NEQUA

OR

The Problem of the Ages

By JACK ADAMS

VOL. I.

EQUITY PUBLISHING COMPANY
Topeka, Kansas
1900

DEDICATION.

To all lovers of humanity, wherever found who believe that the application of the Golden Rule in human affairs would remove all the burdens that ignorance and greed have imposed upon the masses of mankind, this volume is respectfully dedicated by

The Author.

Copyrighted 1900, by
A.O. Grigsby and Mary P. Lowe.

CONTENTS.

EXPLANATORY.

The undersigned claims no credit for the concept of an "Inner World" in which the great economic problems which now confront the people had been solved in the interest of humanity and ideal conditions established for all. This was the leading thought in a work by Dr. T.A.H. Lowe, deceased, which was placed in the hands of the writer by his widow, Mrs. Mary P. Lowe. It contains a glowing description of the ideal conditions which would prevail under the practical application of the principles of Freedom, Equality and Fraternity in human affairs but the author died before he had an opportunity to work out a practical system by which the masses of the people, situated as they now are, without even a clear understanding as to just what is the matter, could commence with existing conditions, and peacefully, effectually and speedily establish the much to be desired system of absolute justice in distribution which he described. Hence it was determined to prepare a series of volumes, illustrating the operation of practical working methods by which this result could be secured, and then, publish Dr. Lowe's original volume, just as it was written as a fitting conclusion; and we now take pleasure in presenting to the reader the first volume of the series and respectfully ask a candid consideration of the principles which it is designed to elucidate.

Jack Adams.

NEQUA.

[CHAPTER I.]

Beneath the Midnight Sun—a Strange Visitor Comes Down from Above—An Old Acquaintance Recognized—Strange Story By an Old Physician.

Y private office was on the second floor of the sanitarium which I had fitted up in Kansas City to meet the demands of my large practice in the treatment of chronic diseases. The furniture consisted of a large book case, containing my library of standard works, and other publications useful in my practice; a writing desk, a few chairs, sofa and other conveniences usually found in such places. One door opened into the hall, and another connected with my bed chamber, bath room and laboratory in the rear. In the front was a large bay window where I often sat, in a meditative mood, concealed by the heavy lace curtains, looking out upon the throngs of people and numerous vehicles passing to and fro on the street below. On the opposite side of the main hall, and separated from it by the wide stairway, was the parlor where I received visitors. In the rear of this were the consultation and operating rooms. I usually lunched in my private office, my meals being sent up to me on an elevator, from a restaurant connecting directly with the sanitarium.

As a rule, no one but the office boy, who occupied a small room over the stairway, was ever admitted to my private office. The boy attended the door, conducted visitors to the parlor, and then reported who was in waiting. If I cared to see them, I went around the head of the stairs to the parlor; otherwise I was "Not in."

Many of my patients came from a distance and had lodgings and board in the sanitarium. Others called at my reception rooms during my regular office hours, which were from 9 to 11 A.M. At other hours I was ordinarily occupied in my private office, reading, thinking and writing, or in my laboratory compounding medicines, etc. But it was generally understood that I frequently drove out, and hence people calling to see me, except during office hours, were not surprised to learn that I could not be seen.

This arrangement was an absolute necessity in order that I might have time to attend to my large correspondence and make my usual study of the diseases of patients who had placed themselves under my treatment as their last hope of regaining health. My success in treating these cases which had been given up as incurable, was such, that the sanitarium was always full, and it was a rare thing indeed, that I called upon patients at their homes.

One bright and unusually pleasant day in June 189—, after I had attended to my patients, I retired to my private office, feeling that a call, even from my most intimate friends, would be very undesirable. I wanted to be alone. I had many letters to write, and other work that I could not well neglect, but I seemed in spite of myself to have lost my usual active interest in my business. I felt oppressed and dissatisfied with its restraints, and after worrying through with my most important correspondence, I got up and paced the floor to and fro.

What could it mean? Why was it I felt this restless longing for something that seemed just beyond my reach? My business was flourishing, my health was never better, my friends were numerous and all my surroundings pleasant. Then why was it that I could not compose myself to read or write? Whenever I tried to do anything, my mind involuntarily reverted to the past, and especially to a voyage I had taken some years before in the capacity of ship surgeon. At last I despaired of being able to complete my work to my satisfaction, and determined to indulge this irresistible tendency to retrospection.

All the afternoon, whatever I did or attempted to do, my mind turned to Jack Adams, a beardless young man who shipped on the same vessel with me as super-cargo. Turn which way I would, his image loomed up before my memory with a vividness that was startling. Why should I be continually thinking of him? True, we had been the closest of friends, and often spent hours together in the most enjoyable conversations.

However, notwithstanding our intimacy, there had ever hung around Jack an air of fathomless mystery. His character was faultless, his modesty, refinement and culture unexcelled. His perceptions were keen, his reasoning powers deep and comprehensive, and his innate truthfulness inspired every one with unlimited confidence who came in contact with him. In times of peril he was courageous as a lion and yet he was gentle as a woman.

He was of medium size and perfectly rounded form, too refined in his appearance to be masculine, but none the less active and efficient; and I must say that his face was the most handsome, and the most expressive of the finer emotions of the soul, I had ever met with in man. We were the most congenial of associates, and I was more attached to his personality than I had ever before been to one of my own sex. Though young and beardless, his intellect was mature beyond his years, and by common consent the old and experienced soon came to honor his unusually remarkable judgment.

To me, he was a phenomenon that I was utterly unable to fathom. While he was not shy, he was always reserved and retiring. He never intruded where he had no business except in my cabin, where he often came to while away an hour discussing themes of lofty and far reaching import. He seemed not to live on the common plane of ordinary life, but soared far above it. Still he attended to all his duties in a prompt and energetic manner, often lending a helping hand to others when there was no necessity for him to move a muscle. He seemed to take real pleasure in lightening the burdens of others even at a sacrifice of his own comfort.

Such was Jack Adams, who had worked himself up from the most menial employments on shipboard to a position of responsibility. Such was my most valued friend, always reserved and reticent with others, but genial, sociable and confidential with me, notwithstanding the disparity in our ages. But why should he now be intruding upon my memory, and holding my thoughts to himself by a mystic chord which I had no power to break, much as I had striven to do so?

I had left the sea at the close of this voyage, the memory of which had haunted me all day. I had scarcely thought of Jack Adams for years, and now I found it impossible to keep from thinking of him all the time. I became almost superstitious, and began to speculate that perhaps he had just passed from earth, and that his spirit was now with me trying to force a recognition. As I was thus ruminating, my office boy announced that a gentleman wanted to see me.

I was just about to send back the word "Not in," when behind the boy, through the half open door, I beheld a tall, handsome and elegantly dressed man, of commanding personal appearance.

My rule had been never to permit anyone to enter my private apartments except on my personal invitation, and as the boy seemed entirely unconscious of his presence, I knew that some mistake had been made, and instinctively felt that the man was not an intruder; so all that remained for me was to recognize the requirements of common politeness and invite him in.

As he entered the room I mentally took his photograph. He was tall, symmetrical, powerful, with a high intellectual forehead, dark, deep-set eyes, dark hair and whiskers, and dark complexion. His countenance was very impressive, inspiring the beholder with a feeling of respect and confidence. As the door closed behind him he fixed his large, penetrating eyes upon me as if he were reading my inmost thoughts, and after a moment's scrutiny said: "Have I the honor of addressing Dr. Thomas H. Day, who was a surgeon some years ago on a vessel engaged in the East India Trade?"

"Yes," I replied, "that is my name, and I was surgeon on an East Indiaman."

"Then," he continued, "may I further ask if you remember a young man on the vessel in the capacity of super-cargo, who greatly trusted and confided in you?"

His words penetrated my inmost being like a shock and I exclaimed impulsively:

"You mean Jack Adams! I feel it! I know it! Is he still living?"

"He is alive and well," he said, "and your prompt recognition demonstrates that you are the man I am looking for. I bring you word from Jack Adams. He was also a trusted friend of mine, in whom I felt deeply interested, when he occupied the humble position of cabin boy on a steamer between New York and Liverpool."

His words came to me like a flash of sunlight, dispelling at once the clouds which had seemed to paralyze all my energies. I felt that any word from Jack Adams would be an inexpressible relief to my present agitated state of mind. I grasped my visitor's hand with a warmth I could not restrain, and with an enthusiasm that must have appeared to him effusive, I said:

"Thank God! Your words thrill me with delight. I will esteem any message from Jack Adams a blessing, and the messenger a benefactor. You are indeed a welcome visitor, and you have placed me under bonds of gratitude by removing a most oppressive burden from my mind."

He returned the pressure of my hand in a manner I had hardly expected, and handed me a card on which was traced a significant inscription in Jack's well known handwriting which, if any confirmation was necessary, would have removed every possible doubt. Shaking his hand again I asked:

"Will we ever have a world of truth such as has been the dream of every altruist?"

"Jack has found it," said my visitor, "and we must make it. That is the mission he sends me on. He has made it his life work to discover just how this may be accomplished with the greatest ease, and to convey the information to us."

"Then you are doubly welcome," I said. "Be seated and make yourself at home. I hail you as a brother in a common cause, even if, as yet, I have no name by which to call you."

"Excuse me," he said, "I should have introduced myself before, but I was so overjoyed at finding Dr. Day that I forgot he knew nothing about me. My name is Leo Vincennes. I have been in the public service in some capacity, ever since I came to years of maturity; as soldier, sailor, scout, and later, as civil engineer and explorer. I come now from Alaska, and my special business here is to see you and deliver a message, committed to my care by our esteemed brother and co-worker, Jack Adams."

I had moved my chair as near to him as decorum would permit, and said in reply:

"I am indeed happy to meet you, Mr. Vincennes. I have been thinking of Jack all day, and I want you to tell me all about him."

"I saw him last at Cape Lisburne, on the northwestern coast of Alaska, where I was on the lookout for a vessel that was to take me and my party to San Francisco. We were employed on the coast survey, and our allotted portion of the work included the cape, where we went into camp about the last of June. Our lookout was on top of the bluff, which at this point rises to a height of about eight hundred feet above the level of the sea. The other members of our party were out on a hunt while I remained at the lookout. Through my glass I had a clear view of the sea for leagues away, and I continued to sweep the horizon with my glass, as the unusually early breaking up of the ice led me to expect the appearance of a ship at any time. I casually turned my glass and espied a speck on the horizon, a little to the east of north, that at first gave me the impression of a distant sail. Not thinking of a vessel from that direction, I observed it more closely, and soon saw that it was not on the surface of the water, but evidently in the air and coming directly toward me. It looked like some monstrous bird, of a magnitude such as I had never conceived.

"In my long experience as a soldier, sailor, scout and explorer of the polar regions, I had been accustomed to remarkable adventures, and had come to take pride in the fact that I could face danger of any kind without a tremor; but I do not hesitate to confess that as this gigantic, winged phenomenon of the heavens bore down toward me, I quivered in every vein and fiber of my being. It came with a rapidity that was startling, and ere I could recover my equanimity sufficiently to determine whether I should try to get out of the way or take my chances with the monster, it came to a halt directly over my head, and I could see that it was some kind of a mechanical contrivance for navigating the air, and that its movements were controlled by human intelligence. It remained stationary for a moment, as if the occupant were taking observations, and then dropped slowly down and alighted on the highest point of the cape, within twenty feet of where I was standing. As this strange vessel came to a rest, a door opened and out stepped a young man who said in the clearest of English:

"'Well, well, I declare! Here is the same Leo Vincennes who gave me my first lessons in navigation. How glad I am to see you so far north. I was heading due south for the mouth of the Yukon, when I discovered you scanning the horizon with your glass. I then changed my course a little to the west and came directly to you.' I recognized his features, but was dazed and stood rooted to the ground. Seeing my embarrassment, he advanced, extending his hand as he said: 'Surely you have not forgotten Jack Adams, the cabin-boy, who sailed on the same ship with you from New York to Liverpool, and asked you so many questions about ships and a seafaring life.'

"I grasped his hand, but for a moment my brain seemed benumbed, and my tongue, to use an oft quoted phrase, 'clave to the roof of my mouth.' I could only look at him in open eyed wonder—the same smooth-faced lad that I had known and admired—nay loved, fifteen years ago. My temporary paralysis gave way to a flood of feeling such as I had never experienced before, and I convulsively shook his hand as I exclaimed:

"'Yes! yes! My dear old Jack, I remember you, but never again did I expect to meet you—and least of all on this barren rock, in the regions of eternal ice, beneath the midnight sun, and dropping from the heavens to this mundane sphere. Where did you come from and whither are you going? Have you put off this mortality with all its weakness and put on immortality in some far off clime of perpetual youth, beyond the utmost limit of our earthly vision?'

"'Hold on Leo,' he exclaimed, with that mischievous twinkle in his eye that I remember so well, 'don't for Heaven's sake get superstitious. Remember that if the Kingdom of Heaven can be established in us, there evidently must be more in this mundane sphere than has ever been dreamed of in our philosophy. I am no visitant from another world, but I do come from another country, where man is master of his environments, instead of being their servile victim, just as you and I and all of the brothers and sisters on our plane of thought, believe that all of this glorious old world ought to be. We must continue to spread the light, and inspire our common humanity, in every stage of development, wherever found, with higher aspirations and brighter ideas of what is in store for them. We must give them hope and courage. The good time coming, so oft foretold, is almost here, and it will be realized just as soon as a respectable minority can be brought to fully comprehend the way out of all their miseries, as well as they now understand the crushing effects of their present environments. It is for us to speak the word that will save them from all their miseries, pains, and woes, here and now, without waiting for some far off time, and wonderful change to be brought about in some mysterious and incomprehensible manner. No! No! Leo, this is no time for us to stop and simply wonder at something that is merely the birth-right of every human being, while by a little well devised, intelligent and earnest effort on the part of the very few reformers who are not yet entirely submerged, we can secure to every human being every blessing he or she is capable of appreciating. There is nothing impossible about this, and if the world is not redeemed from its present low estate, it will be because the few altruists in the world do not make the necessary effort;—and they will surely make that effort when they comprehend how easy it is to quietly and peacefully remove the burdens that ignorance and greed have imposed, and thus rescue the toiler from the grasp of the selfish. How much are you willing to do toward this work of saving the world? Could you be persuaded to forget self for awhile and lend your services to the cause of humanity, by spreading the light that will save it, and save it too before even the older people of this generation shall have passed off the stage?'

"I was carried away by his earnest appeal, and promptly responded:

"'I am indeed willing to make any conceivable sacrifice in such a cause, my dear old Jack, but you must tell me what to do and how to do it.'

"'Then can you go into the interior of the United States—to the great Missouri Valley, and deliver a message from me to a dearly loved friend, which will secure his assistance?'

"'I certainly will,' I said. 'Personal matters require my presence in New York. I shall go from here to San Francisco, and thence across the continent by rail, and can stop off at any point you desire. I have been notified that, in the private papers of Richard Sage, who died some years ago, a document was found, clearly proving that I am one of the heirs to a large property, which was held in trust for minors, whose whereabouts were unknown to the testator, my grandfather. I am the representative of those heirs.'

"As I spoke, Jack's countenance became ashen pale and the expression hard and stony, and as I concluded he asked in tones that struck me with a chill like a polar wave:

"'And is Richard Sage dead?'

"'He died nearly fifteen years ago,' I said. 'Committed suicide, I believe. Did you know him?'

"'I think so,' he said. 'He was a friend of my father—But,' he added after a short pause, his face regaining its usual winning and kindly expression, 'we have no time to give to the discussion of the dead past. Come with me and take a look at our earth from the cosy cabin of the Eolus, while I tell you something of my adventures in the way of polar exploration, and explain what it is that I want you to do.'

"We stepped into a small but luxuriantly furnished car, which I shall not attempt to describe, and seated ourselves upon a soft cushioned divan. The walls were paneled on all sides with large transparent sections, through which we obtained a clear and seemingly magnified view of the surrounding scenery. There we were, poised on the highest point of this towering rock, overlooking the sea, the rolling waves of which dashed themselves into foam on the rocks below. Jack manipulated a delicately arranged keyboard at his side, and in a minute more we were flitting to and fro far above the earth at an almost inconceivable speed, and then loitering along or standing still to get a better view of objects of especial interest.

"Jack handed me what looked like a peculiarly constructed opera glass, and requested me to take a peep at Cape Lisburne through the transparent section at the bow. Though we were miles away, I felt that I could reach out and pick up a pebble anywhere along this rock-bound shore. This explained a mystery, and I turned to Jack and said: 'I can now understand how it was that you discovered me at such a great distance, for when I first saw you, your ship was but a speck, and several points to the east of north.'

"'Yes,' he said, 'I discovered you on the lookout when several leagues away. I had not expected to find civilized people so far north. As soon as I saw you, I put the Eolus to her greatest speed directly toward you, lest you should leave the lookout. As I came nearer I felt sure that I recognized your features, and I at once made up my mind that I had found one whom I could trust to assist me in the work I had undertaken to perform. This fortunate meeting enables me to return immediately, and relieve the painful anxiety of many loving hearts concerning my safety. They had a most exaggerated conception of the perils I would be compelled to encounter in attempting to traverse these frozen regions.'

"He told me a wonderful story of his trials, perils and adventures in getting past the great ice barriers, and his discovery of a World of Truth beyond.

"When we had circumnavigated the country for miles around, we slowly descended to earth and alighted at the same spot from which we started, and as we separated, he to return to his new home beyond the ice barriers, I to come to you, he placed his portmanteau in my hands and said:

"'Go to Dr. Thomas K. Day, at Kansas City, and if he will agree to publish the manuscript contained in this portmanteau and scatter it broadcast over the world, place it in his hands and tell him to use the gold contained also therein, which was contributed by the crew of the Ice King for that purpose; for nothing but gold, the fetich of this benighted and money enslaved external world, can command labor; and yet it is labor and not gold, that is the sole producer of everything essential to the sustenance and comfort of humanity. If Dr. Day cannot be found, or is so situated that he cannot attend to this matter, use the gold yourself to find a publisher, and have eight printed volumes for me when I return with another manuscript of even more value, from the same fruitful field of discovery.'

"And now Dr. Day," continued my visitor, "will you undertake to discharge the trust committed to you by Jack Adams?"

"I will gladly do so" I replied, "for anything from Jack will surely be a blessing to humanity."

He placed the portmanteau in my hands and said:

"I must bid you adieu. Send the eight volumes for Jack to my address at Fort Yukon, Alaska, and as many more for myself, unless I should send you other directions. I shall be anxious to read the book as soon as it is published. Jack must have passed through some trying ordeals, and from what I saw, his discoveries have been wonderful. But I must go."

I tried to detain him, but with a cordial grasp of the hand he was gone.

I turned and opened the portmanteau with the key that was attached. It contained a package, securely enclosed in a wrapper of some water-proof material, and marked "MS," and below was a glittering array of gold eagles.

I examined the package of manuscript more closely. On either side it was addressed to Dr. Thomas H. Day, Kansas City, and below was written:

"In the name of civilization I ask that whoever may find this package shall place it in the hands of those who will publish the MS. contained therein and have it scattered broadcast over the world, so that the discoveries recorded shall not be lost to humanity.
Nequa."

This was repeated in French, German, Norwegian, Russian and Spanish.

And now dear reader, I shall give you the contents of this remarkable manuscript, from the pen of my sailor comrade of years ago, Jack Adams, but known in his new home as Nequa, the teacher. Ponder well the lessons taught in these wonderful discoveries.

Yours truly,
Thomas H. Day.

[CHAPTER II]

In San Francisco—Where shall I go next?—A startling item of news answers the question and ends the search—In male attire—Enlists as scientist on the Ice King—Off to the North Pole—An unexpected blow—The danger signal—The race for life—The earthquake—"The channel is closing!"—"The ship is lost!"

WAS in the parlor of the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. Since my last visit to the city, I had circumnavigated the globe. During the last three years, I had not only again visited the leading points of interest for tourists in Asia, Africa, Europe and Australia, but had extended my travels into the frozen regions of the far south, on a whaling voyage. Yet I had not found that for which I was searching.

My failure had brought a feeling of intense sadness and depression which I shall not attempt to describe. For fifteen years I had been a wanderer on the high seas. I had traversed every latitude from Greenland to the South frigid zone and was now mentally asking "Where shall I go next?" I had determined that I would not give up this long continued search until it was crowned with success, or death had intervened, as long as there was one spot on earth unexplored.

Thus pondering in my own mind what to do next, I picked up an evening paper and abstractedly glanced over its pages in the attempt to form an idea of its contents by reading the headlines. In the editorial columns my eye rested on the caption:

"OFF TO THE NORTH POLE."

This was travel into a region I had not penetrated. I was at once interested and glancing down the column I read the comments of the editor. "The discovery of America," he said, "was the attempt to discover a more direct and consequently a nearer route to India by sailing westward. The object sought for was not found, but the search gave to the overcrowded and oppressed millions of Christendom a new world, where they might work out their destiny in conformity with the ideal of the founder of their religion, beyond the reach of the political and religious despotisms of the old world; and why may not this venture, even though it fails to reach the pole, ultimate in discoveries of inestimable value to mankind? We hope so, and hence we wish the most abundant success to the expedition now being organized in this city, by an experienced traveler and navigator, Capt. Raphael Ganoe."

The paper dropped from my hand; I was overcome; my senses were paralysed; my heart almost ceased to beat; my brain for a moment was deprived of the power of thought. As the full import of this unexpected revelation dawned upon me, I arose and paced the floor.

"My God," I exclaimed, "this cannot be, it must not be, but how can I prevent it? All the arrangements are perfected. I cannot, I dare not, under the circumstances, speak the word that possibly might prevent this perilous undertaking." I was powerless. But I soliloquized, "If I cannot prevent it, I must join the expedition, for never again will I permit him to leave me."

My mind was made up. I was in the prime of life, about thirty-five years of age, and had traveled extensively. I was familiar with ocean navigation and versed in all the sciences taught in our higher institutions of learning. I would make application for the position of scientist, and failing in that would enlist before the mast as a common sailor, if nothing better offered.

I turned to the mirror and surveyed myself long and earnestly. I raised myself to my full height and critically viewed the womanly face and figure revealed to my vision. Though not masculine, my form was strong and muscular for one of my sex, and with the proper disguise it would do. For the first time in years I had donned the habiliments of woman. In masculine attire I had traveled without being discovered. Protected by this disguise, I had filled almost every position on shipboard and had succeeded in earning a competency, something I never could have accomplished as a woman. It was not an experiment. I had tried it successfully for years and would try it again.

I took up the paper and read the account of the expedition with more care. The ship was one of the staunchest that had ever been built and had been provided with all the modern appliances for the comfort and protection of the crew, during a cruise that was intended to be indefinitely extended. None but bold and experienced seamen had been enlisted. As time was no object it was intended to use the sails instead of steam whenever it was practicable. Hence the large space usually given to coal was mainly reserved for an unusual supply of carefully prepared provisions for a long sojourn in the Arctic regions. Every thing that human foresight could devise for the success of this expedition had been provided. The daring commander had determined to take all the time that was needed for making careful surveys of the shore lines of the frozen north, and sounding its seas.

My mind was made up. I retired at once to my rooms. The male attire that I had used so successfully, was in my trunks. I need not worry the reader at this time with the details of my hasty yet thorough preparation for concealing my identity from the keen observation of one who knew me so much better than the many with whom I had been associated in my wanderings. Suffice it to say that every arrangement was completed in my private apartments, without exciting the suspicion of any person. I dressed myself in a neat sailor suit, which was concealed from view beneath the ample folds of a fashionable wrapper. I packed my trunks, summoned a porter and ordered my goods removed to furnished rooms that I had previously engaged. When there, I removed every article that would indicate that I was a woman, and with valise in hand took my way to the dock, where the Ice King was being fitted up with the greatest care by the experienced navigator in whose services it was my intention to enlist.

It was in the early twilight of a glorious evening in May 189—. I lingered a few moments on the wharf to enjoy the scene and to collect my faculties for the trial that was to come. I was tall and slender and my appearance was youthful and refined. Yet I flattered myself that with my long experience in this disguise, I would be able to successfully act the part I had determined upon. As I stepped on board, I met an officer who accosted me with the familiar salutation: "Hello Jack, what will you have?"

"I want to see Captain Ganoe," I said. "Where can I find him?"

"He is in his cabin," he replied, and passed on.

I gained the deck. The calm waters of the bay reflected the full rounded moon and her stellar attendants. The harbor was almost deserted. Vessels here and there dotted the placid surface of the water. Music low, sweet and plaintive reached my ears. Its melancholy strains drew me forward. The soul of the performer seemed to float out upon the air through the tender caresses of the magic bow. The very waves, as they sparkled in the mellow moonbeams, seemed to dance to the sweet melody.

It came from the Captain's quarters. I passed in so quietly that I was not observed. As I suspected, the musician was Captain Ganoe. He was so absorbed in the plaintive notes of the violin, through which his soul was speaking, that he did not notice my intrusion. He was in thought, far away and oblivious to his surroundings.

I stood and carefully scanned the form before me. It was that of a man of mature years, broad shoulders and medium height, firmly knit, compactly built and fair complexion. His eyes were blue, his nose a combination of Grecian and Roman, his mouth firm, and his entire bearing indicative of courage and strength of character. His brow was broad and thoughtful; his expression kind and firm. Everything left the impression that, though comparatively young, he had drained the cup of bitter disappointment to its dregs. While I sympathized, his sadness brought a feeling of sweet relief. Oh, how my heart bounded, and for the moment I felt impelled to fall upon his bosom and sob out the story of my wrongs. But no, this would not do. I must be patient and first ascertain from his own lips, in just what light he would regard me when he learned the whole truth.

I aroused him from his reverie with the inquiry:

"Is this Captain Ganoe?"

He looked up quickly, surprised to see a stranger in his cabin, and responded:

"Yes, young man, I am Captain Ganoe, and let me ask to what I am indebted for the honor of this visit. Did you not meet an officer who could attend to your wants?"

"I did," I replied, "but I wanted to see and talk with Captain Ganoe."

The severity left his countenance, and he bade me be seated.

"Now young man," said he, "please state fully but briefly, what you want, for my time is entirely occupied."

I answered promptly, and without preliminary explanations I said:

"I have just learned from the papers that you are about to sail for the most thorough exploration of the Arctic regions that has yet been attempted, and I want to go with you."

He turned up the lamp which had been burning low, and looked me full in the face. I felt his searching gaze but withstood it, with no exhibition of the fears I felt for the success of my plans. But with inward tremor, I awaited his reply. After hesitating a moment, he said deliberately:

"You do not know what you ask. You are young and refined. This expedition must encounter dangers, known and unknown, and none but the strong and experienced should be permitted to make the venture. It would be wrong in me to take a young man like you from the bosom of his family, from society, and all the opportunities for a successful and useful life, to go with me on this perilous expedition. The fact is, you ought to return home and leave such hazardous adventures as this for those who have no hopes to be blasted, and who wish for reasons of their own, to hide themselves away from the world. Please tell me your name and where you come from."

"My name sir," I replied, "is Jack Adams, and I have just returned from a three years cruise, during which time I visited the leading seaports of the world. I have become familiar with a life on the high seas in all the medial latitudes, and now propose to explore the frozen north. As to family, I have none. I am an orphan, and all alone in the world. I graduated from school at the head of my class and then shipped as cabin boy and worked my way up to a position of super-cargo. I have been a practical student of navigation—never sailing twice on the same line of travel when I could avoid it. I now offer my services to you because I want to go with you into the unexplored regions of the north. I have had enough of the tropic and temperate zones. If I never return I leave no one to mourn my loss."

He looked his astonishment and was visibly softened as he responded:

"We have no need of a super-cargo and we have all the seamen we want. I have just formed a co-partnership with Captain Samuel Battell, who is not only an officer of ability and long experience in the Arctics, but an expert scientist and mathematician. Every place seems to be full."

"I am not," I replied, "seeking a position as super-cargo, nor am I asking any position that requires pay or even board, if you can find room in your commissary for the supplies I stand ready to furnish. I can and will do any work that may be assigned me. All I want is to be permitted to go with this expedition, take my own chances and pay my own way."

"You seem very much in earnest Mr. Adams, and I am frank to admit that I admire your courage even if I doubt your judgment in this matter. But what can you do, and what evidence have you to offer that you can render valuable service in an expedition of this character? As to pay, I would not have you infer that I regarded it as any object to one of your adventurous disposition. No one enlisted in this expedition is promised a salary but the common sailors, and that is paid by Captain Battell and myself."

"As to what I can do," I responded, "I am by education and experience, qualified to navigate the vessel and make every necessary scientific observation and calculation. I am familiar with all that has been published on Arctic exploration and discovery. As to my ability, you can best ascertain that by inquiring into what I know. That is the best evidence of my training and experience on the high seas. I do not shrink from the necessary examination."

"You are right," said he, "and I will consult my partner. If it is agreeable to him, you may take charge of our library and scientific instruments, assist in our observations and keep a record of the expedition. I will summon Captain Battell."

He touched an electric button and in a moment a bell sounded at his side. He said to me:

"Captain Battell will be here in a moment, and I will leave this matter to him."

A moment later, the same officer I had met when I first came aboard the ship, entered and I was formally introduced. He cordially shook my hand and Captain Ganoe told him what I wanted, and, quite unexpectedly to me, said:

"Mr. Adams is admirably qualified, and I think we had better place him in charge of the scientific work of the expedition. We can assist him as occasion requires. This will enable us to give our entire attention to the exigencies of the situation in the dangerous waters of the Arctic regions, while Mr. Adams will keep a record of everything discovered that may be of value, and send out duplicates of the same by the balloons, as we intended, so that if the expedition should be lost, the winds may carry some account of our discoveries to the civilized portions of the globe." Evidently in the mind of Captain Ganoe, I had already been appointed to the position which of all others I would have preferred, and one that would always keep me near his own quarters. And to this, Captain Battell assented, saying:

"I met Mr. Adams on his arrival, and was favorably impressed with his appearance and evident determination to see the senior officer of the Ice King." And turning to me he continued, "I will now take pleasure in showing you through the library, which will be your quarters during the voyage."

Captain Battell was the opposite of Captain Ganoe in his personal appearance. He was powerfully built, of medium height, dark complexion, dark hair, and steel grey eyes set beneath a broad and beetling brow. The general contour of his features indicated courage, firmness, and strength of character. He was just that type of a man who might be expected to appear to the best advantage in some great emergency that demanded qualities of a high order.

All the appointments for the scientific work were of the first quality. The library contained the leading scientific publications, together with encyclopedias, and historic and general literature, carefully catalogued for easy reference.

Every kind of scientific instruments, charts, maps, globes, cameras, etc., had been selected with the greatest care. Among the special supplies were the balloons to which Captain Ganoe had referred. These were small and could be inflated at short notice. They were designed to be sent up from time to time with accounts of the expedition, its progress, discoveries etc., hermetically sealed. It is well known that at the equinoxes, the heated air from the tropics ascends to the higher altitudes and flows toward the poles, while the cold air flows toward the equator to fill the vacuum, producing the equinoctial storms. These little balloons were expected to be carried south by the winds, and find a resting place on the land surface where they might be picked up by civilized people; or if they fell into the water, the bottles would preserve the dispatches and the ocean currents might carry them into civilized countries. Thus every precaution was taken to secure to the world the benefit of any discovery that might be made, even though the expedition should be lost.

I was well pleased with my quarters. All the surroundings would be, to me, most satisfactory, no matter what the trials and dangers that we might encounter. I was enlisted for the expedition, and in the position I preferred above all others, as it brought me into frequent consultation with the commander, and I should be able to acquaint myself with his present views and feelings and note what changes had taken place since I saw him last.

I lost no time in having my trunks brought on board and made ready for the voyage. The Ice King was soon at sea. We stopped at one of the Aleutian Islands where we took on our dog teams, which were to be used for explorations on the ice. The sledges were so constructed that they might readily be converted into boats that would accommodate the whole crew and a good supply of provisions, in case we should be compelled to abandon the ship. We expected to be locked up in the ice during the winter, but with our sledges and dog teams, we could continue our explorations for long distances in every direction, with the ship for headquarters. Captain Battell was a whaler and familiar with all the methods of Arctic travel. His long experience on these northern waters enabled him to forsee many of the dangers we were likely to meet, and to make the needful preparations to overcome them.

From this point our voyage northward through Behring Strait and into the Arctic Ocean, was without any incident worth recording. Our course after passing the strait, was a little east of north to avoid the ice, until we reached longitude 165 degrees West of Greenwich, and then north. Captain Ganoe often came into my cabin to while away an hour in conversation. His marked friendship seemed to increase with each visit. He always addressed me familiarly as Jack, and in these conversations he became more and more confidential, and revealed to me more and more of his inner life, his early hopes and subsequent disappointments.

One evening after we had been at sea about four months, he came into my cabin looking unusually gloomy. After the customary salutation he lighted a cigar and fell into a brown study, not speaking to me for several minutes, when suddenly he said:

"Jack, did you ever think what mere trifles sometimes change the whole course of a life-time? I often wonder at myself for being out here on this wild goose chase, with the certainty of loss of property, business, comfort and possibly life itself, searching for something I have no use for, and which at best if discovered, will only gratify an idle curiosity. And yet, this has been brought about by what was only a trifling incident. Have you ever thought of these strange effects which flow from trivial causes?"

He spoke bitterly and I determined to take advantage of the opportunity to draw him out. I wanted to penetrate the inmost recesses of his being, and with this object in view I replied:

"Yes, Captain, I have often thought of it and have realized it in my own experience. It sometimes seems little short of a miracle, that after years of wandering, I am now here with you. In my case I was not influenced by a mere trifle, but a stern necessity. I had absolutely nothing to lose, and I thought I might find something which, under the circumstances, would amply repay me for all the hardships and dangers I might have to encounter. But you were differently situated. You were independent. You had wealth, business and influential friends, while I had been robbed of my patrimony, and was thrown upon the world with nothing but my hands and brain to work with. My course was a necessity, but it is a mystery why you should abandon a profitable business and organize this expedition at such an enormous expenditure of labor and money, while you regard its avowed objects as matters of such little importance. Your course seems to involve a self-contradiction that I cannot comprehend."

"And thereby hangs a tale," said the Captain. "As a matter of fact, I never did attach any great importance to Arctic exploration. From my point of view, the discovery of the Pole would be of no especial value to mankind, as no practical use could be made of it. Even the discovery of a productive country, which may be possible, could not greatly benefit the world, as it would be inaccessible to the masses of humanity whose condition would be improved by the discovery of a new country and cheap homes. While such a successful culmination would be of small benefit to the world, it would be of still less interest to myself. I really care but little about what we may find at the end of this voyage."

"Then," I said, "if such be the estimate that you place upon the objects of this expedition, I am more than ever curious to learn what could have impelled you to undertake it. You must have had a reason of some kind. I cannot understand how men can act without a motive."

"Yes," said he, "I was impelled to organize this expedition by a power stronger than myself, but when I ask myself what I expect to accomplish by it, truth compels me to answer: 'Nothing.' As to the motive, I suppose that I have been actuated by an all-absorbing desire to forget the miseries of the past in the activities of the present."

"But this is not the tale that unlocks the mystery." I responded. "You have aroused my curiosity to a fever heat, and yet you fail to gratify it. It might be that I could pour oil on the troubled waters and possibly enable you to discover that you have been actuated by a mistaken conception, and that really there is nothing in the past that you should desire to forget. It would certainly do no harm to review the case, and it might reveal the fact that it was a source of misery, simply because all the circumstances were not fully understood."

"I have no desire," said the Captain, "to conceal the story of my life from you, if you care to hear it. But I fully understand it and it is of such a nature as to admit of no remedy."

"Do not be too sure of that," I said. "But until the story is told, of course I will not be able to form an intelligent opinion of the case. Yet, observation and experience have convinced me that there are always two sides to every question and that to get at the facts in all their bearings, we must closely examine both sides."

"Well," said the captain, "I see that you were cut out for a lawyer and the wonder is how you came to be a sailor. You certainly have a judicial cast of mind and to while away the monotony of the hour, I will submit the matter to you, reserving the right, however, to decide for myself. I have always exercised my natural right to examine every question from my own standpoint and decide it according to my own sense of right and wrong.

"It is the same old story of an all-absorbing love and a cruel disappointment, followed by long years of suppressed anguish, from which I am still striving to escape. I was an orphan, living with my bachelor uncle, Richard Sage, in one of the suburbs of New York City. He was my guardian and the executor of the estate left me by my father. My uncle was kind and indulgent, and my widowed aunt who presided over his home, was to me a loving mother, and so my childhood days were passed in happy contentment.

"One misty, dreary morning, my uncle announced at the breakfast table that he had been called to the bedside of his old friend, James VanNess, who was supposed to be dying. He said he would not return until his friend was much better or dead, and not to be disappointed if he was absent for several days, or possibly weeks.

"A week later I saw my uncle drive up to the gate and assist a very beautiful young girl from the carriage. He beckoned me to him, and introduced me, saying:

"'Raphael, I have brought you a little sister. This is Miss Cassie VanNess, whose father I was called to see. I have been made her guardian and this will be her future home. Both mother and father are dead and she has no near relatives. Remember this, and do everything in your power to make her home with us as happy as possible.'

"We at once became great friends. Cassie was at that time about fourteen or fifteen years of age and I was eighteen. She proved to be the gayest, brightest, most winsome little lady I had ever seen. I must have fallen in love with her at first sight. I have often thought since," he added slowly, "that even his Satanic Majesty might look entrancingly beautiful, for to my intense sorrow, Cassie proved herself, it seems to me, a tenfold greater hypocrite than Judas of old who betrayed with a kiss.

"But enough of this. Our school days, lasting some five years, were to me one ceaseless round of delightful experiences, which seemed to fill every vein and fiber of my being with unalloyed happiness. During our vacations Cassie and I were always together, either at home or traveling, and many were the excursions, romps and drives we enjoyed.

"I graduated at twenty-three and we laid our plans for the future. I had inherited an interest in a line of steamers running between Liverpool and New York, which enabled us to frequently cross the Atlantic during our vacations, and visit the leading points of interest in Great Britain and on the continent. I had acquired a taste for travel, and it was determined that I should visit the Orient, while Cassie returned to college to complete her study of the higher branches. I was to be gone about three years, during which time I would circumnavigate the globe, and on my return we were to be married.

"With these objects in view I secured, through the influence of my uncle, a lucrative position in the employ of a firm of importers, whose trade extended to all parts of the eastern continent and Australia. On the evening before my departure, I placed a brilliant diamond engagement ring on Cassie's finger and a gold chain and locket of peculiar workmanship around her neck.

"These presents were made from special designs for this purpose and the patterns destroyed. I shall never forget the last night we spent together. The appearance of my affianced bride in her splendid evening dress, her diamond engagement ring sparkling on her lovely hand, the gold chain and diamond set locket and her luxuriant suit of golden hair handsomely ornamented, formed a picture of beauty indelibly imprinted upon my memory.

"My ship sailed from one of the piers on the Hudson near the Battery. We contemplated the circumnavigation of the globe by way of Cape Horn, the Sandwich Islands, Japan, China, Australia, Africa, Europe, and thence returning to America, stopping at all the principal seaport cities and points of interest on our voyage. This would enable Cassie and me to keep up our correspondence with no very long interruptions.

"For the first year of my absence, at every port I received a package of letters from home, and this always contained letters from Cassie. We had agreed to write to each other at least once a week without waiting for replies, and it often occurred that I got a whole package of letters from her at one time, and the perusal of these affectionate missives was the one all-absorbing pleasure to which I looked forward when we came into port. Whatever else might be lacking, Cassie's loving letters never failed.

"At last, however, they ceased all at once. Letters from my uncle came regularly, and through them I heard of Cassie, but I could get no word from her. I wrote to her every week, but my letters brought no response. I was miserable, and urged my uncle to find out what was the matter and let me know if my letters came safely.

"My uncle's replies were at first evasive, but at last with an expression of the most cordial sympathy for me, he informed me that my letters came regularly, but that Cassie had changed her mind and they remained unopened. He enclosed a draft on London for the balance due on my estate, together with a complete statement of the account from the date of his taking charge, and the findings of the court as to all the property and investments that came to me from my father. Everything was complete and duly certified, so there was nothing that demanded my presence in New York. He advised me not to return home, but continue in my present position, as Cassie was to be married in a short time and my presence would be painful to her as well as to myself, and embarrassing to everyone concerned.

"I was thunderstruck. I did not, could not, would not believe that Cassie was false to our mutual and oft repeated pledges of love and fidelity to each other. I could get no satisfaction from my uncle. My aunt had been dead several years. I wrote to my lawyer to learn if possible, the truth of the reported engagement and approaching marriage. His reply was prompt, stating that it was not only true, but that the marriage had already taken place. He wrote that he had been called in by my uncle, who was in feeble health, to make out the papers in regard to the estate of Cassie VanNess, which she was anxious to have settled satisfactorily to herself before her marriage. 'These financial matters being arranged,' wrote my lawyer, 'what was my surprise to be called upon to witness her marriage to Richard Sage. Financially she did well, but it is hard for me to believe that it was a love match. Your uncle, however, is certainly much infatuated with her, and she is indeed beautiful.'

"This same letter contained a flattering offer from a firm of New York importers, for my interest in the steamship line, and I advised my attorney to close the deal at once and forward the proceeds to London and also to dispose of all my property in and about New York, lists of which were in his possession. I had made up my mind never to return home, as it would be distressing to me and certainly embarrassing to my uncle. After that my only New York correspondence was with my attorney.

"When I reached London, I found a letter from my attorney with drafts on the bank of England for all my interests in America. This letter also contained the information that my uncle was in great trouble, his marriage with Cassie having resulted in much unhappiness. She had suddenly deserted him without giving any reason for her strange conduct. She merely left a note, stating that she would not live with him. This was the last that had been heard from her. 'Of course,' added my attorney, 'it would be next to impossible to find her in this large city if she desires to keep herself concealed.'

"Since that time I have been a wanderer, caring little whither I went, so that my mind was fully occupied. I purchased a staunch ship in which I cruised for years, avoiding as far as practicable the regular lines of trade and often sailing without a cargo, searching for a contentment never to be found. At last I conceived the idea of getting away from civilization altogether, joining in the work of Arctic exploration, and, if possible reaching the pole. With this end in view, I had the Ice King built according to special designs, and adapted, so far as human foresight and ingenuity could devise, for a long sojourn in the frozen north. And now here we are, in the Arctic Ocean, liable at any moment to be caught between the ice fields which appear on either side, and possibly crushed. What is to come next? God only knows.

"Such is a brief statement of the perfidy of the woman I loved, and its consequences. And this is why I am out here on this perilous expedition, searching for something that I care very little about. I think you will agree with me that it admits of no remedy."

"It does not look that way to me," I responded. "I would be unwilling to condemn your affianced bride until I had heard her side of the story. It may be that her marriage to your uncle was secured by unfair means, and that when she discovered the fraud, in her desperation she started out to find you. In that case, the remedy would be for you to find her and renew your plighted faith."

"Never!" said Captain Ganoe. "Even if your supposed case is correct, it could not set aside the facts. She knew that, in marrying my uncle, she was false to me, and when she deserted him with no legal cause for separation, she was false to her husband to whom she was bound in the holy bonds of matrimony. She acted from her own choice. She was not compelled to engage herself to me, and no law could have forced her to marry my uncle. Her conduct in both cases reveals her innate perfidy of character, and under no circumstances could I, as an honorable man, accept such a woman as my wife. Her tarnished reputation, if nothing else, would place an insurmountable barrier between us even if she were not legally the wife of another man."

I was paralyzed. I had indeed succeeded in getting from him an emphatic expression of sentiment covering my own case. I had penetrated the innermost recesses of his being, but had fanned to a flame the slumbering fires of a volcano, only to be submerged in the eruption of molten lava.

The blow was so unexpected and so sudden, that I was stupefied, and my astonishment left no room for grief, which gave me a moment for reflection. Here I was, in the ship with him, far within the Arctic Circle, at the beginning of the Arctic winter, and with the certainty of being locked up in the ice for months if not for years. I could not get away from him if I would, and from his own lips I had heard my conduct denounced as the acme of perfidy, and my love spurned as something treacherous and vile. Bitterly and in the most emphatic manner, had he declared that as an honorable man, he could never associate himself in the tender relations of marital love, with one of my tarnished reputation. In his own estimate, he had already assigned me a place among the most debased and abandoned characters, and all there was left for me to do was to preserve my disguise, in order to secure even respectful treatment from the man I loved.

As the full sense of the situation dawned upon me in all its crushing weight of humiliation and anguish, I must have fallen at his feet in a dead faint, but for the clangor of the great bell which had been agreed upon as the signal of immediate peril, to summon each one to the post that had been assigned him in case of sudden emergencies. The alarm came to me as a sweet relief from an agony tenfold more difficult to endure than any possible hardships or dangers from an Arctic storm, amid towering mountains of ice.

There was no time for grief. The emergency demanding prompt action was upon us, and we hurried out upon deck. According to previous arrangements, Captain Ganoe seized the wheel and Captain Battell, as an experienced Arctic navigator, took command, while I, with glass and note book, stood by the wheel to make observations and to render any assistance to Captain Ganoe that might be required.

The cause of alarm at once became apparent. The stiff breeze that had been blowing all day from the southwest, had now increased to a gale, and the icebergs which for days were becoming more numerous on our starboard quarter, had formed a solid pack, which was evidently land-locked, as it remained stationary, while on the larboard, a solid field of ice of vast extent was approaching. It was only a question of a few hours at the utmost, when these two great ice walls must come together and it would be destruction for us to be caught in their deadly embrace.

Retreat was impossible. The only open channel was the one we were pursuing. The walls on either side were continuous, and with my glass I could see the channel behind us blocked with icebergs, urged on in our wake by wind and waves as if determined not to let us escape. Our only safety seemed to be in our being able to sail beyond these two continuous walls of ice before they came together. Captain Battell, with his glass kept up a rapid survey of the horizon, and gave orders through his trumpet as calmly as if scenes like this were matters of every day occurrence, and Captain Ganoe, at the wheel, responded as if he was part of the machinery, which he handled with rapidity and precision.

It was a scene never to be forgotten. The midnight sun hung just above the horizon. Off to our larboard, an unbroken wall of ice extending as far as the eye, assisted by a powerful glass could reach, was bearing down upon us. On our starboard another wall of ice against which the waves were dashing in all their fury, stood apparently as firm as the granite shores against which it rested. Behind us, the channel was filled with detached masses of ice, which if caught between these ice walls might hasten the closing of the channel before us. Could we escape? was the all pervading question that propounded itself to us.

Every sail was set and under the pressure of every pound of steam our boilers could carry, the Ice King leaped forward like a frightened deer, as if conscious of the doom that was impending. For hours we kept up this reckless speed. The foam flew in blinding spray from the ship's quarters, fretted along her sides and left a broad white line in her wake. The whistling of the wind in her rigging and the regular plunging of her engines, made pandemonium on board.

It was indeed a race for life, and in my perturbed state of mind I actually enjoyed the excitement, almost hoping that it might culminate in the destruction threatened. With the courage of despair I calmly surveyed the scene and took my notes, occasionally assisting Captain Ganoe at the wheel. This was the first real danger that we had encountered, and my interview with the Captain had given me a reckless daring to meet it without a tremor, that seems almost miraculous.

We still kept up this rapid flight, and as far as the eye could reach the two great ice walls still confronted each other and the channel of open water continued to grow more narrow. Soon we had to veer from side to side to avoid collisions with the jagged shore-lines of ice, but nowhere was there any indication that when they came together an open space would be formed sufficient to protect the ship. We were compelled to reduce our speed, and still the ice-fields were coming closer together and at last we were forced to creep along a narrow, crooked channel between two great packs of ice-mountains which often towered far above the mainmast of the Ice King.

The outlook was desperate, but the ice on our larboard ceased to approach, and for a moment it seemed as if we might escape into open water. But not so. Our way was blocked. An ice-mountain loomed up before us, and we came to a full stop. It was this that had probably checked the advance of the moving ice-pack, and saved us from the cruel "nip" which has crushed so many hapless vessels in these dangerous waters.

The Ice King lay between two vast overhanging ice-mountains, which towered high above us. In the front was the huge iceberg, which had prevented the nearer approach of the wall of ice. The channel in which we lay could only be closed by the breaking up of the fields of ice behind us, and we could see no reason why this should occur. If the ice-fields remained intact until the freezing of the channel there would be no collision and we would be safe for the time being.

The weather had become intensely cold and we began to feel that the danger had passed by, when an ominous roar and the sharp reports of breaking ice, gave warning of the only thing we had to dread. A violent earthquake was lashing the ocean into fury, and the ice pack was broken into innumerable fragments, which were crashing against each other in the most violent commotion. Captain Battell shouted from the lookout where he had posted himself:

"Save yourselves if you can. The channel is closing and the ship is lost."

I looked up, and as I did so, the lofty ice-mountains between which we lay, seemed to be falling directly down upon us, and at the same time a violent shock threw me upon the deck with a force that must have rendered me unconscious for a few seconds.

[CHAPTER III.]

In the dark—All is still—Captain Ganoe's narrow escape—Imprisoned in the ice—Distressing situation—How to preserve the health and efficiency of the crew—A new danger—The ice is moving—The common sailor to the rescue—Lief and Eric save the ship—The tunnel to the surface—Exploring the ice-field.

HE first thing I remember after being thrown to the deck, was the profound quiet, and the consciousness that some mighty change had taken place in our surroundings. I opened my eyes. The deck was wrapped in semi-darkness, and instead of the thundering reverberations of the breaking ice and the waves dashing into foam upon their icy barriers, there was a gentle, swish, swish, of the sea as it lashed the sides of the ship. I felt dazed, and the memory of the awful scenes through which we had passed impressed me like the vivid imagery and fantastic pictures of some horrible dream.

At the moment of the shock, fully impressed with the conviction that all was lost, I was turning to grasp Raphael in my arms, so that we might die together, and on recovering consciousness, my first thought was of him. I sprang to my feet and in the dim light I saw something gliding away from me towards the edge of the deck, and I instinctively grasped it, as it was about to drop overboard. It was Captain Ganoe. He was living but unconscious. With my insecure footing, I feared for a moment that we should both go overboard together, when there was a flash of light and Battell seized my arm, exclaiming:

"Thank God, you are both alive! I called to you and as you did not reply, I feared that you were both killed by the falling ice. It was lucky that you were able to grasp the Captain just when you did, or he would surely have been lost."

I was holding Captain Ganoe in my arms, while Battell was briskly chafing his hands. In a moment he aroused, as if suddenly awaking out of a deep sleep, and straightening himself up in a dazed sort of way, he exclaimed:

"Good God, Jack, what is the matter? Where are we? Have I been asleep?"

"Oh, we are only imprisoned in the ice," said Battell. "I feared that you were crushed by that huge block of ice which came so near carrying away the part of the deck where you were standing. If Jack had not caught you and drawn you back at the imminent risk of his own life, you would now be at the bottom of the sea."

Captain Ganoe, now fully aroused, took in the situation at a glance, and exclaimed as he grasped me by the hand:

"Jack, my savior! The last I remember was that you were turning as if to grasp me in your arms. It was indeed a close call. But why did you risk your life to save mine?"

I had scarcely spoken since the alarm had ended our conversation in my cabin, and I felt that to do so now, in answer to such a question, would betray my weakness and possibly my secret, which I had resolved to guard more closely than ever. Fortunately, however, he did not wait for a reply, but with his usual thoughtfulness for the crew and safety of the ship, he started below, saying:

"Come on, my bruises are not severe, and we must look out for the sailors and make a tour of inspection around the ship and ascertain as nearly as possible, in just what kind of a place we are."

Just as we reached the deck below, we met Paul Huston, the engineer; Pat O'Brien, second mate; and Mike Gallagher, the cabin boy. They understood what had happened and feared we had been injured or killed by the shower of ice that had fallen upon the upper deck. They reported everything all right with the crew and that the vessel was apparently uninjured.

We passed entirely around the ship, narrowly scanning the walls of our ice prison, with a powerful reflector, which revealed every crevice. We lay in an inclosure which gave the vessel more than room enough to turn around if carefully handled. We ascertained that the great overhanging ice-mountains between which we lay, and that had threatened us with instant destruction, had actually been our salvation. When the earthquake shattered the two great ice-fields, these towering mountains had started to tumble over on the ship at the same time, and meeting far above had formed a massive arch which had prevented the closing of the channel at that point. Here and there were openings in the icy roof, but in the main, the colliding masses were closely joined together. The only injury to the ship was from the block of ice that had fallen so near to Captain Ganoe. From the number of fragments of from one to several pounds in weight, which were scattered over the upper deck, it seemed a marvel that we had escaped without serious injury.

When our tour of inspection was completed we repaired to the library to talk over the situation. Addressing Battell, Captain Ganoe asked:

"What do you think of the situation?"

"I apprehend no immediate danger," replied Captain Battell. "In a few hours with the present intense cold, this ice-pack will be frozen into one solid block. But if we are not crushed by the ice, God only knows when we will get out. As for the present, we are most fortunately situated. We could not find better winter quarters in the frigid zone. We are well protected from the cold, and the fishing will be good, as this will be a good breathing place where the fish will gather for air. We can lay in an ample supply of dog feed and I am inclined to believe that we might capture a whale and lay in a supply of oil for fuel."

"But how long do you think it will be," asked the Captain, "before we will have an opportunity to get the ship clear of the ice?"

"I would not venture a prediction," replied Battell. "One thing is certain. We are sealed up for the winter, and it may be that the entire summer will not be sufficient to produce a break up of the ice-field in which we are caught. So it may be that we will be cooped up for a year or two. There is no telling how long we will be prisoners."

"Well, I suppose then," said the Captain, "that all there is for us to do is to wait."

"Yes," said Battell, "that is all we can do, and," he added, smiling, "it will not take much effort. But," after a pause, "it will take some effort on our part to provide sufficient exercise and amusement to preserve the health and discipline of the crew, so that we will have a reasonable prospect of getting clear of the ice when the break up does take place."

"That is well thought of," said Captain Ganoe, "and I think it would be well to muster the crew and organize a regular system of employment and amusement. And," turning to me, he continued, "what do you have to say, Jack? I never knew you to be so silent. What is the matter? Have you no opinions to offer, and nothing to suggest?"

"I certainly have opinions and I might offer some suggestions," I remarked, "but before doing so, I want to familiarize myself with existing conditions. Only one thing seems certain, just at present, and that is, that we are locked up in the ice for several months and perhaps for years to come. This will give us ample time for careful reflection. There is no reason that we should be in a hurry to inaugurate a rigid system of any kind just now in order to preserve the discipline of the crew. There is no danger of their deserting the ship and we can well afford to wait until the novelty of our present surroundings has worn away."

"You are right," said the Captain. "There is certainly a novelty in our present surroundings, that will attract the attention of all and prevent ennui for the time being, but this will soon wear away, and the monotony of our imprisonment will become unbearable, except to the best disciplined minds. This will be particularly severe on our common sailors, who are uneducated, and thus deprived of the numberless sources of recreation and amusement to which we have ready access. When this time comes, what would you do?"

"So far as I am concerned," I said, "I have access to the library, and will really enjoy the association that it affords with the brightest intellects and noblest characters of earth, past and present. Now, if I should suggest anything for the relief of the common sailors, outside of such exercise and amusements as are essential to health, I would organize them into a school, and seek to bring these more exalted pleasures within their reach by increasing their knowledge, and giving them broader views of life and higher aspirations. This will also furnish us with needful and elevating employment and will certainly afford us a splendid opportunity to do good to others, and at the same time increase our own knowledge of human nature, and to trace the effects produced by environments, on the masses who have not enjoyed the advantages of a liberal education."

"Your suggestion," said the Captain, "is all right as far as the better educated are concerned, but it would be useless and probably hurtful to the common sailors. Remember the old adage that 'a little learning is a dangerous thing.' To the extent that we could succeed in giving them broader views of life and higher aspirations, we would only succeed in making them dissatisfied with their lot, and thus weaken the discipline on which the safety of all depends. All that we can do for the common sailors is to provide such healthful exercise of the muscles as will give them good appetites and enable them to enjoy rest and sleep. They would not appreciate the mental feast which you in your kindness of heart would set before them. Their training has been physical, and, hence, their enjoyments must be of the same nature. The same rules that apply to trained intellects will not apply to them."

"If that is your opinion," I said, "there is no use for any suggestions from me. You are the owner and senior officer of the Ice King, and, of course, good discipline demands that your will shall be law. You ought to understand the material of which your crew is composed, better than I. My duties have not brought me in contact with your sailors and, of course, I know practically nothing about them, except that I see they are courageous and efficient. But, nevertheless, on general principles, I believe that nature has planted the germs of all that is good and noble in every human soul, and if this is true, all that is good and noble can be developed in them by the proper influences, without detracting in any way from their usefulness as mere workers; besides, the effort to elevate them draws them nearer to us, and it seems to me, would tend to engender feelings of mutual love and confidence, that strengthen instead of weaken that perfect discipline which is of such inestimable importance to an expedition like this, when the safety and well-being of every individual member is of vital importance to the safety and well being of the entire crew."

"I have always had the respect and confidence of my sailors," said the Captain, "not because I tried to lift them up to the same plane that I occupied, but because I provided them with good food, good quarters, never overtaxed their strength, and gave them ample time for rest and such amusements as they could appreciate. I have always had the good-will and cheerful obedience of the common sailors, because I looked out for their physical needs and treated them kindly."

"I have no doubt of that," I said. "But your voyages in the past have been between civilized ports and all your sailors wanted was their pay, and in addition to this, you gave them better treatment than they could get elsewhere. Hence, their selfish impulses held them to you. The relation between you and them was purely physical, and all that was needed to make them loyal to you, was to look out for their physical wants and treat them kindly. From their standpoint, this was an addition to their wages that they could not secure under more heartless employers. But you are now differently situated. You are not expected to come into a civilized port where sailors can spend their wages as sailors usually do. They have nothing to look forward to, and as mere workers they have no interests in common with you. But with the broader views of life to which association with the best intellects and the noblest characters gives access, they would take a more exalted view of the work in which they are engaged, and be true to you from a higher motive than their wages, which they cannot use in the supply of their physical wants. This is why I suggested the school."

"I recognize the force of your reasoning," said the Captain, "and if I regarded your premises as correct, I would come to the same conclusion that you do. But you make the mistake of overlooking the fact that a liberal education can only be secured by years of training in school, from the kindergarten to the college, and should be accompanied by the elevating influences of the home and cultured society, and followed by a life of study and experience in the higher walks of life, before the average man can be reasonably expected to rise above the plane of mere physical existence, and act from the high intellectual and moral impulses which impel the most cultivated and elevated characters. And, you must still further take into consideration the fact, that even if we were imprisoned in the ice for a year or more, we would have time enough to give our sailors only a smattering of what they ought to know, in order to develop the high type of character that you propose, even if we could overcome the influence of their home lives and the low social status of the society in which they have always mingled. You do not realize, my dear Jack, the utter impossibility of the task you would have us undertake. They must still be sailors and perform the hard labor for which they were engaged, and we should be careful not to engender in their minds hopes and aspirations that would make them dissatisfied with their lot."

"I certainly would not do anything," I replied, "that would tend to make them discontented. This is something that should be most carefully avoided. But, nevertheless, I still think my suggestion, if carried out, would have just the opposite tendency. From my own experience, I regard my premises as stronger than my reasoning. I enjoyed all the advantages of a liberal education and the elevating influence of home and cultured society, and still, I have engaged in the most menial employments. Yet, I did not find that my education rendered me dissatisfied with my lot. On the contrary, it did much to enable me to adapt myself to the situation, and to find sources of enjoyment which were inaccessible to my uneducated associates. But, more than this, my experience among the lowly, convinces me that a collegiate education is not essential to the development of the noblest characteristics. I have met sailors before the mast, who had accumulated a vast fund of useful knowledge, and had the broadest and most comprehensive views of life, and its duties. The premises from which I reason, are the results of actual experience with the lowly."

"I fear," returned the Captain, "that in your enthusiastic love for humanity, you have made the very natural mistake of judging the uneducated by yourself. I do not desire to flatter, but you have certainly inherited qualities of a high order, and a temperament so well poised, that you could acquit yourself with credit in any capacity in which you might be placed. Your employers could not fail to discover your worth, and according to your own statement, you were rapidly promoted. This is the ordinary reward of those who have inherited exalted qualities. Real ability never remains very long in a menial position. The simple fact that our sailors, who are much above the average of their class, have, after years of experience, still remained in the same humble position, is a very good evidence that they are not qualified for anything higher. There are Lief and Eric, for instance. They have been with me for several years, and they have not even tried to master the language. As mere sailors, you could not find better men, but you would never select them for an emergency that required extraordinary quickness of perception, and the ability to lead."

I was about to reply, feeling myself master of the situation, so far as the argument was concerned, when a crashing sound from above, and a careening motion of the ship brought us to our feet. On gaining the deck the cause of the commotion was immediately apparent. The ship was moving toward the starboard, and was being forced under the shelving ice. The crashing sound had been caused by the masts coming in contact with the sloping, icy roof. The masts were closely wedged under the roof and could go no farther, while the hull was still being carried forward by what seemed to be a strong ocean current. The situation was one of imminent peril, for if this motion continued, we were in immediate danger of being capsized. The ship was already careening toward the larboard.

The top could go no farther, while the hull was too far from the solid ice to admit of the use of pikes and spars to prop it back.

Battell was calling for axes to cut away the masts, when a shout from the larboard wall of our prison, attracted our attention. By the light of the reflectors we saw Lief, on a low lying bench of ice making a cable fast around an ice hummock, and at the same time we heard the voice of Eric calling for aid at the capstan on the lower deck. We saw instantly that this was the thing to do, and Captain Ganoe, Battell, Huston and myself were the first to take hold of the lever. Eric immediately motioned for the men who were coming forward with axes to man another capstan, while he seized a coil of small rope attached to a cable, sprang into the sea and swam rapidly to join Lief on the ice bench. The axmen hesitated for a moment and Captain Ganoe shouted:

"Man the capstan! The Norwegians know what they are doing."

With remarkable celerity, the new cable was made fast and the men began turning the capstan. This was not a moment too soon, as the first cable, unable to stand the strain, showed unmistakable signs of breaking. The motion of the vessel toward the starboard and under the ice was stopped. But the Norwegians now called for a boat and more cables. Their orders were promptly obeyed. Captain Ganoe, Battell and myself were the first to respond. For the moment, our Norwegian sailors were in command, and all obeyed their orders with alacrity. The boat was manned and the Ice King was lashed to the larboard wall of our prison at a number of different points. The ship was saved from the impending disaster, but still was slightly careened and the masts were bent almost to the point of breaking.

Returning to the ship, Captain Ganoe and Battell began figuring on getting the masts clear of the ice and the ship righted. The pressure of the water on the larboard side was immense, but the cables held her fast and there was no especial need of haste. The first thought suggested was to remove the upper splice of the mainmast, which would relieve the pressure, but the Norwegians had evolved a more simple plan. They motioned the engineer to set the screws in motion, slowly. As soon as the ship began to move forward the masts began to bend toward the stern, and the cables which held the ship firmly on the larboard, being relatively shortened by the forward motion, the vessel was drawn in that direction and righted herself. We now moved the vessel to the center of the enclosure in which she floated, and cables were made fast to the ice on every quarter, and thus secured from contact with it, the Ice King had the appearance of a huge spider with its web spread out in every direction.

The danger was past, the ship was safe, and we had time to inquire into the particulars concerning the important part that had been enacted by our two Norwegian sailors. We now learned that while the entire crew, except themselves, were resting from their recent fatigue in a feeling of security, Lief and Eric were far from believing that our winter quarters were entirely safe until the ship was securely tied up to the walls of our prison. Their especial charge was to keep the cables, capstans and anchors ready for use at a moment's notice, and they were satisfied that this was a time when they were needed. Hence, instead of retiring to their hammocks to sleep, they determined to carefully examine our surroundings for themselves. They observed that the larboard wall was nearly perpendicular to a point several feet above the top of the masts, while on the starboard, the sloping roof extended far out to the water's edge. They further observed that along the larboard was a low lying bench upon which the falling ice had formed a number of hummocks. This was a safe place to tie to.

Just as they had satisfied themselves on this point, they noticed that the ship was drifting toward the starboard, and that the masts were coming dangerously near the roof, and that in a few minutes we might be capsized. There was not a moment to be lost. This motion toward the starboard must be arrested, and Lief, with one end of a coil of small rope, sprang into the water and swam to the bench along the larboard wall while Eric attached the other end to a cable. But before it could be made fast to the larboard wall the masts came in contact with the sloping roof on the starboard which gave the alarm that aroused the crew and brought the officers on deck with the results already mentioned.

Captain Ganoe was visibly affected when he learned how the ship and the lives of the crew had been saved by the quick perception and prompt action of the two sailors. He shook their hands and thanked them over and over again, declaring that such all-important service should not go unrewarded. They understood his allusion and declared in their very limited supply of English that they could not be induced to take pay from the Captain for saving the ship and at the same time saving themselves. That we must all stand together or we would all perish.

As soon as they had succeeded in making themselves understood, they withdrew. As a rule they kept to themselves, except when their services were needed. Yet they were not unsociable and often conversed with the engineer, Paul Huston, who understood their language. When they had an important communication to make, they secured his services as an interpreter. They seemed averse to the use of English.

When they were gone Captain Ganoe said: "I little thought that Lief and Eric possessed ability of such a high order, and since I have discovered their true nobility of character, I am more than ever anxious that they should study English, as it would enable me to do so much more for them."

"You little understand the material of which these Norwegians are made," said Huston, who was standing by. "They do not want you to do anything for them. They feel more than able to take care of themselves. They have not always been sailors, but that occupation suits their purpose best for the present. They are looking forward to great results that may be accomplished by this expedition, and they care more for its success than for anything you could do for them. As to the language, they already understand more than they care to use. They are proud of their native Norse."

"You astonish me!" exclaimed the Captain. "I must get better acquainted with them."

"Then," said Huston, "you must learn their language, and even then they may repel any familiarity. They preferred working for you because you did not understand their language. They do not care to be on confidential terms with anyone. When they found that I understood them, they became somewhat communicative but not confidential. Yet, I have learned enough to make me believe they have a history, and some well defined purpose in life. I would not think, however, of trying to draw from them anything that they did not care to give of their own accord. One thing is certain. You can place implicit confidence in their courage, ability, nobility of character and fidelity to the purposes of this expedition."

"Well, thanks to their watchfulness, quick perception and prompt action," said Captain Ganoe, "we can now have the much needed rest we tried to enjoy before we had taken the precautions essential to our safety. I am surprised that we did not think of the possible dangers that might beset us from ocean currents. My only fear was that some disturbing cause might sunder the walls of our prison before they were frozen solid. And, even now, I have some fears on that score."

"No danger of that kind," replied Battell. "Several hours have already elapsed, and the weather was intensely cold before the channel closed. Just listen how the storm still rages."

Through the rifts in our ice roof, we had been enabled to catch glimpses of the sky, but now it was all inky blackness. The gale that had brought the two great ice-fields together, had now grown to a terrific storm, and had changed its direction. The winds roared and raged like demons in mortal combat, and ever and anon the snow was driven in upon us like fine dust, indicating the intense cold. We, now that the ship was safe, had the best of reasons for congratulating ourselves on our snug winter quarters. Our icy prison was both our safety from the violence of the storm, and our protection from the intense cold. We partook of a hearty lunch and retired to our rest with feelings of perfect security.

When I awoke everything was astir on board. The carpenters were busily engaged in repairing the broken deck, while the sailors were removing the ice and snow. Everything was being put in order as if we were preparing for a voyage. The storm had ceased to howl and we were in the grasp of an Arctic winter. Even in our secluded retreat, it was necessary for us to wrap up in furs and woolens when we went on the upper deck. But our cabins were warm and we had an abundance of everything to eat and wear to make us comfortable. The ice-field was frozen into a solid block, and there was no question as to our safety, but we had no means of making observations that would indicate our location. This to me, was the loss of an occupation that I really enjoyed and I felt the need of something that would take its place.

We were imprisoned in the ice on September 23d, and from my last observations I inferred that our location was about latitude 77° North and longitude 160° West. The sun made his appearance for a brief interval each day, and I calculated that the long Arctic night would be fully set in by the last of October. The rifts in the roof of our prison afforded us no opportunity for determining our location. Our recent danger had revealed the fact that we were moving. We tried the sounding line and found that we were in deep water, and that our motion was evidently due to the motion of the ice-field. We were floating at the mercy of the winds and ocean currents. But whither would they carry us? None could tell. Assuming, however, that the currents were north-bound, and reasoning from the fact that the motion of the earth was from west to east, the tendency being, as it were, to slip from under us, we concluded that as long as the ice was floating freely, our general motion would be toward the west and north.

For the present we were safe and comfortable with the ship securely fastened to the solid walls of our prison. But we knew summer would come, and the warm rays of the sun would beam down on us for months, melting and breaking up the frozen surface of the ocean which was now our security, but might then become the cause of our destruction. Our future safety, and the success of the expedition, demanded that we should have easy access to the surface, so that we could make the necessary observations, and, if possible, find some means of providing for the safety of the ship and crew when the ice went to pieces. This was the task before us, but we had no means of calculating the time it would take. All we knew was, that the two ice mountains by coming together had formed a roof over our heads, and towered many feet above the ship's masts, and if their other dimensions were in proportion, it might take a long time for us to tunnel through to the surface.

We felt that there was no time to lose. All needful arrangements were soon perfected under the direction of Battell, who took charge as engineer and manager. The ice-bench on our larboard was selected as the point of starting. The crew was divided into three reliefs, each with a foreman, and the work of excavation went on without intermission. This arrangement gave eight hours for work in the tunnel, and sixteen for rest and recreation.

I again suggested my "pet hobby" as it was called, of organizing the crew into a school and devoting a few hours each day to educational purposes. But I was alone in the recommendation, and it was not acted on, but the library was free to all who cared to read. I noticed, however, that Paul Huston, Pat O'Brien and Mike Gallagher, were the only ones who ever called for books, and Huston was the only one who seemed to know just what he wanted. Lief and Eric had some Norwegian books and writings which they often consulted, but all the others, when not at work, spent their time in playing games, spinning yarns and fishing.

As predicted by Battell, the enclosure in which the ship floated, seemed to attract the finny denizens of the deep, supplying fresh food for the crew and our dog teams, as well as oil which we used for fuel. The library was the favorite resort of those who cared to read and discuss topics of general interest. Here we spent our leisure hours, reading, conversing upon subjects of every description and devising amusements that would enable us to pass the time pleasantly. When tired of these things we joined the working force in the tunnel and exercised our muscles. This was a work of necessity, as well as a healthful recreation, and we went into it with the utmost enthusiasm. We managed to get comfortably tired every day, and enjoyed excellent appetites and most refreshing sleep, in consequence. Altogether the winter passed very agreeably.

It was well on toward spring before the tunnel was completed. We now had access to the surface, up an easy incline, and beheld the uninterrupted beauties of an Arctic night. The scene which greeted us defies description. The sky was cloudless, and the Northern Lights, with their brilliant corruscations, nature's compensation for the long polar night, presented a pyrotechnic display, the grandeur and beauty of which are indelibly impressed on my memory.

We took our bearings and found we were in latitude 84° N. longitude 170° W. We were seven degrees farther north than when we were caught in the ice, and ten degrees farther west. We were plainly in the grasp of north-bound currents, while our motion toward the west was uncertain. Subsequent observations revealed the fact that at times our longitude was stationary, or drifting somewhat toward the east. On the whole, our westerly motion exceeded any opposite tendency, but our progress northward was considerable though not regular, as if we were retarded by obstructions which were being overcome at intervals by the force of northerly currents.

It was now the 20th of Feb., and it was determined that the work of exploration should commence. The dog-teams and sledges were brought out and provisioned for a journey to the eastward under the direction of Captain Battell. Captain Ganoe, Pat O'Brien, Mike Gallagher, Paul Huston, the two Norwegian sailors and myself remained on the ship. The sledge party was to be absent a month and possibly longer. Captain Battell wanted to make some thorough observations on the eastern borders of the ice-field, and take soundings if he could reach open water.

We still had some weeks of Arctic night before us, but the full, round moon and the brilliant Aurora, made every object visible for a long distance. The weather was intensely cold, but the scenery was so attractive that I spent much of my time exploring the ice-field in the immediate vicinity of the ship. Many were the weird and fantastic scenes that I sketched, and many the strolls I took in a vain effort to find some prominent point from which with my glass I could get an unobstructed view of the horizon. But like our prison in the ice, all nature seemed cramped. The starry vault was contracted by the obscuration of stars which I thought should have been visible above the horizon. I kept searching for an elevated point of view, but this seemed always just a little ahead. These rambles often extended for miles and occupied hours.

Returning from one of them, I was met by Lief and Eric who pointed to the crest of the mountain of ice that formed the roof of our prison, and beckoned me to follow them. I did so and found that they had cut an inclined road around the icy mountain to the apex, where they had erected an observatory out of ice blocks. It was built over a rift in the roof of our prison that was directly above the ice bench on the larboard near the mouth of the tunnel. The wall at this point was almost perpendicular, and with but little labor they were able to put in an elevator, consisting simply of a platform secured by ropes, and attached to a pulley inside the observatory.

They showed me what they had done, and to convince me that it was entirely safe, they let themselves down on the elevator and raised themselves up again, much as a painter handles his swinging scaffold, but more rapidly. I was pleased with the contrivance, and more with the interest taken by Lief and Eric in making arrangements to facilitate my observations. I did not hesitate to take my place on the platform with them and return to the ship by this direct route.

I now learned that as soon as the tunnel was completed, Lief and Eric had found their way to the top of our prison, and seeing the advantages that this elevation offered as an outlook, they conceived the idea of an observatory on the top, to be connected with the ship by an elevator. They took no one into their confidence but Huston, and set to work immediately. In a little over two weeks they were ready to put in the elevator which connected directly with the ship, and saved a long walk by way of the tunnel. This work had just been completed and they were enabled to give me a very unexpected but agreeable surprise on my return from one of my usual rambles.

But it was no more of a surprise to me than it was to Captain Ganoe, who was just starting out to the surface through the tunnel, when Lief, Eric and myself came swinging down from the observatory on the platform which constituted the cage. Lief who was handling the rope stopped our descent just in time to prevent the platform from swinging against the Captain, who looking up exclaimed:

"Hello, Jack! Where did you come from, and what is all this rigging for?"

"Just ask Lief and Eric," I replied. "They have been looking out for a more direct route to the surface than by way of the tunnel. They have erected an observatory on the roof, and if you are going out for a walk, you had better take the elevator."

"All right," said the Captain stepping on the platform, "but I would suggest that you ought to have a light on board, to give warning in this gloom to all whom it may concern, to get out of the way of the engine."

"That can be provided for in the future," I said. "This is the first trial and we find that it works all right. Now we are ready for such improvements as you have to suggest. While the invention belongs to our Norwegian friends, we have no patent laws in this country and hence there can be no infringement. There is no restrictive legislation here to stand in the way of progress."

"I think in view of all the facts," said the Captain, "that this matter had better be left in the hands of the inventors. I have no doubt that they are fully equal to the task, and they have free access to the ship's stores for that purpose. It seems to me that the improvement most needed is some contrivance that will counteract the swinging motion, and no doubt Lief and Eric have a plan already that will accomplish that."

We were now in the observatory and the view in every direction was most satisfactory. This was by far the most elevated location anywhere in the region, and Captain Ganoe cordially concurred in my suggestion to fit it up in good shape for all the purposes of an observatory as well as a resting place when the weather became warm. We carefully explored the immediate vicinity and found that this towering mountain of ice could be made accessible from both the east and west. Towards the north and south it was easy to trace the seam where the ice walls had come together, and along this line were numerous depressions of great depth.

When we were ready to return to the ship we found that Lief and Eric had stretched ropes from the top to the bottom which passing through the platform held it steady while passing up and down. They had also devised a contrivance by which the elevator could be operated either from above or below as occasion might require; also a telephone connection between the observatory and the ship.

With this easy means of access to the surface, we seldom used the tunnel except for the sledges, or the transportation of some heavy burden. From this elevated point I watched with continually increasing interest, the roseate hues on the horizon which indicated the location of the rising sun. These grew brighter and brighter until the king of day made his appearance. This was the signal for inflating the balloons and sending up dispatches in the hope that they might be carried south into civilized portions of the globe by the equinoctial storms. It was also the time fixed for the return of Battell from his exploring expedition on the eastern portion of the ice field. His observations, in connection with my own, constituted our only means of accumulating that fund of information concerning these unknown regions which would make this expedition valuable to the world. Besides, our own safety depended to a very great extent upon the accuracy of the knowledge we could acquire concerning the forces which controlled the movements of this vast island of ice. My relation to the scientific work of the expedition, made me anxious to make the best possible use of our present favorable opportunity for investigation.

During our long incarceration in our ice prison I had kept such notes and made such observations as our environments would permit. The movement of the ice field towards the west which at first had threatened to draw us under the ice and capsize the ship, had lost much of its force, and now that we were on the surface, and able to trace the seam which marked the channel in which we had been moving, we discovered that its general direction was from southeast to northwest, while at the time we had been caught between the colliding ice fields, we had according to my notes, been running northeast. This demonstrated, that the entire body of ice had turned one quarter around, while its general movement had been toward the west and north. And now my daily observations indicated that it was continually changing its position, and that while its motions were generally toward the west, they were by no means uniform. It seemed to have been at the mercy of contending forces ever since we had been held within its grasp, and it was one of the prime objects of the expedition to make a close study of just this kind of influences.

As soon as the sun began to show itself above the horizon, I kept a constant lookout for the return of Captain Battell and his sledge party. We knew that he had gone east, and that it was his intention to commence the exploration of the western portion of the ice-field before the sun was remaining above the horizon for the full twenty-four hours. But the weather during the early spring was unfavorable and I discovered nothing worthy of note. When the days became longer and with the sun in the west, I expected to make some important discoveries with my glass. And when I did get a clear view I was startled to observe what seemed to be a barren waste of sand and sand mountains. I called Captain Ganoe's attention to this appearance, and after a careful scrutiny with his glass he said:

"That looks very much like land. The surface is certainly neither snow nor ice. But where in the world did all that sand come from? I will telephone Huston to bring a larger telescope and we will make a closer examination."

In a few minutes Huston made his appearance and we placed the instrument in position. With the stronger glass, our first impressions as to the nature of the surface were confirmed but we discovered nothing that offered any explanation of the phenomenon. Here was a mystery and we were now more anxious than ever for the return of Captain Battell, who we felt assured had made some very interesting discoveries.

I continued to scan the horizon with the large telescope and my search was soon rewarded by the discovery of a man who seemed to have just reached the crest of what appeared to be a long sandy ridge running north and south, but a few miles distant. He seemed to be assisting others to reach the same position. Raising the instrument to its highest powers I was enabled to recognize Captain Battell and several sailors. They were hauling others up from the opposite side by means of a rope, who as soon as they reached the top, took hold and helped to raise others.

I described the scene and asked Captain Ganoe to look for himself. He took in the situation at a glance and said;

"We must go to their assistance. The sledges and dog teams are evidently on the opposite side and they must be lifted up as well as the men," and turning to Huston he said: "Return to the ship. Summon the entire crew. Explain the situation to the Norwegians, tell them to get out the sledges immediately and take such appliances as they deem necessary, and Jack and I will meet you at the foot of the mountain on the east side. Make all haste possible as we must hurry to the assistance of our comrades who are evidently nearly exhausted."

[CHAPTER IV.]

A singular discovery—Battell crossing a sand ridge on the ice-field—Captain Ganoe leads a party to his assistance—Lief and Eric—Battell's theory—A second expedition—Battell's long absence—Is discovered returning alone, scarcely able to walk—Relief party finds him unconscious—Captain Ganoe as physician—Battell relates how he was abandoned by his men—Preparing for the break.

USTON stepped upon the elevator and descended to the ship to carry out the instructions he had received, while Captain Ganoe and myself remained in the observatory to scan the surface more critically, and map out the route we must travel. So far as we could discover there seemed to be no serious obstacle in the way. The surface between us and the sand ridge which Battell must cross had the appearance of a level plain of snow or ice, with numerous hummocks scattered here and there. Beyond this, the ridge, with some lofty elevations, filled the outlines of the picture.

The point which Battell had selected for crossing was a gap in this ridge. Directly below the gap the ridge was very steep but the top could be reached from this point by an easy incline towards the south. I made a hasty sketch of every prominent object on a direct line from the observatory to the gap which was the point we desired to reach as soon as possible, as we felt that our assistance was sorely needed. This work was completed to our satisfaction when we noticed the crew with the sledge coming around the north side, and we hastened down to meet them at the foot of the mountain on the east. We found everything in good shape for a rapid march: The sledge was lightly loaded with such appliances, ropes, pulleys, etc., as had been deemed necessary to enable us to render the most effectual assistance. The dogs were pulling on their harness as if anxious for a run, and the men were fresh, and feeling the need of exercise.

The thaw had scarcely commenced and the traveling was good. Every condition seemed favorable. Captain Ganoe and myself led off along the route which our observations had indicated as the most practicable. In less than two hours we had reached the foot of the ridge just below the gap where we had discovered Captain Battell. We found the surface covered with volcanic ashes and scoria, and our minds instantly reverted to the earthquake which broke up the ice-field, and our narrow escape from destruction. However, this was no time for speculation. Our business was to reach the top as soon as possible.

We found that a direct ascent would be exceedingly difficult, but that the inclining shelf along the face of the ridge would enable us to reach the top at a point about a half mile south of the gap. This shelf, or bench, was several yards in width and its appearance, covered as it was with ashes, gave the impression that it had been a level shore line that in some great convulsion of nature had been tilted up from the south at an angle of about twenty-five degrees, and that the general surface had been leveled up by a subsequent deposit over the lower part.

We at once began our ascent along this comparatively easy route. Yet it was a tedious and toilsome effort to get the sledge with its load of necessary appliances to the top. However, within less than an hour, notwithstanding numerous resting spells, we reached the top and found ourselves on a level plateau, several hundred feet wide, and about one half mile south of where we expected to find Captain Battell and his comrades.

While our party halted in order to give the dog-team a rest, Captain Ganoe and myself hurried on to the gap. On reaching the edge we discovered that the men were taking a rest, after having lifted most of the contents of the sledge to the top. We could see that they had been compelled to cut a road through some hundreds of feet of frozen ashes, in order to reach their present position, and we did not need to be told that they had been having a very hard time.

Most of the party were asleep and no one observed our approach until we had descended into the gap, and Captain Ganoe had called out in regular sailor style the familiar: "Ship Ahoy!" This unexpected greeting brought Captain Battell to his feet, but for a moment he was too much surprised to make any response.

Recovering himself, he advanced and grasped Captain Ganoe by the hand exclaiming:

"How did you get here? I was just thinking how fortunate it would be if you knew the predicament we are in and would come to our relief with a capstan and some more ropes and pulleys."

"That is just what we have done," said Captain Ganoe. "Jack was on the lookout for you from his observatory on top of the mountain of ice that covers the resting place of the Ice King. As soon as we discovered you, we started to your relief with a sledge load of such appliances as it seemed you most needed."

"This is indeed fortunate," said Battell. "We are almost exhausted with the efforts we have been compelled to make in order to reach this gap, and now that we are here, we find that our difficulties are by no means ended, and it is most important that we should get well over the ridge and commence our exploration of the western portion of this vast island of ashes and ice."

As he was speaking, our sledge appeared at the top of the gap and the men joined us at once. Huston acting as spokesman for our Norwegian sailors, said: "Lief and Eric request that they be permitted to complete the work of transferring the sledges and their loads to the west side."

"Tell them," said the Captain, "to go ahead in their own way and accept our thanks for their most welcome services."

In a few minutes they had their ropes, pulleys and capstan in place and gave us to understand that the dogs would furnish all the power that was needed. They soon had one of the sledges slowly but surely gliding up the steep incline to the top.

We watched them a few minutes, when Captain Ganoe said:

"I think we can safely leave this matter to the Norwegians and we may start on our return to the ship."

"I am willing to trust them," said Battell, "and it is important that we begin at once to compare notes and lay our plans for the future. I feel that there is no time to be lost." And giving some instructions to Brown who had been selected as foreman in the work of road making, to give such assistance as might be needed, we started on foot for the ship, a distance of between five and six miles.

On our way back, Battell gave us a concise account of his observations and the conclusions at which he had arrived.

"When we left the ship," he said, "we took a southeasterly direction. The cold was intense, but with our ample preparations we did not suffer so much as might have been expected. We reached open water within three days, but the shore line was so precipitous that we could not launch our sledge boats and sail around as I had intended. So, we continued our journey around the ice-field toward the north, as we had begun it. The general direction of the shore line at this point was from the southwest toward the northeast. The traveling was fairly good and we made good time for about a week, and then our trouble commenced. The entire surface was covered to an unknown depth with volcanic ashes.

"The surface formation was evidently new, but careful examination revealed the fact, that this covered an older formation of very considerable thickness. Our soundings, owing to the precipitous character of the coast line, were not satisfactory, but taken in connection with my observations as to the motions of the ice-field, I came to the conclusion that it was frequently grounding on the tops of submarine mountains. If this is true, it will probably hasten the breaking up when the ice becomes rotten under the influence of continuous sunshine.

"Having satisfied myself on these points we started on our return trip, and but for the difficult nature of the surface, and the frequent necessity for road making, we would have been with you by the time the sun made his appearance."

Before we reached the ship, it had been definitely settled that after a short rest, Battell should continue his explorations toward the western borders of the ice-field, and time the expedition, so as to return to the ship before there was any immediate danger from the thaw. We had come to the conclusion that we were floating in an open sea, and it was our intention to press on for the north when the ice went to pieces; and some phenomena, that we, in common with other explorers had observed, led to the opinion that we would find land and not unlikely a habitable country around the pole.

Since the sun had made his appearance, flocks of ducks, brants and geese, coming from the north were quite numerous. When killed we found them fat and juicy and their crops were often filled with a species of grain resembling rice, which seemed to indicate that they came from a temperate climate. We now began to confidently expect that when the ice-field went to pieces we would find the country which produced this grain—the northern home of these flocks of birds.