Leaving Lexington Island we steered almost due north through a vast open pack. On the 1st of May we arrived in lat. 78' 30" west long.
155' 50", our course having been determined by the lead of the lanes in the enormous drifts of ice. Here another storm overtook us, travelling due east. We were once more beset, and drifted helplessly for three days before the storm subsided. We found ourselves in long. 150' again, in danger of being nipped. The wind, suddenly drifting to the east, reopened the pack for us to our intense relief.
Taking advantage of some fine leads and favorable winds, we passed through leagues of ice, piled-up floes and floebergs, forming scenes of Arctic desolation beyond imagination to conceive. At last we arrived at a place beyond which it was impossible to proceed. We had struck against the gigantic barrier of what appeared to be an immense continent of ice, for a range of ice-clad hills lay only a few miles north of the _Polar King_. At last the sceptre of the Ice King waved over us with the command, "Thus far and no further."
CHAPTER V.
WE ENTER THE POLAR GULF.
How the _Polar King_ penetrated what appeared an insurmountable obstacle, and the joyful proof that the hills did not belong to a polar continent, but were a continuous congregation of icebergs, frozen in one solid mass, are already known to the reader.
The gallant ship continued to make rapid progress toward the open water lying ahead of us. Mid-day found us in 84' 10" north latitude and 150' west longitude. The sun remained in the sky as usual to add his splendor to our day of deliverance and exultation.
We felt what it was to be wholly cut off from the outer world. The chances were that the passage in the ice would be frozen up solid again soon after we had passed through it. Even with our dogs and sledges the chances were against our retreat southward.
The throbbing of the engine was the only sound that broke the stillness of the silent sea. The laugh of the sailors sounded hollow and strange, and seemed a reminder that with all our freedom we were prisoners of the ice, sailing where no ship had ever sailed nor human eye gazed on such a sea of terror and beauty.
Happily we were not the only beings that peopled the solitudes of the pole. Flocks of gulls, geese, ptarmigan, and other Arctic fowls wheeled round us. They seemed almost human in their movements, and were the links that bound us to the beating hearts far enough off then to be regretted by us.
Every man on board the vessel was absorbed in thought concerning our strange position. The beyond? That was the momentous question that lay like a load on every soul.
While thinking of these things, Professor Starbottle inquired, if with such open water as we sailed in, how soon I expected to reach the pole.
"Well," said I, "we ought to be at the 85th parallel by this time.
Five more degrees, or 300 miles, will reach it. The _Polar King_ will cover that distance easily in twenty hours. It is now 6 P.M.; at 2 P.M. to-morrow, the 12th of May, we will reach the pole."
Professor Starbottle shook his head deprecatingly. "I am afraid, commander," said he, "we will never reach the pole."
His look, his voice, his manner, filled me with the idea that something dreadful was going to happen. My lips grew dry with a sudden excitement, as I hastily inquired why he felt so sure we would never reach the object of our search.
"What time is it, commander?" said he.
I pulled forth my chronometer; it was just six o'clock.
"Well, then," said he, "look at the sun. The sun has swung round to the west, but hasn't fallen any."
I looked at the sun, which, sure enough, stood as high as at mid-day.
I was paralyzed with a nameless dread. I stood rooted to the deck in anticipation of some dreadful horror.
"Good heavens!" I gasped, "what--what do you mean?"
"I mean," said he, "the sun is not going to fall again on this course.
It's we who are going to fall."
"The sun will fall to its usual position at midnight," I stammered; "wait--wait till midnight."
"The sun won't fall at midnight," said the professor. "I am afraid to tell you why," he added.
"In God's name," I shouted, "tell me the meaning of this!"
I will never forget the feeling that crazed me as the professor said: "I fear, commander, we are falling into the interior of the earth!"
"You are mad, sir!" I shouted. "It cannot be--we are sailing to the North Pole."
"Wait till midnight, commander," said he, shaking my hand.
I took his hand and echoed his words--"Wait till midnight." After a pause I inquired if he had mentioned his extraordinary fears to any one else.
"Not a soul," he replied.
"Then," said I, "say nothing to anybody until midnight."
"Ay, ay, sir," said he, and disappeared.
The sailors evidently expected that something was going to happen on account of the sun standing still in the heavens. They were gathered in groups on deck discussing the situation with bated breath. I noticed them looking at me with wild eyes, like sheep cornered for execution. The officers avoided calling my attention to the unusual sight, possibly divining I was already fully excited by it.
Never was midnight looked for so eagerly by any mortal on earth as I awaited the dreadful hour that would either confirm or dispel my fears.
Midnight came and the sun had not fallen in the sky! There he stood as high as at noonday, at least five degrees higher than his position twenty-four hours before.
Professor Starbottle, approaching me, said: "Commander, my prognostication was correct; you see the sun's elevation is unchanged since mid-day. Now one of two things has happened--either the axis of the earth has approached five degrees nearer the plane of its orbit since mid-day or we are sailing down into a subterranean gulf! That the former is impossible, mid-day to-day will disprove. If my theory of a subterranean sea is correct, the sun will fall below the horizon at mid-day, and our only light will be the earth-light of the opposite mouth of the gulf into which we are rapidly sinking."
"Professor," said I, "tell the officers and the scientific staff to meet me at once in the cabin. This is a tremendous crisis!"
Ere I could leave the deck the captain, officers, doctor, naturalist, Professor Rackiron, and many of the crew surrounded me, all in a state of the greatest consternation.
CHAPTER VI.
DAY BECOMES NIGHT AND NIGHT DAY.
"Commander," said Captain Wallace, "I beg to report that the pole star has suddenly fallen five degrees south from its position overhead, and the sun has risen to his mid-day position in the sky! I fear we are sailing into a vast polar depression something greater than the description given in our geographies, that the earth is flattened at the poles."
"Do you really think, captain," I inquired, "that we are sailing into a hollow place around the pole?"
"Why, I am sure of it," said he. "Nothing else can explain the sudden movement of the heavenly bodies. Remember, we have only passed the 85th parallel but a few miles and ought to have the pole star right overhead."
"Professor Starbottle has a theory," I said, "that may account for the strange phenomena we witness. Let these gentlemen hear your theory, professor."
The professor stated very deliberately what he had already communicated to me, viz.: that we were really descending to the interior of the earth, that the bows of the ship were gradually pointing to its centre, and that if the voyage were continued we would find ourselves swallowed up in a vast polar gulf leading to God knows what infernal regions.
The terror inspired by the professor's words was plainly visible on every face.