"Can't we use the windlass?" suggested Denison.
"So we can!" cried the Doctor. "The steel springs forever! Will never did a better thing than when he invented the spring power windlass. We may have to go twenty-five or thirty feet. But we will hoist by hand for awhile yet."
They had reached the depth of between eight and nine feet, when Will, who was in the hole, shouted, "Hurrah! I've broken through!" and he tossed up a handful of snow.
"Good boy!" cried the Doctor. "Now try with the rod and see if there be another layer of ice within reach."
The rod, which was six feet long, was easily passed its full length into the underlying snow.
"All right!" said Dr. Jones. "The flagstaff will settle sufficiently deep to hold it there forever. Fire up, Will. I want to rise forty or fifty feet above this hole."
This was accomplished in a very few minutes.
"Now let us get the foot of the mast precisely over that hole. I mean to let it drop from this height, and its weight will sink it 25 or 30 feet into the snow. That, with 9 feet of ice, will hold it for centuries. We will fill the space in the ice shaft about the foot of the mast with the ice chips that we have taken out, ram them down good and solid, then pour water in. This will instantly freeze, and all the gales that ever howled can never blow down the finest flagstaff that ever stood upon the face of the earth."
The plumb-line was lowered and cables tautened here and slackened there until the butt of the great mast stood precisely over the shaft. The spiral stair had been so constructed that it nowhere touched the mast. At its entrance into, and exit from the globe, heavy collars connected the mast with the ship. These were removed, and a heavy trap door, upon which the foot of the flagstaff rested, was its only support. A massive bolt alone held the trap in place. Will and the Professor were by the ice shaft, watching the plumb-line. At a signal, the Doctor struck the bolt a heavy blow with a sledge, the trap fell, and the beautiful mast shot like a flash of lightning down through the frosty atmosphere, entered the ice hole precisely in the center, and sank to the depth of 35 feet into the snow, which, added to the 9 feet of ice, made a footing of 44 feet for the towering flagstaff. The globe was again settled to the foot of the mast, the ice chips filled in and rammed solidly, the water poured about it, and their work was completed. The ingenuity displayed by the Doctor upon this occasion showed him to be a born leader of men, and the little band of associates so acknowledged to him upon the spot. Dr. Jones shut off their effusive demonstrations as quickly as possible. He did not appear to be possessed of any degree of love of praise; on the contrary, it always embarrassed and made him uncomfortable.
"And now let us eat again," said Dr. Jones. "We must get away from here before we sleep."