CHAPTER XXV.MOUNT HATTERAS.
After this solid conversation every one made himself as comfortable aspossible in the cavern, and soon fell asleep. Every one, that is,except Hatteras. Why did not this strange man sleep?
Was not the object of his life attained? Had he not accomplished thebold projects which lay so near his heart? Why did not calmnesssucceed the agitation in his ardent mind? Would not one suppose that,when he had accomplished this end, Hatteras would fall into a sort ofdejection, and that his over-stretched nerves would seek repose? Aftersucceeding, it would seem natural that he should be seized with thefeeling of sadness, which always follows satisfied desires.
But no. He was only more excited. It was not, however, the thought ofreturning which agitated him so. Did he wish to go farther? Was thereno limit to his ambition, and did he find the world too small, becausehe had been around it? However this may have been, he could not sleep.And yet this first night spent at the pole of the world was pleasantand quiet. The island was absolutely uninhabited. There was not a birdin its fire-impregnated atmosphere, not an animal on the soil ofcinders, not a fish in its boiling waters. Only afar off the dullmurmur of the mountain, from the summit of which arose puffs of hotsmoke.
When Bell, Johnson, Altamont, and the doctor awoke, Hatteras was notto be seen near them. Being anxious, they left the cave, and saw thecaptain standing on a rock. His eyes were fixed on the top of thevolcano. He held his instruments in his hands, having evidently beencalculating the exact height of the mountain. The doctor went up tohim and spoke to him several times before he could rouse him from hisrevery. At last the captain seemed to understand him.
"They saw the captain standing on a rock."]
"Forward!" said the doctor, who was examining himattentively,--"forward! let us explore our island; we are all readyfor our last excursion."
"Our last," said Hatteras, with the intonation of people who aredreaming aloud; "yes, the last, indeed. But also," he continued withgreat animation, "the most wonderful!"
He spoke in this way, rubbing his hands over his brow as if to allayits throbbing. At that moment, Altamont, Johnson, and Bell joined him;Hatteras appeared to awaken from his revery.
"Hatteras appeared to wake from his revery."]
"My friends," he said with emotion, "thanks for your courage, thanksfor your perseverance, thanks for your superhuman efforts, which haveallowed us to set foot on this land!"
"Captain!" said Johnson, "we have only obeyed; all the honor is due toyou alone!"
"No, no!" resumed Hatteras with emotion; "to you as much as to me! toAltamont as well as to all of us! as to the doctor himself-- O, let myheart well over in your hands! It can no longer restrain its joy andgratitude!"
Hatteras clasped the hands of his companions. He walked to and fro, nolonger master of himself.
"We have only done our duty as Englishmen," said Bell.
"Our duty as friends," continued the doctor.
"Yes," said Hatteras, "but all have not performed this duty. Some havegiven way! Still, they must be pardoned, both who were treacherous,and those who were led away to it! Poor men! I forgive them. Youunderstand me, Doctor?"
"Yes," answered the doctor, who was very uneasy at Hatteras'sexcitement.
"So," went on the captain, "I don't want them to lose the money theycame so far to seek. No, I shall not alter my plan; they shall berich,--if they ever see England again!"
Few could have withstood the tenderness with which Hatteras spokethese last words.
"But, Captain," said Johnson, with an effort at pleasantry, "one wouldsay you were making your will."
"Perhaps I am," answered Hatteras, seriously.
"Still you have before you a long and glorious life," continued theold sailor.
"Who can say?" said Hatteras.
A long silence followed these words. The doctor did not dare to try tointerpret the last remark. But Hatteras soon expressed his meaning,for in a hasty, hardly restrained voice, he went on:--
"My friends, listen to me. We have done a good deal so far, and yetthere is a good deal to do."
His companions gazed at him in astonishment.
"Yes, we are on the land of the Pole, but we are not on the Poleitself!"
"How so?" asked Altamont.
"You don't mean it!" cried the doctor, anxiously.
"Yes!" resumed Hatteras, earnestly, "I said that an Englishman shouldset foot on the Pole; I said it, and an Englishman shall do it."
"What!" ejaculated the doctor.
"We are now forty-five seconds from the unknown point," Hatteras wenton, with increasing animation; "where it is, I am going!"
"But that is the top of the volcano!" said the doctor.
"I'm going!"
"It's an inaccessible spot!"
"I'm going!"
"It's a fiery crater!"
"I'm going!"
The firmness with which Hatteras uttered these words cannot be given.His friends were stupefied; they gazed with horror at the volcanotipped with flame. Then the doctor began; he urged and besoughtHatteras to give up his design; he said everything he could imagine,from entreaty to well-meant threats; but he obtained no concessionfrom the nervous captain, who was possessed with a sort of madnesswhich may be called polar madness. Only violent means could stop him,rushing to his ruin. But seeing that thereby they would produceserious results, the doctor wished to keep them for a last resource.He hoped, too, that some physical impossibility, some unsurmountabledifficulty, would compel him to give up his plan.
"Since it is so," he said, "we shall follow you."
"Yes," answered the captain, "half-way up the mountain! No farther!Haven't you got to carry back to England the copy of the documentwhich proves our discovery, in case--"
"Still--"
"It is settled," said Hatteras, in a tone of command; "and since myentreaties as a friend are not enough, I order it as captain."
The doctor was unwilling to urge him any further, and a few momentslater the little band, equipped for a hard climb, and preceded byDuke, set out. The sky was perfectly clear. The thermometer stood at52 degrees. The air had all the brilliancy which is so marked at thishigh latitude. It was eight o'clock in the morning. Hatteras wentahead with his dog, the others followed close behind.
"I'm anxious," said Johnson.
"No, no, there's nothing to fear," answered the doctor; "we are here."
It was a strange island, in appearance so new and singular! Thevolcano did not seem old, and geologists would have ascribed a recentdate to its formation.
The rocks were heaped upon one another, and only kept in place byalmost miraculous balancing. The mountain, in fact, was composed ofnothing but stones that had fallen from above. There was no soil, nomoss, no lichen, no trace of vegetation. The carbonic acid from thecrater had not yet had time to unite with the hydrogen of the water;nor the ammonia of the clouds, to form under the action of the light,organized matter. This island had arisen from successive volcaniceruptions, like many other mountains; what they have hurled forth hasbuilt them up. For instance, Etna has poured forth a volume of lavalarger than itself; and the Monte Nuovo, near Naples, was formed byashes in the short space of forty-eight hours. The heap of rockscomposing Queen's Island had evidently come from the bowels of theearth. Formerly the sea covered it all; it had been formed long sinceby the condensation of the vapor on the cooling globe; but inproportion as the volcanoes of the Old and New World disappeared, theywere replaced by new craters.
In fact, the earth can be compared to a vast spheroidal boiler. Underthe influence of the central fire an immense quantity of vapor isgenerated, which is exposed to a pressure of thousands of atmospheres,and which would blow up the globe, were it not for the safety-valvesopening on the outside.
These safety-valves are the volcanoes; when one closes, another opens;and at the poles, where, doubtless in consequence of the flattening ofthe earth's surface, the crust is thinner, it is not strange that avolcano should be suddenly
formed by the upheaval of the bottom of thewaves. The doctor noticed all this as he followed Hatteras; his footsank into a volcanic tufa, and the deposits of ashes, volcanic stones,etc., like the syenite and granite of Iceland. But he attributed acomparatively recent origin to the island, on account of the fact thatno sedimentary soil had yet formed upon it. Water, too, was lacking.If Queen's Island had existed for several years, there would have beensprings upon it, as there are in the neighborhood of volcanoes. Now,not only was there no drop of water there, but the vapors which arosefrom the stream of lava seemed absolutely anhydrous.
This island, then, was of recent formation; and since it appeared inone day, it might disappear in another and sink beneath the ocean.
The ascent grew more difficult the higher they went; the sides of themountain became nearly perpendicular, and they had to be very carefulto avoid accident. Often columns of cinders were blown about them andthreatened to choke them, or torrents of lava barred their path. Onsome such places these streams were hard on top, but the molten streamflowed beneath. Each one had to test it first to escape sinking intothe glowing mass. From time to time the crater vomited forth hugered-hot rocks amid burning gases; some of these bodies burst in theair like shells, and the fragments were hurled far off in alldirections. The innumerable dangers of this ascent may be readilyperceived, as well as the foolhardiness of the attempt.
Still, Hatteras climbed with wonderful agility, and while spurning theuse of his iron-tipped staff, he ascended the steepest slopes. He soonreached a circular rock, which formed a sort of plateau about ten feetbroad; a glowing stream surrounded it, which was divided at the cornerby a higher rock, and left only a narrow passage through whichHatteras slipped boldly. There he stopped, and his companions wereable to join him. Then he seemed to estimate the distance yetremaining; horizontally there were only about six hundred feet of thecrater remaining, that is to say, from the mathematical point of thePole; but vertically they had fifteen hundred feet yet to climb. Theascent had already taken three hours; Hatteras did not seem tired; hiscompanions were exhausted.
The top of the volcano seemed inaccessible. The doctor wished at anyrisk to keep Hatteras from going higher. At first he tried gentlemeans, but the captain's excitement amounted to delirium; on the wayhe had exhibited all the signs of growing madness, and whoever hasknown him in the different scenes of his life cannot be surprised. Inproportion as Hatteras rose above the ocean his excitement increased;he lived no longer with men; he thought he was growing larger with themountain itself.
"Hatteras," said the doctor, "this is far enough! we can't go anyfarther!"
"Stay where you are, then," answered the captain in a strange voice;"I shall go higher!"
"No! that's useless! you are at the Pole here!"
"No, no, higher!"
"My friend, it's I who am speaking to you, Dr. Clawbonny! Don't youknow me?"
"Higher! higher!" repeated the madman.
"Well, no, we sha'n't let--"
The doctor had not finished the sentence before Hatteras, by a violenteffort, sprang over the stream of lava and was out of their reach.They uttered a cry, thinking Hatteras was lost in the fiery abyss; buthe had reached the other side, followed by Duke, who was unwilling toabandon him.
He disappeared behind a puff of smoke, and his voice was heard growingfainter and fainter in the distance.
"To the north!" he was shouting, "to the top of Mount Hatteras! Do youremember Mount Hatteras?"
They could not think of getting up to him; there were twenty chancesto one against their being able to cross the stream he had leaped overwith the skill and luck of madmen. Nor could they get around it.Altamont in vain tried to pass; he was nearly lost in trying to crossthe stream of lava; his companions were obliged to hold him by force.
"Hatteras, Hatteras!" shouted the doctor.
But the captain did not answer; Duke's barking alone was heard uponthe mountain.
Still, Hatteras could be seen at intervals through the column of smokeand the showers of cinders. Sometimes his arm or head would emergefrom the whirlwind. Then he would disappear and be seen again higherup in the rocks. His height diminished with the fantastic swiftness ofobjects rising in the air. Half an hour later he seemed but a fractionof his usual size.
The air was filled with the dull noises of the volcano; the mountainwas roaring like a boiler, its sides were quivering. Hatteras kept on,and Duke followed. From time to time some enormous rock would give waybeneath them and go crashing down to the sea. But Hatteras did notlook back. He had made use of his staff as a pole on which to fastenthe English flag. His companions observed every one of his movements.His dimensions became gradually smaller, and Duke seemed no largerthan a rat. One moment the wind seemed to drive down upon them a greatwave of flame. The doctor uttered a cry of anguish, but Hatterasreappeared, standing and brandishing the flag.
"But Hatteras did not look back. He had made use of hisstaff as a pole on which to fasten the English flag."]
This sight lasted for more than an hour,--an hour of struggle with thetrembling rocks, with the beds of ashes into which this madman wouldsink up to the waist. Now he would be climbing on his knees and makinguse of every inequality in the mountain, and now he would hang by hishands at some sharp corner, swinging in the wind like a dry leaf.
At last he reached the top, the yawning mouth of the crater. Thedoctor then hoped that the wretched man, having attained his object,would perhaps return and have only those dangers before him.
He gave a last shout.
"Hatteras, Hatteras!"
The doctor's cry moved the American's heart so that he cried out,--
"I will save him!"
Then with one leap crossing the fiery torrent at the risk of fallingin, he disappeared among the rocks. Clawbonny did not have time tostop him. Still, Hatteras, having reached the top, was climbing on topof a rock which overhung the abyss. The stones were raining about him.Duke was still following him. The poor beast seemed already dizzy atthe sight beneath him. Hatteras was whirling about his head the flag,which was lighted with the brilliant reflection, and the red buntingcould be seen above the crater. With one hand Hatteras was holding it;with the other he was pointing to the zenith, the celestial pole.Still he seemed to hesitate. He was seeking the mathematical pointwhere all the meridians meet, and on which in his sublime obstinacy hewanted to set his foot.
Suddenly the rock gave way beneath him. He disappeared. A terrible cryfrom his companions rose even to the summit of the mountain. Asecond--a century--passed! Clawbonny considered his friend lost andburied forever in the depths of the volcano. But Altamont was there,and Duke too. The man and the dog had seized him just when he wasdisappearing in the abyss. Hatteras was saved, saved in spite ofhimself, and half an hour later the captain of the _Forward_ layunconscious in the arms of his despairing friends.
When he came to himself, the doctor gave him a questioning glance inmute agony. But his vague look, like that of a blind man, made noreply.
"Heavens!" said Johnson, "he is blind!"
"No," answered Clawbonny,--"no! My poor friends, we have savedHatteras's body! His mind is at the top of the volcano! He has losthis reason!"
"Mad?" cried Johnson and Altamont in deep distress.
"Mad!" answered the doctor.
And he wept bitterly.