WE DISCOVER THE INTERIOR WORLD.
The officers and sailors responded to my speech with ringing cheers.
Every man of them volunteered to stay by the ship and continue our
voyage down the gulf. Whatever malcontents there may have been among
the sailors, those, influenced by the prevailing enthusiasm, were
afraid to exhibit any cowardice, and all were unanimous for further
exploration.
I signalled our resolution by a discharge of three guns, which created
the most thrilling reverberations in the mysterious abyss.
Starting the engine again, the prow of the _Polar King_ was pointed
directly toward the darkness before us, toward the centre of the
earth. We were determined to explore the hollow ocean to its further
confines, if our provisions held out until such a work would be
accomplished.
We hoped at midnight to obtain our last look at the sun, as we would
then be brought into the position of the opposite side of the watery
crater down which we sailed. At eleven o'clock the sun rose above the
limb of the gulf, which was now veiled in darkness. We were gladdened
with two hours of sunlight, the sun promptly setting at 1 A.M. of the
new day.
We continued our voyage in the semi-darkness, the prow of the vessel
still pointed to the centre of the earth, while the polar star shone
in the outer heavens on the horizon directly over the rail of the
vessel's stern.
It did not appear to us that we were dropping straight down into the
interior of the earth; on the contrary, we always seemed to float on a
horizontal sea, and the earth seemed to turn up toward us and the
polar cavern to gradually engulf us. The sight we beheld that day was
inexpressibly magnificent. Five hundred miles above us rose the crest
of the circular polar sea. Its upper hemisphere glowed with the light
of the unseen sun. We were surrounded by fifteen hundred miles of
perpendicular ocean, crowned with a diadem of icebergs!
[Illustration: AT THIS MOMENT A WILD CRY AROSE FROM THE SAILORS. WITH
ONE VOICE THEY SHOUTED, "THE SUN! THE SUN!"]
Glorious as was the sight, the sailors were terribly apprehensive of
nameless disasters in such monstrous surroundings. It was impossible
for them to understand how the ocean roof could remain suspended
above us like the vault of heaven. The idea of being able to sail down
a tubular ocean, the antechamber of some infernal world, was
incomprehensible. We were traversing sea-built corridors, whose
oscillating floors and roof remained providentially apart to permit us
to explore the mystery beyond.
Mid-day on the 13th of May brought no sight of the sun, but only a
deepening twilight, the dim reflection of the bright sky we had left
behind. The further we sailed into the gulf the less its diameter
grew. When we had penetrated the vast aperture some two hundred and
fifty miles, we found the aerial diameter was reduced to about fifty
miles, thus forming a conical abyss. We were clearly sailing down a
gigantic vortex or gulf of water, and we began to feel a diminishing
gravity the further we approached the central abyss.
The cavernous sea was subject to enormous undulations, or tidal waves,
either the result of storms in the interior of the earth or mighty
adjustments of gravity between the interior and exterior oceans. As we
were lifted up upon the crest of an immense tidal wave several of the
sailors, as well as the lookout, declared they had seen a flash of
light, in the direction of the centre of the earth!
We were all terribly excited at the news, and as the ship was lifted
on the crest of the next wave, we saw clearly an orb of flame that
lighted up the circling undulations of water with the flush of dawn!
We were now between two spectral lights--the faint twilight of the
outer sun and the intermittent dawn of some strange source of light in
the interior of the earth.
The sailors crowded to the top of both masts and stood upon
cross-trees and rigging, wildly anxious to discover the meaning of the
strange light and whatever the view from the next crest of waters
would reveal.
"What do you think is the source of this strange illumination," I
inquired of the captain, "unless it is the radiance of fires in the
centre of the earth?"
"It comes from some definite element of fire," said the professor,
"the nature of which we will soon discover. It certainly does not
belong to the sun, nor can I attribute it to an aurora dependent on
solar agency."
"Possibly," said Professor Rackiron, "we are on the threshold of if
not the infernal regions at least a supplementary edition of the
same. We may be yet presented at court--the court of Mephistopheles."
"You speak idle words, professor," said I. "On the eve of confronting
unknown and perhaps terrible consequences you walk blindfold into the
desperate chances of our journey with a jest on your lips."
"Pardon me, commander," said he, "I do not jest. Have not the ablest
theologians concurred in the statement that hell lies in the centre of
the earth, and that the lake of fire and brimstone there sends up its
smoke of torment? For aught we know this lurid light is the reflection
of the infernal fires."
At this moment a wild cry arose from the sailors. With one voice they
shouted:
"The sun! The sun! The sun!"
The _Polar King_ had gained at last the highest horizon or vortex of
water, and there, before us, a splendid orb of light hung in the
centre of the earth, the source of the rosy flame that welcomed us
through the sublime portal of the pole!
As soon as the astonishment consequent on discovering a sun in the
interior of the earth had somewhat subsided, we further discovered
that the earth was indeed a hollow sphere. It was now as far to the
interior as to the exterior surface, thus showing the shell of the
earth to be at the pole at least 500 miles in thickness. We were half
way to the interior sphere.
Professor Starbottle, who had been investigating the new world with
his glass, cried out: "Commander, we are to be particularly
congratulated; the whole interior planet is covered with continents
and oceans just like the outer sphere!"
"We have discovered an El Dorado," said the captain, with enthusiasm;
"if we discover nothing else I will die happy."
"The heaviest elements fall to the centre of all spheres," said
Professor Goldrock. "I am certain we shall discover mountains of gold
ere we return."
"I think we ought to salute our glorious discovery," said Professor
Rackiron. "You see the infernal world isn't nearly so bad a place as
we thought it was."
I ordered a salute of one hundred terrorite guns to be given in honor
of our discovery, and the firing at once began. The echoed roaring of
the guns was indescribably grand. The trumpet-shaped caverns of water,
both before and behind us, multiplied the heavy reverberations until
the air of the gulf was rent with their thunder. The last explosion
was followed by long-drawn echoes of triumph that marked our
introduction to the interior world.
Strange to say that on the very threshold of success there are men who
suddenly take fright at the new conditions that confront them. It
appeared that Boatswain Dunbar and eleven sailors who had unwillingly
sailed thus far refused to proceed further with the ship, being
terrified at the discovery we had made. I could have obliged them to
have remained with us, but their reason being possibly affected, I saw
that their presence as malcontents might in time cause a mutiny, or at
all events an ever-present, source of trouble. They were wildly
anxious to leave the ship and return home; consequently I gave them
liberty to depart. The largest boat was lowered, together with a mast
and sails. I gave the command to Dunbar, and furnished the boat with
ample stores and plenty of clothing. I also gave them one-half of the
dogs and two sledges for crossing the ice. When the men were finally
seated Dunbar cast off the rope and steered for the outer sea. We gave
them a parting salute by firing a gun, and in a short time they were
lost in the darkness of the gulf.