"An electric light?"
"Yes, why not? Haven't you a galvanic battery on board your ship?"
"Yes."
"Well, there will be no difficulty then in producing an electric light, and that will cost nothing, and be far brighter."
"First-rate?" said Johnson; "let us set to work at once."
"By all means. There is plenty of material. In an hour we can raise a pillar of ice ten feet high, and that is quite enough.
Away went the Doctor, followed by his companions, and the column was soon erected and crowned with a ship lantern. The conducting wires were properly adjusted within it, and the pile with which they communicated fixed up in the sitting-room, where the warmth of the stove would protect it from the action of the frost.
As soon as it grew dark the experiment was made, and proved a complete success. An intense brilliant light streamed from the lantern and illumined the entire plateau and the plains beneath.
Johnson could not help clapping his hands, half beside himself with delight.
"Well, I declare, Mr. Clawbonny," he exclaimed, "you're our sun now."