After a troubled night, Roland Clewe rose early. He had made up his mind
that what Sammy had to communicate was something of a secret, otherwise
it would have been telegraphed at once. For this reason he had not sent
him a message asking for immediate and full particulars, but had waited.
Now, however, he felt he could wait no longer; he must know something
definite before he saw Margaret. Not to excite suspicion by telegraphing
at untimely hours, he had waited until morning, and as the Dipsey was
in about the same longitude as Sardis, and as they kept regular hours
on board, without regard to the day and night of the arctic regions, he
knew that he would not now be likely to rouse anybody from his slumbers
by “calling up” the pole.
Although the telephone had been brought to such wonderful perfection in
these days, Roland Clewe had never thought of using it for purposes of
communication with the Dipsey. The necessary wire would have been too
heavy, and his messages could not have been kept secret. In fact, this
telegraphic communication between Sardis and the submarine vessel was
almost as primitive as that in use in the latter part of the nineteenth
century.
But Clewe had scarcely entered the office when he was surprised by the
sound of the instrument, and he soon found that Sammy was calling to him
from the polar seas. He sat down instantly and received this message:
“Could not send more last night. Gibbs came in. Did not want him to know
until I had heard from you. That Pole, Rovinski, is on board. Never knew
it until yesterday. Had shaved off his beard and had his head cropped.
He let it grow, and I spotted him. There is no mistake. I know him, but
he has not found it out. He is on board to get ahead of you some way
or other--perhaps get up a mutiny and go to the pole himself. He is
the wickedest-looking man I ever saw, and he scared me when I first
recognized him. Will send news as long as I am on hand. Let me know what
you think. I want to chuck him into the scuttle-box.
“SAMUEL BLOCK.”
“If that could be done,” said Clewe to himself, “it would be an end to a
great many troubles.”
The scuttle-box on the submarine vessel was a contrivance for throwing
things overboard. It consisted of a steel box about six feet long and
two feet square at the ends, and with a tightly fitting door at each
extremity. When this scuttle-box was used it was run down through a
square opening in the bottom of the Dipsey, the upper door was opened,
matter to be disposed of was thrown into it, the upper door was shut and
the lower one opened, whereupon everything inside of it descended into
the sea, and water filled the box. When this box was drawn up by means
of its machinery, the water was forced out, so that when it was entirely
inside the vessel it was empty, and then the lower door was closed. For
some moments the idea suggested by Sammy was very attractive to Clewe,
and he could not help thinking that the occasion might arise when it
would be perfectly proper to carry it into execution.
Now that he knew the import of Sammy's extraordinary communication, he
felt that it would not be right to withhold his knowledge from Margaret.
Of course it might frighten her very much, but this was an enterprise in
which people should expect to be frightened. Full confidence and hearty
assistance were what these two now expected from each other.
“What is it exactly that you fear?” she asked, when she had heard the
news.
“That is hard to say,” replied Roland. “This man Rovinski is a
scientific jackal; he has ambitions of the very highest kind, and he
seeks to gratify them by fraud and villainy. It is now nearly two years
since I have found out that he has been shadowing me, endeavoring to
discover what I am doing and how I am doing it; and the moment he does
get a practical and working knowledge of anything, he will go on with
the business on my lines as far as he can. Perhaps he may succeed,
and, in any case, he will be almost certain to ruin my chances of
success--that is, if I were not willing to buy him off. He would be
pretty sure to try blackmail if he found he could not make good use of
the knowledge he had stolen.”
“The wretch!” cried Margaret. “Do you suppose he hopes to snatch from
you the discovery of the pole?”
“That seems obvious,” replied Roland, “and it's what Sammy thinks. It
is the greatest pity in the world he was not discovered before he got on
the Dipsey.”
“But what can you do?” cried Margaret.
“I cannot imagine,” he replied, “unless I recall the Dipsey to Cape
Tariff, and go up there and have him apprehended.”
“Couldn't he be apprehended where he is?” she asked. “There are enough
men on board to capture him and shut him up somewhere where he could do
no harm.”
“I have thought of that,” answered Roland, “but it would be a very
difficult and delicate thing to do. The men we have on board the Dipsey
are trusty fellows--at least, I thought so when they were engaged--but
there is no knowing what mutinous poison this Pole may have infused into
their minds. If one of their number should be handcuffed and shut up
without good reason being given, they might naturally rebel, and it
would be very hard to give satisfactory reasons for arresting Rovinski.
Even Gibbs might object to such harshness upon grounds which might seem
to him vague and insufficient. Sammy knows Rovinski, I know him, but the
others do not, and it might be difficult to convince them that he is the
black-hearted scoundrel we think him; so we must be very careful what we
do.”
“As to calling the Dipsey back,” said Margaret, “I would not do it; I
would take the risks.”
“I think you are right,” said Clewe. “I have a feeling that if they come
back to Cape Tariff they will not go out again. Some of the men may be
discouraged already, and it would produce a bad impression upon all of
them to turn back for some reason which they did not understand, or for
a reason such as we could give them. I would not like to have to bring
them back, now that they are getting on so well.”
In the course of the morning there came from the officers, men, and
passenger of the Dipsey a very cordial and pleasant message to Mr. Clewe
and Mrs. Raleigh, congratulating them upon the happy event of which
they had been informed. Sarah Block insisted on sending a supplementary
message for herself, in which she was privately congratulatory to as
great an extent as her husband would allow her to go, and which
ended with a hope that if they lived to be married they would content
themselves with doing their explorations on solid ground. She did not
want to come back until she had seen the pole, but some of her ideas
about that kind of travelling were getting to be a good deal more fixed
than they had been.
The advice which Roland Clewe gave to Samuel Block was simple enough and
perhaps unnecessary, but there was noshing else for him to say. He urged
that the strictest watch be kept on Rovinski; that he should never be
allowed to go near the telegraph instrument; and if, by insubordination
or any bad conduct, a pretext for his punishment should offer itself,
he should be immediately shut up where he could not communicate with the
men. It was very important to keep him as much as possible in ignorance
of what was going on and of what should be accomplished; that, after
all, was the main point. If the pole should be discovered, Rovinski
must have nothing to do with it. Sammy replied that everything should he
reported as soon as it turned up, and any orders received from Mr. Clewe
should be carried out so long as he was alive to help carry them.
“Now,” said Roland to Margaret, “there's nothing more that we can do
in regard to that affair. As soon as there are any new developments we
shall have to consider it again, but until then let us give up our whole
souls to each other and the Artesian ray.”
“It seems to me,” said she, “that if we could have discovered a good
while ago some sort of ray by which we could see into each other's
souls, we should have gained a great many hours which are now lost.”
“Not at all,” replied Clewe; “they are not lost. In our philosophy,
nothing is lost. All the joys we have missed in days that are past shall
be crowded into the days that are to come.”