Doctor Jones' Picnic Part 21

"Now, my hearties, furs off!" cried the energetic little Doctor. He doffed his own suit hurriedly, pulled on a pair of woolen gloves in lieu of the sealskin ones, pulled the steel rod out and laid it aside, grasped an axe and began chopping into the ice with all his might. The ice chips flew about the engine-room in a shower. He was soon obliged to stop for breath. Will shoveled the loosened ice out, then seized the axe and worked for a short time with the same spirit that animated the Doctor. And so by turns they kept the axe and shovel flying, making very rapid progress. They soon were too deep to use long-handled tools, and resorted to mallet and chisel, and a short-handled hand axe. Slowly and more slowly progressed the work as the shaft grew deeper. Finally the head of the man in the shaft disappeared below the surface, being now nearly seven feet deep.

"We shall have to devise some plan for hoisting before long," said Dr.

Jones.

"Can't we use the windla.s.s?" suggested Denison.

"So we can!" cried the Doctor. "The steel springs forever! Will never did a better thing than when he invented the spring power windla.s.s. We may have to go twenty-five or thirty feet. But we will hoist by hand for awhile yet."

They had reached the depth of between eight and nine feet, when Will, who was in the hole, shouted, "Hurrah! I've broken through!" and he tossed up a handful of snow.

"Good boy!" cried the Doctor. "Now try with the rod and see if there be another layer of ice within reach."

The rod, which was six feet long, was easily pa.s.sed its full length into the underlying snow.

"All right!" said Dr. Jones. "The flagstaff will settle sufficiently deep to hold it there forever. Fire up, Will. I want to rise forty or fifty feet above this hole."

This was accomplished in a very few minutes.

"Now let us get the foot of the mast precisely over that hole. I mean to let it drop from this height, and its weight will sink it 25 or 30 feet into the snow. That, with 9 feet of ice, will hold it for centuries. We will fill the s.p.a.ce in the ice shaft about the foot of the mast with the ice chips that we have taken out, ram them down good and solid, then pour water in. This will instantly freeze, and all the gales that ever howled can never blow down the finest flagstaff that ever stood upon the face of the earth."

The plumb-line was lowered and cables tautened here and slackened there until the b.u.t.t of the great mast stood precisely over the shaft. The spiral stair had been so constructed that it nowhere touched the mast.

At its entrance into, and exit from the globe, heavy collars connected the mast with the ship. These were removed, and a heavy trap door, upon which the foot of the flagstaff rested, was its only support. A ma.s.sive bolt alone held the trap in place. Will and the Professor were by the ice shaft, watching the plumb-line. At a signal, the Doctor struck the bolt a heavy blow with a sledge, the trap fell, and the beautiful mast shot like a flash of lightning down through the frosty atmosphere, entered the ice hole precisely in the center, and sank to the depth of 35 feet into the snow, which, added to the 9 feet of ice, made a footing of 44 feet for the towering flagstaff. The globe was again settled to the foot of the mast, the ice chips filled in and rammed solidly, the water poured about it, and their work was completed. The ingenuity displayed by the Doctor upon this occasion showed him to be a born leader of men, and the little band of a.s.sociates so acknowledged to him upon the spot. Dr. Jones shut off their effusive demonstrations as quickly as possible. He did not appear to be possessed of any degree of love of praise; on the contrary, it always embarra.s.sed and made him uncomfortable.

"And now let us eat again," said Dr. Jones. "We must get away from here before we sleep."

So they sat down to a hearty dinner, all tired and very hungry. But the coffee and smoking food immediately reinvigorated them, and they arose from the table anxious to complete their work and be off for home.

"Shall we rest a few hours, or go on with our celebration, and immediately sail for home--or wherever the wind may carry us?" asked Dr.

Jones.

"O, let us go on by all means! plenty of time for rest and sleep," was the unanimous decision.

"All right," he replied. "That suits me perfectly. This good weather will not last long. The Arctics are subject to fearful and sudden storms, and we must be ready to go at any instant. Whatever we are to do, let us do quickly."

"I think we should have a patriotic piece or two at the foot of the mast, and then our North Pole March. I have had in my mind that it would be fine to raise the globe up ten feet or so, and beneath it we will have our concert."

"But how can we sing with our mouths all wrapped up in furs? We shall instantly freeze if we expose our faces to the cold. See, the thermometer now marks nearly 70 degrees below zero."

It was Mattie who put this poser.

"I will tell you the only thing we can do," said Will. "We have an abundance of coal oil. We will set all the pots, pans, and kettles aboard ship in a circle around the mast at a sufficient distance from it for our purpose. We will fill these dishes with coal oil, set fire to them, and within this charmed circle you may sing to your hearts'

content."

"Aye, aye, Will!" cried Dr. Jones. "You've struck it!"

The globe was adjusted, the vessels of oil set in place, the oil instantly congealed, but Will had taken the precaution to place into each vessel several wicks. He lighted these ends, and in a little while the temperature in the circle rose very perceptibly. The organ was then brought down and placed by the mast. They threw back their hoods and sang America with deep solemnity and feeling. When they had finished, Professor Gray said:

"I now propose that we have a speech from Doctor Jones. But first, three cheers for the projector of this glorious enterprise and discoverer of the North Pole. Hip, hip, hurrah!"

These cheers were given with all possible zest and enthusiasm.

"Friends and fellow citizens," began the Doctor, smiling good-naturedly upon them, "I sincerely thank you for your expressions of good will. I did not suppose that I was on the program for a speech. My heart is too full for utterance when I contemplate the fact that we now actually stand, safe, sound, and comfortable, at that spot so long sought by the bravest men of all civilized lands. That the world will receive us with open arms, and will heap honors and riches upon us, I do not for a moment doubt. But all this will do us no good, on the contrary, much harm, if we allow ourselves to become puffed up thereby, and cease to give to G.o.d all the glory and honor. As for myself, I am only proud of this achievement by so much as it shall prove a blessing to mankind. I believe that true happiness is found alone in working for others.

Selfishness is the direct source of all the unhappiness upon earth, and is the chief or only difference between a devil and an angel. But I see that our fires are fast burning low, and I must hasten.

"So by right of discovery, I claim this island for our great republic, the United States of America; and its name shall be, owing to its position upon the top of the earth, Summit Island!"

This speech was received with great applause. Fred then struck up on the organ the music of the North Pole March. The company began to circle about the mast, keeping step to the inspiring notes and singing the four parts. By the time this music was ended the fires were nearly burned down and the temperature within the circle lowered rapidly. The vessels were hastily gathered up and all entered the cabin.

As they were about to hoist the anchors, Professor Gray said:

"I am not perfectly satisfied as to the location of our pole being exactly correct. And, to tell you the truth, it has been demonstrated that the Pole is not a fixed, unchangeable spot, but really swings about in a circle, varying from six to thirty feet in diameter, just as the upper end of the stem of a spinning top does when it begins to run down or lose its momentum. Now I am positive that our flagstaff stands within this circle. But I would like, by another very satisfactory experiment, to verify the one we have already made. It will require another twenty-four hours."

"By all means, Professor," answered Dr. Jones, "do so. Let us do everything possible to establish the fact that we are scientifically correct in our location of the Pole. What would you have us do now?"

"I will explain what I intend doing, and then we will understand and we can work intelligently together. I wish to photograph the stars directly above our heads. If we were here during the winter season, when the sun was below the horizon, we could see the stars distinctly with the una.s.sisted eye. But from March 21st to September 21st we cannot do that because of continuous daylight. Now you are probably aware that looking up from the bottom of a deep well or shaft in the daytime, the stars are visible, even in the sunlight. And that is what I purpose doing."

"Well, and where is your shaft that you intend looking up through?"

inquired Dr. Jones.

The Professor significantly laid his hand upon the zinc tube which enveloped the flagstaff. "O ho!" cried the Doctor, "why did not I think of that?"

We should have explained before that the spiral stairs ran up between two zinc tubes, the one six feet in diameter, and the other two feet in diameter. The latter surrounded the mast, and after the globe should rise from the flagstaff this tube would indeed be a shaft two hundred feet in depth, or two hundred and ten feet, for it extended to the top of the roof of the observatory.

Accordingly, the burners were lighted, the globe arose until the ball of the mast was just below the level of the floor of the engine-room. Upon looking through the tube after all light had been excluded from the engine-room, a bright star could be seen shining down upon them with resplendent brilliancy.

"Now, Will," cried Professor Gray, "I wish you could go up and lower a plumb-line from the exact center of the top of the shaft. I want to see if our tube stands perpendicularly. If it does, and the plumb-line points straight through the center of it to yonder star, then we are at the exact spot we seek."

The line was lowered, and after a little adjustment of the cables, the lower end of the plumb-line pa.s.sed through the exact center of the tube.

The Professor ran his eye up the line and smiled with satisfaction.

"Look at it, Doctor," he said.

"Well, that is wonderful!" cried Dr. Jones. "Look at it Fred, Denison.

The line runs precisely in alignment with the star."

"And now," said Professor Gray, after all had verified this last statement, "let's not lose a moment's time. Get your camera out. We want a twenty-four hours' exposure through our shaft, and photograph that star. If we be exactly at the Pole, it will describe a perfect circle upon the sensitive plate. If we are not so located, the line upon the plate will form an ellipse."

The camera was set as suggested by the Professor, and then the party retired for the night. We say "night," but the reader will constantly bear in mind that this term is not used with reference to daylight or darkness, simply to the clock, or time of day.

There was an absolute, dead calm during the following twenty-four hours after Will had set the camera. Nature was so extraordinarily kind to Dr.

Jones during the time that we almost tremble for our reputation for veracity as we record the last-mentioned fact. Any swaying of the globe by the wind would have effectually prevented anything like a good negative being made. But the globe remained in the exact position, the atmosphere in the hot air chamber being kept up sufficiently so that a steady strain was maintained upon the four cables. At the end of the time mentioned the Professor examined the negative with a magnifying gla.s.s, and p.r.o.nounced the test perfectly satisfactory.

The globe was lowered down the mast for the last time. Denison and Will ran out and loosened the anchors Slowly the ship then glided up the beautiful mast. The flag, which had been wrapped about the small upper end of the staff to prevent injury being done it while pa.s.sing through the tube, was shaken out at the moment it left the floor of the engine-room. Its fastenings to the peak had been made doubly secure, and it was tenderly manipulated through the final opening by loving hands.

The whole company involuntarily shouted at the inspiring sight. The ship was lowered as it moved away, and the patriotic voyagers were treated to a side view of the most beautiful, thrilling sight upon earth--the American flag flying at the North Pole at the peak of the loftiest flagstaff ever erected! Well might their hearts swell with pride and their voices break forth in songs of triumph and praise. The Star Spangled Banner! Emblem of Liberty! How exquisitely meet that it should be thus planted forever at the summit of the earth, a terror to tyrants, and a never-failing beacon of Light and Freedom to all people of the world!

The Professor pointed out certain conformations of the mountain's summit, and said: "This island is of volcanic formation, and this mountain an extinct volcano. Yonder flagstaff stands upon the center of a crater that has been filled with many centuries of ice and snow. At some future time I hope to return prepared to penetrate this coat of mail and determine, if possible, whether Summit Island has ever been the habitat of any form of life, animal or vegetable."

Professor Gray had made such observations by the aid of instruments as should be of interest to science. This he did while the others were sinking the ice shaft, and during the time of the photographing of the star.