MOUNT HATTERAS.
After this conversation they all made themselves as comfortable asthey could, and lay down to sleep.
All, except Hatteras; and why could this extraordinary man not sleeplike the others?
Was not the purpose of his life attained now? Had he not realizedhis most daring project? Why could he not rest? Indeed, might notone have supposed that, after the strain his nervous system hadundergone, he would long for rest?
But no, he grew more and more excited, and it was not the thought ofreturning that so affected him. Was he bent on going farther still?Had his passion for travel no limits? Was the world too small forhim now he had circumnavigated it.
Whatever might be the cause, he could not sleep; yet this firstnight at the Pole was clear and calm. The isle was absolutelyuninhabited--not a bird was to be seen in this burning atmosphere,not an animal on these scoriae-covered rocks, not a fish in theseseething waters. Next morning, when Altamont, and the others awoke,Hatteras was gone. Feeling uneasy at his absence, they hurried outof the grotto in search of him.
There he was standing on a rock, gazing fixedly atthe top of the mountain.--P.242]
There he was standing on a rock, gazing fixedly at the top of themountain. His instruments were in his hand, and he was evidentlycalculating the exact longitude and latitude.
The Doctor went towards him and spoke, but it was long before hecould rouse him from his absorbing contemplations. At last thecaptain seemed to understand, and Clawbonny said, while he examinedhim with a keen scrutinizing glance--
"Let us go round the island. Here we are, all ready for our lastexcursion."
"The last!" repeated Hatteras, as if in a dream. "Yes!, thelast truly, but," he added, with more animation, "the mostwonderful."
He pressed both hands on his brow as he spoke, as if to calm theinward tumult.
Just then Altamont and the others came up, and their appearanceseemed to dispel the hallucinations under which he was labouring.
"My friends," he said, in a voice full of emotion, "thanks foryour courage, thanks for your perseverance, thanks for yoursuperhuman efforts, through which we are permitted to set our feeton this soil."
"Captain," said Johnson, "we have only obeyed orders to youalone belongs the honour."
"No, no!" exclaimed Hatteras, with a violent outburst ofemotion, "to all of you as much as to me! To Altamont as much asany of us, as much as the Doctor himself! Oh, let my heart break inyour hands, it cannot contain its joy and gratitude any longer."
He grasped the hands of his brave companions as he spoke, and pacedup and down as if he had lost all self-control.
"We have only done our duty as Englishmen," said Bell.
"And as friends," added Clawbonny.
"Yes, but all did not do it," replied Hatteras "some gave way.However, we must pardon them--pardon both the traitors and thosewho were led away by them. Poor fellows! I forgive them. You hearme, Doctor?"
"Yes," replied Clawbonny, beginning to be seriously uneasy athis friend's excitement.
"I have no wish, therefore," continued the captain, "that theyshould lose the little fortune they came so far to seek. No, theoriginal agreement is to remain unaltered, and they shall berich--if they ever see England again."
It would have been difficult not to have been touched by thepathetic tone of voice in which Hatteras said this.
"But, captain," interrupted Johnson, trying to joke, "onewould think you were making your will!"
"Perhaps I am," said Hatteras, gravely.
"And yet you have a long bright career of glory before you!"
"Who knows?" was the reply.
No one answered, and the Doctor did not dare to guess his meaning;but Hatteras soon made them understand it, for presently he said, ina hurried, agitated manner, as if he could scarcely commandhimself--
"Friends, listen to me. We have done much already, but much yetremains to be done."
His companions heard him with profound astonishment.
"Yes," he resumed, "we are close to the Pole, but we are noton it."
"How do you make that out," said Altamont.
"Yes," replied Hatteras, with vehemence, "I said an Englishmanshould plant his foot on the Pole of the world! I said it, and anEnglishman shall."
"What!" cried Clawbonny.
"We are still 45" from the unknown point," resumed Hatteras,with increasing animation, "and to that point I shall go."
"But it is on the summit of the volcano," said the Doctor.
"I shall go."
"It is an inaccessible cone!"
"I shall go."
"But it is a yawning fiery crater!"
"I shall go."
The tone of absolute determination in which Hatteras pronouncedthese words it is impossible to describe.
His friends were stupefied, and gazed in terror at the blazingmountain.
At last the Doctor recovered himself, and began to urge and entreatHatteras to renounce his project. He tried every means his heartdictated, from humble supplications to friendly threats; but hecould gain nothing--a sort of frenzy had come over the captain, anabsolute monomania about the Pole.
Nothing but violent measures would keep him back from destruction,but the Doctor was unwilling to employ these unless driven toextremity.
He trusted, moreover, that physical impossibilities, insuperableobstacles would bar his further progress, and meantime finding allprotestations were useless, he simply said--
"Very well, since you are bent on it, we'll go too."
"Yes," replied Hatteras, "half-way up the mountain, but not astep beyond. You know you have to carry back to England theduplicate of the document in the cairn----"
"Yes; but----"
"It is settled," said Hatteras, in an imperious tone; "andsince the prayers of a friend will not suffice, the captaincommands."
The Doctor did not insist longer, and a few minutes after the littleband set out, accompanied by Duk.
It was about eight o'clock when they commenced their difficultascent; the sky was splendid, and the thermometer stood at 52 deg.
Hatteras and his dog went first, closely followed by the others.
"I am afraid," said Johnson to the Doctor.
"No, no, there's nothing to be afraid of; we are here."
This singular little island appeared to be of recent formation, andwas evidently the product of successive volcanic eruptions. Therocks were all lying loose on the top of each other, and it was amarvel how they preserved their equilibrium. Strictly speaking, themountain was only a heap of stones thrown down from a height, andthe mass of rocks which composed the island had evidently come outof the bowels of the earth.
The earth, indeed, may be compared to a vast cauldron of sphericalform, in which, under the influence of a central fire, immensequantities of vapours are generated, which would explode the globebut for the safety-valves outside.
These safety-valves are volcanoes, when one closes another opens;and at the Poles where the crust of the earth is thinner, owing toits being flattened, it is not surprising that a volcano should besuddenly formed by the upheaving of some part of the ocean-bed.
The Doctor, while following Hatteras, was closely following all thepeculiarities of the island, and he was further confirmed in hisopinion as to its recent formation by the absence of water. Had itexisted for centuries, the thermal springs would have flowed fromits bosom.
As they got higher, the ascent became more and more difficult, forthe flanks of the mountain were almost perpendicular, and itrequired the utmost care to keep them from falling. Clouds ofscoriae and ashes would whirl round them repeatedly, threateningthem with asphyxia, or torrents of lava would bar their passage. Inparts where these torrents ran horizontally, the outside had becomehardened; while underneath was the boiling lava, and every step thetravellers took had first to be tested with the iron-tipped staff toavoid being suddenly plunged into the scalding liquid.
At intervals large fragments of red-hot rock we
re thrown up from thecrater, and burst in the air like bomb-shells, scattering the debristo enormous distances in all directions.
Hatteras, however, climbed up the steepest ascents with surprisingagility, disdaining the help of his staff.
He arrived before long at a circular rock, a sort of plateau aboutten feet wide. A river of boiling lava surrounded it, except in onepart, where it forked away to a higher rock, leaving a narrowpassage, through which Hatteras fearlessly passed.
Here he stopped, and his companions managed to rejoin him. He seemedto be measuring with his eye the distance he had yet to get over.Horizontally, he was not more than two hundred yards from the top ofthe crater, but vertically he had nearly three times that distanceto traverse.
The ascent had occupied three hours already. Hatteras showed nosigns of fatigue, while the others were almost spent.
The summit of the volcano appeared inaccessible, and the Doctordetermined at any price to prevent Hatteras from attempting toproceed. He tried gentle means first, but the captain's excitementwas fast becoming delirium. During their ascent, symptoms ofinsanity had become more and more marked, and no one could besurprised who knew anything of his previous history.
"Hatteras," said the Doctor, "it is enough! we cannot gofurther!"
"Stop, then," he replied, in a strangely altered voice; "I amgoing higher."
"No, it is useless; you are at the Pole already."
"No, no! higher, higher!"
"My friend, do you know who is speaking to you? It is I, DoctorClawbonny."
"Higher, higher!" repeated the madman.
"Very well, we shall not allow it--that is all."
He had hardly uttered the words before Hatteras, by a superhumaneffort, sprang over the boiling lava, and was beyond the reach ofhis companions.
A cry of horror burst from every lip, for they thought the poorcaptain must have perished in that fiery gulf; but there he was safeon the other side, accompanied by his faithful Duk, who would notleave him.
He speedily disappeared behind a curtain of smoke, and they heardhis voice growing fainter in the distance, shouting--
"To the north! to the north! to the top of Mount Hatteras!Remember Mount Hatteras!"
All pursuit of him was out of the question; it was impossible toleap across the fiery torrent, and equally impossible to get roundit. Altamont, indeed, was mad enough to make an attempt, and wouldcertainly have lost his life if the others had not held him back bymain force.
"Hatteras! Hatteras!" shouted the Doctor, but no response washeard save the faint bark of Duk.
At intervals, however, a glimpse of him could be caught through theclouds of smoke and showers of ashes. Sometimes his head, sometimeshis arm appeared; then he was out of sight again, and a few minuteslater was seen higher up clinging to the rocks. His size constantlydecreased with the fantastic rapidity of objects rising upwards inthe air. In half-an-hour he was only half his size.
The air was full of the deep rumbling noise of the volcano, and themountain shook and trembled. From time to time a loud fail was heardbehind, and the travellers would see some enormous rock reboundingfrom the heights to engulph itself in the polar basin below.
Hatteras did not even turn once to look back, butmarched straight on, carrying his country's flag attached to hisstaff.--P.249]
Hatteras did not even turn once to look back, but marched straighton, carrying his country's flag attached to his staff. Histerrified friends watched every movement, and saw him graduallydecrease to microscopic dimensions, while Duk looked no larger thana big rat.
Then came a moment of intense anxiety, for the wind beat down onthem an immense sheet of flame, and they could see nothing but thered glare. A cry of agony escaped the Doctor; but an instantafterwards Hatteras reappeared, waving his flag.
For a whole hour this fearful spectacle went on--an hour of battlewith unsteady loose rocks and quagmires of ashes, where thefoolhardy climber sank up to his waist. Sometimes they saw him hoisthimself up by leaning knees and loins against the rocks in narrow,intricate winding paths, and sometimes he would be hanging on byboth hands to some sharp crag, swinging to and fro like a witheredtuft.
]
At last he reached the summit of the mountain, the mouth of thecrater. Here the Doctor hoped the infatuated man would stop, at anyrate, and would, perhaps, recover his senses, and expose himself tono more danger than the descent involved.
Once more he shouted--
"Hatteras! Hatteras!"
There was such a pathos of entreaty in his tone that Altamont feltmoved to his inmost soul.
"I'll save him yet!" he exclaimed; and before Clawbonny couldhinder him, he had cleared with a bound the torrent of fire, and wasout of sight among the rocks.
Meantime, Hatteras had mounted a rock which overhung the crater, andstood waving his flag amidst showers of stones which rained down onhim. Duk was by his side; but the poor beast was growing dizzy insuch close proximity to the abyss.
Hatteras balanced his staff in one hand, and with the other soughtto find the precise mathematical point where all the meridians ofthe globe meet, the point on which it was his sublime purpose toplant his foot.
All at once the rock gave way, and he disappeared. A cry of horrorbroke from his companions, and rang to the top of the mountain.Clawbonny thought his friend had perished, and lay buried for everin the depths of the volcano. A second--only a second, though itseemed an age--elapsed, and there was Altamont and the dog holdingthe ill-fated Hatteras! Man and dog had caught him at the verymoment when he disappeared in the abyss.
Hatteras was saved! Saved in spite of himself; and half-an-hourlater be lay unconscious in the arms of his despairing companions.
When he came to himself, the Doctor looked at him in speechlessanguish, for there was no glance of recognition in his eye. It wasthe eye of a blind man, who gazes without seeing.
"Good heavens!" exclaimed Johnson; "he is blind!"
"No," replied Clawbonny, "no! My poor friends, we have onlysaved the body of Hatteras; his soul is left behind on the top ofthe volcano. His reason is gone!"
"Insane!" exclaimed Johnson and Altamont, in consternation.
"Insane!" replied the Doctor, and the big tears ran down hischeeks.
CHAPTER XXV.