As MacNair ceased speaking, our airship alighted on the roof of our home, and we were informed that Battell wanted to meet us at the telephone. We went at once to the telephone room and again met Battell, but I was not dumbfounded at the sight. He addressed me in his usual familiar style, saying:
"Well, Jack, we have a boat factory here and I have conceived the idea of becoming an inventor of airship attachments and I want you and Captain Ganoe to join me. I want the Captain for his mechanical skill and I want you to test our inventions, make observations and report such changes in the mechanism as you deem advisable. Polaris cannot stand the cold at the verges and I will not have time. Can you undertake the work?"
"Certainly," I replied. "Just notify me whenever you are ready. I have been contemplating the same thing myself, and Captain Ganoe has offered his services as a skilled mechanic."
A happy scene—Two civilizations compared—Arrival of Oqua—Disguise penetrated—Human rights—"Glittering generalities" reduced to practice—A strange custom—Numbered, labeled and registered as citizens—Exit Jack Adams—A new name—Nequa—Bitter memories—Oqua's sympathy.
HE proposed improvement of the airship, so that it could withstand the storms of the polar regions, and MacNair's report of the progress that Battell had made in that direction inspired me with the determination to prosecute my studies with more energy than ever. I saw at a glance, that if we should be able to open up a channel of communication with the outer world, the knowledge that could be acquired here would be of incalculable value to the people on the outside of the sphere, and especially to my own native America, on whose virgin soil the new and improved thought was the most likely to germinate and grow to perfection. Before this trip to the outer world was made, I felt that it was my imperative duty to glean the wisdom of the ages from these vast libraries, and from the oral lessons of these ripe scholars. My one, all-absorbing thought, was to trace the progressive evolution of these people and discover the fundamental principles and practical business methods that had enabled them to reach their present ideal civilization. Hence I determined to apply myself to study, with an earnestness of application that I had never before attempted.