The hour of my departure had come. According to the program I was to bid farewell to the members of the Inner World Council and my old comrades of the Ice King and some personal friends at the top of the tower where they had already assembled. The crew of the Silver King and her throngs of excursionists had gathered on the deck and the wharf to see me take my flight. When all was ready, I took my place on the Eolus and rising a few feet sailed slowly around this magnificent ship, coming to a halt on the starboard quarter where Captain Thorfin, acting as spokesman, said:
"In the name of the people here assembled from all parts of the world who have accompanied you thus far on your daring expedition, I am requested to express to you our exalted opinion of your courage, your ability and worth, and to thank you for the inestimable service which you have undertaken to render to our people, by extending their sphere of knowledge in regard to the external world. You are now engaged in a work for which our people are powerless. We realize that we are to profit by your perils. You will ever occupy a warm place in our affections. Accept our thanks for your heroic efforts to open a channel of communication with our fellow beings of the external world. Hoping for your speedy return we bid you a loving farewell."
"And through you," I responded, "I desire to extend my heartfelt thanks to those who are beyond the reach of my voice, for this demonstration of their interest, and may the channel of communication, which we hope to establish between the internal and the external worlds never again be closed. But as yet I have not accomplished anything to merit your thanks. I am the one who ought to be grateful to your people. I came among you a stranger and you received me as a brother. Everywhere I have met the kindest consideration and all my wants have been supplied without even the formality of asking. I have here found the living soul of humanity developed as it has never been believed to be possible in the external world. I carry with me to my own native land THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE, the knowledge that HUMANITY CAN BE REDEEMED FROM SELFISHNESS AND ALL OF ITS CONSEQUENCES. In the external world, from whence I came, we have only cultivated the external, and hence have developed physical hardihood while you have developed the finer attributes of the soul which we have neglected. My ambition is to bring these two worlds together. You need our physical hardihood while we need your higher development of soul. When the leading characteristics of both are united into one common brotherhood, both worlds will have a perfected humanity. If I can help humanity to reach this grand culmination, where both soul and body shall be developed to their utmost capacity, I shall be happy. To me, with my training, it does not seem like a daring undertaking now that I am enabled to utilize your grand discovery of the means by which the air can be navigated. Thanking you for this mark of your consideration, and promising to return as soon as possible, I bid you adieu."
As I ceased speaking, I set the Eolus to moving directly to the top of the tower. This demonstrated at once to the multitudes, its superiority over the old style of airship and they gave a cheer, which was the more expressive and significant as these people are not given to anything like loud demonstrations of applause.
At the platform I received cordial words of cheer from the committee, my old comrades of the Ice King and my most intimate Altrurian friends. Speaking for the committee, Lal Roy, of Budistan said:
"On behalf of the members of this committee, and especially of the members from the eastern hemisphere, I congratulate you upon the marked improvements you have made in our methods of aerial navigation. The construction of the Eolus marks an era in our progress that will be a monument to your memory. You will be honored and appreciated for generations to come."
"Excuse me," I responded. "I am not entitled to the honor you would bestow upon me. Captain Battell made the first move toward the improvements that were consummated in the Eolus, and Captain Ganoe and Huston have both contributed their mechanical skill. Without them there would have been no Eolus."
"Hold on Jack," said Battell. "In the consummation, we only carried out your suggestions. The improvements I started, were completed in accordance with your plans."
"Yes," said Captain Ganoe, as he clasped my hand. "You were the first person I ever heard suggest the construction of an airship that could ride the storm, and but for your suggestions every one of which was tested in your experimental journeys to the verges, we never could have succeeded. And but for your intimate knowledge of the difficulties to be overcome, I never would have consented for you to go alone. Even as it is, notwithstanding the unanimous decision of the committee, I find it very hard to reconcile myself to the thought that you are to be exposed all alone, to the cold and the storms of the polar regions. Such dangers ought to be reserved for those who have nothing to live for, and not for the young, the refined and the educated who have a bright future before them."
"Have no fears for me," I said. "You must not forget that it is now warm weather in the north frigid zone and I will not be exposed to intense cold, and the probability is that I will have no severe storms to contend with. But I will promise this: To be careful, and if I discover any defect in the Eolus that would make the journey too hazardous, I will return at once, rather than take any chances of defeating our purpose of communicating with the outer world when we have mastered the problem of riding the storm. No doubt my observations on this voyage, will open the way for other improvements. Keep up your courage. This is but the beginning of our work. We must have airships that will enable the most sensitive, to visit the outer world, and teach our countrymen the importance of cultivating the higher attributes of the soul, which can only be developed in their fullness under the benign influence of an Altruistic civilization."