CHAPTER XVIII.
Woman Locates the North Pole.
Silver Cloud hastened on with the favoring gale from the balmy South. Bynoon the coast of Franz Joseph Land could be seen. They were now nearthe eightieth degree of latitude. During the afternoon they crossed thatland of eternal winter. Monotonous mountains, hills, and plains ofeverlasting snow and ice wearied the eye, and caused a sense ofseasickness and vertigo if looked upon too long. The Doctor had treatedthese symptoms in each as they occurred, and our friends had experiencedbut little of the inconvenience due to this cause that is suffered bymost aeronauts. They had entirely lost their sense of insecurity andfear, and nothing could be more comfortable and pleasant than were theaccommodations of the cabin of Silver Cloud, even in this exceedinglyhigh latitude. And oh! those walks about the balcony of Silver Cloud!How invigorating and healthful! So vast were the proportions of theglobe that there was no swaying, shaking, nor trembling everperceptible. It was as if the splendid structure were a rock, and allthe world a swift flying panorama far beneath them. Very strange andweird was the sight of the sun, traveling in one continuous circuit buta few degrees above the horizon, never rising nor setting during sixmonths of the year. The atmosphere was particularly clear and frosty, sothat as they promenaded the balcony, or sat in the observatory, theywere obliged to don their beautiful sealskins, a complete outfit ofwhich Count Icanovich had presented to each member of the company.
All were exceedingly happy and jubilant. The wind continued very nearlyas before, and within twenty-four hours, nothing preventing, they wouldstand at the coveted spot--the North Pole.
At dinner time Franz Joseph Land was far behind them, and they weresailing over the dark blue waters of the Arctic Ocean, more or lessfilled with great floes and icebergs, illustrating to the voyagers theterrible perils and hardships through which Arctic explorers had passed,and amidst which so many of them had died.
"What wonder," said the Professor, as he scanned the unnavigable seaswith his glass, "that man has thus far utterly failed in his attempts toovercome these insuperable obstacles. Think of the cold, hunger, andawful wretchedness these poor fellows have suffered. And Doctor, see! Isnot that a ship I see yonder? It is! It is!" cried the Professorexcitedly, pointing to an object sailing in a bit of open sea, her nosepointing stubbornly toward the North.
"We can hail them," cried the Doctor.
The upper and lower traps of the air chamber were opened, and SilverCloud settled like a great roc toward the toiling little ship. Theypassed nearly directly over it, and at an altitude of but 300 feet.
"Ship ahoy!" shouted the Doctor through a speaking trumpet.
"Ahoy!" came from the vessel.
"Where are you bound?"
"North Pole!"
"Sail due west twenty miles and you will find an open sea to the North.All closed ahead. Good luck to you! Good-bye!"
"Aye, aye, sir! Good-bye!" came cheerily from the quarterdeck of thelittle ship, and they had passed beyond hailing distance.
"Poor, brave fellows," sighed the Doctor.
"They have reached an amazingly high latitude," said the Professor."They have crossed the 83rd parallel, very nearly as high as Nansen gotwith his expedition last year."
"I declare that I am sorry for them, and really dislike to take theglory of the discovery from them. But we cannot stop now, and it isutterly impossible for them to get there anyway."
"They would have soon been shut in, and probably forever as they wereheading," observed Will.
North and east, as they could distinctly see from their elevation of twothousand feet, far as the eye could reach, all was one vast field ofhuge piles of ice, exceedingly rough and broken, with here and theretowering spires that seemed to reach up toward the globe like grizzlyarms that would prevent them from penetrating the secrets of the norththat had been held for untold centuries.
As the Doctor had informed the captain of the ship, away to the west wasa certain amount of open sea, but it was of limited extent, and theprospects of the poor fellows getting much farther looked more thandoubtful.
"And what is to become of them if they cannot get through?" asked Mrs.Jones.
"I cannot tell," returned the Doctor, "but the chances are that theywill be crushed in the ice."
"O dear, what a fate!" cried Mrs. Jones. "Can we do nothing for them?"
"Nothing at all, my dear. They are beyond our reach, and it is notlikely that they would desert their ship if we could offer to take themwith us. Such men are not easily turned from their purpose."
"All we can do then is to pray that God will preserve them, and permitthem to return safely home," said the sympathetic little woman.
"And let us ask Him that this favoring gale may continue a few hourslonger," added Dr. Jones.
There was no thought of retiring as the usual hour for doing so arrived.They all felt impressed with the thought that they were now looking uponscenes never before seen by mortal eye, and that they were very near theobject of their journey. How their hearts warmed and palpitated with thethought!
"We have crossed the 85th parallel," said the Professor, "and in six orseven hours will reach the Pole at this rate."
"This is the Lord's doings, and it is marvelous in our eyes," quoted theDoctor with great fervency.
Busy feet climbed and descended the spiral stairway many times thatnight, but could see nothing but a frozen sea in every direction. Thewind blew from due south, and they were flying at tremendous speeddirectly toward the Pole as if drawn there by a great magnet. The coldwas intense--the thermometer registering more than 60 deg. below zero.But as we said before, no wind was ever felt aboard Silver Cloud, and ithas been ascertained that man can endure almost any degree of cold ifit be quiet and still.
At midnight they all sat down to a good substantial supper that had beenprepared by Sing. The aroma of the coffee filled the little dining-room,and was grateful to the senses. How merry and happy they were! And theyate and drank with appetites that were very complimentary to Sing'scooking, and the faithful Mongolian was well pleased to see the foodthus disappearing.
"There is no place like the Arctics for getting hungry and giving food arelish. I declare that I have not eaten so since a boy," exclaimedDenison.
"I really eat until I am ashamed of myself," said Mattie.
"Well, it agrees with you, Mattie," replied Denison. "Just look at herplump cheeks, and the beautiful roses upon them!"
"Indeed, I never saw you look so well as you do now," said Mrs. Jones,looking at her admiringly.
"And I am glad that I can return the compliment," replied Mattie.
"I am of the opinion that a trip to the Arctics in Silver Cloud wouldcure any case of dispepsia in the world," said Dr. Jones.
"What a wonderful stimulant coffee is," remarked the Professor, as hesipped a cup of that beverage.
"I never realized that fact so much as when in the army," replied Dr.Jones. "After a long day's march we would get into camp so tired that wecould scarcely move. We would start our camp-fires, and very soon afteryou could hear a musical clink, clink, clinking in every direction. Itwas the sound produced by the soldier boys, pounding their coffee finein their tin cups with the butt of their bayonets. And the effect of apint of that hot Government Java coffee was perfectly marvelous. Itwould almost instantly take the aching and tired feeling from themuscles, and we could have marched all night if necessary."
"I cannot realize that this is midnight," said Mattie, as they stoodupon the balcony, well wrapped in furs, looking over the vast fields ofice and snow. "One would hardly know when to get up or go to bed in thiswonderful country."
The time rapidly passed; they reached the 86th, 87th, 88th, 89th degreesof latitude, and the strain upon their nerves grew to be tremendous. TheDoctor and Professor could not rest anywhere but in the observatory,glasses in hand. Each was pale with excitement.
"I believe that to be land ahead," said the Doctor, pointing to a highelevation directly before them.
The Professor looked at it earnestly a few moments and replied:
"It is, Doctor, and we have settled the fact that the North Pole issituated upon an island. The open sea at the Pole is a myth, as I alwaysbelieved it to be."
The rest of the party was notified of the fact that land was near athand, and that very shortly the North Pole would be reached. So they allassembled upon the balcony, except Sing. That individual could not beenthused upon so small a matter as the discovery of the North Pole; andafter washing the supper dishes and cleaning up the kitchen anddining-room, retired as unconcernedly as if nothing unusual were athand.
Rapidly and unerringly as a dart flew the beautiful ship to the place ofall places upon earth to our exultant voyagers. Nearer and nearer grewthe elevation before them.
"We are within less than half an hour of the Pole," announced theProfessor in a low constrained voice.
"Glory be to God!" said Dr. Jones with great solemnity. "I never feltHis presence more than at this moment. To Him be all the praise."
"Amen!" responded every one of the little company.
They were now passing over the island. They could see that it wasseveral miles in diameter, and nearly circular in form. Almost exactlyin the center arose a conical hill or mountain, about one thousand feetin altitude.
"Upon the summit of that mount I am of the opinion we will find theNorth Pole," said Professor Gray.
"And we are heading directly for it!" cried Dr. Jones. "Just a fewmoments more, dear friends, and we shall have reached our journey's end.Now get ready to drop the anchor when Professor Gray gives the signal."
Silver Cloud was lowered as they neared the mount. They were just overthe summit at but fifty feet from the surface. The signal was given, theanchors dropped. At first they dragged upon the frozen snow, but soonthe flukes caught in the crevices of the icy masses, and the great globewas securely anchored at the North Pole!
They instantly prepared to descend in the cage. The cold was terrible,so much so that they could not have endured it at all but for provisionsthat Dr. Jones had made for this very event. Besides their splendidsilk-lined and padded sealskin suits, he had brought a large number ofJapanese fireboxes. The punks in these were lighted, and when all werevery hot they were wrapped in flannels and distributed about theirpersons inside their sealskins. With this arrangement, Jack Frost'schances of nipping their persons were very slim indeed.
The thermometer registered seventy degrees below zero. Having takenevery possible precaution, the Doctor and Professor descended. Theirfeelings cannot be described as they stepped upon the solidly frozensurface, and realized that they were the first human beings who had thusstood upon the summit of the earth! After looking about a few moments,Professor Gray said:
"We must settle the globe to the earth, and from the observatory I canmake observations that will locate the Pole exactly."
This was accordingly done. From the observatory with a sextant he madean observation every six hours, making allowance for the declination ofthe sun, meantime. This was an exceedingly delicate problem, but theProfessor was fully equal to it. At the end of twenty-four hours he andthe Doctor again donned their furs, stepped over the railing of thebalcony and walked out upon the snow. The rest of the party had amusedthemselves while awaiting the Professor's observations by setting uplittle mounds of ice, upon what they guessed to be the spot where thelearned Professor would declare the geographical pole to be. His mind,meantime, was too engrossed with the momentous business in hand to paythe least attention to their frivolities; and, utterly unmindful of thefur-clad figures that stood scattered about, each by its respective icemound, he measured a certain number of lengths of a sharp pointed steelrod which he carried in his hand, directly to Mrs. Jones, and with aside swipe of his foot he swept aside her pile of ice lumps, raised thesteel rod in both hands and drove it down with all his force just wherethe ice mound had stood, and cried with all his power in a fur-muffledvoice, "The North Pole!" And Mrs. Jones jumped up and down as nimbly asher load of furs and fireboxes would permit, banged her great sealskinmittens together, and cried, "Goody! Goody! I guessed it! I am thediscoverer of the North Pole! I always knew that a woman would be thefirst one there!"
Doctor Jones' Picnic Page 20
