Later in the day I went above and found it the pleasantest part of the boat, and was surprised to find how all fear had left me. I asked Torrence if he intended to land anywhere in England; to which he gave a negative answer, saying that it might not be safe, from the danger of having papers served upon him.
"There is no necessity to halt," he added; "our course is probably watched, and the news of our landing will be telegraphed to London, and they might make it difficult for us to get away again. We are safe out of their reach now, and it would be better to lot well enough alone. When I land it will be upon some uninhabited coast where they can't find us."
"How long can you keep afloat?" I inquired.
Torrence laughed.
"Forever, if I want to. There's no limit to our capacity in that line. When the chemicals are exhausted, or have formed new combinations, I have only to supply the proper proportions of air and water, and the original conditions are restored. So if for any reason it should prove inconvenient to land, all we have to do is to drop a line with a bucket over any river or sea, and pull up a pail of water, run the compressor into the generator with the chemicals—and presto—all the power is restored. It is perpetual motion, with the very minimum of attention. Rather it is gravitation neutralized; and so simple, it is a marvel men never thought of it before."
I had made no inquiry about the North Pole, supposing it was only a jest; not doubting, however, that he really meant to make an extended trip northward; but now, on alluding to the subject, Torrence declared that it was his serious intention to penetrate into the mysteries of the Polar regions, farther than any navigator had ever gone.
"We may find it worth our while," he said, "and there is no reason why we should not."
I told him that while I felt some doubt about the ice barriers, I was ready to follow him anywhere; to which he answered with a good deal of force that so long as the vessel depended only on the atmosphere for her support, he could see no reason why we could not ride over icebergs, frozen mountains and continents, to the ends of the earth. All we had to do was to keep above all obstructions, and to prevent ourselves from freezing, against which possibility we were amply provided. He showed me how our saloon could be made perfectly snug, and heated to any temperature desired; and that the motive apparatus was entirely protected, and could likewise be kept warm.
"Should our upper deck become loaded with snow," he added, "we shall be obliged to put on our extra feathers and go above to clean it off; not such a very difficult matter when you consider that we are well provided with the appliances."
Indeed, it seemed to me that nothing had been overlooked, and as Torrence had all his life had a hankering for Arctic exploration, I was not greatly astonished at his decision. I reflected that the pole could never be reached except by balloon, and that the difficulty of ordinary ballooning was the impossibility of advancing against air currents, and that since our ship had overcome that point, it did really appear as if we might be in a fair way to accomplish something more than other explorers. I became greatly interested, and began to look for marvelous results.