replied McBain, adding, after a pause, "Rory, boy, I'vegot an idea."
"Well," said Rory, "I know before you mention it that it is a good one."
"Ah! but," said McBain, "I'm not going to mention it yet awhile."
"I vill vager," said the aeronaut, who stood beside them, gazing upwardsat the bright light and the circling birds--"I vill vager my big balloondat de same idea has struck me myself."
"Whisper," said the captain.
The aeronaut did so, and McBain burst out laughing.
"How funny!" he remarked; "but you are perfectly right, De Vere; onlykeep it dark for a bit."
"Oh yes," said De Vere, laughing in turn; "very dark; as dark as--"
"Hush?" cried McBain, clapping a hand on his mouth.
"How tantalising!" said Rory.
"You'll know all about it in good time," McBain said; "and now, boys,we've got to prepare for winter in right good earnest. Duty beforepleasure, you know. Now here is what I propose."
What he did propose was set about without loss of time. Little Ap wassummoned aft.
"Can you build barrows?" asked McBain.
Little Ap took an immense pinch of snuff before he replied.
"I have built many a boat," he said, "but never a barrow. But look, yousee, with the help of the cooper and the carpenters I can build barrowsby the dozen. Yes, yes, sir."
"Bravo, Ap!" cried McBain; "then set about it at once, for we are allgoing to turn navvies. We are going," he added, "to excavate a cavehalf-way up that brae yonder on the starboard quarter. It will be bigenough, Ap, to hold the whole ship's crew, officers and all. It will bea glorious shelter from the cold, and it will--"
"Stop," cried Sandy McFlail. "Beg your pardon, sir, but let me finishthe sentence: it will give the men employment and keep sickness away."
"That's it, my worthy surgeon," said McBain.
"Bravo!" said Sandy. "I look upon that now as--"
Sandy paused and reddened a little.
"As a vera judeecious arrangement," said Rory, laughing. "Out with it,Sandy, man."
Rory edged off towards the door of the saloon as he spoke; the doctorkicked over his chair and made a dart after him, but Rory had fled.Hardly, however, was the surgeon re-seated ere his tormentor keeked inagain.
"Eh! mon, Sandy McFlail," he cried; "you'll want to take a lot more saltin your porridge, mon, before ye can catch Rory Elphinston."
On the hillside, fifty feet above the sea level, they commencedoperations, and in a fortnight's time the cave was almost completed; andnot only that, but a beautiful staircase leading up to it. The soil wasnot hard after the outer crust was tapped, although some veins of quartzwere alighted upon which required to be blasted. Several times theycame across the trunks of huge trees that seemed to have been scorchedby fire, the remains, doubtless, of the primeval forest that had onceclad these hills with a sea of living green. Nor were bones wanting;some of immense size were turned up and carefully preserved.
Rory made a careful study of the remains of the animal and vegetablelife which were found, and the result of this was his painting twopictures representing the Past and Present of the strange land wheretheir vessel now lay. The one represented the _Arrandoon_ lying underbare poles and yards in the ice-locked bay, with the wild mountainousland beyond, peak rising o'er peak, and crag o'er crag, all clad in thegarments of eternal winter, and asleep in the uncertain light of thecountless stars and the radiant Aurora. But the other picture! Who butRory--who but an artist-poet could have painted that? There are thesame formations of hill and dale, the same towering peaks and boldbluffs, but neither ice nor snow is there; the glens and valleys areclad in waving forests; flowers and ferns are there; lichens, crimsonand white, creep and hang over the brown rocks; happy birds are in thesky; bright-winged butterflies seem flitting in the noonday sunshine,and strange animals of monstrous size are basking on the sea-shore.
Rory's pictures were admired by all hands, but the artist had hisprivate view to begin with, and, among others like privileged, aft cameweird old Magnus. First he was shown the picture of the Past.
He gazed at it long and earnestly, muttering to himself, "Strange,strange, strange."
But no sooner was the companion picture placed before him, than hestarted from the chair on which he had been sitting.
"I was right! I was right?" he cried. "Oh! bless you, boy Rory; blessyou, Captain McBain. This--this is the Isle of Alba. Yonder are thedear hills. I thought I could not be mistaken, and not far off are themammoth caves. I can guide you, gentlemen, to the place where lieswealth untold. This is the happiest day of old Magnus's life."
"Sit down, Magnus," said McBain, kindly; "sit down, my old sea-dad.Gentlemen, gather round us; Magnus has something to tell us I know.Magnus," he continued, taking the old man's thin and withered hand inhis, "I have often thought you knew more about this Isle of Alba thanyou cared to tell. What is the mystery? You have spoken so often aboutthese mammoth caves. How know you there is wealth of ivory lyingthere?"
"I have no story to relate," said Magnus, talking apparently to himself;"only a sad reminiscence of a voyage I took years and years ago to thesesame dreary latitudes. I had a son with me, a son I loved for his deadmother's sake and his own. I commanded a sloop--'twas but a sloop--andwe sailed away from Norwegian shores in search of the ivory mines. Wereached this very island. The year was an open one, just like this;myself and my brave fellows found ivory in abundance; in such abundancethat our sloop would not carry a thousandth part of it, for, gentlemen,in ages long gone by, this island and those around it were the homes ofthe mammoth and the mastodon. We collected all the ivory and placed itin one cave. How I used to gloat over my treasure! It was all for myboy. He would be the richest man in Northern Europe. My boy, my dearboy, with his mother's eyes! I had only to go back to Norway with mysloop and charter a large vessel, and return to the Isle of Alba for myburied treasure."
Here poor old Magnus threw his body forward and covered his face withhis skinny hands, and the tears welled through his fingers, while hiswhole form was convulsed with sobs.
"My boy--died!" was all he could utter. "He sleeps yonder--yonder atthe cave's mouth. Yonder--yonder. To-morrow I will guide you to thecave, and we will see my boy."
The old man seemed wandering a little.
"I would sleep now," he added. "To-morrow--to-morrow."
There was a strange light in Magnus's eye next day when he joined thesearch party on deck, and a strange flush on his cheek that seemed tobode no good.
"I'll see my boy," he kept repeating to himself, as he led the way onshore. "I'll see my boy."
He walked so fast that his younger companions could hardly keep pacewith him.
Along the shore and upwards through a glen, round hills and rocks, bymany a devious path, he led them on and on, till they stood at last atthe foot of a tall perpendicular cliff, with, close beside it, a spar orflagstaff.
They knew now that Magnus had not been raving, that they were no oldman's dream, these mammoth caves, but a glorious reality.
"Quick, quick," cried Magnus, pointing to a spot at the foot of thespar. "Clear away the snow."
Our heroes were hardly prepared for the sight that met their eyes, assoon as Magnus had been obeyed, for there, encased in a block of crystalice, lay the form of a youth of probably sixteen summers, dressed in theblue uniform of a Norwegian sailor, with long fair hair floating overhis shoulders. Time had wrought no change on the face; this lad, thoughburied for twenty years, seemed even now only in a gentle slumber, fromwhich a word or touch might awake him.
"My boy! my boy!" was the cry of the old man, as he knelt beside thegrave, kissed the cold ice, and bedewed it with his tears. "Look up,look up; 'tis your father that is bending over you. But no, no, no;he'll never speak nor smile again. Oh! my boy, my boy!"
Rory was in tears, and not he alone, for the roughest sailor that stoodbeside the grave could not witness the grief of that old man unmoved.
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McBain stepped forward and placed his hand kindly on his shoulder.
Magnus turned his streaming eyes just once upwards to his captain'sface, then he gave vent to one long, sobbing sigh, threw out his arms,and dropped.
Magnus was no more.
They made his grave close to that of his boy's, and there, side by side,these twain will sleep till the sea gives up its dead.
CHAPTER THIRTY TWO.
THE TERRIBLE SNOWSTORM--SOMETHING LIKE AN AQUARIUM--THE MAMMOTH CAVESAND THEIR STARTLING TREASURES--THE JOURNEY POLEWARDS--COLLAPSE OF THEBALLOON--"GOD SAVE THE QUEEN."
Four long months have passed away since poor old Magnus dropped dead onthe grave of his son. The sun has once more appeared above the horizon,bringing joy to the hearts of the officers and crew of the _Arrandoon_.Despite every effort to keep their spirits up, the past winter has beena weary one. Had the stars always shone, had the glorious Aurora alwaysflickered above them, it might have been different; but shortly afterthe cave was finished and furnished, divided into compartments, and madecomfortable with chairs and sofas, and carpets and skins, a terriblestorm came on them from the north-west. Never had our young heroes,never had McBain himself, known such cold, or such fierce winds anddepth of snow. For three whole weeks did this Arctic storm rage, andduring this time it would have been certain death for any one to haveventured ten yards from the mouth of the cavern.
But the wind fell at last, the clouds dispersed, and once more thegoodly stars shone forth, and the bright Aurora. Then they ventured tocreep out from their friendly shelter. The Arctic night seemed now asbright as day; they could hardly believe that the sun was not hiddenbehind some of those quartz-like clouds, that were still banked up onthe south-eastern horizon. But where was the ship? where was theirlordly _Arrandoon_? For a moment it seemed as if the ice had opened andswallowed her up. They rubbed their wondering eyes and looked again.Three silver streaks glimmering against the dark blue of the skyrepresented her topmasts; all the rest of her was buried beneath thesnow.
And as far as they could see seaward it was all a waste of smoothdazzling white, with here and there only the points and peaks of theicebergs appearing above it.
As soon as the snow had sunk, which it soon did many feet, McBain hadgot his crew ready to start for the mammoth mines. The weather hadcontinued fine, only there were whole weeks during which the wind blewso cuttingly fierce that no work or walking either could be attempted.
The troglodytes--an expression of Rory's--were, therefore, a good dealconfined to their cave, and it was well for them then that they hadbooks to read and the wherewithal to amuse themselves in many otherways. The following is a remark that Rory had made to Ralph and Allanone day, after nearly three months of the winter had passed away.
"Which of you troglodytes is going with me to-morrow to see the sunrise?"
"Not I, thanks," said Ralph. "Pass the ham, old man; that bit ofbear-steak was a treat."
"I'll go," said Allan.
"Hurrah!" cried Rory. "It is you that's the brave boy after all. We'llhave friend Seth, too, and the dogs. It's the first time they've beenout; it will do us all good."
This sledging-party had been a merry one, but they were obliged to leavethe dogs at the foot of the mountain, and climb, as best they could, tothe top, where, sure enough, they were soon rewarded by a glimpse, justone thrilling glimpse, of the king of day. They could not refrain fromshouting aloud with joy. They shouted and cheered, and though,well-nigh three miles from the cave, the troglodytes there heard it, sointense was the silence, and gave them back shout for shout and cheerfor cheer.
They had seen something, though, from the hill-top that had very muchastonished them. In the centre of this curious island, and entirelysurrounded by mountains, was a lake of open water, as black as ink itlooked in contrast with the snow-clad braeland around it, and right inthe centre thereof played an enormous geyser, or natural fountain. Itwas evidently of volcanic origin.
The days got longer and longer, and in five months from the time theyhad entered the cave day and night were about equal.
But I must not omit telling you of the strange experiment that hadsuggested itself to McBain while gazing upwards at the birds--lured fromafar--circling round the electric light. It was nothing more nor lessthan that of paying a visit, by means of a diving-bell and the electriclight, to the denizens of the deep--the creatures that lived in theocean under the ice.
Everything was got ready under the supervision of the aeronaut, ablyassisted by the carpenter and crew and little Ap. The bell itself wasan immense one, and most carefully constructed to float or sink at will.Inside it was quite as comfortable as the room in the lift of some ofour large hotels.
Ralph seldom went far out of his way in search of adventure, but thisnew and wonderful experiment seemed to possess an irresistible charmeven for him.
As for Rory, he was, as Sandy McFlail said, "half daft" over the idea.
McBain was most careful in seeing that everything was in working order;and the bell was sunk and re-sunk empty a dozen times in the waterbefore he would allow any one to venture down in it. The snow had beenpreviously cleared away all from and around the ship, and an immenseice-hole made for the purpose of conducting the experiment.
When all seemed safe, and it was found that the bell, sunk to a depth offorty feet, was acted on by no current, but rose straight to the surfaceof the ice-hole when wanted, then the captain himself and De Vereventured down. They remained beneath for fully twenty minutes--andanxious minutes they were to those on the surface; then the signal tohoist was given, and presently up bobbed the bell, and was raised to thelevel by the derrick, when out stepped De Vere and McBain.
"Smiling all over, sure!" said Rory, "and looking as clean and sweet andpretty as if they'd just popped out of a band-box."
The diving-bell was called "the band-box" after this.
But it was after dark that the real experiment was to take place.
"Troth!" said Rory at dinner that day, "will you fellows never have doneeating? It's myself that is longing to get away down to the bottom ofthe sea."
The four of them entered the band-box--Allan, Ralph, the doctor, andRory; then they were slowly lowered down--down--down amid a darknessthat could be felt. But presently a green glimmer of light shone inthrough the strong window of the bell; they could see each other'sfaces. The light got stronger and stronger as the electric ball camenearer and nearer, till at last it stopped stationary about twelve yardsfrom their window, making the sea all round, beneath, and above it asbright as noon.
"Yonder is the stage, boys," cried Rory; "but where are the performers?"
They had not long to wait for these. Fish, first of the smaller kinds,came sailing round the light; presently these fled in all directions,and a monster shark took up the room. He soon had company, for dozensof others came floating around, and not sharks only, but creatures ofmore hideous forms than anything even Rory could have imagined in hiswildest dreams.
"Oh!" cried the young poet, "if Gustave Dore were only here to see thisterrible sight!"
"It beats," said Sandy, "the Brighton Aquarium all to pieces. Oh?" hescreamed, shrinking into a corner of the band-box, as a hugehammer-headed shark sidled up to the window, crooked his awful eyes, andstared in. "Oh, Rory, man, signal quick! I want to get up out o' here.No more divin'-bells for me, lad."
For nearly six weeks it became the regular custom to visit thissubmarine vivarium every night after dinner.
"It was just as good," Ralph and Allan said, "as going to a show."
"And a deal better," added Rory. Even the mates and the crew begged fora peep at the wonders displayed in the depths of the illuminated sea.
"Well," said Ted Wilson, when he ascended after his first view, "I'm asadder and a wiser man, and I'll dream of what I've seen this night aslong as ever I live."
They found the mouth of the mammoth cave, near which lay all that wasmortal of poor old Magnus and his son,
after days and days of digging;but when at long last they succeeded in forcing an entrance, one glancearound them proved that they had indeed fallen upon riches and wealthuntold. Those vast tusks and teeth of the mighty monsters of an agelong past and gone were of the purest ivory, more white and hard thanany they had ever seen before.
"Why, sure," said Rory, "the cave of Aladdin was nothing to this!"
"The next thing, gentlemen," said the captain, "is to transport ourtreasure to the good ship _Arrandoon_. Seth, old friend, your dogs willbe wanted now in good earnest."
"I reckon," replied Seth, "they're all ready, sir, and just mad enoughto eat each other's collars, 'cause they don't get anything to do."
What a change it was to have sunshine and a comparative degree of warmthagain. Rough and toilsome enough was the road between the ship and themammoth cave, but the snow was crisp and hard. The dogs were wild withdelight, and so were our heroes, and so hard did everybody work all daythat no one thought any more about the diving-bell and the denizens ofthe deep. After dinner they needed rest. Rory took his boat, or canoe,with him once or twice, and, all alone, he embarked on the volcanic lakeand paddled round the geyser.
In three weeks from the day they had found the entrance to the cave theyhad transported all the ivory to the _Arrandoon_. They were now whatSilas would have