CHAPTER IX.
In the Heart of Labrador.
The central room of the cabin was called the 'engine room.' It wasfifteen feet square, with a hole three feet in diameter in one corner,now securely covered. It was used for lowering or hoisting objectsthrough while the globe was at anchor. An aluminum frame or cage,attached to a windlass by a chain of the same material, was used forthis purpose. A powerful coil steel spring operated the windlass. Ineach of the other corners of the room were anchors of aluminum, alsoattached to windlasses and worked by steel springs. There was a dynamothat afforded abundance of light for the ship. This, too, was run byspring power. The rooms of the cabin were brilliantly lighted, and thespiral stairway, from the foot of the mast which stood upon the centerof the floor of the engine-room, was illuminated by several lights, upto the observatory itself. At the top, or ball of the mast, was a lightof thirty-two hundred candle power. Altogether, the ship must have beenat night an object of terrific splendor to the observer below.
Will was the originator of the steel-springs motor idea, and he dailyattended to winding them with great faithfulness and pride. And it was amost invaluable adjunct to the comfort and success of the expedition, aswill be seen before the end of this history is reached.
At daylight, on the following morning, all were up and looking out uponwild Canadian forests. Here and there were small towns and settlements,but they realized that they were fast hastening beyond the pale ofcivilization. The wind had moved during the night into the southwest,and the Professor informed them that they were sailing at the rate ofmore than thirty miles an hour.
"If this wind will only continue, we shall not be long reaching ourdestination," said the Doctor. "While I am enjoying the trip splendidly,yet I am anxious to reach the Pole as soon as possible. After that wewill start on a general sightseeing tour. But until I have planted ouraluminum shaft exactly upon the north end of the earth's axis,sightseeing is but incidental and secondary."
All day they skimmed like a frigate bird across the face of Canada, atan altitude of about two thousand feet. All were delighted with thebehavior of the ship. Her capacity for floating and retaining heat farexceeded their most sanguine expectations.
It was interesting to watch the fast changing appearance of the country,and they could note that the timber was rapidly growing smaller.Clearings and settlements became more and more rare, and as the dayclosed they were looking upon primitive, unbroken forests, known only tohunters, both white and red.
Another night passed without incident. The wind held all night in thesame quarter. On the following morning the beautiful ship was envelopedin a dense fog. "We are in the midst of a great cloud," said ProfessorGray.
"I think we will rise a few hundred feet and see if we can get out ofit," replied Dr. Jones.
The temperature within the globe was raised a few degrees, and the shiprapidly rose to twenty-five hundred feet altitude. This carried themhigh above the clouds, and it was with new and strange sensations thatour aerial navigators looked down upon the dense cloud that obscured theface of the earth from their view. The sun, meantime, was shining withwhat seemed to them greatly increased splendor in this super-cloudregion.
"Well, girls," cried the Doctor, "I am for some exercise. Who will mountwith me to the observatory?"
They each assented, and a few moments later were sitting in thatelevated place, very warm and breathless from the unwonted exercise ofthe long climb. This was Mattie's first visit to the observatory, andher eyes dilated with terror as she looked over the rolling sides of themassive globe.
"O, Doctor, Doctor! isn't this perfectly awful! Think of what the veryslightest mistake or mishap would do. We should go flying down throughthose clouds, and be dashed to pieces in those uninhabited Canadianforests. And I suppose that our friends would never hear of us again.
"Tut, tut, Mattie. Cheer up, little girl," said the doctor, verysoothingly, and patting her head with his steady, strong hand. "Nomishap is possible. We cannot explode, collapse, burn, collide, norcapsize. No enterprise ever entered upon by man possessed so much ofinterest and importance, and was attended by so little of the element ofdanger. You were never safer in your life than you are at this moment.Think of it! Here we are above the clouds, the world with all its careand heartaches shut out, basking in this glorious sunlight, sailing onin this clear, bracing, microbeless atmosphere. The clouds beneath ourfeet, the sun above our heads, and God's empyrean all about us. What canbe more inspiring and grand? How does the chorus of that old hymn run?
'Let us look above the clouds, Above the clouds, above the clouds; Up above the stormy clouds To fairer worlds on high.'"
The Doctor sang this simple chorus in his great sonorous voice that rangout over the clouds like a bugle blast.
"Well, I declare Doctor, you will not let me get into a real goodfright," cried Mattie, smiling through eyes filled with tears.
"No, indeed, I will not, Mattie. The only fear I have now is that we maykeep breakfast waiting. Let's descend."
The forenoon passed away very uneventfully. About the middle of theafternoon they were treated to a splendid spectacle. A terrific thunderstorm raged beneath them; and as they looked below into the inky depthsof the thunder clouds, pierced and riven by jagged lightnings, followedby deafening bellowings and crashings of thunder, and then cast theireyes up to the sun shining in full-orbed splendor over all, theyrealized as never before the presence and majesty of Omnipotence.
At four o'clock, P.M. the storm clouds cleared away, and the bleak,uninviting face of Labrador was plainly visible. The ship had settled toan altitude of fifteen hundred feet, and was moving northeasterly at therate of thirty miles an hour.
"Isn't that a settlement I see ahead a few miles?" asked Will.
The Doctor and Professor Gray decided that it must be a fort or tradingpost. The ship, meantime, was lowering quite rapidly, and was but eighthundred feet above the earth.
"I have a mind to drop anchor at that fort for the night," said Dr.Jones. "Some fresh meat, especially game and fish, would not be at allbad to take. What do you all say?"
A general desire was expressed to do so.
They could see that the inhabitants of the place were greatly excited,and were running to and fro. The globe was lowered to within threehundred feet of the earth. As they neared the spot, two of the anchorswere dropped, and soon caught in the birch tree tops. The ship strainedtremendously at the cables for a moment or two, and then rode easily atanchorage, three hundred feet above the buildings.
"Fort ahoy!" shouted the Doctor.
"Ahoy!" replied a hoarse voice.
"What fort is this?"
"This is not a fort, but Constance House."
"Well, we are a party bound for the North Pole, and we wish to buy someprovisions."
"All right. Come down, and we will do the best we can for you. But Ithink you have scared everybody on the place about to death."
The spring power was turned on, and the windlasses drew the globe towithin one hundred feet of the earth. Then the Doctor and Denisondescended in the cage. They met a splendidly built, large man, dressedin a semi-arctic suit of woolens and furs. The two voyagers introducedthemselves, explained their business, and they were received verycordially by this man, John Barton, the proprietor and owner ofConstance House. He invited the whole company to descend and makethemselves at home as long as they desired to remain. So two by two theydescended, Sing also joining the group below. The anchors were lashed tothe trunks of the trees to prevent accidents from sudden gusts of wind.
They found Constance House to be a large one-story stone building, whichserved for both residence and storeroom. One-half of it was devoted tothe storage of provisions, clothing, and such other goods as arerequired by hunters and trappers. These Mr. Barton exchanged for furswith said hunters and trappers. Hunting, trapping, and fishingconstituted the sole business of the simple-minded inhabitants. Herethey are born, live, die contentedly, knowing little of an
d caringnothing about the great world which the most of us are so anxious topossess.
Barton's family consisted of a wife, two strapping sons, who werehunters and trappers, and a daughter. The daughter's name was Jennie,aged eighteen. She was a strong, healthy, beautiful girl. Nothing couldexceed the loveliness of her skin, the whiteness of her even teeth, orthe graceful shapeliness of her form. Mrs. Jones and Mattie wereimmediately drawn to her. She met their advances freely and frankly,though her manners showed at once that she was not accustomed to suchsociety. But she was so unaffectedly sweet and pure that the two ladiesloved her all the better for her unsophistication. Mrs. Barton was aninvalid, and they did not see her that evening.
After a bountiful supper the whole party drew up to a vast fireplace. Init roared a huge fire, for the night was very cold and frosty. For atime the air-ship and the object of their voyage was discussed. Theadmiration of Barton and the inhabitants of Constance House for theglobe was unbounded. The wind had lulled away to a very gentle breeze,and the superlatively splendid globe hung above them so majestically,and glistened so beautifully in the moonlight, that it is not wonderfulthat these people, who saw and knew so little of the outside world,should be struck dumb with wonder and astonishment as they looked uponit.
"I must say," said Barton, "that I never experienced such sensations inmy life as I did when your ship hove in sight. I have been mate of somegood ships in my time, and have traveled over a good portion of theearth. I have seen many strange sights on land and sea, but this beatsthem all by so much that I shall never mention them again. And you aregoing to make the North Pole beyond a peradventure. Nothing couldplease me so well as to make one of your party. But my poor, poor wife!"He dropped his face into his hands, and tears trickled down upon hismassive grey beard. The two sons and Jennie also participated in theirfather's grief.
"What is the matter with your wife?" asked Mrs. Jones, very gently."Perhaps Dr. Jones might do something for her."
"No, no, madam; her case is a hopeless one. I took her down to Montreallast year, and the best medical men there were consulted. They could doabsolutely nothing for her, and I have brought her home to die. I wantedto stay there with her, where she could have more of the comforts oflife, but she preferred to come back to Constance House."
"While I know nothing of the nature of your wife's disease, yet I willsay that I have cured many cases of so-called incurables. It is not thatI know more of the nature of disease than the average physician, but Iuse drugs that they know nothing of, will not investigate, look at, noreven touch with the longest of tongs," said Dr. Jones.
"But, Doctor, my wife's case is cancer. They showed me the latest andbest authorities, and they invariably gave what they called an'unfavorable prognosis.' You would not undertake to say that thisfearful disease is curable, would you?" cried Barton, very earnestly.
The Doctor saw that he had a very intelligent and well-informed man todeal with. He had conceived a liking for the grand old man, and desired,with all his good and kindly heart, to help this noble family in itsdistress and isolation from the civilized world. So he said slowly andimpressively:
"Mr. Barton, I came to you this afternoon like a messenger from theskies. The way in which I came, and the ship in which I sailed, ought toentitle my word to some weight with you. Now I am going to say this: Ihave cured cancers, and believe that a large percentage of them arecurable. I would like to see your wife, and if I can do anything forher, I shall be glad to do it."
"I thank you, Dr. Jones, with all my heart. Come right in with me," andBarton led the way to his wife's room. Half an hour later the Doctorcame from the sick room, went out, jumped into the cage and mounted tothe globe. He returned in a few moments and said: "I have here medicine,Mr. Barton, that is certain to do your wife a great amount of good. AndI am quite positive that it will work a perfect cure. Her symptoms pointso unmistakably and pronouncedly to a certain remedy that I feel safe inassuring you of immediate relief. I shall be much surprised if you donot see less pain, burning, restlessness, thirst--in short, a decidedlybetter night than she has known for months."
Constance House was not prepared with sleeping accommodations for solarge a company of visitors, and at ten o'clock they mounted to the shipfor the night. At seven o'clock on the following morning they alldescended again and partook of the substantial breakfast prepared forthem by Jennie, with the help of a half-breed Indian girl.
The surprise and delight of the family was immeasurable at thepalliative effects of Dr. Jones' medicine. Mrs. Barton had rested quitecomfortably nearly all night, a thing that she had not done in manymonths. Barton grasped the Doctor's hand when he first appeared in themorning, and could not speak for emotion.
"That is all right, Mr. Barton; just what I expected."
"Doctor, you have inspired me with a degree of hope that I neverexpected to know again. Do you really think you can cure her?"
"Mr. Barton, I will just reiterate what I said to you last night: I haveseen some astonishing cures done by the remedy indicated by thesymptoms, and in what we call a 'high potency.' I cannot stop to explainall this to you, but you can rest assured that it is the only help orhope for your wife. Anxious though I am to be off toward ourdestination, yet I am going to stop over and study your wife's symptomsmore closely, and leave you medicines with written directions as totheir use."
The joy of the Barton family was unbounded at this announcement of thebenevolent Doctor.
After breakfast, Denison, Fred, and Will decided to accompany the Bartonboys up the river that flowed near Constance House, visiting theirtraps.
"What game do you have in this country?" asked Denison.
"We have reindeer, bear, wolves, foxes, hare, marten, otter, and in thespring and summer we have an abundance of geese, ducks, etc.," repliedJoe, the elder of the boys. Sam was the younger of the brothers, andthey were aged twenty-three and twenty-one years respectively. Thevoyagers were surprised at the correctness of their speech and otherindications of education.
"Our mother is an educated woman, and has taken great pains with oureducation," said Sam in reply to a remark of Denison upon the subject."And she has done as much for father. Our long winter nights we alwaysspend in reading, music, and sometimes in such games as chess,backgammon, drafts, etc. Mother is a most splendid mathematician. She isalso quite a linguist. But I am afraid that mother's days of teachingare over in this world. Dr. Jones is exceedingly kind, but do you reallythink that he has any hopes of curing her?" And the two sons lookedanxiously into Denison's face as they awaited his reply.
"Well," replied Denison slowly, as if carefully weighing his words, "Ihave known Dr. Jones more than twenty years very intimately, and I tellyou candidly that you may rely implicitly upon his word. He is aphysician of remarkable skill, and to my positive knowledge has curedseveral cases of cancer that had been, like your mother's, given up asincurable. So I should hope a great deal if he gives you encouragement."
"God is good, and has heard our prayers," said Sam.
While this party spent the day until the middle of the afternoonpaddling from trap to trap, capturing three otters, and catching severaldozen beautiful trout and black bass, the Doctor and the Professorascended with Mr. Barton to the ship. As he passed through the elegantrooms of the cabin, and saw the wonderful degree of comfort, and evenluxury, that our voyagers were enjoying, he cried out, like the Queen ofSheba, "The half was never told!" And the wonderful metal of whicheverything was composed where practicable--aluminum--excited his specialinterest.
"Without this metal you could never have made the trip," he declared.But when he had mounted the spiral stairway, and was standing in theobservatory, for some time he was speechless. As his eye ran up theshining mast, then off over the glistening sides of the globe to theearth, three hundred feet below, then away over the trackless wastes ofLabrador, he finally exclaimed, "This, gentlemen, is too wonderful forme. I cannot give expression to my feelings. If you had told me that youwere visitors from Venus o
r Mars, I should be obliged to believe you."
And so they sat and discussed for an hour or more the object of theexpedition, and the probability of success. All agreed that, so far ashuman thought and judgment could foresee, failure was hardly possible.They descended to the cabin. The aluminum mast especially attracted theattention of the old sailor.
"And you intend erecting this magnificent spar at the North Pole!" heexclaimed, all his sailor instincts thoroughly aroused. "How do youintend to manage that business, Doctor?"
"We shall be governed in that matter entirely by circumstances," repliedDr. Jones. "I do not know what we may find there, and so cannot sayexactly what we may have to do. But I shall consider the trip a partialfailure if I do not leave this stately shaft, exactly to the quarter ofan inch, standing at the North Pole, with that aluminum flag flying atits peak, there to float till time shall be no more."
"Well, Doctor, I am a thoroughbred British subject, and can't helpwishing that it was the Union Jack that you were going to leave there;but you deserve all the honor of the occasion, and I am glad to bid youGodspeed," said Barton heartily.
"Thank you," replied Dr. Jones, "now let us go down and see furtherabout your wife's case. I must be off to-morrow morning, bright andearly."
The Doctor and Barton repaired to the sick chamber. After nearly an hourthey left the house, walked down to the river bank, and talked long andearnestly concerning the treatment of Mrs. Barton.
"I will tell you just what I am doing for your wife, and the grounds Ihave for hope. I think, under the circumstances, that an expose of therationale of my treatment is due you, for two reasons, first, because Idesire to give you a reason for the hope that is within me, and so makeyou as happy and comfortable as possible by filling you up with alively faith; secondly, because I delight in instructing intelligentpeople in what I conceive to be the only rational and scientific systemof medicine known to man.
"In this pocket-case book, you will observe that I have taken Mrs.Barton's symptoms very carefully and minutely:
"1. A fearful and apprehensive state of mind. She cannot tolerate beingleft alone.
"2. Intolerable thirst for cold water. Drinks often, and but a sip ortwo at a time.
"3. The pains are very sharp, lancinating, and burning.
"4. She is always worse at night, from twelve o'clock until two orthree, A.M. The pains then are intolerable, and burning like red-hotiron, so that you are obliged to hold her in your arms to prevent herdoing herself injury.
"5. Great restlessness.
"6. Skin yellow, or straw-colored, dry and wrinkled.
"7. Very emaciated and weak.
"There are quite a number of other symptoms of less importance, but allare found under but one drug in all the earth, and that drug is arsenic.Do not be alarmed at the name, for the doses I give are absolutelyimmaterial and can do no harm. But they do possess a curative power thatis truly miraculous and past the comprehension of man. What gives megreater hope and confidence in your wife's case is the fact that she hasnever been under the surgeon's knife. Operations for cancer not only dono good whatever, but they reduce the patient's chances of cure, so thatafter the second or third one the case is rendered absolutely incurable.And another thing greatly in her favor is that she has taken but littlemedicine, and so I have been able to get a clear picture of the case.And I must strictly forbid the use of any drugs whatever, internally orexternally, except what I give you."
"But, Doctor, the terrible odor!" said Barton, "Must I not use thedisinfectant as I have been doing?"
"No; nothing but washing with warm castile soap-suds, two or three timesdaily. The odor will all disappear within a few days."
"Well, that is astonishing! And is arsenic the remedy for all cases ofcancer?"
"Not by any manner of means. That is the great mistake of the medicalworld in all ages. They are continually on the lookout for specifics,or medicines that cure all cases of any given disease, irrespective ofsymptoms. Every case must be taken upon its individual merits, anddifferentiated upon symptomatology alone. And a drug must be prescribedthat is indicated by the symptoms. Anything more or less than this isunscientific, and a contrariety to one of God's most beautiful anduniversal laws--'Similia similibus curanter,'--'Like cures like.' Thatis to say, arsenic is the remedy for your wife, because, when taken inmaterial doses, it always produces symptoms identical with thosemanifested in her case. Hence I meet them with immaterial doses of thatdrug. Had her symptoms been different, then I should have been obligedto seek and find, if possible, a drug capable of causing this differentset of symptoms, whatever they might have been. Now this rule of lawholds good throughout all the field of medicine, except that which ispurely surgical. Do you catch the idea?"
"I do, Doctor, I do; and I declare that it looks very reasonable as youput it. I like the theory, and if it always holds good in practice, thenit is certainly one of the most beneficent of God's laws."
"Thousands of times, Barton, in an active practice of more thantwenty-five years, I have tested this law; and I tell you, as an honestman, and one who expects to answer for the deeds done in the body at thebar of God, that it never failed me once. I have failed many timesbecause I could not read aright the symptoms of the case; or when it wasan incurable affair, rendered so by drugs and surgery," said Dr. Joneswith great earnestness. "But come, I have given you quite a medicallecture. Let's look up the girls and see what they are about."