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_ When Mr. Gibbs and his party returned to the Dipsey, after
descending the iceberg, their report created a lively sensation.
"Why, it's like goin' home," said Mrs. Block. "Perhaps I may
find my shoes."
It was not a very strange thing that they should have again met
with this little ice-locked lake, for they had endeavored to
return by a route as directly south as the other had been
directly north. But no one had expected to see the lake again,
and they were not only surprised, but pleased and encouraged.
Here was a spot where they knew the water was deep enough for
perfectly safe submarine navigation, and if they could start here
under the ice they would feel quite sure that they would meet
with no obstacles on the rest of their voyage.
As there was no possible entrance to this lake from the point
where the Dipsey now lay at the end of her canal, Sammy proposed
that they should make a descent into the water at the place where
they were, if, after making soundings, they should find the depth
sufficient. Then they might proceed southward as well as if they
should start from Lake Shiver.
But this did not suit Mr. Gibbs. He had a very strong desire to
reach the waters of the little lake, because he knew that at
their bottom lay the telegraphic cable which he had been obliged
to abandon, and he had thought he might be able to raise this
cable and re-establish telegraphic communication with Cape Tariff
and New Jersey.
Sammy thought that Mr. Gibbs's desire could be accomplished by
sinking into the water in which they now lay and sailing under
the icebergs to the lake, but Mr. Gibbs did not favor this. He
was afraid to go under the icebergs. To be sure, they had
already sailed under one of them when the Dipsey had made her way
northward from the lake, but they had found that the depth of
water varied very much in different places, and the icebergs in
front of them might be heavier, and therefore more deeply sunken,
than those which they had previously passed under.
If it were possible to extend their canal to Lake Shiver, Mr.
Gibbs wanted to do it, but if they should fail in this, then, of
course, they would be obliged to go down at this or some adjacent
spot.
"It's all very well," said Captain Hubbell, who was a little
depressed in spirits because the time was rapidly approaching
when he would no longer command the vessel, "but it's one thing
to blow a canal through fields of flat ice, and another to make
it all the way through an iceberg; but if you think you can do
it, I am content. I'd like to sail above water just as far as we
can go."
Mr. Gibbs had been studying the situation, and some ideas
relating to the solution of the problem before him were forming
themselves in his mind. At last he hit upon a plan which he
thought might open the waters of Lake Shiver to the Dipsey, and,
as it would not take very long to test the value of his scheme,
it was determined to make the experiment.
There were but few on board who did not know that if a needle
were inserted into the upper part of a large block of ice, and
were then driven smartly into it, the ice would split. Upon this
fact Mr. Gibbs based his theory of making an entrance to the
lake.
A climbing party, larger than the previous one, set out for the
iceberg, carrying with them, on several sledges, a long and heavy
iron rod, which was a piece of the extra machinery on the Dipsey,
and some explosives of a special kind.
When the iceberg had been reached, several of the party ascended
with a hoisting apparatus, and with this the rod was hauled to
the top and set up perpendicularly on a central spot at the
summit of the iceberg, the pointed end downward, and a bomb of
great power fastened to its upper end. This bomb was one
designed to exert its whole explosive power in one direction, and
it was so placed that this force would be exerted downward. When
all was ready, the electric-wire attachment to the bomb was
carried down the iceberg and carefully laid on the ice as the
party returned to the Dipsey.
Everybody, of course, was greatly interested in this experiment.
The vessel was at least two miles from the iceberg, but in the
clear atmosphere the glittering eminence could be plainly seen,
and, with a glass, the great iron rod standing high up on its
peak was perfectly visible. All were on deck when Mr. Gibbs
stood ready to discharge the bomb on top of the rod, and all eyes
were fixed upon the iceberg.
There was an explosion--not very loud, even considering the
distance--and those who had glasses saw the rod disappear
downward. Then a strange grating groan came over the snow-white
plain, and the great iceberg was seen to split in half, its two
peaks falling apart from each other. The most distant of the two
great sections toppled far backward, and with a great crash
turned entirely over, its upper part being heavier than its base.
It struck an iceberg behind it, slid upon the level ice below,
crashed through this, and sank out of sight. Then it was seen to
slowly rise again, but this time with its base uppermost. The
other and nearest section, much smaller, fell against an adjacent
iceberg, where it remained leaning for some minutes, but soon
assumed an erect position. The line of cleavage had not been
perpendicular, and the greater part of the base of the original
iceberg remained upon the nearer section.
When the scene of destruction had been thoroughly surveyed from
the deck of the Dipsey, volunteers were called for to go and
investigate the condition of affairs near the broken iceberg.
Four men, including Mr. Gibbs and Mr. Marcy, went out upon this
errand, a dangerous one, for they did not know how far the ice in
their direction might have been shattered or weakened by the
wreck of the iceberg. They found that little or no damage had
been done to the ice between them and the nearer portion of the
berg, and, pursing an eastward course on their sledges, they were
enabled to look around this lofty mass and see a body of open
water in the vicinity of the more distant section almost covered
with floating ice. Pressing forward still farther eastward, and
going as far south as they dared, they were enabled at last to
see that the two portions of the original iceberg were floating
at a considerable distance from each other, and that, therefore,
there was nothing to prevent the existence of an open passage
between them into the lake.
When the party returned with this report work was suspended, but
the next day blasting parties went out. The canal was extended
to the base of the nearer iceberg, a small boat was rowed around
it, and after a careful survey it was found that unless the
sections of the iceberg moved together there was plenty of room
for the Dipsey to pass between them.
When the small boat and the sledges had returned to the vessel,
and everything was prepared for the start along the canal and
into the lake, one of the men came to Captain Hubbell and
reported that the Pole Rovinski was absent. For one brief moment
a hope arose in the soul of Samuel Block that this man might have
fallen overboard and floated under the ice, but he was not
allowed to entertain this pleasant thought. Mr. Marcy had seized
a glass, and with it was sweeping the icy plain in all directions.
"Hello!" he cried. "Someone come here! Do you see that moving
speck off there to the north? I believe that is the scoundrel."
Several glasses were now directed to the spot.
"It is the Pole!" cried Sammy. "He has stolen a sledge and is
running away!"
"Where on earth can he be running to?" exclaimed Mr. Gibbs. "The
man is insane!"
Mr. Marcy said nothing. His motor sledge, a very fine one,
furnished with an unusually large wheel, was still on the deck.
He rushed towards it.
"I am going after him!" he shouted. "Let somebody come with me.
He's up to mischief! He must not get away!"
"Mischief!" exclaimed Mr. Gibbs. "I don't see what mischief he
can do. He can't live out here without shelter; he'll be dead
before morning."
"Not he," cried Sammy. "He's a born devil, with a dozen lives!
Take a gun with you, Mr. Marcy, and shoot him if you can't catch
him!"
Mr. Marcy took no gun; he had no time to stop for that. In a few
moments he was on the ice with his sledge, then away he went at
full speed towards the distant moving black object.
Two men were soon following Mr. Marcy, but they were a long way
behind him, for their sledges did not carry them at the speed
with which he was flying over the ice and snow.
It was not long before Rovinski discovered that he was pursued,
and, frequently turning his head backward, he saw that the
foremost sledge was gaining upon him; but, crouching as low as he
could to avoid a rifle-shot, he kept on his way.
But he could not help turning his head every now and then, and at
one of these moments his sledge struck a projecting piece of ice
and was suddenly overturned. Rovinski rolled out on the hard
snow, and the propelling wheel revolved rapidly in the air. The
Pole gathered himself up quickly and turned his sledge back into
its proper position. He did this in such haste that he forgot
that the wheel was still revolving, and therefore was utterly
unprepared to see the sledge start away at a great speed, leaving
him standing on the snow, totally overwhelmed by astonishment and
rage.
Marcy was near enough to view this catastrophe, and he stopped
his sledge and burst out laughing. Now that the fellow was
secure, Marcy would wait for his companions. When the others had
reached him, the three proceeded towards Rovinski, who was
standing facing them and waiting. As soon as they came within
speaking distance he shouted:
"Stop where you are! I have a pistol, and I will shoot you in
turn if you come any nearer. I am a free man! I have a right to
go where I please. I have lost my sledge, but I can walk. Go
back and tell your masters I have left their service."
Mr. Marcy reflected a moment. He was armed, but it was with a
very peculiar weapon, intended for use on shipboard in case of
mutinous disturbances. It was a pistol with a short range,
carrying an ammonia shell. If he could get near enough to
Rovinski, he could settle his business very quickly; but he
believed that the pistol carried by the Pole was of the ordinary
kind, and dangerous.
Something must be done immediately. It was very cold; they must
soon return to the vessel. Suddenly, without a word, Mr. Marcy
started his sledge forward at its utmost speed. The Pole gave a
loud cry and raised his right hand, in which he held a heavy
pistol. For some minutes he had been standing, his glove off,
and this pistol clasped in his hand. He was so excited that he
had entirely forgotten the intense coldness of the air. He
attempted to aim the pistol and to curl his forefinger around the
trigger, but his hand and wrist were stiff, his fingers were
stiff. His pistol-barrel pointed at an angle downward; he had no
power to straighten it or to pull the trigger. Standing thus,
his face white with the rage of impotence and his raised hand
shaking as if it had been palsied, he was struck full in the face
with the shell from Marcy's wide-mouthed pistol. The brittle
capsule burst, and in a second, insensible from the fumes of the
powerful ammonia it contained, Rovinski fell flat upon the snow.
When the Pole had been taken back to the vessel, and had been
confined below, Mr. Gibbs, utterly unable to comprehend the
motives of the man in thus rushing off to die alone amid the
rigors of the polar regions, went down to talk to him. At first
Rovinski refused to make any answers to the questions put to him,
but at last, apparently enraged by the imputation that he must be
a weak-minded, almost idiotic, man to behave himself in such an
imbecile fashion, he suddenly blazed out:
"Imbecile!" he cried. "Weak-minded! If it had not been for that
accursed sledge, I would have shown you what sort of an imbecile
I am. I can't get away now, and I will tell you how I would have
been an idiot. I would have gone back to the pole, at least to
the little house, where, like a fool, you left the end of your
cable open to me, open to anybody on board who might be brave
enough to take advantage of your imbecility. I had food enough
with me to last until I got back to the pole, and I knew of the
'cache' which you left there. Long, long before you ever reached
Cape Tariff, and before your master was ready to announce your
discoveries to the world, I would have been using your cable. I
would have been announcing my discoveries, not in a cipher, but
in plain words; not to Sardis, but to the Observatory at St.
Petersburg. I would have proclaimed the discovery of the pole, I
would have told of your observations and your experiments; for I
am a man of science, I know these things. I would have had the
honor and the glory. The north pole would have been Rovinski's
Pole; that open sea would have been Rovinski's Sea. All you
might have said afterwards would have amounted to nothing; it
would have been an old story; I would have announced it long
before. The glory would have been mine--mine for all ages to
come."
"But, you foolish man," exclaimed Mr. Gibbs, "you would have
perished up there--no fire, no shelter but that cabin, and very
little food. Even if, kept warm and alive by your excitement and
ambition, you had been able to send one message, you would have
perished soon afterwards."
"What of that?" said Rovinski. "I would have sent my message; I
would have told how the north pole was found. The glory and the
honor would have been mine."
When Mr. Gibbs related what was said at this interview, Sammy
remarked that it was a great pity to interfere with ambition like
that, and Sarah acknowledged to her husband, but to him only,
that she had never felt her heart sink as it had sunk when she
saw Mr. Marcy coming back with that black-faced and black-hearted
Pole with him.
"I felt sure," said she, "that we had got rid of him, and that
after this we would not be a party of thirteen. It does seem to
me as if it is wicked to take such a creature back to civilized
people. It's like carrying diseases about in your clothes, as
people used to do in olden times."
"Well," said Sammy, "if we could fumigate this vessel and feel
sure that only the bad germs would shrivel, I'd be in favor of
doin' it."
In less than two hours after the return of Mr. Marcy with his
prisoner, the Dipsey started along the recently made canal,
carefully rounded the nearer portion of the broken iceberg, and
slowly sailed between the two upright sections. These were
sufficiently far apart to afford a perfectly safe passage, but
the hearts of those who gazed up on their shining, precipitous
sides were filled with a chilling horror, for if a wind had
suddenly sprung up, these two great sections of the icy mountain
might have come together, cracking the Dipsey as if it had been a
nut.
But no wind sprang up; the icebergs remained as motionless as if
they had been anchored, and the Dipsey entered safely the
harboring waters of Lake Shiver. _
Read next: CHAPTER XX - "THAT IS HOW I LOVE YOU"
Read previous: CHAPTER XVIII - MR. MARCY'S CANAL
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