Of the first attempt to pass the Equatorial Tornado; and its tragical
issue—Of the attempt to pass the Cloud-Screen.
These improvements in ship-building and ship-propelling were naturally
followed by a great development of the science of navigation, to which
the mathematical powers of the Hesperians formed an invaluable
auxiliary. And thus all that was possible for them to ascertain
concerning the physical universe was soon learned. The circumnavigation
of the globe was easily effected, for the shape of the continent was
such that it could be made without going out of sight of land. Other and
more adventurous ships were sent on voyages of discovery in a southerly
direction, and these made the discovery of the frightful tempest,
mentioned before, which rages everlastingly in the equatorial zone. Not
one of these ships succeeded in getting within two hundred miles of the
equator itself. The crews reported unanimously that, even at that
distance, the seas were simply terrific, and appeared to increase
rapidly in violence towards the south. Some of them escaped from the
vortex with extreme difficulty.
Whereupon two ships were specially constructed for the purpose of
carrying out this exploration. They were of extraordinary strength,
fitted with immensely powerful gas-engines, and provided with a
seemingly inexhaustible supply of the necessary chemical agents. A crew
of one hundred volunteers embarked in each, and they started together on
their perilous expedition. After eighty-five days one of these ships
returned, but only twenty-five of her crew were with her; the rest had
vanished either by mortal lesion or metronomic misery. The survivors
reported the existence of an absolute pandemonium. The crew had
succeeded in forcing the ship about fifty miles further into the zone of
tempests than any of the former explorers. But further progress was
hopeless. The man who before described to me one of the waves as a
wandering cataract was among those who escaped, and his escape was a
very narrow one indeed. He told me himself that when he got back into
port his negative metronomic balance wanted but a few units of the point
which would have terminated his career. And though they succeeded in
forcing their way out of the tornado, this was only accomplished by
putting on such power as threatened to tear the sides out of the ship.
One of the Niagara-like waves fell on the sister-ship, and she was never
seen again.
After this tragedy an act was passed forbidding all attempts to enter
the South Sea. Though many volunteers were ready to risk their lives,
the legislature refused to sanction such peril.
So now the Hesperian knowledge of the Universe, at the period I speak
of, may be shortly summed up as follows:—They knew that their place of
abode was a spherical cap. Some had at first maintained that it was a
circular plain; but this theory was soon exploded. The uniformly
circular horizon visible at sea, and on every large plain, and the
results obtained from a general survey of the continent by
triangulation, combined to discredit the planar and establish the
spherical theory. They knew, also, from pendulum and other experiments,
that, at a spot coincident with the centre of the presumed sphere on
which they lived, an unknown centre of force existed to which all bodies
on the surface tended. And beyond this knowledge there was a great
blank. What lay outside the cloud-screen or beyond the equatorial ocean
had not entered into the Hesperian mind to conceive.
The attempt to pass the ocean, and the hopes of thereby being enabled to
gain some further knowledge of the works of the Unknown Maker, having
been completely baffled, the attention of the Hesperians was at once
concentrated on their only remaining resource—the possibility of
penetrating quite through the cloud-screen. Could this be passed, it was
possible that something might be found beyond it which would throw some
light on the dark problem of their origin. But difficulties, seemingly
insuperable, lay directly in the way of any such attempt. I have already
mentioned that a chain of gigantic mountains extends in a south-easterly
direction for several thousands of miles from the vicinity of the North
Pole, and that several of the peaks of this chain attain an altitude of
not less than twenty miles. But, to the ancient Hesperians, the real
height of these peaks was quite unknown. No man had ever seen their
summits, for they were lost in the cloud-screen.
It might certainly be supposed that here was an obvious way of entering,
and possibly penetrating through the screen. But a very short
description of the physical features of the mountains will suffice to
dispel any such notions.
All the engineers who had made a minute survey of the great mountain
chain seem to have agreed that the particular peak which afforded the
most favourable opportunity for ascent is one which is situated at about
three thousand miles from the pole. It should be remembered that the
level of the cloud-screen crosses these peaks at an altitude of about
twenty miles, or, in round numbers, one hundred and five thousand feet.
At the place referred to, the several stages of the ascent would be as
follows:—First, about twenty thousand feet of easy slopes lead to a wide
table-land, a resort much frequented by Hesperian households on account
of its delightfully cool and bracing climate. Then follow ten thousand
feet of steep ascent to the glacier region. This region, which is
commonly regarded as the most formidable obstacle to success, extends,
at an average inclination of forty-five degrees, to a vertical height of
twenty thousand feet more. The strata of rainclouds, which are as
different in formation from the cloud-screen as water is from smoke,
never attain a greater elevation than ten miles; so here we have the
limit above which neither rain nor snow can be deposited, and where,
consequently, the glacier region ends.
This brings us to an altitude of fifty thousand feet above the level of
the ocean, and next comes the region of precipices which stretch up to
the cloud-screen. This final ascent is divided into three gigantic
steps; the first, and smallest of them, about ten thousand feet high,
leads to a wide plateau; next comes the most awful of the three, not
less than thirty thousand feet, terminating in a much narrower terrace,
from which starts the last of the steps. This is not exactly a
precipice, but a slope of seventy-five degrees; about fifteen thousand
feet of this are visible; it then enters the cloud and is lost to view.
The above description has, I trust, made it manifest that an attempt to
reach the screen by the mountain route would prove a very arduous
undertaking. Vast labour and cost would be essential, and here the
advantages of the great world-parliament became exceedingly conspicuous.
The enterprise was cheerfully voted to be a world-work. There was no
fear that it would come to an untimely end through lack of any material
supplies. A committee of the ablest engineers was appointed to examine
and report on the most favourable spot for commencing operations. They
were not long in coming to an unanimous decision, and the works began.
It was resolved to drive a tunnel the whole way from the table-land
under the glacier as far as its upper edge. This formidable work was
found to be quite indispensable, in consequence of the incessant
avalanches and ice-falls which, issuing from the glacier, fell down the
steep slope to the table-land. Indeed, they were obliged to start the
tunnel at a distance of fully five miles from the foot of the slope, as
a security against the blocking of the entrance. Running nearly
horizontally for these five miles, it then bent upwards at an angle of
forty-five degrees, and, after a total rise of thirty thousand feet,
issued at the top of the glacier, close to the foot of the first step in
the series of precipices. The excavation of this tunnel, which was
nearly thirteen miles long, was an exceedingly formidable task. But it
was undertaken with such zeal and energy, and carried on with such
perseverance, that the seemingly insuperable obstacles were at last
overcome. Gangs of experienced miners, superintended by skilful
engineers, relieved each other, night and day, at the work. Every
material required was supplied in profusion. The new dynamical agent
which had supplanted the vapour of water as a motor force, had been
rendered available for instantaneous percussive action, after the manner
of gunpowder, but with incomparably greater energy; and this was
extensively utilised for the removal of the rocks. Still, as it was not
possible to work at the tunnel except on one face, several years elapsed
before the miners emerged into daylight at the top of the glacier.
Here, before beginning the assault on the region of precipices, an
immense depôt was established. The tunnel was laid down with double
lines of the same sort of parallel steel rods as those which I had
noticed on the road at Lucetta. On these ran a series of small trucks,
driven by an endless chain which was moved by the gas engine
beforementioned; and by means of these all the stores required were
easily brought up.
At the height of fifty thousand feet, which had now been reached, little
or no difficulty in breathing was encountered. This was probably owing
to the extreme density of the Hesperian atmosphere, which, as was
noticed before, is so great that the mercury in the tube of Torricelli,
at the sea level, stands at an average height of more than fifty-nine
inches. Moreover, the slow rate at which it was observed to fall, during
the ascent of the last few thousand feet, gave the engineers good hope
that, even at the summit, a sufficiency of air to support life would be
found.
The ascent of all the three stages of the precipice region was effected
by the process of cutting open galleries, inclined at an angle of thirty
degrees, in the face of the vertical cliff. The region of ice and snow
having been passed, tunnelling was no longer necessary. Four zigzags,
each a mile long, sufficed to reach the first terrace, where another
depôt was constructed; and a few years’ more labour, and about a dozen
similar zigzags, accomplished the ascent of the tremendous middle
precipice, thus bringing them within fifteen thousand feet of the
cloud-screen.
As the great work neared its completion, the anxiety and excitement, not
only of those actually engaged in it, but of the entire population of
the planet, rose to a scarcely conceivable intensity. It was now plain
that the cloud level would be reached; but no light had as yet been
thrown on the question whether the mountain top did or did not pass
through the cloudy stratum. If it did not, all their labour of years had
been merely thrown away, and they were left as before in absolute
ignorance of the external universe. And the fact that the ascent which
still remained to be scaled, was not absolutely vertical, but, sloping a
little, even at its foot on the last terrace, appeared to diminish its
inclination as it approached the cloud, gave reason to suspect that the
actual summit of the mountain was not very far off. It may be added that
the cloud itself, as they came nearer, presented an unpromising
appearance of great density.
So, the final depôt having been constructed, the work on the last series
of galleries was begun and carried on with greatly increased vigour,
till an altitude only a few yards lower than the under surface of the
cloud was gained. At this place the angle of inclination of the cliff
had eased off to sixty-three degrees, and it was thought advisable, in
view of the unknown possibilities of the mountain inside this thick
screen, to establish, by blasting away the rock, a level surface of
sufficient extent to enable them to build yet another storehouse, before
venturing to proceed with the sloping gallery.