CHAPTER XLIV.
THE NEWS OF ATVATABAR IN THE OUTER WORLD.
The kingdom of Atvatabar lay before us like a continent drawn upon amap, or, rather, upon the interior surface of a sphere or globe,everywhere visible to the naked eye. Its green forests, its impressivemountains, its rushing rivers, its white and many-colored cities, itswide-stretching shores, fringed with the foam of an azure sea, laybefore the astonished eyes of our visitors.
When within a few miles of the city, Governor Ladalmir, accompanied byCaptains Pra and Nototherboc, advanced to meet us in a large magneticyacht, bearing the flag of Lyone. The governor hastened to inform usthat, in view of our victory, the city of Kioram had declared itsallegiance to the cause of Lyone, and invited myself and officers ofthe fleet, as well as our distinguished allies from the outer world,to a banquet in the fortress of Kioram. This news gave me greatsatisfaction, as the city would be a splendid base of militaryoperations. The officers and seamen of the _Mercury_ and _AuroraBorealis_ created quite as great a sensation in the streets of Kioramas did the victorious sailors of the _Polar King_.
Landing on _terra firma_, Governor Ladalmir took the opportunity ofshowing our guests the beauty of his bockhockids, who formed a guardof honor to the fortress, where we were all royally received.
The two captains, together with their officers and sailors, wereastonished at the multitude of strange objects shown them. CaptainAdams would not remain satisfied until he was accoutred with a dynamoand a pair of magnic wings, with which all the sailors and soldiers ofAtvatabar were supplied as part of their uniform. He was shown howthe battery of metals gave motion to the dynamo, which in turn actedon the steel levers connected with the ribs of the wings. Although theworthy captain was of considerable weight, yet his astonishment atbeing able to skim through the air like a swallow was great. No soonerdid he touch the button than all his preconceived notions oflocomotion were destroyed, and he gasped with fear at his ownprodigious motion. The two facts of unfailing movement of wings andexceptional buoyancy of body soon made him a fearless rider of thewind. He alighted on the earth with the greatest enthusiasm over thesuccess of his experiment.
The magnic spear was another surprise for our guests. Sir John Forbeswas astonished at my being able to fight the fletyemings so long,armed as they were by so potent a weapon of death. He would certainlyrecommend its use in the British army and navy on his return toEngland. Our allies were surprised at everything they saw,particularly at the rapid movements of the fletyemings or wing-jacketsof the royal navy. They thought it an extraordinary thing the sailorsshould fly by magnic wings.
After the banquet Captain Adams, who was a fine type of an Americanseaman, bold, alert and courageous, gave us an account of how both theUnited States and England came to send ships into the interior world.It appeared that the story of Boatswain Dunbar first published in theNew York papers, that the _Polar King_ had sailed down the Polar Gulf_en route_ to an interior world, had created a tremendous sensation onthe outer sphere, and all civilized nations immediately fitted outvessels of discovery to follow up the _Polar King_ and makediscoveries for the benefit of their respective governments. So far asany one knew, only two vessels had succeeded in entering the interiorsphere.
The recital of Captain Adams was frequently interrupted by Sir JohnForbes, the British captain, a courageous officer, who possessed allthe stately dignity of his race. He stated that since the discovery ofAmerica by Columbus no other event had awakened such unboundedenthusiasm as the discovery of a polar gulf and an interior world.
"I am most of all interested at present," said I, "in the story of howDunbar reached civilization again after parting with us. I forgiveyou, Dunbar," I continued, addressing him, "for your mutinous conduct,and now let us hear the story of your adventures in the Polar Sea."
"Admiral," said Dunbar, "had we known the terrible hardships we wouldhave to endure in making our way home, chiefly on foot and at the sametime burdened with the boat, we would never have left the ship. Butyou must thank me for the presence of the two ships that are hereto-day and for the fame you already enjoy in the outer world."
"It's something tremendous," said Captain Adams.
"How did your geographers receive the news of the interior world?" Iinquired of Sir John Forbes.
"I need not say that the English geographers, in common with theentire nation, were greatly excited at the news. The RoyalGeographical Society have already made you an honorary member, and itwas actually proposed at one of the meetings that the governmentshould proclaim a special holiday as a day of rejoicing for so great adiscovery. This would certainly have been done but for the fact thatthe story rested entirely on the testimony of two sailors, and thatany public rejoicing should be postponed until the story of thesailors would be verified by a special expedition sent from England.Of course, many people think that Dunbar's story is a fable or ahallucination that he himself believes in. On the other hand, hundredsof professional and amateur astronomers and geographers are proving bymathematics that the earth must be a hollow sphere, and the story ofthe open poles an entirely physical possibility."
"The people of the United States," said Captain Adams, "are almostunanimous in the belief that the interior world is a veritablereality, and it only requires a return of my ship to convince everyone that Dunbar's story falls very short of the glorious reality."
"There is no man more famous to-day than Lexington White, Admiral ofAtvatabar!" said Sir John Forbes.
"I thank you, gentlemen, for your kind words," said I; "and now forDunbar's story."
"I think, admiral," said Captain Adams, "that if I were to read youthe article containing Dunbar's story written by a specialcommissioner of the New York _Western Hemisphere_, who was the firstto interview Dunbar at Sitka, on learning of his arrival there, itwould be perhaps the best narration of his perilous adventures." Asthe captain spoke he drew a copy of the _Western Hemisphere_ from hispocket.
"By all means," I replied, "let us hear what the press said aboutDunbar and his adventures."
Thereupon Captain Adams read the New York _Western Hemisphere's_account of Dunbar's adventures, as follows:
"AN ASTOUNDING DISCOVERY!
"THE NORTH POLE FOUND TO BE AN ENORMOUS CAVERN, LEADING TO A SUBTERRANEAN WORLD!
"THE EARTH PROVES TO BE A HOLLOW SHELL ONE THOUSAND MILES IN THICKNESS, LIT BY AN INTERIOR SUN!
"OCEANS AND CONTINENTS, ISLANDS AND CITIES SPREAD UPON THE ROOF OF THE INTERIOR SPHERE!
"BOATSWAIN DUNBAR AND SEAMAN HENDERSON, OF THE 'POLAR KING,' HAVING DESERTED THE SHIP AS SHE WAS ENTERING PLUTUSIA, HAVE ARRIVED AT SITKA, ALASKA, IN A DESPERATE CONDITION, AND HAVE BEEN INTERVIEWED BY A 'WESTERN HEMISPHERE' COMMISSIONER.
"THEY SAY LEXINGTON WHITE, COMMANDER OF THE 'POLAR KING,' IS AT PRESENT SAILING UNDERNEATH CANADA ON AN INTERIOR SEA!
"TREMENDOUS POSSIBILITIES FOR SCIENCE AND COMMERCE!
"THE FABLED REALMS OF PLUTO NO LONGER A MYTH!
"GOLD! GOLD! BEYOND THE DREAMS OF MADNESS!
"The story of the discovery of Plutusia and the Polar Gulf, as told bythe two shipwrecked survivors of the mutineers of the _Polar King_ nowat Sitka, Alaska, to the _Western Hemisphere_, will form an epoch inthe history of the world. The renown of Columbus and Magellan isovershadowed by the glory of Lexington White, a citizen of the UnitedStates, who fitted out a ship for polar discovery, and, taking thecommand himself, has unravelled the mystery of the North Pole,discovered the Polar Gulf and the interior world.
"Having penetrated the Polar Gulf about three hundred miles, andhaving discovered the interior sun, a fear seized on a number of thesailors, among whom were Boatswain Dunbar and his companion,Henderson, who are the only survivors of twelve men who left the_Polar King_ in an open boat to return home again, and to whose safearrival in Sitka the world is ind
ebted for news of the importantdiscoveries that had been made.
"Dunbar and Henderson arrived in Sitka in a very forlorn condition,almost starved to death and utterly exhausted with their terriblejourney homeward. They seem to forget largely the incidents of thejourney outward in the _Polar King_, but have a very clearrecollection of their own individual experiences in returning tocivilization again. Dunbar, with his eleven associates and theEsquimaux dogs, were no sooner cut adrift from the _Polar King_ thanthey began to realize their terrible position. Borne on the breast ofthe immense tidal wave that vibrated up and down the polar cavern,they were tossed helplessly to and fro, now flung almost out of itsmouth and again sucked back into its midnight recesses. They floatedfor days in the gigantic tunnel of water that threatened to collapseany moment and overwhelm them. They would fain have returned to theship, but the breeze blowing out of the cavern wafted them far fromtheir comrades, and they therefore bent all their energies to the taskof getting home again. The light of the polar summer that lit themouth of the gulf was their guide that led them back to the oldfamiliar world.
"Happily for the adventurers, the direction of the wind continuedfavorable to their voyage. They made about a hundred miles a day, andin five days reached the edge of the outer ocean. Here again thegrandeur of the scene appalled them. Let the reader imagine a littleboat carrying twelve souls out of that monstrous cavern five hundredmiles in diameter. Think of fifteen hundred miles of ocean forming themouth of the world that shone in the Arctic sunlight like moltensilver surrounding an abyss of darkness.
"Dunbar and his companions had no sooner emerged from the gulf andseen once more the light of the sun--our own sun--than they wept forjoy. But again, when they thought of the terrible barrier of ice theyhad to cross again they began to wish they had remained with the_Polar King_. Thus man fluctuates between this or that impulse, as heis moved.
"'I say, captain,' said Walker, one of the men, 'don't you think itabout as safe to go back and find the ship as to run the chance ofbeing frozen to death on the ice?'
"'Well,' said Dunbar, 'when we left the ship everybody knew it was forgood. Our shipmates have chosen their course, as we chose ours, andit's too late to go back now. As likely as not she may have struck arock and has gone to the bottom by this time.'
"As the boat cleared the cavern the sea fell down before them, untilat noonday the sun itself was visible, a joyful proof that they had atlast gained the normal surface of the earth again.
"When three days out of the gulf, the weather grew suddenly colder,and the sky became obscured with clouds, completely hiding the sunfrom sight. A furious snow-storm overtook the voyagers, who, benumbedwith cold, wished they were only back again under the hurricane-deckof the _Polar King_. Fortunately, the wind blew steadily toward theArctic Circle, bringing them nearer home, but such was the anxiety andsuffering caused by insufficient protection from the inclement climatethat they cared not whither they drifted, so long as they could keepalive.
"By the help of a little oil-stove they boiled their coffee under asail, which, spread horizontally above them, in some measure kept thesnow from burying them alive.
"The storm spent its fury in twenty-four hours, and when the air grewclear again they were saluted with the sight of that enormous ridge ofice through which the _Polar King_ found a passage a month before. Theice was heaped up with the purest snow in places twenty feet in depth.Thousands of icy peaks and pinnacles, as far as the eye could reach,pierced the sky. Under other conditions the sight would have beensublime, but to men frozen and famished with insufficient food it wasa scene of terror.
"The icy range was flanked by an ice-foot varying from thirty to sixtymiles in width, and from four to fifty feet above the sea-level.
"Here was the problem that confronted Dunbar--he had to travel over atleast thirty miles of icy splinters over an ice-foot whose surface wasbroken into every possible contortion of crystallization. There weremounds, hummocks, caverns, crevasses, ridges and gulfs of the hardestand oldest ice. Then when this barrier was crossed there was the icybackbone of the whole system, five hundred to a thousand feet inheight, to be crossed, as there was no lane or opening to bediscovered through so formidable a range of ice mountains. Even if hesucceeded in crossing the same, there would certainly be anice-foot of perhaps greater dimensions than the one before him tocross, and that might prove to be only a valley of ice leading toother and still more inaccessible cliffs to be surmounted.
WE SLOWLY DRAGGED OURSELVES ACROSS THE RANGE OF ICYPEAKS.]
"'This is no place to die in,' said Dunbar, 'and so, boys, we've gotto hustle if we ever expect to get home.'
"'Ay, ay, sir,' said his companions, but when they reached the icethey found that having remained in a cramped position for a month inthe boat had incapacitated them for walking.
"It was also found that Walker's feet and those of four other sailorshad been frostbitten, and that they were totally unable to be of anyservice to themselves or the others.
"The outlook was mournful in the extreme. The only thing that cheeredthem was the constant sunlight, and even that consolation would departin another month, and if in the mean time they did not get away fromthe ice, hunger and the awful desolation of a polar winter wouldterminate their existence.
"There was no chance of starting on their journey until they gotaccustomed to the use of their limbs, and so they built a hut ofblocks of ice, which were solidly frozen together by a few bucketsfull of sea water thrown over them.
"The dogs were glad to get on the ice again, and scampered abouttotally oblivious of the fact that the supply of pork was getting verylow, and unless they got some fresh meat very soon they would beobliged to feed on each other.
"They remained a fortnight in their Arctic abode exercising themselvesby cutting a passage in the ice. During this time four of the sailorsdied. Finally the remainder, packing everything into the boat, yokedthe dogs thereto, and started in anything but hopeful spirits on theirarduous journey.
"It was found that Walker had to be carried along, but he did not longcontinue a burden to his associates, for on the fourth day of themarch he died, and was buried in the snow. It was a toilsome journey.Almost every foot of the way required to be hewn out of ice as hard asadamant.
"The dogs suffered greatly from insufficient food and tirelessexertion. Several died from complete exhaustion, and were greedilydevoured by their fellows.
"After desperate exertions, Dunbar and his company, now reduced toseven souls, gained the crest of the ice range and had thesatisfaction of seeing open water not twenty miles away. It took sometime to discover the best route for a descent, but at last theyreached the level of the ice-foot beyond, and struck for open sea. Afortunate capture of several seals re-enforced their almost exhaustedsupply of provisions.
"Dunbar cared nothing about latitude or longitude or scientificinformation in such a desperate fight for life. It was a joyful momentwhen he and his companions launched their boat safe into the sea againafter the incredible toil of dragging it forty miles across thesplintered ice peaks and the terrible ice-foot north and south of thepaleocrystic mountains.
"Dunbar hoisted his sail, abandoning the few dogs who yet remainedalive, and with his unhappy companions steered for Behring Strait,first making for the coast of Alaska that faces the desolation of theArctic seas.
"It would be impossible to describe the horrors of that lonely voyage.The terrible struggle with five hundred miles of ice-floes, withsnow-storms that piled the snow high upon the voyagers, and theferocious cold, proved too much for five of the seven sailors, and oneby one the poor fellows died, and were thrown overboard.
"Only two men--Dunbar and a sailor named Henderson--emerged from theArctic Sea, arriving in six months from the time they left the ship,in Sitka, Alaska."