Doctor Jones' Picnic Part 19

"Comrades brave around me lying, Filled with thoughts of home and G.o.d; For well they know that on the morrow Some must sleep beneath the sod."

The little party were deeply impressed, for the Doctor was a good story teller, and was himself much affected at this point.

"The much longed for, yet dreaded, daylight dawned at last. It was Sunday morning. For some reason hostilities were not immediately resumed. The sun rose in beauty and splendor, warming our chilled bones and blood in a way that was exceedingly grateful to us. For a little time all was so quiet and still that it only lacked the sweet tones of church bells, calling us to the house of G.o.d, to have made us forget that we were enemies, and have induced us to rest from our fearful, uncanny works for this holy Sabbath at least. But no! soon the battle was on again with greater vigor, if possible, than ever. Before noon our flanks were completely routed; and, but for that magnificent man, the peer of any soldier of any nation or age, General George H. Thomas, it is doubtful whether I should be here now, telling my little story. While Rosecranz, whipped and beaten, fled to Chattanooga and telegraphed to Washington that everything was lost, and the c.u.mberland army a thing of the past, General Thomas, with a few thousand men, checked and held at bay this great Southern army, flushed with victory though it was. How the mighty host rolled and surged against this single army corps, but could not break nor beat them back. While Crittenden's and McCook's corps were completely routed and disorganized, Thomas with his 14th corps thus stood the brunt of battle, and saved the Army of the c.u.mberland from total annihilation. Well may we call him the Rock of Chickamauga!

"My father was quartermaster-sergeant of the regiment and I saw him for the first time during the battle on Sunday morning. We were trudging along with the rout--for it could not be called _army_ that Sunday afternoon--toward Chattanooga. We knew that we had sustained defeat, but we did not realize how desperate the situation was. A brigadier-general was pa.s.sing us, when a private rushed up to him and asked, 'O General!

where is the 87th Indiana?"--I think that was the regiment he mentioned.

'There is no 87th Indiana. All is lost! Get to Chattanooga!' he shouted, and galloped toward the city, unattended by any of his staff.

"'Did you hear that, John?' asked my father.

"'I did,' I replied.

"'Well, if you expect to ever see your mother again, you must do some good traveling now.'

"As we had an intense desire to see her again we started down the road at a good pace. We distinctly heard the Confederate cavalrymen crying, 'Stop, you blankety blanked Yankees!' But we felt that our business in Chattanooga, demanded immediate attention, and we had no time to spare them.

"Pa.s.sing a certain place, I saw General Thomas standing upon the brow of Snodgra.s.s Hill, or Horseshoe Ridge, field gla.s.s in hand, intently watching the movements of the troops. I distinctly remember his full-bearded, leonine face, and little did we know that the fate of the c.u.mberland Army, or possibly of the Nation, rested upon that single man that terrible Sunday afternoon. What a mighty responsibility! But there he stood, a tower of strength, the Rock of Chickamauga indeed! With but a single line he repelled charge after charge of Longstreet's consolidated ranks.

"And so we fought the most sanguinary battle of modern times, yet utterly bootless so far as immediate results were concerned. One hundred and thirty thousand men were engaged with a loss of nearly fifty thousand, or a little less than forty per cent. This battle should never have been fought. Rosecranz here lost his military prestige that he had so splendidly won at Stone's River. Thomas alone achieved on this field immortal glory, and was the one great hero of the occasion. The Confederates claimed it as a victory, but they should daily thereafter have asked a kind Providence to keep them from any more such victories.

"The next day Thomas followed us into Chattanooga, and Bragg and Longstreet perched with their armies upon Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. From these elevations they watched us with Argus eyes.

Our supplies were completely cut off and we were soon reduced to the point of star--But here, you fellows are getting tired, and so am I. I will tell you about the siege of Chattanooga and battle of Missionary Ridge some other time."

CHAPTER XVIII.

Woman Locates the North Pole.

Silver Cloud hastened on with the favoring gale from the balmy South. By noon the coast of Franz Joseph Land could be seen. They were now near the eightieth degree of lat.i.tude. During the afternoon they crossed that land of eternal winter. Monotonous mountains, hills, and plains of everlasting snow and ice wearied the eye, and caused a sense of seasickness and vertigo if looked upon too long. The Doctor had treated these symptoms in each as they occurred, and our friends had experienced but little of the inconvenience due to this cause that is suffered by most aeronauts. They had entirely lost their sense of insecurity and fear, and nothing could be more comfortable and pleasant than were the accommodations of the cabin of Silver Cloud, even in this exceedingly high lat.i.tude. And oh! those walks about the balcony of Silver Cloud!

How invigorating and healthful! So vast were the proportions of the globe that there was no swaying, shaking, nor trembling ever perceptible. It was as if the splendid structure were a rock, and all the world a swift flying panorama far beneath them. Very strange and weird was the sight of the sun, traveling in one continuous circuit but a few degrees above the horizon, never rising nor setting during six months of the year. The atmosphere was particularly clear and frosty, so that as they promenaded the balcony, or sat in the observatory, they were obliged to don their beautiful sealskins, a complete outfit of which Count Icanovich had presented to each member of the company.

All were exceedingly happy and jubilant. The wind continued very nearly as before, and within twenty-four hours, nothing preventing, they would stand at the coveted spot--the North Pole.

At dinner time Franz Joseph Land was far behind them, and they were sailing over the dark blue waters of the Arctic Ocean, more or less filled with great floes and icebergs, ill.u.s.trating to the voyagers the terrible perils and hardships through which Arctic explorers had pa.s.sed, and amidst which so many of them had died.

"What wonder," said the Professor, as he scanned the unnavigable seas with his gla.s.s, "that man has thus far utterly failed in his attempts to overcome these insuperable obstacles. Think of the cold, hunger, and awful wretchedness these poor fellows have suffered. And Doctor, see! Is not that a ship I see yonder? It is! It is!" cried the Professor excitedly, pointing to an object sailing in a bit of open sea, her nose pointing stubbornly toward the North.

"We can hail them," cried the Doctor.

The upper and lower traps of the air chamber were opened, and Silver Cloud settled like a great roc toward the toiling little ship. They pa.s.sed nearly directly over it, and at an alt.i.tude of but 300 feet.

"Ship ahoy!" shouted the Doctor through a speaking trumpet.

"Ahoy!" came from the vessel.

"Where are you bound?"

"North Pole!"

"Sail due west twenty miles and you will find an open sea to the North.

All closed ahead. Good luck to you! Good-bye!"

"Aye, aye, sir! Good-bye!" came cheerily from the quarterdeck of the little ship, and they had pa.s.sed beyond hailing distance.

"Poor, brave fellows," sighed the Doctor.

"They have reached an amazingly high lat.i.tude," said the Professor.

"They have crossed the 83rd parallel, very nearly as high as Nansen got with his expedition last year."

"I declare that I am sorry for them, and really dislike to take the glory of the discovery from them. But we cannot stop now, and it is utterly impossible for them to get there anyway."

"They would have soon been shut in, and probably forever as they were heading," observed Will.

North and east, as they could distinctly see from their elevation of two thousand feet, far as the eye could reach, all was one vast field of huge piles of ice, exceedingly rough and broken, with here and there towering spires that seemed to reach up toward the globe like grizzly arms that would prevent them from penetrating the secrets of the north that had been held for untold centuries.

As the Doctor had informed the captain of the ship, away to the west was a certain amount of open sea, but it was of limited extent, and the prospects of the poor fellows getting much farther looked more than doubtful.

"And what is to become of them if they cannot get through?" asked Mrs.

Jones.

"I cannot tell," returned the Doctor, "but the chances are that they will be crushed in the ice."

"O dear, what a fate!" cried Mrs. Jones. "Can we do nothing for them?"

"Nothing at all, my dear. They are beyond our reach, and it is not likely that they would desert their ship if we could offer to take them with us. Such men are not easily turned from their purpose."

"All we can do then is to pray that G.o.d will preserve them, and permit them to return safely home," said the sympathetic little woman.

"And let us ask Him that this favoring gale may continue a few hours longer," added Dr. Jones.

There was no thought of retiring as the usual hour for doing so arrived.

They all felt impressed with the thought that they were now looking upon scenes never before seen by mortal eye, and that they were very near the object of their journey. How their hearts warmed and palpitated with the thought!

"We have crossed the 85th parallel," said the Professor, "and in six or seven hours will reach the Pole at this rate."

"This is the Lord's doings, and it is marvelous in our eyes," quoted the Doctor with great fervency.

Busy feet climbed and descended the spiral stairway many times that night, but could see nothing but a frozen sea in every direction. The wind blew from due south, and they were flying at tremendous speed directly toward the Pole as if drawn there by a great magnet. The cold was intense--the thermometer registering more than 60 deg. below zero.

But as we said before, no wind was ever felt aboard Silver Cloud, and it has been ascertained that man can endure almost any degree of cold if it be quiet and still.

At midnight they all sat down to a good substantial supper that had been prepared by Sing. The aroma of the coffee filled the little dining-room, and was grateful to the senses. How merry and happy they were! And they ate and drank with appet.i.tes that were very complimentary to Sing's cooking, and the faithful Mongolian was well pleased to see the food thus disappearing.

"There is no place like the Arctics for getting hungry and giving food a relish. I declare that I have not eaten so since a boy," exclaimed Denison.

"I really eat until I am ashamed of myself," said Mattie.