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.
"Let us turn back!" shouted some of the sailors.
"My opinion," said the captain, "is that we have entered a polar
depression; it is impossible to think that the earth is a hollow shell
into which we may sail so easily as this."
"If I might venture a remark," said Pilot Rowe, "I think Professor
Starbottle is right. If the earth is a hollow shell having a
subterranean ocean, we can sail thereon bottom upward and masts
downward, 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 keep
the ship sticking to the wather upside down?"
[Illustration: THE TERROR INSPIRED BY THE PROFESSOR'S WORDS WAS
PLAINLY VISIBLE ON EVERY FACE.]
"I don't say that the earth is absolutely a hollow sphere," said the
professor, "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 have
sailed far enough into the gulf to put the ocean over which we have
sailed between us and that luminary. If the sun disappears at noon,
depend upon it we will never reach the pole, which will forever remain
only the ideal axis of the earth."
"Do you mean to say," I inquired, "that what men have called the pole
is only the mouth of an enormous cavern, perhaps the vestibule of a
subterranean world?"
"That is precisely the theory I advance to account for this strange
ending of our voyage," said the professor.
The murmurs of excitement among the men again broke out into wild
cries of "Turn back the ship!"
I encouraged the men to calm themselves. "As long as the ship is in no
immediate danger," said I, "we can wait till noonday and see if the
professor's opinion is supported by the behavior of the sun. If so, we
will then hold a council of all hands and decide on what course to
follow. Depart to your respective posts of duty until mid-day, when we
will 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 from
which possibly there might be no escape, yet the bare possibility of
returning to tell the world of our tremendous discovery created a
desire to explore still further the abyss into which we had entered. I
confess that my first feeling of terror was rapidly giving way to a
passion for discovery. What fearful secrets might not be held in the
darkness toward which we undoubtedly travelled! Would it be our
fortune to pierce the darkness and silence of a polar cavern? When I
thought of the natural terror of the sailors, I dared not think of our
sailing further than mid-day, in case we had really entered an abyss.
"Commander," said Professor Starbottle, "this is the most important
day, or rather night, of the voyage. I propose we stay on deck and
enjoy the sunlight as long as we can."
One glance at the sun sufficed to tell us the truth; he was rapidly
falling 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 an
expedition fraught with the greatest peril and unknown possibilities
of science, conquest, and commerce.
By a tacit consent we turned our attention to the scene around us. The
water was very free from ice, only here and there icebergs floated.
The diminished radiation of light produced a weird effect, growing
more spectral as the sun sank in the heavens.
Professor Goldrock pointed out a flock of geese actually flying ahead
of us into the gulf, if gulf indeed it were. We considered this a good
omen and took heart accordingly.
The captain pointed out a strange apparition in the north, but which
was really south of the pole, and discoverable with the glass. It
appeared to be the limb of some rising planet between us and the sun
that seemed faintly illuminated by moonlight. Professor Starbottle
said it was the opposite edge of the polar gulf that was about to
envelop us. It was illuminated by the earth-light reflected from the
same 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 day
in human experience as portentous as that? When did the sun set at 8
A.M.in the Arctic summer, leaving the earth in darkness? We knew
then that Professor Starbottle's theory of a polar gulf was a truth
beyond question. It was a fearful fact!
But the grandest spectacle we had yet seen now lay before us. The
opposite rapidly rising limb of the polar gulf, 500 miles away, was
brilliantly illuminated by the sun's rays far overhead, and its
splendid earth-light, twenty times brighter than moonlight, falling
upon 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. In
the light of that distant ocean I assembled the men on deck and thus
addressed them:
"My men, when we started on the present expedition you stipulated for
a voyage of discovery to the North Pole (if possible) and return to
New York again. The first part of the voyage is happily accomplished.
We alone of all the explorers who have essayed polar discovery have
been rewarded with a sight of the pole. The mystery of the earth's
axis is no longer a secret. Here before your eyes is the axis on which
the earth performs its daily revolution. The North Pole is an immense
gulf 500 miles in diameter and of unknown depth. Within this gulf lies
our 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 to
remain satisfied with our present achievement, turn back the ship, and
go home without attempting to discover whither leads this enormous
gulf? As far as the officers of the ship and the scientific staff are
concerned, as far as I myself am concerned, I am satisfied if we were
once back in New York again, our first thought would be to return
hither, and, taking up the thread of our journey, endeavor to explore
the farthest recesses of the gulf."
I was here interrupted by loud applause from the entire officers and
many of the men.
"This being so, why should we waste a journey to New York and back
again for nothing? Why not, with our good ship well armed and
provisioned, that has in safety carried us so far, why not, I say,
proceed further, taking advantage of the only opportunity the ages of
time have ever offered to man to explore earth's profoundest secrets?
"Who knows what oceans, what continents, what nations, it may be of
men like ourselves, may not exist in a subterranean world? Who knows
what gold, what silver, what precious stones are there piled perhaps
mountains high? Are we to tamely throw aside the possibility of such
glory on account of base fears, and, returning home, allow others to
snatch from our grasp the golden prize?
"My men, I cannot think you will do this. Our future lies entirely in
your hands. We cannot proceed further on our voyage without your
assistance. I will not compel a single man to go further against his
will. I call for volunteers for the interior world! I am willing to
lead you on; who will follow me?"