Great Stone of Sardis

by Frank Richard Stockton

  CHAPTER XIX. THE ICY GATEWAY

  When Mr. Gibbs and his party returned to the Dipsey, after descendingthe iceberg, their report created a lively sensation.

  "Why, it's like goin' home," said Mrs. Block. "Perhaps I may find myshoes."

  It was not a very strange thing that they should have again met withthis little ice-locked lake, for they had endeavored to return by aroute as directly south as the other had been directly north. But no onehad expected to see the lake again, and they were not only surprised,but pleased and encouraged. Here was a spot where they knew the waterwas deep enough for perfectly safe submarine navigation, and if theycould start here under the ice they would feel quite sure that theywould meet with no obstacles on the rest of their voyage.

  As there was no possible entrance to this lake from the point where theDipsey now lay at the end of her canal, Sammy proposed that they shouldmake a descent into the water at the place where they were, if, aftermaking soundings, they should find the depth sufficient. Then they mightproceed southward as well as if they should start from Lake Shiver.

  But this did not suit Mr. Gibbs. He had a very strong desire to reachthe waters of the little lake, because he knew that at their bottom laythe telegraphic cable which he had been obliged to abandon, and hehad thought he might be able to raise this cable and re-establishtelegraphic communication with Cape Tariff and New Jersey.

  Sammy thought that Mr. Gibbs's desire could be accomplished by sinkinginto the water in which they now lay and sailing under the icebergs tothe lake, but Mr. Gibbs did not favor this. He was afraid to go underthe icebergs. To be sure, they had already sailed under one of them whenthe Dipsey had made her way northward from the lake, but they had foundthat the depth of water varied very much in different places, and theicebergs in front of them might be heavier, and therefore more deeplysunken, than those which they had previously passed under.

  If it were possible to extend their canal to Lake Shiver, Mr. Gibbswanted to do it, but if they should fail in this, then, of course, theywould be obliged to go down at this or some adjacent spot.

  "It's all very well," said Captain Hubbell, who was a little depressedin spirits because the time was rapidly approaching when he would nolonger command the vessel, "but it's one thing to blow a canal throughfields of flat ice, and another to make it all the way through aniceberg; but if you think you can do it, I am content. I'd like to sailabove water just as far as we can go."

  Mr. Gibbs had been studying the situation, and some ideas relating tothe solution of the problem before him were forming themselves in hismind. At last he hit upon a plan which he thought might open the watersof Lake Shiver to the Dipsey, and, as it would not take very long totest the value of his scheme, it was determined to make the experiment.

  There were but few on board who did not know that if a needle wereinserted into the upper part of a large block of ice, and were thendriven smartly into it, the ice would split. Upon this fact Mr. Gibbsbased his theory of making an entrance to the lake.

  A climbing party, larger than the previous one, set out for the iceberg,carrying with them, on several sledges, a long and heavy iron rod, whichwas a piece of the extra machinery on the Dipsey, and some explosives ofa special kind.

  When the iceberg had been reached, several of the party ascended with ahoisting apparatus, and with this the rod was hauled to the top and setup perpendicularly on a central spot at the summit of the iceberg, thepointed end downward, and a bomb of great power fastened to its upperend. This bomb was one designed to exert its whole explosive power inone direction, and it was so placed that this force would be exerteddownward. When all was ready, the electric-wire attachment to the bombwas carried down the iceberg and carefully laid on the ice as the partyreturned to the Dipsey.

  Everybody, of course, was greatly interested in this experiment.The vessel was at least two miles from the iceberg, but in the clearatmosphere the glittering eminence could be plainly seen, and, with aglass, the great iron rod standing high up on its peak was perfectlyvisible. All were on deck when Mr. Gibbs stood ready to discharge thebomb on top of the rod, and all eyes were fixed upon the iceberg.

  There was an explosion--not very loud, even considering thedistance--and those who had glasses saw the rod disappear downward. Thena strange grating groan came over the snow-white plain, and the greaticeberg was seen to split in half, its two peaks falling apart from eachother. The most distant of the two great sections toppled far backward,and with a great crash turned entirely over, its upper part beingheavier than its base. It struck an iceberg behind it, slid upon thelevel ice below, crashed through this, and sank out of sight. Then itwas seen to slowly rise again, but this time with its base uppermost.The other and nearest section, much smaller, fell against an adjacenticeberg, where it remained leaning for some minutes, but soon assumed anerect position. The line of cleavage had not been perpendicular, andthe greater part of the base of the original iceberg remained upon thenearer section.

  When the scene of destruction had been thoroughly surveyed from thedeck of the Dipsey, volunteers were called for to go and investigate thecondition of affairs near the broken iceberg. Four men, including Mr.Gibbs and Mr. Marcy, went out upon this errand, a dangerous one, forthey did not know how far the ice in their direction might have beenshattered or weakened by the wreck of the iceberg. They found thatlittle or no damage had been done to the ice between them and the nearerportion of the berg, and, pursing an eastward course on their sledges,they were enabled to look around this lofty mass and see a body of openwater in the vicinity of the more distant section almost covered withfloating ice. Pressing forward still farther eastward, and going asfar south as they dared, they were enabled at last to see that thetwo portions of the original iceberg were floating at a considerabledistance from each other, and that, therefore, there was nothing toprevent the existence of an open passage between them into the lake.

  When the party returned with this report work was suspended, but thenext day blasting parties went out. The canal was extended to the baseof the nearer iceberg, a small boat was rowed around it, and after acareful survey it was found that unless the sections of the icebergmoved together there was plenty of room for the Dipsey to pass betweenthem.

  When the small boat and the sledges had returned to the vessel, andeverything was prepared for the start along the canal and into thelake, one of the men came to Captain Hubbell and reported that the PoleRovinski was absent. For one brief moment a hope arose in the soul ofSamuel Block that this man might have fallen overboard and floated underthe ice, but he was not allowed to entertain this pleasant thought. Mr.Marcy had seized a glass, and with it was sweeping the icy plain in alldirections.

  "Hello!" he cried. "Someone come here! Do you see that moving speck offthere to the north? I believe that is the scoundrel."

  Several glasses were now directed to the spot.

  "It is the Pole!" cried Sammy. "He has stolen a sledge and is runningaway!"

  "Where on earth can he be running to?" exclaimed Mr. Gibbs. "The man isinsane!"

  Mr. Marcy said nothing. His motor sledge, a very fine one, furnishedwith an unusually large wheel, was still on the deck. He rushed towardsit.

  "I am going after him!" he shouted. "Let somebody come with me. He's upto mischief! He must not get away!"

  "Mischief!" exclaimed Mr. Gibbs. "I don't see what mischief he can do.He can't live out here without shelter; he'll be dead before morning."

  "Not he," cried Sammy. "He's a born devil, with a dozen lives! Take agun with you, Mr. Marcy, and shoot him if you can't catch him!"

  Mr. Marcy took no gun; he had no time to stop for that. In a few momentshe was on the ice with his sledge, then away he went at full speedtowards the distant moving black object.

  Two men were soon following Mr. Marcy, but they were a long way behindhim, for their sledges did not carry them at the speed with which he wasflying over the ice and snow.

  It was not long before Rovinski discovered that he was pursue
d, and,frequently turning his head backward, he saw that the foremost sledgewas gaining upon him; but, crouching as low as he could to avoid arifle-shot, he kept on his way.

  But he could not help turning his head every now and then, and at oneof these moments his sledge struck a projecting piece of ice and wassuddenly overturned. Rovinski rolled out on the hard snow, and thepropelling wheel revolved rapidly in the air. The Pole gathered himselfup quickly and turned his sledge back into its proper position. He didthis in such haste that he forgot that the wheel was still revolving,and therefore was utterly unprepared to see the sledge start away at agreat speed, leaving him standing on the snow, totally overwhelmed byastonishment and rage.

  Marcy was near enough to view this catastrophe, and he stopped hissledge and burst out laughing. Now that the fellow was secure, Marcywould wait for his companions. When the others had reached him, thethree proceeded towards Rovinski, who was standing facing them andwaiting. As soon as they came within speaking distance he shouted:

  "Stop where you are! I have a pistol, and I will shoot you in turnif you come any nearer. I am a free man! I have a right to go where Iplease. I have lost my sledge, but I can walk. Go back and tell yourmasters I have left their service."

  Mr. Marcy reflected a moment. He was armed, but it was with a verypeculiar weapon, intended for use on shipboard in case of mutinousdisturbances. It was a pistol with a short range, carrying an ammoniashell. If he could get near enough to Rovinski, he could settle hisbusiness very quickly; but he believed that the pistol carried by thePole was of the ordinary kind, and dangerous.

  Something must be done immediately. It was very cold; they must soonreturn to the vessel. Suddenly, without a word, Mr. Marcy started hissledge forward at its utmost speed. The Pole gave a loud cry and raisedhis right hand, in which he held a heavy pistol. For some minutes he hadbeen standing, his glove off, and this pistol clasped in his hand. Hewas so excited that he had entirely forgotten the intense coldnessof the air. He attempted to aim the pistol and to curl his forefingeraround the trigger, but his hand and wrist were stiff, his fingers werestiff. His pistol-barrel pointed at an angle downward; he had no powerto straighten it or to pull the trigger. Standing thus, his face whitewith the rage of impotence and his raised hand shaking as if it hadbeen palsied, he was struck full in the face with the shell fromMarcy's wide-mouthed pistol. The brittle capsule burst, and in a second,insensible from the fumes of the powerful ammonia it contained, Rovinskifell flat upon the snow.

  When the Pole had been taken back to the vessel, and had been confinedbelow, Mr. Gibbs, utterly unable to comprehend the motives of the man inthus rushing off to die alone amid the rigors of the polar regions, wentdown to talk to him. At first Rovinski refused to make any answersto the questions put to him, but at last, apparently enraged by theimputation that he must be a weak-minded, almost idiotic, man to behavehimself in such an imbecile fashion, he suddenly blazed out:

  "Imbecile!" he cried. "Weak-minded! If it had not been for that accursedsledge, I would have shown you what sort of an imbecile I am. I can'tget away now, and I will tell you how I would have been an idiot. Iwould have gone back to the pole, at least to the little house, where,like a fool, you left the end of your cable open to me, open to anybodyon board who might be brave enough to take advantage of your imbecility.I had food enough with me to last until I got back to the pole, and Iknew of the 'cache' which you left there. Long, long before you everreached Cape Tariff, and before your master was ready to announce yourdiscoveries to the world, I would have been using your cable. I wouldhave been announcing my discoveries, not in a cipher, but in plainwords; not to Sardis, but to the Observatory at St. Petersburg. I wouldhave proclaimed the discovery of the pole, I would have told of yourobservations and your experiments; for I am a man of science, I knowthese things. I would have had the honor and the glory. The northpole would have been Rovinski's Pole; that open sea would have beenRovinski's Sea. All you might have said afterwards would have amountedto nothing; it would have been an old story; I would have announced itlong before. The glory would have been mine--mine for all ages to come."

  "But, you foolish man," exclaimed Mr. Gibbs, "you would have perishedup there--no fire, no shelter but that cabin, and very little food. Evenif, kept warm and alive by your excitement and ambition, you had beenable to send one message, you would have perished soon afterwards."

  "What of that?" said Rovinski. "I would have sent my message; I wouldhave told how the north pole was found. The glory and the honor wouldhave been mine."

  When Mr. Gibbs related what was said at this interview, Sammy remarkedthat it was a great pity to interfere with ambition like that, and Sarahacknowledged to her husband, but to him only, that she had never felther heart sink as it had sunk when she saw Mr. Marcy coming back withthat black-faced and black-hearted Pole with him.

  "I felt sure," said she, "that we had got rid of him, and that afterthis we would not be a party of thirteen. It does seem to me as if itis wicked to take such a creature back to civilized people. It's likecarrying diseases about in your clothes, as people used to do in oldentimes."

  "Well," said Sammy, "if we could fumigate this vessel and feel sure thatonly the bad germs would shrivel, I'd be in favor of doin' it."

  In less than two hours after the return of Mr. Marcy with his prisoner,the Dipsey started along the recently made canal, carefully rounded thenearer portion of the broken iceberg, and slowly sailed between thetwo upright sections. These were sufficiently far apart to afford aperfectly safe passage, but the hearts of those who gazed up on theirshining, precipitous sides were filled with a chilling horror, for ifa wind had suddenly sprung up, these two great sections of the icymountain might have come together, cracking the Dipsey as if it had beena nut.

  But no wind sprang up; the icebergs remained as motionless as if theyhad been anchored, and the Dipsey entered safely the harboring waters ofLake Shiver.