CHAPTER VI.
DAY BECOMES NIGHT AND NIGHT DAY.
"Commander," said Captain Wallace, "I beg to report that the pole starhas suddenly fallen five degrees south from its position overhead, andthe sun has risen to his mid-day position in the sky! I fear we aresailing into a vast polar depression something greater than thedescription given in our geographies, that the earth is flattened atthe poles."
"Do you really think, captain," I inquired, "that we are sailing intoa hollow place around the pole?"
"Why, I am sure of it," said he. "Nothing else can explain the suddenmovement of the heavenly bodies. Remember, we have only passed the85th parallel but a few miles and ought to have the pole star rightoverhead."
"Professor Starbottle has a theory," I said, "that may account for thestrange phenomena we witness. Let these gentlemen hear your theory,professor."
The professor stated very deliberately what he had alreadycommunicated to me, viz.: that we were really descending to theinterior of the earth, that the bows of the ship were graduallypointing to its centre, and that if the voyage were continued we wouldfind ourselves swallowed up in a vast polar gulf leading to God knowswhat infernal regions.
The terror inspired by the professor's words was plainly visible onevery face.
"Let us turn back!" shouted some of the sailors.
"My opinion," said the captain, "is that we have entered a polardepression; it is impossible to think that the earth is a hollow shellinto which we may sail so easily as this."
"If I might venture a remark," said Pilot Rowe, "I think ProfessorStarbottle is right. If the earth is a hollow shell having asubterranean ocean, we can sail thereon bottom upward and mastsdownward, just as easily as we sail on the surface of the ocean here."
"I believe an interior ocean an impossibility," said the captain.
"You're right, sorr," said the master-at-arms, "for what would keepthe ship sticking to the wather upside down?"
THE TERROR INSPIRED BY THE PROFESSOR'S WORDS WASPLAINLY VISIBLE ON EVERY FACE.]
"I don't say that the earth is absolutely a hollow sphere," said theprofessor, "but I do say this, we are now sailing into a polar abyss,and if the sun disappears at noon to-day it will be because we havesailed far enough into the gulf to put the ocean over which we havesailed between us and that luminary. If the sun disappears at noon,depend upon it we will never reach the pole, which will forever remainonly the ideal axis of the earth."
"Do you mean to say," I inquired, "that what men have called the poleis only the mouth of an enormous cavern, perhaps the vestibule of asubterranean world?"
"That is precisely the theory I advance to account for this strangeending of our voyage," said the professor.
The murmurs of excitement among the men again broke out into wildcries of "Turn back the ship!"
I encouraged the men to calm themselves. "As long as the ship is in noimmediate danger," said I, "we can wait till noonday and see if theprofessor's opinion is supported by the behavior of the sun. If so, wewill then hold a council of all hands and decide on what course tofollow. Depart to your respective posts of duty until mid-day, when wewill decide on such action as will be for the good of all."
The men, terribly frightened, dispersed, leaving Captain Wallace,First Officer Renwick, Professors Starbottle, Goldrock, and Rackiron,the doctor and myself together.
Dreadful as was the thought of quietly sinking into a polar gulf fromwhich possibly there might be no escape, yet the bare possibility ofreturning to tell the world of our tremendous discovery created adesire to explore still further the abyss into which we had entered. Iconfess that my first feeling of terror was rapidly giving way to apassion for discovery. What fearful secrets might not be held in thedarkness toward which we undoubtedly travelled! Would it be ourfortune to pierce the darkness and silence of a polar cavern? When Ithought of the natural terror of the sailors, I dared not think of oursailing further than mid-day, in case we had really entered an abyss.
"Commander," said Professor Starbottle, "this is the most importantday, or rather night, of the voyage. I propose we stay on deck andenjoy the sunlight as long as we can."
One glance at the sun sufficed to tell us the truth; he was rapidlyfalling from the sky. At midnight he was 20 degrees and at 1 A.M.only 18 degrees above the waste of waters.
This proved we were as rapidly taking leave of the glorious orb, on anexpedition fraught with the greatest peril and unknown possibilitiesof science, conquest, and commerce.
By a tacit consent we turned our attention to the scene around us. Thewater was very free from ice, only here and there icebergs floated.The diminished radiation of light produced a weird effect, growingmore spectral as the sun sank in the heavens.
Professor Goldrock pointed out a flock of geese actually flying aheadof us into the gulf, if gulf indeed it were. We considered this a goodomen and took heart accordingly.
The captain pointed out a strange apparition in the north, but whichwas really south of the pole, and discoverable with the glass. Itappeared to be the limb of some rising planet between us and the sunthat seemed faintly illuminated by moonlight. Professor Starbottlesaid it was the opposite edge of the polar gulf that was about toenvelop us. It was illuminated by the earth-light reflected from thesame ocean on which the _Polar King_ floated.
The sun, as he swung round to the south, fell rapidly to the horizon,and at eight o'clock disappeared below the water. Was there ever a dayin human experience as portentous as that? When did the sun set at 8A.M.in the Arctic summer, leaving the earth in darkness? We knewthen that Professor Starbottle's theory of a polar gulf was a truthbeyond question. It was a fearful fact!
But the grandest spectacle we had yet seen now lay before us. Theopposite rapidly rising limb of the polar gulf, 500 miles away, wasbrilliantly illuminated by the sun's rays far overhead, and itssplendid earth-light, twenty times brighter than moonlight, fallingupon us, compensated for the sudden obliteration of the daylight.
It was mid-day, and our only light was the earth-light of the gulf.There stood over us the still rising circular rim of the ocean,sparkling like an enormous jewel. It was a bewildering experience. Inthe light of that distant ocean I assembled the men on deck and thusaddressed them:
"My men, when we started on the present expedition you stipulated fora voyage of discovery to the North Pole (if possible) and return toNew York again. The first part of the voyage is happily accomplished.We alone of all the explorers who have essayed polar discovery havebeen rewarded with a sight of the pole. The mystery of the earth'saxis is no longer a secret. Here before your eyes is the axis on whichthe earth performs its daily revolution. The North Pole is an immensegulf 500 miles in diameter and of unknown depth. Within this gulf liesour ship, at least a hundred miles below the level of the outer ocean!
"The question we are now called upon to decide is this: Are we toremain satisfied with our present achievement, turn back the ship, andgo home without attempting to discover whither leads this enormousgulf? As far as the officers of the ship and the scientific staff areconcerned, as far as I myself am concerned, I am satisfied if we wereonce back in New York again, our first thought would be to returnhither, and, taking up the thread of our journey, endeavor to explorethe farthest recesses of the gulf."
I was here interrupted by loud applause from the entire officers andmany of the men.
"This being so, why should we waste a journey to New York and backagain for nothing? Why not, with our good ship well armed andprovisioned, that has in safety carried us so far, why not, I say,proceed further, taking advantage of the only opportunity the ages oftime have ever offered to man to explore earth's profoundest secrets?
"Who knows what oceans, what continents, what nations, it may be ofmen like ourselves, may not exist in a subterranean world? Who knowswhat gold, what silver, what precious stones are there piled perhapsmountains high? Are we to tamely throw aside the possibility of suchglory on account of base fears, and, returning home, allow
others tosnatch from our grasp the golden prize?
"My men, I cannot think you will do this. Our future lies entirely inyour hands. We cannot proceed further on our voyage without yourassistance. I will not compel a single man to go further against hiswill. I call for volunteers for the interior world! I am willing tolead you on; who will follow me?"