“Ridiculous!” said she. “Send Sammy Block! You are joking?”
“No,” said he, “I am not. I have been planning the expedition, and I think Sammy would be an excellent man to take charge of it. I might go part of the way—at least, far enough to start him—and I could so arrange matters that Sammy would have no difficulty in finishing the expedition, but I do not think that I could give up all the time that such an enterprise deserves. It is not enough to merely find the pole; one should stay there and make observations which would be of service.”
“But if Sammy finishes the journey himself,” she said, “his will be the glory.”
“Let him have it,” replied Clewe. “If my method of arctic exploration solves the great problem of the pole, I shall be satisfied with the glory I get from the conception. The mere journey to the northern end of the earth's axis is of slight importance. I shall be glad to have Sammy go first, and have as many follow him as may choose to travel in that direction.”
“Yet it is a great achievement,” said she. “I would give much to be the first human being who has placed his foot upon the north pole.”
“You would get it wet, I am afraid,” said Clewe, smiling; “but that is not the kind of glory I crave. If I can help a man to go there, I shall be very willing to do so, provided he will make me a favorable report of his discoveries.”
“Tell me all about it,” she said—“when will you start? How many will go?”
“There is some work to be done on that boat,” said he. “Let me set the men at it, and then we will go into the office, and I will lay everything before you.”
When they were seated in a quiet little room attached to one of the large buildings, Roland Clewe made ready to describe his proposed arctic expedition to his partner, in whose mind the wonderful enterprise had entered, driving out the disturbing thoughts of the Artesian ray.
“You have told me about it before,” said she, “but I am not quite sure that I have it all straight in my mind. You will go, I suppose, in a submarine boat—that is, whoever goes will go in it?”