from their sight.

  "I hope he won't come up under us," said Mrs. Block. "But I don'tbelieve he will do that. He always kept at a respectful distance, and aslong as we are goin' to sail in a canal, I wouldn't mind in the leastif he followed us. But as for goin' under water with him--I don't wantanybody to speak of it."

  Our exploring party now found their arctic life much more interestingthan it had lately been, for, from time to time, they were all enabledto leave the vessel and travel, if not upon solid land, upon verysolid ice. The Dipsey carried several small boats, and even Sarah Blockfrequently landed and took a trip upon a motor sledge. Sometimes the icewas rough, or the frozen snow was piled up into hillocks, and in suchcases it was easy enough to walk and draw the light sledges; but as ageneral thing the people on the sledges were able to travel rapidlyand pleasantly. The scenery was rather monotonous, with its everlastingstretches of ice and snow, but in the far distance the mountains loomedup in the beautiful colors given them by an arctic atmosphere, andthe rays of the sun still brightened the landscape at all hours.Occasionally animals, supposed to be arctic foxes, were seen at a greatdistance, and there were those in the company who declared that they hadcaught sight of a bear. But hunting was not encouraged. The party had noneed of fresh meat, and there was important work to be done which shouldnot be interfered with by sporting expeditions.

  There were days of slow progress, but of varied and often excitingexperiences, for sometimes the line of Mr. Marcy's canal lay throughhigh masses of ice, and here the necessary blasting was often of avery startling character. They expected to cease their overland journeybefore they reached the mountains, wh
ich on the south and west werepiled up much nearer to them than those in other quarters, but they weresurprised to find their way stopped much sooner than they had expectedit would be by masses of icebergs, which stood up in front of them outof the snowy plain.

  When they were within a few miles of these glittering eminences theyceased further operations and held a council. It was perfectly possibleto blow a great hole in the ice and descend into the sea at this point,but they would have preferred going farther south before beginning theirsubmarine voyage. To the eastward of the icebergs they could see withtheir glasses great patches of open water, and this would have preventedthe making of a canal around the icebergs, for it would have beenimpossible to survey the route on sledges or to lay the line of bombs.

  A good deal of discussion followed, during which Captain Hubbellstrongly urged the plan of breaking a path to the open water, andfinding out what could be done in the way of sailing south in regularnautical fashion. If the Dipsey could continue her voyage above water hewas in favor of her doing it, but even Captain Jim Hubbell could give nogood reason for believing that if the vessel got into the open waterthe party would not be obliged to go into winter-quarters in these icyregions; for in a very few weeks the arctic winter would be upon them.Once under the water, they would not care whether it was light or dark,but in the upper air it would be quite another thing.

  So Captain Hubbell's plan was given up, but it was generally agreed thatit would be a very wise thing, before they took any further steps, toascend one of the icebergs in front of them and see what was on theother side.

  The mountain-climbing party consisted of Mr. Gibbs, Mr. Marcy, and threeof the most active of the men. Sammy Block wanted to go with them, buthis wife would not allow him to do it.

  "You can take possession of poles, Sammy," said she, "for that is thething you are good at, but when it comes to slidin' down icebergs on thesmall of your back you are out of place; and if I get that house thatMr. Clewe lives in now, but which he is goin' to give up when he getsmarried, I don't want to live there alone. I can't think of nothin'dolefuler than a widow with a polar rheumatism, and that's what I'mpretty sure I'm goin' to have."

  The ascent of the nearest iceberg was not such a difficult piece of workas it would have been in the days when Sammy Block and Captain Hubbellwere boys. The climbers wore ice-shoes with leather suckers on thesoles, such as the feet of flies are furnished with, so that it wasalmost impossible for them to slip; and when they came to a slopingsurface, where it was too steep for them to climb, they made use of amotor sledge furnished with a wheel different from the others. Insteadof points, this wheel had on its outer rim a series of suckers, similarto those upon the soles of the shoes of the party. As the wheel, whichwas of extraordinary strength, revolved, it held its rim tightly towhatever surface it was pressed against, without reference to the angleof said surface. In 1941, with such a sledge, Martin Gallinet, a Swissguide, ascended seventy-five feet of a perpendicular rock face on MonteRosa. The sledge, slowly propelled by its wheel, went up the face of therock as if it had been a fly climbing up a pane of glass, and Gallinet,suspended below this sledge by a strap under his arms, was hauled to thetop of the precipice.

  It was not necessary to climb any such precipices in ascending aniceberg, but there were some steep slopes, and up these the party weresafely carried, one by one, by what they called their Fly-foot Sledge.

  After an hour or two of climbing, our party safely reached the topmostpoint of the iceberg, and began to gaze about them. They soon found thatbeyond them there were other peaks and pinnacles, and that it would havebeen difficult to make a circuit which would enable them to continueMr. Marcy's plan of a canal along the level ice. Far beyond them, to thesouth, ice hills and ice mountains were scattered here and there.

  Suddenly Mr. Gibbs gave a shout of surprise.

  "I have been here before," said he.

  "Of course you have," replied Mr. Marcy. "This is Lake Shiver. Don't yousee, away over there on the other side of the open water below us, thatlittle dark spot in the icy wall? That is the frozen polar bear. Takeyour glass and see if it isn't."