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_ Steadily the Dipsey worked her way northward, and as she moved on
her course her progress became somewhat slower than it had been
at first. This decrease in speed was due partially to extreme
caution on the part of Mr. Gibbs, the Master Electrician.
The attenuated cable, which continually stretched itself out
behind the little vessel, was of the most recent and improved
pattern for deep-sea cables. The conducting wires in the centre
of it were scarcely thicker than hairs, while the wires forming
the surrounding envelope, although they were so small as to make
the whole cable not more than an eighth of an inch in diameter,
were far stronger than the thick submarine cables which were used
in the early days of ocean telegraphy. These outer wires were
made of the Swedish toughened steel fibre, and in 1939, with one
of them a little over a sixteenth of an inch in diameter, a
freight-ship of eleven thousand tons had been towed through the
Great New Jersey Canal, which had then just been opened, and
which connected Philadelphia with the ocean.
But notwithstanding his faith in the strength of the cable, Mr.
Gibbs felt more and more, the farther he progressed from the
habitable world, the importance of preserving it from accident.
He had gone so far that it would be a grievous thing to be
obliged to turn back.
The Dipsey sailed at a much lower depth than when she had first
started upon her submarine way. After they had become accustomed
to the feeling of being surrounded by water, her inmates seemed
to feel a greater sense of security when they were well down
below all possible disturbing influence. When they looked
forward in the line of the search-light, or through any of the
windows in various parts of the vessel, they never saw anything
but water--no fish, nothing floating. They were too far below
the ice above them to see it, and too far from what might be on
either side of them to catch a glimpse of it. The bottom was
deep below them, and it was as though they were moving through an
aqueous atmosphere.
They were comfortable, and beginning to be accustomed to their
surrounding circumstances. The air came in regularly and
steadily through the electric gills, and when deteriorated air
had collected in the expiration-chamber in the upper part of the
vessel, it was forced out by a great piston, which sent it by a
hundred little valves into the surrounding water. Thus the pure
air came in and the refuse air went out just as if the little
Dipsey had been healthfully breathing as it pushed its way
through the depths.
Mrs. Block was gaining flesh. The narrow accommodations, the
everlasting electric light, the sameness of food, and a total
absence of incident had become quite natural to her, and she had
ceased to depend upon the companionship of the dust-brush and the
almanac to carry her mind back to what she considered the real
things of life.
Sarah had something better now to take her mind back to Sardis
and the people and things on dry land. The engagement and
probably early marriage of Mr. Clewe and Mrs. Raleigh had made a
great impression upon her, and there were days when she never
thought of the pole, so busy was she in making plans based upon
the future connection of the life of herself and Sammy and that
of Mr. and Mrs. Clewe.
Sammy and his wife had very good quarters within the boundaries
of the works, but Sarah had never been quite satisfied with them,
and when the new household of Clewe should be set up, and all the
new domestic arrangements should be made, she hoped for better
things. Mr. Clewe's little cottage would then be vacant, for of
course he and his wife would not live in such a place as that,
and she thought that she and Sammy should have it. Hour by hour
and day by day she planned the furnishing, the fitting, and the
management of this cottage.
She was determined to have a servant, a woman thoroughly capable
of doing general house-work; and then there were times when she
believed that if Sammy should succeed in finding the pole his
salary would be increased, and they might be able to afford two
servants. Over and over again did she consider the question
whether, in this latter case, these women should both be general
house-work servants, or one of them a cook and the other a
chamber-maid and laundress. There was much to be considered on
each side. In the latter case more efficient work could be
obtained; but in the former, in case one of them should suddenly
leave, or go away for a day out, the other could do all the work.
It was very pleasant to Mrs. Block to sit in a comfortable arm-chair
and gaze thus into the future. Sometimes she looked up into the
water above, and sometimes out into the water ahead, but she
could see nothing. But in the alluring expanse of her fancied
future she could see anything which she chose to put there.
Sammy, however, did not increase in flesh; in fact, he grew
thinner. Nothing important in regard to the Pole, Rovinski, had
occurred, but of course something would occur; otherwise why did
the Pole come on board the Dipsey? Endless conjectures as to
what Rovinski would do when he did anything, and when he would
begin to do it, kept the good Samuel awake during many hours when
he should have been soundly sleeping. He had said nothing yet to
Mr. Gibbs in regard to the matter. Every day he made a report to
Roland Clewe about Rovinski, but Clewe's instructions were that
so long as the Pole behaved himself properly there was no reason
to trouble the minds of the party on board with fears of
rascality on his part. They had enough to occupy their minds
without any disturbing influence of that sort.
Clewe's own opinion on the subject was that Rovinski could do
nothing but act as a spy, and afterwards make dishonest use of
the knowledge he should acquire; but the man had put himself into
Clewe's power, and he could not possibly get away from him until
he should return to Cape Tariff, and even there it would be
difficult. The proper and only thing to do was to keep him in
custody as long as possible. When he should be brought back to a
region of law and justice, it might be that the Pole could be
prevented, for a time, at least, from using the results of his
knavish observations.
There was another person on board whose mind was disturbed by
Rovinski. This was Mr. Marcy, the Assistant Engineer, an active,
energetic fellow, filled with ambition and love of adventure, and
one of the most hopeful and cheerful persons on board. He had
never heard of Rovinski, and did not know that there was anybody
in the world who was trying to benefit himself by fraudulent
knowledge of Mr. Clewe's discoveries and inventions, but he hated
the Pole on his own account.
The man's countenance was so villainous that it was enough of
itself to arouse the dislike of a healthy-minded young fellow
such as Marcy; but, moreover, the Pole had habits of sneaking
about the vessel, and afterwards retiring to quiet corners, where
he would scribble in a pocket notebook. Such conduct as this in
a man whose position corresponded with that of a common seaman on
an ordinary vessel, seemed contrary to discipline and good
conduct, and he mentioned the matter to Mr. Gibbs.
"I suppose the man is writing a letter to his wife," said the
latter. "You would not want to hinder him from doing that, would
you?"
And to this no good answer could be made.
The Pole never took notes when Sammy was anywhere where he could
see him, and if Mr. Marcy had reported this conduct to the old
man, it is likely that Rovinski would speedily have been deprived
of pencils and paper, and his real character made known to the
officers.
One day it was observed by those who looked out of the window in
the upper deck that the water above them was clearer than they
usually saw it, and when the electric lights in the room
immediately under the window were turned out it was almost
possible to discern objects in the room. Instantly there was a
great stir on board the Dipsey, and observations soon disclosed
the fact that there was nothing above the vessel but water and
air.
At first, like an electric flash, the thought ran through the
vessel that they had reached the open sea which is supposed to
surround the pole, but reflection soon showed those who were cool
enough to reflect that if this were the case that sea must be
much larger than they had supposed, for they were still a long
way from the pole. Upon one thing, however, everybody was
agreed: they must ascend without loss of time to the surface of
the water above them.
Up went the Dipsey, and it was not long before the great glass in
the upper deck admitted pure light from the outer world. Then
the vessel rose boldly and floated upon the surface of the open
sea.
The hatchways were thrown open, and in a few moments nearly
everybody on board stood upon the upper deck, breathing the outer
air and gazing about them in the pure sunlight. The deck was
almost flat, and surrounded by a rail. The flooring was wet, and
somewhat slippery, but nobody thought of that; they thought of
nothing but the wonderful place in which they found themselves.
They were in a small lake surrounded by lofty and precipitous
icebergs. On every side these glittering crags rose high into
the air; nowhere was there a break or an opening. They seemed to
be in a great icy prison. It might be supposed that it would be
exhilarating to a party who had long been submerged beneath the
sea to stand once more in the open air and in the light of day;
but this was not the case. The air they breathed was sharp and
cold, and cut into throats and lungs now accustomed to the softer
air within their vessel. Scarcely any of them, hurrying out of
the warm cabins, had thought of the necessity of heavy wraps, and
the bitter cold of the outer air perceptibly chilled their blood.
Involuntarily, even while they were staring about them, they
hurried up and down the deck to keep themselves warm.
The officers puzzled their brains over the peculiar formation of
this ice-encompassed lake. It seemed as if a great ice mountain
had sunk down from the midst of its companions, and had left this
awful hole. This, however, was impossible. No law of nature
would account for such a disappearance of an ice mountain. Mr.
Gibbs thought, under some peculiar circumstances, a mass of ice
might have broken away and floated from its surroundings, and
that afterwards, increased in size, it had floated back again,
and, too large to re-enter the opening it had made, had closed up
the frozen walls of this lonely lake, accessible only to those
who should rise up into it from the sea. Suddenly Mrs. Block
stopped.
"What is that?" she cried, pointing to a spot in the icy wall
which was nearest to the vessel. Instantly every eye was turned
that way. They saw a very distinct, irregular blotch, surrounded
by almost transparent ice.
Several glasses were now levelled upon this spot, and it was
discovered to be the body of a polar bear, lying naturally upon
its side, as if asleep, and entirely incased in ice.
"It must have lain down to die, on the surface of the ice," said
Mr. Gibbs, "and gradually the ice has formed above it, until it
now rests in that vast funeral casket."
"How long since he laid down there to die, Mr. Gibbs?" asked
Sarah, as she took the glass from her eye. "He looks as natural
as if he was asleep."
"I cannot say," he answered. "It may have been hundreds, even
thousands, of years ago."
"Oh, horrible!" said Sarah. "All that makes me shiver, and I am
sure I don't need anything to make me do that. I wish we would
go down, Sammy; I would like to get out of this awful place, with
those dreadful glitterin' walls that nobody could get up or over,
and things lyin' frozen for a thousand years; and, besides, it's
so cold!"
It seemed as if Sarah's words had struck the key-note to the
feelings of the whole company. In the heart of every one arose a
strong desire to sink out of this cold, bleak, terrifying open
air into the comfortable motherly arms of the encircling waters.
For a few minutes Captain Jim Hubbell had experienced a sense of
satisfaction at finding himself once more upon the deck of a
vessel floating upon the open sea. He felt that he was in his
element, and that the time had come for him to assume his proper
position as a sailor; but this feeling soon passed, and he
declared that his spine was like a long icicle.
"Don't you think we had better go down again?" said Sammy. "I
think we have all seen enough of this, and it isn't anything that
any use can be made of."
"You are right," said Mr. Gibbs; "let everybody go below."
But it was not easy for everybody to obey this command. The wet
decks were now covered with a thin surface of ice, and those who
had been standing still for a few moments found it difficult to
release their shoes from the flooring of the deck, while several
of the men slipped down as they made their way to the forward
hatch. As for Sarah Block, she found it impossible to move at
all. Her shoes were of a peculiar kind, the soles being formed
of thick felt, and these, having been soaked with water, had
frozen firmly to the deck. She tried to make a step and almost
fell over.
"Heavens and earth!" she screamed; "don't let this boat go down
and leave me standing outside!"
Her husband and two men tried to release her, but they could not
disengage her shoes from the deck; so Sammy was obliged to loosen
her shoe-strings, and then he and another man lifted her out of
her shoes and carried her to the hatchway, whence she very
speedily hurried below.
Everybody was now inside the vessel, the hatches were tightly
closed, and the Dipsey began to sink. When she had descended to
the comparatively temperate depths of the sea, and her people
found themselves in her warm and well-lighted compartments, there
was a general disposition to go about and shake hands with each
other. Some of them even sang little snatches of songs, so
relieved were they to get down out of that horrible upper air.
"Of course I shall never see my shoes again," said Mrs. Block;
"and they were mighty comfortable ones, too. I suppose, when
they have been down here awhile in this water, which must be
almost lukewarmish compared to what it is on top, they will melt
loose and float up; and then, Sammy, suppose they lodge on some
of that ice and get frozen for a thousand years! Good gracious!
It sets me all of a creep to think of that happenin' to my shoes,
that I have been wearin' every day! Don't you want a cup of
tea?"
"It's a great pity," thought Sammy to himself, "that it wasn't
that Pole that had his feet frozen to the deck. The rest of us
might have been lucky enough not to have noticed him as the boat
went down."
"We ought to get a name for that body of water up there," said
Mr. Gibbs, as he was writing out his report of the day's
adventures. "Shall we call it 'Lake Clewe'?"
"Oh, don't do that!" exclaimed Sammy Block. "Mr. Clewe's too
good a man to have his name tacked on to that hole. If you want
to name it, why don't you call it 'Lake Shiver'?"
"That is a good name," answered Mr. Gibbs; and so it was called. _
Read next: CHAPTER XI - THEY BELIEVE IT IS THE POLAR SEA
Read previous: CHAPTER IX - THE ARTESIAN RAY
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