LIBRARY 
 
 ^University of 
 
 IRVINE
 
 HE RETREATED TO TIIK SIIK1.L
 
 THE 
 
 GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 B IHovel 
 
 BY .,..*/ 
 
 FRANK R. STOCKTON 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 BY PETER NEWELL 
 
 NEW YORK AND LONDON 
 
 HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS 
 1898
 
 Copyright, 1897, by HARPER & BROTHERS.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. THE ARRIVAL OF THE EUTERPE-TIIAUA ... i 
 
 II. THE SARDIS WORKS 10 
 
 III. MARGARET RALEIGH 17 
 
 IV. THE MISSION or SAMUEL BLOCK 24 
 
 V. UNDER WATER 36 
 
 VI. VOICES FROM THE TOLAR SEAS 44 
 
 VII. GOOD NEWS GOES FROM SAKDIS 53 
 
 VIII. THE DEVIL ON T THE DITSEY 61 
 
 IX. THE ARTESIAN RAY 67 
 
 X. "LAKE SHIVER" 77 
 
 XI. THEY BELIEVE IT is THE POLAR SEA .... 88 
 
 XII. CAPTAIN HUBBELL TAKES COMMAND .... 95 
 
 XIII. LONGITUDE EVERYTHING 103 
 
 XIV. A REGION OF NOTHINGNESS 113 
 
 XV. THE AUTOMATIC SHELI 123 
 
 XVI. THE TRACK OF THE SHELI 131 
 
 XVII. CAPTAIN HUBBELL DECLINES TO GO WHALING. 142 
 
 XVIII. MR. MARCY S CANAL 151 
 
 XIX. THE ICY GATEWAY 160 
 
 XX. "THAT is HOW I LOVE YOU" 171 
 
 XXI. THE CAVE OF LIGHT 177 
 
 XXII. CLEWE S THEORY 186 
 
 XXIII. THE LAST DIVE OF THE DIPKEY 193 
 
 XXIV. ROVINSKI COMES TO THE SURFACE 200 
 
 XXV. LAURELS . .212
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 "HE RETREATED TO THE SHELL" Frontispiece 
 
 THE QUARANTINE OFFICERS Facing p. 2 
 
 THE LONG ISLAND AND NEW JERSEY BRIDGE . . " 6 
 
 " HIS HAND WAS GRASPED BY AN ELDERLY MAN" IO 
 
 ROVINSKI MAKING OBSERVATIONS " 12 
 
 " i SAW YOU COMING! SHE EXCLAIMED". . . " 18 
 
 "A CURIOUS-LOOKING VESSEL" " 24 
 
 CAPTAIN JIM HUBBELL " 3O 
 
 " IF SAMMY GOES, I GO, SAID MRS. BLOCK" . . " 32 
 
 "A LONG MESSAGE FROM MRS. RALEIGH " ..." 34 
 
 "UNDER THE GREAT SKYLIGHT" " 36 
 
 A GREAT PATH OF LIGHT FROM THE SEARCH 
 LIGHT IN THE BOW " 38 
 
 "THE DUST-BRUSH AND ALMANAC REMINDED HER 
 
 OF HOME" " 42 
 
 " THERE ARE THIRTEEN PEOPLE ON BOARD THIS 
 
 BOAT " " 48 
 
 " YOU HAVE THROWN ME FROM MY BALANCE*" " 56 
 
 ROVINSKI " 64 
 
 "THE END OF THE STICK SEEMED TO MELT". . " 70 
 
 "HE WOULD SCRIBBLE IN A POCKET NOTE-BOOK" " 82
 
 vi ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 "LYING NATURALLY UPON ITS SIDE" . . . . Facing p. 84 
 
 SARAH BLOCK S SHOES WERE FROZEN TO THE 
 
 DECK " 86 
 
 "AT EVERY ONE OF THE OUTLOOKS THERE WERE 
 
 EAGER FACES" " 92 
 
 "A COMPASS WAS RIGGED UP ON DECK" ... " 96 
 
 THE BUOY ON THE NORTH POLE " IOO 
 
 THE POLE AT THE POLE " 106 
 
 " I TAKE POSSESSION OF THE NORTH POLE " . " IOS 
 
 " THERE S WHALES IN THIS POLAR SEA ". . . " no 
 
 "SIDE BY SIDE AT THE TABLE" " 114 
 
 THE AUTOMATIC SHELL " 126 
 
 THE FALL OF THE SHELL " 128 
 
 " CLEWE MOUNTED THE STEP-LADDER". ... " 140 
 
 SARAH BLOCK ON THE MOTOR SLEDGE .... " 148 
 
 THE LITTLE TELEGRAPH-HOUSE " 152 
 
 "THEY CEASED OPERATIONS" " 154 
 
 "A SORT OF GIGANTIC ADIEU " " 156 
 
 A PERILOUS FEAT " 158 
 
 " PERHAPS I MAY FIND MY SHOES " " 160 
 
 LAKE SHIVER REDISCOVERED " 162 
 
 "HE WAS STRUCK FULL IN THE FACE". ... " 164 
 " I WOULD HAVE SHOWN YOU WHAT SORT OF 
 
 AN IMBECILE I AM " " 166 
 
 "THE DIPSEY SLOWLY SAILED BETWEEN THE TWO 
 
 UPRIGHT SECTIONS OF THE ICEBERG" ... " 168 
 "BEFORE HE COULD TOUCH HER SHE HAD FALL 
 EN" " 174 
 
 "HE LIGHTED A CIGAR" " 180 
 
 "HE FELT HIMSELF ENCIRCLED" .... " 186
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS vn 
 
 A LUMP OF ICE SWEEPS THE LENGTH OF THE 
 
 DECK Facing p. 196 
 
 ROVINSKI EXAMINING THE MACHINERY .... 2O6 
 
 " ROVINSKI, MOTIONLESS AND DEAD " 208 
 
 "SARAH FULLY APPRECIATED HER POSITION" . " 212 
 "THERE WAS A GENERAL LAUGH FROM THE RE 
 PORTERS" 2l6 
 
 " THERE IS NOTHING TO BE AFRAID OF " . . 2l8 
 
 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 222 
 
 " THIS WAY, HE WHISPERED, STOOP DOWN " 226 
 " LOOK AT THAT FENDER ; LOOK AT THEM AND 
 IRONS ! ". " 228
 
 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE ARRIVAL OP THE EUTERPE -THALIA 
 
 IT was about noon of a day in early summer 
 that a westward-bound Atlantic liner was rapidly 
 Hearing the port of New York. Not long before, 
 the old light-house on Montauk Point had been 
 sighted, and the company on board the vessel 
 were animated by the knowledge that in a few 
 hours they would be at the end of their voyage. 
 
 The vessel now speeding along the southern 
 coast of Long Island was the Euterpe Thalia, 
 from Southampton. On Wednesday morning she 
 had left her English port, and many of her pas 
 sengers were naturally anxious to be on shore in 
 time to transact their business on the last day of 
 the week. There were even some who expected 
 to make their return voyage on the Melpoincne- 
 T/ialia, which would leave New York on the next 
 Monday. 
 
 The Eutcrpc-TJialia was one of those combina 
 tion ocean vessels which had now been in use for
 
 2 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 nearly ten years, and although the present voy 
 age was not a particularly rapid one, it had been 
 made in a little less than three days. 
 
 As may be easily imagined, a vessel like this 
 was a very different craft from the old steamers 
 which used to cross the Atlantic "ocean grey 
 hounds" they were called in the latter part of 
 the nineteenth century. 
 
 It would be out of place here to give a full de 
 scription of the vessels which at the period of our 
 story, in 1947, crossed the Atlantic at an average 
 time of three days, but an idea of their construc 
 tion will suffice. Most of these vessels belonged 
 to the class of the Euterpe-Thalia, and were, in 
 fact, compound marine structures, the two por 
 tions being entirely distinct from each other. 
 The great hull of each of these vessels contained 
 nothing but its electric engines and its propelling 
 machinery, with the necessary fuel and adjuncts. 
 
 The upper portion of the compound vessel 
 consisted of decks and quarters for passengers 
 and crew and holds for freight. These were all 
 comprised within a vast upper hull, which rested 
 upon the lower hull containing the motive power, 
 the only point of contact being an enormous 
 ball - and - socket joint. Thus, no matter how 
 much the lower hull might roll and pitch and 
 toss, the upper hull remained level and compara 
 tively undisturbed. 
 
 Not only were comfort to passengers and se 
 curity to movable freight gained by this arrange 
 ment of the compound vessel, but it was now pos 
 sible to build the lower hull of much less size 
 than had been the custom in the former days of
 
 THE QUARANTINE OFFICERS
 
 THE ARRIVAL OP THE EUTERPE-THALIA 3 
 
 steamships, when the hull had to be large enough 
 to contain everything. As the more modern hull 
 held nothing but the machinery, it was small in 
 comparison with the superincumbent upper hull, 
 and thus the force of the engine, once needed to 
 propel a vast mass through the resisting medium 
 of the ocean, was now employed upon a compara 
 tively small hull, the great body of the vessel 
 meeting with no resistance except that of the air. 
 
 It was not necessary that the two parts of 
 these compound vessels should always be the 
 same. The upper hulls belonging to one of the 
 transatlantic lines were generally so constructed 
 that they could be adjusted to any one of their 
 lower or motive -power hulls. Each hull had a 
 name of its own, and so the combination name of 
 the entire vessel was frequently changed. 
 
 It was not three o clock when the Eutcrpc-Tha- 
 lia passed through the Narrows and moved slow 
 ly towards her pier on the Long Island side of 
 the city. The quarantine officers, who had ac 
 companied the vessel on her voyage, had dropped 
 their report in the official tug which had met the 
 vessel on her entrance into the harbor, and as the 
 old custom-house annoyances had long since been 
 abolished, most of the passengers were prepared 
 for a speedy landing. 
 
 One of these passengers a man about thirty- 
 five stood looking out over the stern of the ves 
 sel instead of gazing, as were most of his compan 
 ions, towards the city which they were approach 
 ing. He looked out over the harbor, under the 
 great bridge gently spanning the distance be 
 tween the western end of Long Island and the
 
 4 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 New Jersey shore its central pier resting where 
 once Lay the old Battery and so he gazed over 
 the river, and over the houses stretching far to 
 the west, as if his eyes could catch some signs of 
 the country far beyond. This was Roland Clewe, 
 the hero of our story, who had been studying and 
 experimenting for the past year in the scientific 
 schools and workshops of Germany. It was tow 
 ards his own laboratory and his own workshops, 
 which lay out in the country far beyond the wide 
 line of buildings and settlements which line the 
 western bank of the Hudson, that his heart went 
 out and his eyes vainly strove to follow. 
 
 Skilfully steered, the Thalia moved slowly be 
 tween high stone piers of massive construction ; 
 but the Euterpe, or upper part of the vessel, did 
 not pass between the piers, but over them both, 
 and when the pier-heads projected beyond her 
 stern the motion of the lower vessel ceased ; then 
 the great piston, which supported the socket in 
 which the ball of the Euterpe moved, slowly began 
 to descend into the central portion of the Thalia, 
 and as the tide was low, it was not long before 
 each side of the upper hull rested firmly and se 
 curely upon the stone piers. Then the socket on 
 the lower vessel descended rapidly until it was 
 entirely clear of the ball, and the Thalia backed 
 out from between the piers to take its place in a 
 dock where it would be fitted for the voyage of 
 the next day but one, when it Avould move under 
 the Melpomene, resting on its piers a short dis 
 tance below, and, adjusting its socket to her ball, 
 would lift her free from the piers and carry her 
 across the ocean.
 
 THE ARRIVAL OF THE EUTERPE-THALIA 5 
 
 The pier of the Euterpe was not far from the 
 great Long Island and New Jersey Bridge, and 
 Roland Clewe, when he reached the broad side 
 walk which ran along the river - front, walked 
 rapidly towards the bridge. When he came to it 
 he stepped into one of the elevators, which were 
 placed at intervals along its sides from the water 
 front to the far-distant point where it touched 
 the land, and in company with a dozen other 
 pedestrians speedily rose to the top of the 
 bridge, on which moved two great platforms 
 or floors, one always keeping on its way to the 
 east, and the other to the west. The floor of 
 the elevator detached itself from the rest of 
 the structure and kept company with the mov 
 able platform until all of its passengers had 
 stepped on to the latter, when it returned with 
 such persons as wished to descend at that 
 point. 
 
 As Clewe took his way along the platform, 
 walking westward with it, as if he would thus 
 hasten his arrival at the other end of the bridge, 
 he noticed that great improvements had been 
 made during his year of absence. The structures 
 on the platforms, to which people might retire in 
 bad weather or when they wished refreshments, 
 were more numerous and apparently better ap 
 pointed than when he had seen them last, and the 
 long rows of benches on which passengers might 
 sit in the open air during their transit had also 
 increased in number. Many people walked across 
 the bridge, taking their exercise, while some who 
 were out for the air and the sake of the view 
 walked in the direction opposite to that in which
 
 6 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 the platform was moving, thus lengthening the 
 pleasant trip. 
 
 At the great elevator over the old Battery many 
 passengers went down and many came up, but the 
 wide platforms still moved to the east and moved 
 to the west, never stopping or changing their rate 
 of speed. 
 
 Roland Clewe remained on the bridge until he 
 had reached its western end, far out on the old 
 Jersey flats, and there he took a car of the sus 
 pended electric line, which would carry him to his 
 home, some fifty miles in the interior. The rails 
 of this line ran along the top of parallel timbers, 
 some twenty feet from the ground, and below and 
 between these rails the cars were suspended, the 
 wheels which rested on the rails being attached 
 near the top of the car. Thus it was impossible 
 for the cars to run off the track ; and as their 
 bottoms or floors were ten or twelve feet from 
 the ground, they could meet with no dangerous 
 obstacles. In consequence of the safety of this 
 structure, the trains were run at a very high 
 speed. 
 
 Roland Clewe was a man who had given his 
 life, even before he ceased to be a boy, to the in 
 vestigation of physical science and its applica 
 tions, and those who thought they knew him 
 called him a great inventor ; but he, who knew 
 himself better than any one else could know him, 
 was aware that, so far, he had not invented any 
 thing worthy the pow T er which he felt within him 
 self. 
 
 After the tidal wave of improvements and dis 
 coveries which had burst upon the world at the
 
 THE LONG ISLAND AND NEW JERSEY I5RIDGE
 
 THE ARRIVAL OF THE EUTERPE-THALIA 7 
 
 end of the nineteenth century there had been a 
 gradual subsidence of the waters of human prog 
 ress, and year by year they sank lower and lower, 
 until, when the twentieth century was yet young, 
 it was a common thing to say that the human 
 race seemed to have gone backward fifty or even 
 a hundred years. 
 
 It had become fashionable to be unprogressive. 
 Like old furniture in the century which had gone 
 out, old manners, customs, and ideas had now 
 become more attractive than those which were 
 modern and present. Philosophers said that so 
 ciety was retrograding, that it was becoming sat 
 isfied with less than was its due ; but society an 
 swered that it was falling back upon the things 
 of its ancestors, which were sounder and firmer, 
 more simple and beautiful, more worthy of the true 
 man and woman, than all that mass of harassing 
 improvement which had swept down upon man 
 kind in the troubled and nervous days at the end 
 of the nineteenth century. 
 
 On the great highways, smooth and beautiful, 
 the stage-coach had taken the place to a great 
 degree of the railroad train ; the steamship, which 
 moved most evenly and with less of the jarring 
 and shaking consequent upon high speed, was the 
 favored vessel with ocean travellers. It was not 
 considered good form to read the daily papers ; 
 and only those hurried to their business who were 
 obliged to do so in order that their employers 
 might attend to their affairs in the leisurely man 
 ner which was then the custom of the business 
 world. 
 
 Fast horses had become almost unknown, and
 
 8 THE GREAT STOXE OF SARDIS 
 
 with those who still used these animals a steady 
 walker was the favorite. Bicycles had gone out 
 as the new century came in, it being a matter of 
 course that they should be superseded by the new 
 electric vehicles of every sort and fashion, on 
 which one could work the pedals if he desired 
 exercise, or sit quietly if his inclinations were 
 otherwise, and only the very young or the in 
 temperate allowed themselves rapid motion on 
 their electric wheels. It would have been con 
 sidered as vulgar at that time to speed over a 
 smooth road as it would have been thought in 
 the nineteenth century to run along the city 
 sidewalk. 
 
 People thought the world moved slower ; at all 
 events, they hoped it would soon do so. Even 
 the wiser revolutionists postponed their out 
 breaks. Success, they believed, was fain to smile 
 upon effort which had been well postponed. 
 
 Men came to look upon a telegram as an in 
 sult ; the telephone was preferred, because it al 
 lowed one to speak slowly if he chose. Snap-shot 
 cameras were found only in the garrets. The fif 
 teen minutes sittings now in vogue threw upon 
 the plate the color of the eyes, hair, and the 
 flesh tones of the sitter. Ladies wore hoop 
 skirts. 
 
 But these days of passivism at last passed by ; 
 earnest thinkers had not believed in them ; they 
 knew they were simply reactionary, and could 
 not last ; and the century was not twenty years 
 old when the world found itself in a storm of ac 
 tive effort never known in its history before. 
 Religion, politics, literature, and art were called
 
 THE ARRIVAL OF THE EUTERPE-THALIA 9 
 
 upon to get up and shake themselves free of the 
 drowsiness of their years of inaction. 
 
 On that great and crowded stage where the 
 thinkers of the world were busy in creating new 
 parts for themselves without much reference to 
 what other people were doing in their parts, Ro 
 land Clewe was now ready to start again, with 
 more earnestness and enthusiasm than before, to 
 essay a character which, if acted as he wished to 
 act it, would give him exceptional honor and 
 fame, and to the world, perhaps, exceptional ad 
 vantage.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THE SARDIS WORKS 
 
 AT the little station of Sardis, in the hill coun 
 try of New Jersey, Roland Clewe alighted from 
 the train, and almost instantly his hand was 
 grasped by an elderly man, plainly and even 
 roughly dressed, who appeared wonderfully glad 
 to see him. Clewe also was greatly pleased at 
 the meeting. 
 
 "Tell me, Samuel, how goes everything?" said 
 Clewe, as they walked off. " Have you anything 
 to say that you did not telegraph ? How is your 
 wife ?" 
 
 "She s all right," was the answer. "And 
 there s nothin happened, except, night before 
 last, a man tried to look into your lens-house." 
 
 " How did he do that ?" exclaimed Clewe, sud 
 denly turning upon his companion. " I am 
 amazed ! Did he use a ladder ?" 
 
 Old Samuel grinned. " He couldn t do that, 
 you know, for the flexible fence would keep him 
 off. No ; he sailed over the place in one of those 
 air-screw machines, with a fan workin under the 
 car to keep it up." 
 
 "And so he soared up above my glass roof and 
 looked down, I suppose ?" 
 
 "That s what he did," said Samuel; "but he
 
 "HIS HAND WAS GRASPKD KY AN ELDERLY MAN
 
 THE SARDIS WORKS II 
 
 had a good deal of trouble doin it. It was moon 
 light, and I watched him." 
 
 "Why didn t you fire at him?" asked Clewe. 
 " Or at least let fly one of the ammonia squirts 
 and bring him down ?" 
 
 " I wanted to see what he would do," said the 
 old man. "The machine he had couldn t be 
 steered, of course. He could go up well enough, 
 but the wind took him where it wanted to. But 
 I must give this feller the credit of sayin that 
 he managed his basket pretty well. He carried 
 it a good way to the windward of the lens-house, 
 and then sent it up, expectin the wind to take it 
 directly over the glass roof, but it shifted a little, 
 and so he missed the roof and had to try it again. 
 He made two or three bad jobs of it, but finally 
 managed it by hitchin a long cord to a tree, and 
 then the wind held him there steady enough to 
 let him look down for a good while." 
 
 "You don t tell me that !" cried Clewe. " Did 
 you stay there and let him look down into my 
 lens-house?" 
 
 The old man laughed. " I let him look down," 
 said he, " but he didn t see nothin . I was laughin 
 at him all the time he was at work. He had his 
 instruments with him, and he was turnin down 
 his different kinds of lights, thinkin , of course, 
 that he could see through any kind of coverin 
 that we put over our machines ; but, bless you ! 
 he couldn t do nothin , and I could almost hear 
 him swear as he rubbed his eyes after he had 
 been lookin down for a little while." 
 
 Clewe laughed. " I see," said he. " I suppose 
 you turned on the photo-hose."
 
 12 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 " That s just what I did," said the old man. 
 " Every night while you were away I had the 
 lens-room rilled with the revolving-light squirts, 
 and when these were turned on I knew there 
 was no gettin any kind of rays through them. 
 A feller may look through a roof and a wall, 
 but he can t look through light comin the other 
 way, especially when it s twistin and curlin and 
 spittin ." 
 
 "That s a capital idea," said Clewe. "I nev 
 er thought of using the photo-hose in that way. 
 But there are very few people in this world who 
 would know anything about my new lens ma 
 chinery even if they saw it. This fellow must 
 have been that Pole, Rovinski. I met him in 
 Europe, and I think he came over here not long 
 before I did." 
 
 " That s the man, sir," said Samuel. " I turned 
 a needle search-light on him just as he was givin 
 up the business, and I have got a little photo 
 graph of him at the house. His face is mostly 
 beard, but you ll know him." 
 
 " What became of him ?" asked Clewe. 
 
 " My light frightened him," he said, " and the 
 wind took him over into the woods. I thought, 
 as you were comin home so soon, I wouldn t do 
 nothin more. You had better attend to him 
 yourself." 
 
 " Very good," said Clewe. " I ll do that." 
 
 The home of Roland Clewe, a small house 
 plainly furnished, but good enough for a bache 
 lor s quarters, stood not half a mile from the sta 
 tion, and near it were the extensive buildings 
 which he called his Works. Here were labora-
 
 ROVINSKI MAKING OBSERVATIONS
 
 THE SARDIS WORKS 13 
 
 tories, large machine-shops in which many men 
 were busy at all sorts of strange contrivances 
 in metal and other materials ; and besides other 
 small edifices there was a great round tower- 
 like structure, with smooth iron walls thirty feet 
 high and without windows, and which was lighted 
 and ventilated from the top. This was Clewe s 
 special workshop ; and besides old Samuel Block 
 and such workmen as were absolutely necessary 
 and could be trusted, few people ever entered it 
 but himself. The industries in the various build 
 ings were diverse, some of them having no ap 
 parent relation to the others. Each of them was 
 expected to turn out something which would rev 
 olutionize something or other in this world, but 
 it was to his lens-house that Roland Clewe gave, 
 in these days, his special attention. Here a great 
 enterprise was soon to begin, more important in 
 his eyes than anything else which had engaged 
 human endeavor. 
 
 When sometimes in his moments of reflection 
 he felt obliged to consider the wonders of applied 
 electricity, and give them their due place in com 
 parison with the great problem he expected to 
 solve, he had his moments of doubt. But these 
 moments did not come frequently. The day 
 would arrive when from his lens -house there 
 would be promulgated a great discovery which 
 would astonish the world. 
 
 During Roland Clewe s absence in Germany 
 his works had been left under the general charge 
 of Samuel Block. This old man was not a scien 
 tific person ; he was not a skilled mechanic ; in 
 fact, he had been in early life a shoemaker. But
 
 14 THE GREAT STONE OP SARDIS 
 
 when Roland Clewe, some five years before, had 
 put up his works near the little village of Sardis, 
 he had sent for Block, whom he had known all 
 his life and who was at that time the tenant of a 
 small farm, built a cottage for him and his wife, 
 and told him to take care of the place. From 
 planning the grounds and superintending fences, 
 old Sammy had begun to keep an eye upon build 
 ers and mechanics ; and, being a very shrewd man, 
 he had gradually widened the sphere of his care- 
 taking, until, at this time, he exercised a nominal 
 supervision over all the buildings. He knew what 
 was going on in each ; he had a good idea, some 
 times, of the scientific basis of this or that bit of 
 machinery, and had gradually become acquainted 
 with the workings and management of many of 
 the instruments ; and now and then he gave to 
 his employer very good hints in regard to the 
 means of attaining an end, more especially in the 
 line of doing something by instrumentalities not 
 intended for that purpose. If Sammy could take 
 any machine which had been constructed to bore 
 holes, and with it plug up orifices, he would con 
 sider that he had been of advantage to his kind. 
 
 Block was a thoroughly loyal man. The inter 
 ests of his employer were always held by him first 
 and above everything. But although the old 
 man understood, sometimes very well, and always 
 in a fair degree, what the inventor was trying to 
 accomplish, and appreciated the magnitude and 
 often the amazing nature of his operations, he 
 never believed in any of them. 
 
 Sammy was a thoroughly old-fashioned man. 
 He had been born and had grown up in the
 
 THE SARDIS WORKS 15 
 
 days when a steam-locomotive was good enough 
 and fast enough for any sensible traveller, and he 
 greatly preferred a good pair of horses to any 
 vehicle which one steered with a handle and reg 
 ulated the speed thereof with a knob. Roland 
 Clewe might devise all the wonderful contriv 
 ances he pleased, and he might do all sorts of 
 astonishing things with them, but Sammy would 
 still be of the opinion that, even if the machines 
 did all that they were expected to do, the things 
 they did generally would not be worth the 
 doing. 
 
 Still, the old man would not interfere by word 
 or deed with any of the plans or actions of his 
 employer. On the contrary, he would help him 
 in every possible way by fidelity, by suggestion, 
 by constant devotion and industry ; but, in spite 
 of all that, it Avas one of the most firmly founded 
 principles of his life that Roland Clewe had no 
 right to ask him to believe in the value of the 
 wild and amazing schemes he had on hand. 
 
 Before Roland Clewe slept that night he had 
 visited all his workshops, factories, and labora 
 tories. His men had been busily occupied dur 
 ing his absence under the directions of their vari 
 ous special managers, and those in charge were of 
 the opinion that everything had progressed as 
 favorably and as rapidly as should have been ex 
 pected ; but Roland Clewe was not satisfied, even 
 though many of his inventions and machines 
 were much nearer completion than he had ex 
 pected to find them. The work necessary to be 
 done in his lens-house before he could go on with 
 the great work of his life was not yet finished.
 
 1 6 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 As well as he could judge, it would be a month 
 or two before he could devote himself to those 
 labors in his lens-house the thought of which had 
 so long filled his mind by day, and even during 
 his sleep.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 MARGARET RALEIGH 
 
 AFTER breakfast the following morning Roland 
 Clewe mounted his horse and rode over to a 
 handsome house which stood upon a hill about a 
 mile and a half from Sardis. Horses, which had 
 almost gone out of use during the first third of 
 the century, were now getting to be somewhat 
 in fashion again. Many people now appreciated 
 the pleasure which these animals had given to 
 the world since the beginning of history, and 
 whose place, in an aesthetic sense, no inanimate 
 machine could supply. As Roland Clewe swung 
 himself from the saddle at the foot of a broad 
 flight of steps, the house door was opened and a 
 lady appeared. 
 
 "I saw you coming!" she exclaimed, running 
 down the steps to meet him. 
 
 She was a handsome woman, inclined to be tall, 
 and some five years younger than Clewe. This 
 was Mrs. Margaret Raleigh, partner with Roland 
 Clewe in the works at Sardis, and, in fact, the 
 principal owner of that great estate. She was a 
 widow, and her husband had been not only a 
 man of science, but a very rich man ; and when 
 he died, at the outset of his career, his widow 
 believed it her duty to devote his fortune to the
 
 1 8 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 prosecution and development of scientific works. 
 She knew Roland Clewe as a hard student and 
 worker, as a man of brilliant and original ideas, 
 and as the originator of schemes which, if carried 
 out successfully, would place him among the 
 great inventors of the world. 
 
 She was not a scientific woman in the strict 
 sense of the word, but she had a most thorough 
 and appreciative sympathy with all forms of 
 physical research, and there was a distinctiveness 
 and grandeur in the aims towards which Roland 
 Clewe had directed his life work which deter 
 mined her to unite, with all the power of her 
 money and her personal encouragement, in the 
 labors he had set for himself. 
 
 Therefore it was that the main part of the 
 fortune left by Herbert Raleigh had been in 
 vested in the shops and foundries at Sardis, and 
 that Roland Clewe and Margaret Raleigh were 
 partners and co-owners in the business and the 
 plant of the establishment. 
 
 " I am glad to welcome you back," said she, 
 her hand in his. " But it strikes me as odd to 
 see you come upon a horse ; I should have sup 
 posed that by this time you would arrive sliding 
 over the tree-tops on a pair of aerial skates." 
 
 " No," said he. " I may invent that sort of 
 thing, but I prefer to use a horse. Don t you 
 remember my mare ? I rode her before I went 
 away. I left her in old Sammy s charge, and he 
 has been riding her every day." 
 
 "And glad enough to do it, I am sure," said 
 she, " for I have heard him say that the things 
 he hates most in this world are dead legs. When
 
 " i SAW YUU COMING! SHE EXCLAIMED"
 
 MARGARET RALEIGH 19 
 
 I can t use mine, he said, let me have some others 
 that are alive. This is such a pretty creature," 
 she added, as Clewe was looking about for some 
 place to which he might tie his animal, "that I 
 have a great mind to learn to ride myself !" 
 
 " A woman on a horse would be a queer sight," 
 said he ; and with this they went into the house. 
 
 The conference that morning in Mrs. Raleigh s 
 library was a long and somewhat anxious one. 
 For several years the money of the Raleigh es 
 tate had been freely and generously expended 
 upon the enterprises in hand at the Sardis Works, 
 but so far nothing of important profit had re 
 sulted from the operations. Many things had 
 been carried on satisfactorily and successfully to 
 various stages, but nothing had been finished ; 
 and now the two partners had to admit that the 
 work which Clewe had expected to begin imme 
 diately upon his return from Europe must be 
 postponed. 
 
 Still, there was no sign of discouragement in 
 the voices or the faces it may be said, in the 
 souls of the man and woman who sat there 
 talking across a table. He was as full of hope as 
 ever he was, and she as full of faith. 
 
 They were an interesting couple to look upon. 
 He, dark, a little hollow in the cheeks, a slight 
 line or two of anxiety in the forehead, a hand 
 some, well-cut mouth, without beard, and a frame 
 somewhat spare but strong ; a man of grace 
 ful but unaffected action, dressed in a riding-coat, 
 breeches, and leather leggings. She, her cheeks 
 colored with earnest purpose, her gray eyes rather 
 larger than usual as she looked up from the
 
 20 THE GREAT STONE OP SARDIS 
 
 paper where she had been calculating, was dressed 
 in the simple artistic fashion of the day. The 
 falling folds of the semi-clinging fabrics accom 
 modated themselves well to a figure which even 
 at that moment of rest suggested latent energy 
 and activity. 
 
 " If we have to wait for the Artesian ray," she 
 said, " we must try to carry out something else. 
 People are watching us, talking of us, expecting 
 something of us ; we must give them something*. 
 Now the question is, what shall that be ?" 
 
 "The way I look at it is this," said her com 
 panion. " For a long time you have been watch 
 ing and waiting and expecting something, and 
 it is time that I should give you something ; now 
 the question is 
 
 "Not at all," said she, interrupting. "You 
 arrogate too much to yourself. I don t expect 
 you to give anything to me. We are working 
 together, and it is both of us who must give this 
 poor old world something to satisfy it for a while, 
 until we can disclose to it that grand discovery, 
 grander than anything that it has ever even im 
 agined. I want to go on talking about it, but I 
 shall not do it ; we must keep our minds tied 
 down to some present purpose. Now, Mr. Clewe, 
 what is there that we can take up and carry on 
 immediately ? Can it be the great shell ?" 
 
 Clewe shook his head. 
 
 " No," said he ; " that is progressing admirably, 
 but many things are necessary before we can ex 
 periment with it." 
 
 " Since you were away," said she, " I have often 
 been down to the works to look at it, but every-
 
 MARGARET RALEIGH 21 
 
 thing about it seems to go so slowly. However, 
 I suppose it will go fast enough when it is fin 
 ished." 
 
 " Yes," said he. " I hope it will go fast enough 
 to overturn the artillery of the world ; but, as 
 you say, don t let us talk about the things for 
 which we must wait. I will carefully consider 
 everything that is in operation, and to-morrow 
 I will suggest something with which we can go 
 on." 
 
 "After all," said she, as they stood together be 
 fore parting, " I cannot take my mind from the 
 Artesian ray." 
 
 " Nor can I," he answered ; " but for the present 
 we must put our hands to work at something 
 else." 
 
 The Artesian ray, of which these two spoke, 
 was an invention upon which Roland Clewe had 
 been experimenting for a long time, and which 
 was and had been the object of his labors and 
 studies while in Europe. In the first decade of 
 the century it had been generally supposed that 
 the X ray, or cathode ray, had been developed 
 and applied to the utmost extent of its capability. 
 It was used in surgery and in mechanical arts, 
 and in many varieties of scientific operations, 
 but no considerable advance in its line of applica 
 tion had been recognized for a quarter of a cen 
 tury. 
 
 But Roland Clewe had come to believe in the 
 existence of a photic force, somewhat similar to 
 the cathode ray, but of infinitely greater signifi 
 cance and importance to the searcher after physi-
 
 22 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 cal truth. Simply described, his discovery was 
 a powerful ray produced by a new combina 
 tion of electric lights, which would penetrate 
 down into the earth, passing through all sub 
 stances which it met in its way, and illuminat 
 ing and disclosing everything through which it 
 passed. 
 
 All matter likely to be found beneath the sur 
 face of the earth in that part of the country had 
 been experimented upon by Clewe, and nothing 
 had resisted the penetrating and illuminating in 
 fluence of his ray well called Artesian ray, for it 
 was intended to bore into the bowels of the earth. 
 After making many minor trials of the force and 
 powers of his light, Roland Clewe had undertaken 
 the construction of a massive apparatus, by which 
 he believed a ray could be generated which, little 
 by little, perhaps foot by foot, would penetrate 
 into the earth and light up everything between 
 the farthest point it had attained and the lenses 
 of his machine. That is to say, he hoped to pro 
 duce a long hole of light about three feet in di 
 ameter and as deep as it was possible to make 
 it descend, in which he could see all the various 
 strata and deposits of which the earth is com 
 posed. How far he could send down this pierc 
 ing cylinder of light he did not allow himself to 
 consider. With a small and imperfect machine 
 he had seen several feet into the ground ; with a 
 great and powerful apparatus, such as he was 
 now constructing, why should he not look down 
 below the deepest point to which man s knowl 
 edge had ever reached? Down so far that he 
 must follow his descending light with a tele-
 
 MARGARET RALEIGH 23 
 
 scope ; down, down until he had discovered the 
 hidden secrets of the earth ! 
 
 The peculiar quality of this light, which gave 
 it its great pre-eminence over all other penetrat 
 ing rays, was the power it possessed of illumi 
 nating an object ; passing through it ; render 
 ing it transparent and invisible ; illuminating the 
 opaque substance it next met in its path, and 
 afterwards rendering that transparent. If the 
 rocks and earth in the cylindrical cavities of 
 light which Clewe had already produced in his 
 experiments had actually been removed with 
 pickaxes and shovels, the lighted hole a few feet 
 in depth could not have appeared more real, the 
 bottom and sides of the little well could not have 
 been revealed more sharply and distinctly ; and 
 yet there was no hole in the ground, and if one 
 should try to put his foot into the lighted per 
 foration he would find it as solid as any other 
 part of the earth.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 THE MISSION OP SAMUEL BLOCK 
 
 NOT far from the works at Sardis there was a 
 large pond, which was formed by the damming 
 of a stream which at this point ran between high 
 hills. In order to obtain a sufficient depth of 
 water for his marine experiments, Roland Clewe 
 had built an unusually high and strong dam, and 
 this body of water, which was called the lake, 
 widened out considerably behind the dam and 
 stretched back for more than half a mile. 
 
 He was standing on the shore of this lake, early 
 the next morning, in company with several work 
 men, examining a curious-looking vessel which 
 was moored near by, when Margaret Raleigh 
 came walking towards him. When he saw her 
 he left the men and went to meet her. 
 
 " You could not wait until I came to your 
 house to tell you what I was going to do ?" he 
 said, smiling. 
 
 " No," she answered, " I could not. The Arte 
 sian ray kept me awake nearly all night, and I 
 felt that I must quiet my mind as soon as I could 
 by giving it something real and tangible to take 
 hold of. Now what is it that you are going to 
 do ? Anything in the ship line ?" 
 
 "Yes," said he, "it is something in that line.
 
 " A CURIOUS-LOOKING VESSKL
 
 THE MISSION 1 OF SAMUEL BLOCK 25 
 
 But let us walk back a little ; I am not quite 
 ready to tell the men everything. I have been 
 thinking," he said, as they moved together from 
 the lake, " of that practical enterprise which we 
 must take up and finish, in order to justify our 
 selves to the public and those who have in vari 
 ous ways backed up our enterprises, and I have 
 concluded that the best thing I can do is to 
 carry out my plan of going to the north pole." 
 
 "What !" she exclaimed. "You are not going 
 to try to do that you, yourself?" And as she 
 spoke, her voice trembled a little. 
 
 " Yes," said he, " I thought I would go myself, 
 or else send Sammy." 
 
 She laughed. 
 
 " Ridiculous !" said she. " Send Sammy Block ! 
 You are joking?" 
 
 " No," said he, " I am not. I have been plan 
 ning the expedition, and I think Sammy would 
 be an excellent man to take charge of it. I might 
 go part of the way at least, far enough to start 
 him and I could so arrange matters that Sam 
 my would have no difficulty in finishing the ex 
 pedition, but I do not think that I could give up 
 all the time that such an enterprise deserves. It 
 is not enough to merely find the pole ; one should 
 stay there and make observations which would 
 be of service." 
 
 " But if Sammy finishes the journey himself," 
 she said, "his will be the glory." 
 
 " Let him have it," replied Clewe. " If my 
 method of arctic exploration solves the great 
 problem of the pole, I shall be satisfied with the 
 glory I get from the conception. The mere jour-
 
 26 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 ney to the northern end of the earth s axis is of 
 slight importance. I shall be glad to have Sam 
 my go first, and have as many follow him as may 
 choose to travel in that direction." 
 
 " Yet it is a great achievement," said she. " I 
 would give much to be the first human being 
 who has placed his foot upon the north pole." 
 
 "You would get it wet, I am afraid," said 
 Clewe, smiling; "but that is not the kind of 
 glory I crave. If I can help a man to go there, 
 I shall be very willing to do so, provided he will 
 make me a favorable report of his discoveries." 
 
 "Tell me all about it," she said "when will 
 you start? How many will go?" 
 
 "There is some work to be done on that boat," 
 said he. " Let me set the men at it, and then we 
 will go into the office, and I will lay everything 
 before you." 
 
 When they were seated in a quiet little room 
 attached to one of the large buildings, Roland 
 Clewe made ready to describe his proposed arctic 
 expedition to his partner, in whose mind the won 
 derful enterprise had entered, driving out the dis 
 turbing thoughts of the Artesian ray. 
 
 " You have told me about it before," said she, 
 "but I am not quite sure that I have it all 
 straight in my mind. You will go, I suppose, in 
 a submarine boat that is, whoever goes will go 
 in it?" 
 
 " Yes," said he, " for part of the way. My plan 
 is to proceed in an ordinary vessel as far north 
 as Cape Tariff, taking the Dipscy, my submarine 
 boat, in tow. The exploring party, with the nec 
 essary stores and instruments, will embark on
 
 THE MISSION OF SAMUEL BLOCK 27 
 
 the Dipscy, but before they start they will make 
 a telegraphic connection with the station at Cape 
 Tariff. The Dipscy will carry one of those light, 
 portable cables, which will be wound on a drum 
 in her hold, and this will be paid out as she pro 
 ceeds on her way. Thus, you see, by means of 
 the cable from Cape Tariff to St. Johns, we can 
 be in continual communication with Sammy, no 
 matter where he may go ; for there is no reason 
 to suppose that the ocean in those northern re 
 gions is too deep to allow the successful placing 
 of a telegraphic cable. 
 
 " My plan is a very simple one, but as we have 
 not talked it over for some time, I will describe 
 it in full. All explorers who have tried to get to 
 the north pole have met with the same bad fort 
 une. They could not pass over the vast and aw 
 ful regions of ice which lay between them and 
 the distant point at which they aimed ; the dead 
 ly ice-land was always too much for them ; they 
 died or they turned back. 
 
 "When flying-machines were brought to sup 
 posed perfection, some twenty years ago, it was 
 believed that the pole would easily be reached, 
 but there were always the wild and wicked winds, 
 in which no steering apparatus could be relied 
 upon. We may steer and manage our vessels in 
 the fiercest storms at sea, but when the ocean 
 moves in one great tidal wave our rudders are of 
 no avail. Everything rushes on together, and 
 our strongest ships are cast high upon the land. 
 
 " So it happened to the Canadian Bagne, who 
 went in 1927 in the best flying-ship ever made, 
 and which it was supposed could be steadily kept
 
 28 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 upon its way without regard to the influence of 
 the strongest winds ; but a great hurricane came 
 down from the north, as if square miles of at 
 mosphere were driving onward in a steady mass, 
 and hurled him and his ship against an iceberg, 
 and nothing of his vessel but pieces of wood and 
 iron, which the bears could not eat, was ever seen 
 again. This was the last polar expedition of that 
 sort, or any sort ; but my plan is so easy of ac 
 complishment at least, so it seems to me and 
 so devoid of risk and danger, that it amazes me 
 that it has never been tried before. In fact, if I 
 had not thought that it would be such a com 
 paratively easy thing to go to the pole, I believe 
 I should have been there long ago ; but I have 
 always considered that it could be done at some 
 season when more difficult and engrossing proj 
 ects were not pressing upon me. 
 
 " What I propose to do is to sink down below 
 the bottom of the ice in the arctic regions, and 
 then to proceed in a direct line northward to the 
 pole. The distance between the lower portions 
 of the ice and the bottom of the Arctic Ocean I 
 believe to be quite sufficient to allow me all the 
 room needed for navigation. I do not think it 
 necessary to even consider the contingency of 
 the greatest iceberg or floe reaching the bottom 
 of the arctic waters ; consequently, without trou 
 ble or danger, the Dipscy can make a straight 
 course for the extreme north. 
 
 " By means of the instruments the Dipscy will 
 carry it will be comparatively easy to determine 
 the position of the pole, and before this point is 
 reached I believe she will find herself in an open
 
 THE MISSION OF SAMUEL BLOCK 29 
 
 sea, where she may rise to the surface. But if 
 this should not be the case, a comparatively thin 
 place in the ice will be chosen, and a great open 
 ing blown through it by means of an ascensional 
 shell, several of which she will carry. She will 
 then rise to the surface of the water in this open 
 ing, and the necessary operations will be carried 
 on." 
 
 "Mr. Clewe," said Margaret Raleigh, "the 
 thing is so terrible I cannot bear to think of it. 
 The Dipscy may have to sail hundreds and hun 
 dreds of miles under the ice, shut in as if an 
 awful lid were put over her. No matter what 
 happened down there, she could not come up and 
 get out ; it would be the same thing as having a 
 vast sky of ice stretched out above one. I should 
 think the very idea of it would make people shud 
 der and die." 
 
 "Oh, it is not so bad as all that," answered 
 Clewe. " There is nothing so dear to the marine 
 explorer as plenty of water, and plenty of room 
 to sail in, and under the ice the Dipscy will find 
 all that." 
 
 " But there are so many dangers," said she, 
 "that you cannot provide against in advance." 
 
 " That is very true," said he, " but I have 
 thought so much about them, and I have studied 
 and consulted so much about them, that I think 
 I have provided against all the dangers we have 
 reason to expect. To me the whole business 
 seems like very plain, straightforward sailing." 
 
 " It may seem so here," said Margaret Raleigh, 
 " but it will be quite another thing out under the 
 arctic ice."
 
 30 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 Preparations for the expedition were pushed 
 forward as rapidly as possible, and Clewe would 
 have been delighted to make this voyage into the 
 unseen regions of the nether ice, but he knew 
 that it Avas his duty not to lose time or to risk 
 his life when he was on the brink of a discovery 
 far more wonderful, far more important to the 
 world, than the finding of the pole. Therefore 
 he determined that he would go with the expe 
 dition no farther than the point where the ice 
 would prevent the farther progress of the vessel 
 in which they would sail from New York. 
 
 It was not to be supposed that Roland Clewe 
 intended to intrust such an expedition to the ab 
 solute command of such a man as old Samuel 
 Block. There would be on board the Dipsty an 
 electrician who had long been preparing himself 
 for this expedition ; there were to be other scien 
 tific men ; there would be a submarine engineer, 
 and such minor officers and assistants as would 
 be necessary ; but Clewe wanted some one who 
 would represent him, who could be trusted to act 
 in his place in case of success or of failure, who 
 could be thoroughly depended upon should a se 
 rious emergency arise. Such a man was Samuel 
 filock, and, somewhat strange to say, old Sam 
 my was perfectly willing to go to the pole. He 
 was always ready for anything within bounds of 
 his duty, and those bounds included everything 
 which Mr. Clewe wished done. 
 
 Sammy was an old-fashioned man, and there 
 fore, in talking over arrangements with Roland 
 Clewe, he insisted upon having a sailor in the 
 party.
 
 CAPTAIN JIM HUJJIiKU.
 
 THE MISSION OF SAMUEL BLOCK 31 
 
 " In old times," said he, " when I was a young 
 man, nobody ever thought of settin out on any 
 kind of sea-voyagin without havin a sailor along. 
 The fact is, they used to be pretty much all 
 sailors." 
 
 "But in this expedition," said Clewe, "a sailor 
 would be out of place. One of your old-fashioned 
 mariners would not know what to do under the 
 water. Submarine voyaging is an entirely dif 
 ferent profession from that of the old-time navi 
 gator." 
 
 " I know all that," said Sammy. " I know how 
 everything is a machine nowadays ; but I shall 
 never forget what a glorious thing it was to sail 
 on the sea with the wind blowin and the water 
 curlin beneath your keel. I lived on the coast, 
 and used to go out whenever I had a chance, 
 but things is mightily changed nowadays. Just 
 think of that yacht - race in England the other 
 day a race between two electric yachts, with a 
 couple of vessels ploughin along to windward 
 carryin between em a board fence thirty feet 
 high to keep the wind off the yachts and give em 
 both smooth water and equal chance. I can t 
 get used to that sort of thing, and I tell you, sir, 
 that if I am goin on a voyage to the pole, I want 
 to have a sailor along. If everything goes all 
 right, we must come to the top of the water 
 some time, and then we ought to have at least 
 one man who understands surface navigation." 
 
 " All right," said Clewe ; "get your sailor." 
 
 " I ve got my eye on him ; he s a Cape Cod 
 man, and he s not so very old either. When he 
 was a boy people went about in ships with sails,
 
 32 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 and even after he grew up Cap n Jim was a great 
 feller to manage a catboat ; for things has moved 
 slower on the Cape than in many parts of the 
 country." 
 
 So Captain Jim Hubbell was engaged as sailor 
 to the expedition ; and when he came on to Sar- 
 dis and looked over the Dipscy he expressed a 
 general opinion of her construction and capabil 
 ities which indicated a disposition on his part 
 to send her, and all others fashioned after heri 
 plan, to depths a great deal lower than ever had 
 been contemplated by their inventors. Still, as 
 he wanted very much to go to the pole if it was 
 possible that he could get there, and as the wages 
 offered him were exceedingly liberal, Captain 
 Jim enlisted in the party. His duties were to 
 begin when the Dipscy floated on the surface of 
 the sea like a common-sense craft. 
 
 A day or two before the expedition was ready 
 to start, Roland Clewe was very much surprised 
 one morning by a visit from Sammy s wife, Mrs. 
 Sarah Block, who lost no time in informing him 
 that she had made up her mind to accompany 
 her husband on the perilous voyage he was about 
 to make. 
 
 " You !" said Clewe. " You could not go on 
 such an expedition as that !" 
 
 " If Sammy goes, I go," said Mrs. Block. " If 
 it is dangerous for me, it is dangerous for him. 
 I have been tryin to get sense enough in his 
 head to make him stay at home, but I can t do 
 it ; so I have made up my mind that I go with 
 him or he don t go. We have travelled together 
 on top of the land, and we have travelled together
 
 THE MISSION OF SAMUEL BLOCK 33 
 
 on top of the water, and if there s to be travellin 
 under the water, why then we travel together 
 all the same. If Sammy goes polin , I go polin . 
 I think he s a fool to do it ; but if he s goin to 
 be a fool, I am goin to be a fool. And as for 
 my bein in the way, you needn t think of that, 
 Mr. Clewe. I can cook for the livin , I can take 
 care of the sick, and I can sew up the dead in 
 shrouds." 
 
 " All right, Mrs. Block," said Clewe. " If you 
 insist on it, and Sammy is willing, you may go ; 
 but I will beg of you not to say anything about 
 the third class of good offices which you propose 
 to perform for the party, for it might cast a 
 gloom over some of the weaker-minded." 
 
 " Cast a gloom !" said Mrs. Block. " If all I 
 hear is true, there will be a general gloom over 
 everything that will be like havin a black pocket- 
 handkercher tied over your head, and I don t 
 know that anything I could say would make that 
 gloom more gloomier." 
 
 When Margaret Raleigh parted with Clewe on 
 the deck of the Go Liglitly, the large electric ves 
 sel which was to tow the Dipscy up to the limits 
 of navigable Northern waters, she knew he must 
 make a long journey, nearly twice as far as the 
 voyage to England, before she could hear from 
 him ; but when he arrived at Cape Tariff, a point 
 far up on the northwestern coast of Greenland, 
 she would hear from him ; for from this point 
 there was telegraphic communication with the 
 rest of the world. There was a little station there, 
 established by some commercial companies, and 
 their agent was a telegraph-operator.
 
 34 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 The passage from New York to Cape Tariff 
 was an uneventful one, and when Clewe disem 
 barked at the lonely Greenland station he was 
 greeted by a long message from Mrs. Raleigh, 
 the principal import of which was that on no ac 
 count must he allow himself to be persuaded to 
 go on the submarine voyage of the Dipscy. On 
 his part, Clewe had no desire to make any change 
 in his plans. During all the long voyage north 
 ward his heart had been at Sardis. 
 
 The Dipsey was a comparatively small vessel, 
 but it afforded comfortable accommodations for 
 a dozen or more people, and there w r as room for 
 all the stores which would be needed for a year. 
 She was furnished, besides, with books and ev 
 ery useful and convenient contrivance which had 
 been thought desirable for her peculiar expedition. 
 
 When everything was ready, Roland Clewe 
 took leave of the officers, the crew, and the pas 
 senger on board the Dipscy, and the last - men 
 tioned, as she shook hands with him, shed tears. 
 
 " It seems to me like a sort of a congregational 
 suicide, Mr. Clewe," said she. "And it can t even 
 be said that all the members are doin it of their 
 own accord, for I am not. If Sammy did not go, I 
 would not, but if he does, I do, and there s the end of 
 that ; and I suppose it won t be very much longer 
 before there s the end of all of us. I hope you 
 will tell Mrs. Raleigh that I sent my best love to 
 her with my last words ; for even if I was to see 
 her again, it would seem to me like beginning all 
 over again, and this would be the end of this part 
 of my life all the same. What I hope and pray 
 for is that none of the party may die of any kind
 
 A LONG MESSAGE FROM MRS. RALEIGH"
 
 THE MISSION OF SAMUEL BLOCK 35 
 
 of a disease before the rest all go to their end 
 together ; for remains on board an under-water 
 vessel is somethin which mighty few nerves 
 would be able to stand." 
 
 When all farewells had been said, Mr Clewe 
 went on board the Go Lightly, on the deck of 
 which were her officers and men and the few in 
 habitants of the station, and then the plate-glass 
 hatchways of the Dipscy were tightly closed, and 
 she began to sink, until she entirely disappeared 
 below the surface of the water, leaving above her 
 a little floating glass globe, connected with her 
 by an electric wire. 
 
 As the Dipscy went under the sea, this little 
 globe followed her on the surface, and the Go 
 Liglitly immediately began to move after her. 
 This arrangement had been made, as Clewe 
 wished to follow the Dipscy for a time, in order 
 to see if everything was working properly with 
 her. She kept on a straight course, flashing a 
 light into the little globe every now and then ; 
 and finally, after meeting some floating ice, she 
 shattered the globe with an explosion, which was 
 the signal agreed upon to show that all was well, 
 and that the Dipscy had started off alone on the 
 submarine voyage to the pole. 
 
 Roland Clewe gazed out over the wide stretch 
 of dark-green waves and glistening crests, where 
 nothing could be seen which indicated life ex^ 
 cept a distant, wearily-flapping sea bird, and then, 
 turning his back upon the pole, he made prepa 
 rations for his return voyage to New York, at 
 which port he might expect to receive direct 
 news from Sammy Block and his companions.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 UNDER WATER 
 
 WHEN the Dipscy, the little submarine vessel 
 which had started to make its way to the north 
 pole under the ice of the arctic regions, had 
 sunk out of sight under the waters, it carried a 
 very quiet and earnestly observant party. Every 
 one seemed anxious to know what would hap 
 pen next, and all those whose duties would allow 
 them to do so gathered under the great skylight 
 in the upper deck, and gazed upward at the 
 little glass bulb on the surface of the water, 
 which they were towing by means of an electric 
 wire ; and every time a light was flashed into 
 this bulb it seemed to them as if they were for 
 an instant reunited to that vast open world out 
 side of the ocean. When at last the glass globe 
 was exploded, as a signal that the Dipsey had cut 
 loose from all ties which connected her with the 
 outer world, they saw through the water above 
 them the flash and the sparks, and then all was 
 darkness. 
 
 The interior of the submarine vessel was bright 
 ly lighted by electric lamps, and the souls of the 
 people inside of her soon began to brighten under 
 the influence of their work and the interest they 
 took in their novel undertaking ; there was, how-
 
 "UNDER THE GREAT SKYLIGHT"
 
 UNDER WATER 37 
 
 ever, one exception the soul of Mrs. Block did 
 not brighten. 
 
 Mrs. Sarah Block was a peculiar person ; she 
 was her husband s second wife, and was about 
 forty years of age. Her family were country 
 people, farmers, and her life as a child was passed 
 among folk as old-fashioned as if they had lived 
 in the past century, and had brought their old- 
 fashioned ideas with them into this. But Sarah 
 did not wish to be old - fashioned. She sympa 
 thized with the social movements of the day; 
 she believed in inventions and progress ; she 
 went to school and studied a great deal which 
 her parents never heard of, and which she very 
 promptly forgot. When she grew up she wore 
 the widest hoop-skirts ; she was one of the first 
 to use an electric spinning-wheel ; and when she 
 took charge of her father s house, she it was who 
 banished to the garret the old-fashioned sewing- 
 machine, and the bicycles on which some of the 
 older members of the family once used to ride. 
 She tried to persuade her father to use a hot-air 
 plough, and to give up the practice of keeping 
 cows in an age when milk and butter were con 
 sidered not only unnecessary, but injurious to 
 human health. When she married Samuel Block, 
 then a man of forty-five, she really thought she 
 did so because he was a person of progressive 
 ideas, but the truth was she married him because 
 he loved her, and because he did it in an honest, 
 old-fashioned way. 
 
 In her inner soul Sarah was just as old-fash 
 ioned as anybody she had been born so, and she 
 had never changed. Endeavor as she might to
 
 38 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 make herself believe that she was a woman of 
 modern thought and feeling, her soul was truly 
 in sympathy with the social fashions and customs 
 in which she had been brought up ; and those to 
 which she was trying to educate herself were on 
 the outside of her, never a part of her, but always 
 the objects of her aspirations. These aspirations 
 she believed to be principles. She tried to set 
 her mind upon the unfolding revelations of the; 
 era, as young women in her grandfather s day 
 used to try to set their minds upon Browning. 
 When Sarah told Mr. Clewe that she was going 
 on the Dipscy because she would not let her hus 
 band go by himself, she did so because she was 
 ashamed to say that she was in such sympathy 
 with the great scientific movements of the day 
 that she thought it was her duty to associate 
 herself with one of them; but while she thought 
 she was lying in the line of high principle, she 
 was in fact expressing the truthful affection of 
 her old-fashioned nature a nature she was al 
 ways endeavoring to keep out of sight, but which 
 from its dark corner ruled her life. 
 
 She had an old-fashioned temper, which de 
 lighted in censoriousness. The more interest she 
 took in anything, the more alive was she to its 
 defects. She tried to be a good member of her 
 church, but she said sharp things of the congre 
 gation. 
 
 No electrical illumination could brighten the 
 soul of Mrs. Block. She moved about the little 
 vessel with a clouded countenance. She was im 
 pressed with the feeling that something was 
 wrong, even now at the beginning, although of
 
 UNDER WATER 39 
 
 course she could not be expected to know what 
 it was. 
 
 At the bows, and in various places at the sides 
 of the vessel, and even in the bottom, were large 
 plates of heavy glass, through which the inmates 
 could look out into the water, and there streamed 
 forward into the quiet depths of the ocean a great 
 path of light, proceeding from a powerful search 
 light in the bow. By this light any object in the 
 water could be seen some time before reaching 
 it ; but to guard more thoroughly against the 
 most dreaded obstacle they feared to meet 
 down-reaching masses of ice a hydraulic ther 
 mometer, mounted on a little submarine vessel 
 connected with the Dipscy by wires, preceded her 
 a long distance ahead. Impelled and guided by 
 the batteries of the larger vessel, this little ther 
 mometer-boat would send back instant tidings of 
 any changes in temperature in the water occa 
 sioned by the proximity of ice. To prevent sink 
 ing too deep, a heavy lead, on which were several 
 electric buttons, hung far below the Dipscy, ready 
 at all times, day or night, to give notice if she 
 came too near the reefs and sands of the bottom 
 of the Arctic Ocean. 
 
 The steward had just announced that the first 
 meal on board the Dipscy was ready for the offi 
 cers mess, when Mrs. Block suddenly rushed into 
 the cabin. 
 
 " Look here, Sammy," she exclaimed ; " I want 
 you, or somebody who knows more than you do, 
 to tell me how the people on this vessel are goin 
 to get air to breathe with. It has just struck me 
 that when we have breathed up all the air that s
 
 40 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 inside, we will simply suffocate, just as if we were 
 drowned outside a boat instead of inside ; and for 
 my part I can t see any difference, except in one 
 case we keep dry and in the other we are wet." 
 
 " More than that, madam," said Mr. Gibbs, the 
 Master Electrician, who, in fact, occupied the 
 rank of first officer of the vessel ; " if we are 
 drowned outside in the open water we shall be 
 food for fishes, whereas if we suffocate inside the 
 vessel we shall only be food for reflection, if any-" 
 body ever finds us." 
 
 " You did not come out expectin that, I hope?" 
 said Mrs. Block. " I thought something would 
 happen when we started, but I never supposed 
 we would run short of air." 
 
 " Don t bother yourself about that, Sarah," said 
 Sammy. " We ll have all the air we want ; of 
 course we would not start without thinkin of 
 that." 
 
 " I don t know," said Sarah. " It s very seldom 
 that men start off anywhere without forgettin 
 somethin ." 
 
 " Let us take our seats, Mrs. Block," said Mr. 
 Gibbs, " and I will set your mind at rest on the 
 air point. There are a great many machines and 
 mechanical arrangements on board here which of 
 course you don t understand, but which I shall 
 take great pleasure in explaining to you when 
 ever you want to learn something about them. 
 Among them are two great metal contrivances, 
 outside the Dipscy and near her bows, which 
 open into the water, and also communicate with 
 the inside of her hull. These are called electric 
 gills, and they separate air from the w r ater around
 
 UNDER WATER 41 
 
 us in a manner somewhat resembling the way in 
 which a fish s gills act. They continually send in 
 air enough to supply us not only with all we need 
 for breathing, but with enough to raise us to the 
 surface of the water whenever we choose to pro 
 duce it in sufficient quantities." 
 
 " I am glad to hear it," said Mrs. Block, "and I 
 hope the machines will never get out of order. 
 But I should think that sort of air, made fresh 
 from the water, would be very damp. It s very 
 different from the air we arc used to, which is 
 warmed by the sun and properly aired." 
 
 " Aired air seems funny to me," remarked Sam 
 my. 
 
 There was fascination, not at all surprising, 
 about the great glass lights in the Dipscy, and 
 whenever a man was off duty he was pretty sure 
 to be at one of these windows if he could get 
 there. At first Mrs. Block was afraid to look out 
 of any of them. It made her blood creep, she 
 said, to stare out into all that solemn water. For 
 the first two days, when she could get no one to 
 talk to her, she passed most of her time sitting 
 in the cabin, holding in one of her hands a dust- 
 brush, and in the other a farmer s almanac. She 
 did not use the brush, nor did she read the alma 
 nac, but they reminded her of home and the 
 world which was real. 
 
 But when she did make up her mind to look 
 out of the windows, she became greatly inter 
 ested, especially at the bow, where she could gaze 
 out into the water illuminated by the long lane 
 of light thrown out by the search-light. Here 
 she continually imagined she saw things, and
 
 42 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 sometimes greatly startled the men on lookout 
 by her exclamations. Once she thought she saw 
 a floating corpse, but fortunately it was Sammy 
 who was by her when she proclaimed her discov 
 ery, and he did not believe in any such nonsense, 
 suggesting that it might have been some sort of 
 a fish. After that the idea of fish filled the mind 
 of Mrs. Block, and she set herself to work to 
 search in an encyclopaedia which was on board 
 for descriptions of fishes which inhabited the" 
 depths of the arctic seas. To meet a whale, she 
 thought, would be very bad, but then a whale 
 is clumsy and soft ; a sword - fish was what she 
 most dreaded. A sword-fish running his sword 
 through one of the glass windows, and perhaps 
 coming in himself along with the water, sent a 
 chill down her back every time she thought 
 about it and talked about it. 
 
 " You needn t be afraid of sword-fishes," said 
 Captain Jim Hubbell. " They don t fancy the 
 cold water we are sailin in ; and as to whales, 
 don t you know, madam, there ain t no more of 
 em ?" 
 
 " No more whales !" exclaimed Sarah. " I have 
 heard about em all my life !" 
 
 " Oh, you can read and hear about em easy 
 enough," replied Captain Jim, " but you nor no 
 body else will ever see none of em ag in at least, 
 in this part of the world. Sperm-whales began 
 gittin scarce when I was a boy, and pretty soon 
 there was nothin left but bow - head or right 
 whales, that tried to keep out of the way of 
 human bein s by livin far up North ; but when 
 they came to shootin em with cannons which
 
 THE DUST-BRUSH \ND ALMANAC REMINDED HER OF HOME
 
 UNDER WATER 43 
 
 would carry three or four miles, the whale s day 
 was up, and he got scarcer and scarcer, until he 
 faded out altogether. There was a British vessel, 
 the Barkriglit, that killed two bow-head whales 
 in 1935, north of Melville Island, but since that 
 time there hasn t been a whale seen in all the 
 arctic waters. I have heard that said by sailors, 
 and I have read about it. They have all been 
 killed, and nothin left of em but the skeletons 
 that s in the museums." 
 
 Mrs. Block shuddered. " It would be terrible to 
 meet a livin one, and yet it is an awful thought 
 to think that they are all dead and gone," said 
 she.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 VOICES FROM THE POLAR SEAS 
 
 ALTHOUGH Sammy Block and his companions 
 were not only far up among the mysteries of the 
 region of everlasting ice, and were sunk out of 
 sight, so that their vessel had become one of 
 these mysteries, it was still perfectly possible 
 for them to communicate, by means of the tel 
 egraphic wire which was continually unrolling 
 astern, with people all over the world. But this 
 communication was a matter which required 
 great judgment and caution, and it had been a 
 subject of very careful consideration by Roland 
 Clewe. 
 
 When he had returned to Cape Tariff, after 
 parting with the Dipscy, he had received several 
 messages from Sammy, which assured him that 
 the submarine voyage was proceeding satisfacto 
 rily. But when he went on board the Go Lightly 
 and started homeward, he would be able to hear 
 nothing more from the submarine voyagers 
 until he reached St. John s, Newfoundland the 
 first place at which his vessel would touch. 
 Of course constant communication with Sardis 
 would be kept up, but this communication might 
 be the source of great danger to the plans of 
 Roland Clewe. Whatever messages of impor-
 
 VOICES FROM THE POLAR SEAS 45 
 
 tance came from the depths of the arctic regions 
 he wished to come only to him or to Mrs. Ra 
 leigh. He had contrived a telegraphic cipher, 
 known only to Mrs. Raleigh, Sammy, and two 
 officers of the Dipscy, and, to insure secrecy, Sam 
 my had been strictly enjoined to send no infor 
 mation in any other way than in this cipher. 
 
 For years there had been men, both in America 
 and in Europe, who had been watching with jeal 
 ous scrutiny the inventions and researches of 
 Roland Clewe, and he well understood that if 
 they should discover his processes and plans be 
 fore they were brought to successful completion 
 he must expect to be robbed of many of the re 
 sults of his labors. The first news that came to 
 him on his recent return to America had been 
 the tale told by Sammy Block, of the man in the 
 air who had been endeavoring to peer down into 
 his lens-house, and he had heard of other attempts 
 of this kind. Therefore it was that the tele 
 graphic instrument on the Dipscy had been given 
 into the sole charge of Samuel Block, who had 
 become a very capable operator, and who could 
 be relied upon to send no news over his wire 
 which could give serviceable information to the 
 operators along the line from Cape Tariff to 
 Sardis, New Jersey. 
 
 But Clewe did not in the least desire that Mar 
 garet Raleigh should be kept waiting until he 
 came back from the arctic regions for news from 
 the expedition, which she as well as himself had 
 sent out into the unknown North. Consequently 
 Samuel Block had been told that he might com 
 municate with Mrs. Raleigh as soon and as often
 
 46 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 as he pleased, remembering always to be careful 
 never to send any word which might reveal any 
 thing to the detriment of his employers. When 
 a message should be received on board the Dipscy 
 that Mr. Clewe was ready to communicate with 
 her, frequent reports were expected from the 
 Master Electrician, but it would be Sammy who 
 would unlock the cover which had been placed 
 over the instrument. 
 
 Before he retired to his bunk on the first night 
 on board the Dipscy, Sammy thought it proper 
 to send a message to Mrs. Raleigh. He had not 
 telegraphed before because he knew that Mr. 
 Clewe would communicate fully before he left 
 Cape Tariff. 
 
 Margaret Raleigh had gone to bed late, and 
 had been lying for an hour or two unable to sleep, 
 so busy was her mind with the wonderful things 
 which were happening in the far-away polar re 
 gions strange and awful things in which she 
 had such a direct and lively interest. She had 
 heard, from Roland Clewe, of the successful be 
 ginning of the Dipscy s voyage, and before she 
 had gone to her chamber she had received a last 
 message from him on leaving Cape Tariff ; and 
 now, as she lay there in her bed, her whole soul 
 was occupied with thoughts of that little party 
 of people some of them so well known to her 
 all of them sent out upon this perilous and fright 
 ful expedition by her consent and assistance, and 
 now left alone to work their way through the 
 dread and silent waters that underlie the awful 
 ice regions of the pole. She felt that so long as 
 she had a mind she could not help thinking of
 
 VOICES FROM THE POLAR SEAS 47 
 
 them, and so long as she thought of them she 
 could not sleep. 
 
 Suddenly there was a ring at the door, which 
 made her start and spring from her bed, and 
 shortly a telegraphic message was brought to her 
 by a maid. It was from the depths of the Arctic 
 Ocean, and read as follows : 
 
 "Getting on very well. No motion. Not cold. Slight 
 rheumatism in Sarah s shoulder. Wants to know which side of 
 plasters you gave her goes next skin. 
 
 "SAMUEL BLOCK." 
 
 An hour afterwards there flashed farther north 
 ward than ever current from a battery had gone 
 before an earnest, cordial, almost affectionate mes 
 sage from Margaret Raleigh to Sarah Block, and 
 it concluded with the information that it was 
 the rough side of the plasters which should go 
 next to the skin. After that Mrs. Raleigh went 
 to bed with a peaceful mind and slept soundly. 
 
 Frequent communications, always of a friend 
 ly or domestic nature, passed between the polar 
 sea and Sardis during the next few days. Mrs. 
 Raleigh would have telegraphed a good deal more 
 than she did had it not been for the great ex 
 pense from Sardis to Cape Tariff, and Sarah Block 
 was held in restraint, not by pecuniary consider 
 ations, but by Sammy s sense of the fitness of 
 things. He nearly always edited her messages, 
 even when he consented to send them. One 
 communication he positively refused to transmit. 
 She came to him in a great flurry. 
 
 " Sammy," said she, " I have just found out 
 something, and I can t rest until I have told
 
 48 THE GREAT STONE OF SARD1S 
 
 Mrs. Raleigh. I won t mention it here, because it 
 might frighten some people into fits and spasms. 
 Sammy, do you know there are thirteen people on 
 board this boat ?" 
 
 " Sarah Block !" ejaculated her husband, " what 
 in the name of common - sense are you talkin 
 about ? What earthly difference can it make 
 whether there are thirteen people on this vessel 
 or twelve ? And if it did make any difference, 
 what are you goin to do about it ? Do you ex 
 pect anybody to get out ?" 
 
 " Of course I don t," replied Sarah ; " although 
 there are some of them that would not have come 
 in if I had had my say about it ; but as Mrs. Ra 
 leigh is one of the owners, and such a good friend 
 to you and me, Sammy, it is our duty to let her 
 know what dreadful bad luck we are carryin with 
 us." 
 
 " Don t you suppose she knows how many peo 
 ple are aboard ?" said Sammy. 
 
 " Of course she knows ; but she don t consider 
 what it means, or we wouldn t all have been here. 
 It is her right to know, Sammy. Perhaps she 
 might order us to go back to Cape Tariff and put 
 somebody ashore." 
 
 In his heart Samuel Block believed that if this 
 course were adopted he was pretty sure who would 
 be put on shore, if a vote were taken by officers 
 and crew ; but he was too wise to say anything 
 upon this point, and contented himself with posi 
 tively refusing to send southward any news of the 
 evil omen. 
 
 The next day Mrs. Block felt that she must 
 speak upon the subject or perish, and she asked
 
 "*- -,-* I 
 
 THERE ARE THIRTEEN PEOPLE ON HOARU THIS BOAT
 
 VOICES FROM THE POLAR SEAS 49 
 
 Mr. Gibbs what he thought of there being thir 
 teen people on board. 
 
 "Madam," said he, "these signs lose all their 
 powers above the seventieth parallel of latitude. 
 In fact, none of them have ever been known to 
 come true above sixty - eight degrees and forty 
 minutes, and we are a good deal higher than 
 that, you know." 
 
 Sarah made no answer, but she told her hus 
 band afterwards that she thought that Mr. Gibbs 
 had his mind so full of electricity that it had no 
 room for old - fashioned common - sense. It did 
 not do to sneer at signs and portents. Among 
 the earliest things she remembered was a story 
 which had been told her of her grandmother s 
 brother, who was the thirteenth passenger in an 
 omnibus when he was a young man, and who 
 died that very night, having slipped off the back 
 step, where he was obliged to stand, and fract 
 ured his skull. 
 
 At last there came a day when a message in 
 cipher from Roland Clewe delivered itself on 
 board the Dipscy, and from that moment a hith 
 erto unknown sense of security seemed to per 
 vade the minds of officers and crew. To be sure, 
 there was no good reason for this, for if disaster 
 should overtake them, or even threaten them, 
 there was no submarine boat ready to send to 
 their rescue ; and if there had been, it would be 
 long, long before such aid could reach them ; 
 but still, they were comforted, encouraged, and 
 cheered. Now, if anything happened, they could 
 send news of it to the man in whom they all 
 trusted, and through him to their homes, and 
 4
 
 50 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 whatever their far-away friends had to say to 
 them could be said without reserve. 
 
 There was nothing yet of definite scientific im 
 portance to report, but the messages of the Master 
 Electrician were frequent and long, regardless of 
 expense, and, so far as her husband would permit 
 her, Sarah Block informed Mrs. Raleigh of the 
 discouragements and dangers which awaited this 
 expedition. It must be said, however, that Mrs. 
 Block never proposed to send back one word 
 which should indicate that she was in favor of 
 the abandonment of the expedition, or of her re 
 tirement from it should opportunity allow. She 
 had set out for the north pole because Sammy was 
 going there, and the longer she went "polin" 
 with him, the stronger became her curiosity to 
 see the pole and to know what it looked like. 
 
 The Dipsey was not expected to be, under any 
 circumstances, a swift vessel, and now, retarded 
 by her outside attachments, she moved but slowly 
 under the waters. The telegraphic wire which 
 she laid as she proceeded was the thinnest and 
 lightest submarine cable ever manufactured, but 
 the mass of it was of great weight, and as it found 
 its way to the bottom it much retarded the prog 
 ress of the vessel, which moved more slowly than 
 was absolutely necessary, for fear of breaking this 
 connection with the living world. 
 
 Onward, but a few knots an hour, the Dipsey 
 moved like a fish in the midst of the sea. The 
 projectors of the enterprise had a firm belief that 
 there was a channel from Baffin s Bay into an 
 open polar sea, which would be navigable if its 
 entrance were not blocked up by ice, and on this
 
 VOICES FROM THE POLAR SEAS 51 
 
 belief were based all their hopes of success. So 
 the explorers pressed steadily onward, always with 
 an anxious lookout above them for fear of strik 
 ing the overhanging ice, always with an anxious 
 lookout below for fear of dangers which might 
 loom up from the bottom, always with an anxious 
 lookout starboard for fear of running against the 
 foundations of Greenland, always with an anxious 
 lookout to port for fear of striking the ground 
 work of the unknown land to the west, and al 
 ways keeping a lookout in every direction for 
 whatever revelation these unknown waters might 
 choose to make to them. 
 
 Captain Jim Hubbell had no sympathy with 
 the methods of navigation practised on board the 
 Dipsey. So long as he could not go out on deck 
 and take his noon observations, he did not be 
 lieve it would be possible for him to know exactly 
 where his vessel was ; but he accepted the situa 
 tion, and objected to none of the methods of the 
 scientific navigators. 
 
 " It s a mighty simple way of sailin ," he said to 
 Sammy. " As long as there s water to sail in, you 
 have just got to git on aline of longitude it 
 doesn t matter what line, so long as there s water 
 ahead of you and keep there; and so long as 
 you steer due north, always takin care not to 
 switch off to the magnetic pole, of course you will 
 keep there ; and as all lines of longitude come to 
 the same point at last, and as that s the point you 
 are sailin for, of course, if you can keep on that 
 line of longitude as long as it lasts, it follows that 
 you are bound to git there. If you come to any 
 place on this line of longitude where there s not
 
 52 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 enough water to sail her, you have got to stop her; 
 and then, if you can t see any way of goin ahead 
 on another line of longitude, you can put her 
 about and go out of this on the same line of longi 
 tude that you came up into it on, and so you may 
 expect to find a way clear. It s mighty simple 
 sailin reg lar spellin -book navigation but it 
 isn t the right thing." 
 
 " It seems that way, Cap n Jim," said Sammy, 
 " and I expect there s a long stretch of under 
 water business ahead of us yet, but still we can t 
 tell. How do we know that we will not get up 
 some mornin soon and look out of the upper sky 
 light and see nothin but water over us and day 
 light beyond that?" 
 
 "When we do that, Sammy," said Captain Jim, 
 " then I ll truly believe I m on a v yage !"
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 GOOD NEWS GOES FROM SARDIS 
 
 WHEN Roland Clewe, after a voyage from Cape 
 Tariff which would have been tedious to him no 
 matter how short it had been, arrived at Sardis, 
 his mind was mainly occupied with the people he 
 had left behind him engulfed in the arctic seas, 
 but this important subject did not prevent him 
 from also giving attention to the other great ob 
 ject upon which his soul was bent. At St. John s, 
 and at various points on his journey from there, 
 he had received messages from the Dipsey, so that 
 he knew that so far all was well, and when he 
 met Mrs. Raleigh she had much to tell him of 
 what might have been called the domestic affairs 
 of the little vessel. 
 
 But while keeping himself in touch, as it were, 
 with the polar regions, Roland Clewe longed to 
 use the means he believed he possessed of peer 
 ing into the subterranean mysteries of the earth 
 beneath him. Work on the great machine by 
 which he would generate his Artesian ray had 
 been going on very satisfactorily, and there was 
 every reason to believe that he would soon be 
 able to put it into operation. 
 
 He had found Margaret Raleigh a different 
 woman from what she had been when he left her.
 
 54 THE GREAT STONE OP SARDIS 
 
 The absence had been short, but the change in 
 her was very perceptible. She was quieter ; she 
 was more intent. She had always taken a great 
 interest in his undertakings, but now that inter 
 est not only seemed to be deepened, but it was 
 clouded by a certain anxiety. She had been an 
 ardent, cheerful, and hopeful co - worker with 
 him, so far as she was able to do so ; but now, 
 although she was quite as ardent, the cheerful 
 ness had disappeared, and she did not allude to 
 the hopefulness. 
 
 But this did not surprise Clewe ; he thought it 
 the most natural thing in the world ; for that 
 polar expedition was enough to cloud the spirits 
 of any woman who had an active part and share 
 in it, and who was bound to feel that much of 
 the responsibility of it rested upon her. At times 
 this responsibility rested very heavily upon him 
 self. But if thoughts of that little submerged 
 party at the desolate end of the world came to 
 him as he sat in his comfortable chair, and a cold 
 dread shot through him, as it was apt to do at 
 such times, he would hurriedly step to his tele 
 graphic instrument, and when he had heard from 
 Sammy Block that all was well with them, his 
 spirits would rise again, and he would go on with 
 his work with a soul cheered and encouraged. 
 
 But good news from the North did not appear 
 to cheer and encourage the soul of Mrs. Raleigh. 
 She seemed anxious and troubled even after she 
 had heard it. 
 
 " Mr. Clewe," said she, when he had called upon 
 her the next morning after his return, "suppose 
 you were to hear bad news from the Dipsey, or
 
 GOOD NEWS GOES FROM SARDIS 55 
 
 were to hear nothing at all were to get no an 
 swer to your messages what would you do ?" 
 
 His face grew troubled. 
 
 " That is a terrible question," he said. " It is 
 one I have often asked myself ; but there is no 
 satisfactory answer to it. Of course, as I have 
 told myself and have told you, there seems no 
 reason to expect a disaster. There are no 
 storms in the quiet depths in which the Dipsey 
 is sailing. Ice does not sink down from the sur 
 face, and even if a floating iceberg should turn 
 over, as they sometimes do in the more open sea, 
 the Dipsey will keep low enough to avoid such 
 danger. In fact, I feel almost sure that if she 
 should meet with any obstacle which would pre 
 vent her from keeping on her course to the pole, 
 all she would have to do would be to turn around 
 and come back. As to the possibility of receiv 
 ing no messages, I should conclude in that case 
 that the wire had broken, and should wait a 
 few days before allowing myself to be seriously 
 alarmed. We have provided against such an ac 
 cident. The Dipsey is equipped as a cable-laying 
 vessel, and if her broken wire is not at too great 
 a depth, she could recover it ; but I have given 
 orders that should such an accident occur, and 
 they cannot re - establish communication, they 
 must return." 
 
 " Where to ?" asked Mrs. Raleigh. 
 
 " To Cape Tariff, of course. The Dipsey can 
 not navigate the surface of the ocean for any 
 considerable distance." 
 
 " And then ?" she asked. 
 
 " I would go as quickly as possible to St. John s,
 
 56 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 where I have arranged that a vessel shall be ready 
 for me, and I would meet the party at Cape Tar 
 iff, and there plan for a resumption of the enter 
 prise, or bring them home. If they should not be 
 able to get back to Cape Tariff, then all is blank 
 before me. We must not think of it." 
 
 " But you will go up there all the same ?" she 
 said. 
 
 " Oh yes, I will go there." 
 
 Mrs. Raleigh made no answer, but sat looking 
 upon the floor. 
 
 " But why should we trouble ourselves with 
 these fears ?" continued Clewe. " We have con 
 sidered all probable dangers and have provided 
 against them, and at this moment everything is 
 going on admirably, and there is every reason 
 why we should feel hopeful and encouraged. I 
 am sorry to see you look so anxious and down 
 cast." 
 
 " Mr. Clewe," said she, " I have many anxieties ; 
 that is natural, and I cannot help it, but there is 
 only one fear which seriously affects me." 
 
 "And that makes you pale," said Clewe. "Are 
 you afraid that if I begin work with the Artesian 
 ray I shall become so interested in it that I shall 
 forget our friends up there in the North ? There 
 is no danger. No matter what I might be doing 
 with the ray, I can disconnect the batteries in an 
 instant, lock up the lens-house, and in the next 
 half - hour start for St. John s. Then I will go 
 North if there is anything needed to be done 
 there which human beings can do." 
 
 She looked at him steadfastly. 
 
 "That is what I am afraid of," she said.
 
 " YOU HAVE THROWN ME FROM MY BALANCE
 
 GOOD NEWS GOES FROM SARDIS 57 
 
 Roland Clewe did not immediately speak. To 
 him Margaret Raleigh was two persons. She was 
 a woman of business, earnest, thoughtful, help 
 ful, generous, and wise ; a woman with whom he 
 worked, consulted, planned, who made it possible 
 for him to carry on the researches and enter 
 prises to which he had devoted his life. But, 
 more than this, she was another being ; she was 
 a woman he loved, with a warm, passionate love, 
 which grew day by day, and which a year ago had 
 threatened to break down every barrier of pru 
 dence, and throw him upon his knees before her 
 as a humiliated creature who had been pretend 
 ing to love knowledge, philosophy, and science, 
 but in reality had been loving beauty and riches. 
 It was the fear of this catastrophe which had had 
 a strong influence in taking him to Europe. 
 
 But now, by some magical influence an influ 
 ence which he was not sure he understood that 
 first woman, the woman of business, his partner, 
 his co - worker, had disappeared, and there sat 
 before him the woman he loved. He felt in his 
 soul that if he tried to banish her it would be im 
 possible ; by no word or act could he at this mo 
 ment bring back the other. 
 
 "Margaret Raleigh," he said, suddenly, "you 
 have thrown me from my balance. You may not 
 believe it, you may not be able to imagine the 
 possibility of it, but a spirit, a fiery spirit which 
 I have long kept bound up within me, has burst 
 its bonds and has taken possession of me. It 
 may be a devil or it may be an angel, but it 
 holds me and rules me, and it was set loose by 
 the words you have just spoken. It is my love
 
 58 THE GREAT STONE OF SARD1S 
 
 for you, Margaret Raleigh !" He went on, speak 
 ing rapidly. " Now tell me," said he. " I have 
 often come to you for advice and help give it 
 to me now. In laboratory, workshop, office, with 
 you and away from you, abroad and at home, by 
 day and by night, always and everywhere I have 
 loved you, longed for a sight of you, for a word 
 from you, even if it had been a word about a stick 
 or a pin. And always and everywhere I have de 
 termined to be true to myself, true to you, true 
 to every principle of honor and common -sense, 
 and to say nothing to you of love until by some 
 success I have achieved the right to do so. By 
 words which made me fancy that you showed a 
 personal interest in me, you have banished all 
 those resolutions ; you have But I am getting 
 madder and madder. Shall I leave this room ? 
 Shall I swear never to speak 
 
 She looked up at him. The ashiness had gone 
 out of her face. Her eyes were bright, and as 
 she lifted them towards him a golden softness 
 and mistiness came into the centre of each of 
 them, as though he might look down through 
 them into her soul. 
 
 " If I were you," said she, " I would stay here 
 and say whatever else you have to say." 
 
 He told her what more he had to say, but it 
 was with his arms around her and his eyes close 
 to hers. 
 
 " Do you know," she said, a little afterwards, 
 " that for years, while you have been longing to 
 get to the pole, to see down into the earth, and 
 to accomplish all the other wonderful things that 
 you are working at in your shops, I too have
 
 GOOD NEWS GOES FROM SARDIS 59 
 
 been longing to do something longing hun 
 dreds and hundreds of times when we were talk 
 ing about batteries and lenses and of the enter 
 prises we have had on hand." 
 
 " And what was that ?" he asked. 
 
 " It was to push back this lock of hair from 
 your forehead. There, now ; you don t know 
 how much better you look !" 
 
 Before Clewe left the house it was decided that 
 if in any case it should become necessary for him 
 to start for the polar regions these two were to 
 be married with all possible promptness, and they 
 were to go to the North together. 
 
 That afternoon the happy couple met again 
 and composed a message to the arctic seas. It 
 was not deemed necessary yet to announce to so 
 ciety what had happened, but they both felt that 
 their friends who were so far away, so complete 
 ly shut out from all relations with the world, and 
 yet so intimately connected with them, should 
 know that Margaret Raleigh and Roland Clewe 
 were engaged to be married. 
 
 Roland sent the message that evening from 
 his office. He waited an unusually long time for 
 a reply, but at last it came, from Sammy. The 
 cipher, when translated, ran as follows : 
 
 " Everybody as glad as they can be. Specially Sarah. Will 
 send regular congratulations. Private message soon from me. 
 We have got the devil on board." 
 
 Clewe was astonished. Samuel Block was such 
 a quiet, steady person, so unused to extravagance 
 or excitement, that this sensational message was 
 entirely beyond his comprehension. He could
 
 60 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 fix no possible meaning to it, and he was glad 
 that it did not come when he was in company 
 with Margaret. It was too late to disturb her 
 now, and he most earnestly hoped that an ex 
 planation would come before he saw her again. 
 
 That night he dreamed that there was a great 
 opening near the pole, which was the approach 
 to the lower regions, and that the Dipscy had 
 been boarded by a diabolical passenger, who had 
 come to examine her papers and inquire into the 
 health of her passengers and crew.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE DEVIL ON THE DIPSEY 
 
 AFTER a troubled night, Roland Clewe rose 
 early. He had made up his mind that what 
 Sammy had to communicate was something of a 
 secret, otherwise it would have been telegraphed 
 at once. For this reason he had not sent him a 
 message asking for immediate and full particu 
 lars, but had waited. Now, however, he felt he 
 could wait no longer ; he must know something 
 definite before he saw Margaret. Not to excite 
 suspicion by telegraphing at untimely hours, he 
 had waited until morning, and as the Dipsey was 
 in about the same longitude as Sardis, and as 
 they kept regular hours on board, without regard 
 to the day and night of the arctic regions, he 
 knew that he would not now be likely to rouse 
 anybody from his slumbers by " calling up " the 
 pole. 
 
 Although the telephone had been brought to 
 such wonderful perfection in these days, Roland 
 Clewe had never thought of using it for purposes 
 of communication with the Dipsey. The necessary 
 wire \vould have been too heavy, and his messages 
 could not have been kept secret. In fact, this 
 telegraphic communication betw r een Sardis and 
 the submarine vessel was almost as primitive as
 
 62 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 that in use in the latter part of the nineteenth 
 century. 
 
 But Clewe had scarcely entered the office when 
 he was surprised by the sound of the instrument, 
 and he soon found that Sammy was calling to 
 him from the polar seas. He sat down instantly 
 and received this message : 
 
 " Could not send more last night. Gibbs came in. Did not 
 want liim to know until I had heard from you. That Pole, 
 Rovinski, is on board. Never knew it until yesterday. Had 
 shaved off his beard and had his head cropped. He let it grow, 
 and I spotted him. There is no mistake. I know him, but he 
 has not found it out. He is on board to get ahead of you some 
 way or other perhaps get up a mutiny and go to the pole him 
 self. He is the wickedest-looking man I ever saw, and he scared 
 me when I first recognized him. Will send news as long as I 
 am on hand. Let me know what you think. I want to chuck 
 him into the scuttle-box. 
 
 " SAMUEL BLOCK." 
 
 " If that could be done," said Clewe to himself, 
 " it would be an end to a great many troubles." 
 
 The scuttle-box on the submarine vessel was a 
 contrivance for throwing things overboard. It 
 consisted of a steel box about six feet long and 
 two feet square at the ends, and with a tightly 
 fitting door at each extremity. When this scut 
 tle-box was used it was run down through a square 
 opening in the bottom of the Dipscy, the upper 
 door was opened, matter to be disposed of was 
 thrown into it, the upper door was shut and the 
 lower one opened, whereupon everything inside 
 of it descended into the sea, and water filled the 
 box. When this box was drawn up by means of 
 its machinery, the water was forced out, so that
 
 THE DEVIL ON THE DIPSEY 63 
 
 when it was entirely inside the vessel it was emp 
 ty, and then the lower door was closed. For some 
 moments the idea suggested by Sammy was 
 very attractive to Clewe, and he could not help 
 thinking that the occasion might arise when it 
 would be perfectly proper to carry it into execu 
 tion. 
 
 Now that he knew the import of Sammy s ex 
 traordinary communication, he felt that it would 
 not be right to withhold his knowledge from Mar 
 garet. Of course it might frighten her very 
 much, but this was an enterprise in which people 
 should expect to be frightened. Full confidence 
 and hearty assistance were what these two now 
 expected from each other. 
 
 " What is it exactly that you fear ?" she asked, 
 when she had heard the news. 
 
 " That is hard to say," replied Roland. " This 
 man Rovinski is a scientific jackal ; he has am 
 bitions of the very highest kind, and he seeks 
 to gratify them by fraud and villainy. It is now 
 nearly two years since I have found out that he 
 has been shadowing me, endeavoring to discover 
 what I am doing and how I am doing it ; and 
 the moment he does get a practical and working 
 knowledge of anything, he will go on with the 
 business on my lines as far as he can. Perhaps 
 he may succeed, and, in any case, he will be al 
 most certain to ruin my chances of success that 
 is, if I were not willing to buy him off. He would 
 be pretty sure to try blackmail if he found he 
 could not make good use of the knowledge he had 
 stolen." 
 
 " The wretch !" cried Margaret. " Do you sup-
 
 64 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 pose he hopes to snatch from you the discovery 
 of the pole ?" 
 
 " That seems obvious," replied Roland, " and 
 it s what Sammy thinks. It is the greatest pity 
 in the world he was not discovered before he got 
 on the Dipsey." 
 
 "But what can you do?" cried Margaret. 
 
 " I cannot imagine," he replied, " unless I recall 
 the Dipscy to Cape Tariff, and go up there and 
 have him apprehended." 
 
 " Couldn t he be apprehended where he is ?" she 
 asked. " There are enough men on board to capt 
 ure him and shut him up somewhere where he 
 could do no harm." 
 
 " I have thought of that," answered Roland, 
 "but it would be a very difficult and delicate 
 thing to do. The men we have on board the 
 Dipscy are trusty fellows at least, I thought so 
 when they were engaged but there is no know 
 ing what mutinous poison this Pole may have in 
 fused into their minds. If one of their number 
 should be handcuffed and shut up without good 
 reason being given, they might naturally rebel, 
 and it would be very hard to give satisfactory 
 reasons for arresting Rovinski. Even Gibbs might 
 object to such harshness upon grounds which 
 might seem to him vague and insufficient. Sam 
 my knows Rovinski, I know him, but the others 
 do not, and it might be difficult to convince them 
 that he is the black-hearted scoundrel we think 
 him ; so we must be very careful what we do." 
 
 "As to calling the Dipscy back," said Margaret, 
 " I would not do it ; I would take the risks." 
 
 " I think you are right," said Clewe. " I have
 
 THE DEVIL ON THE DIPSEY 65 
 
 a feeling that if they come back to Cape Tariff 
 they will not go out again. Some of the men 
 may be discouraged already, and it would pro 
 duce a bad impression upon all of them to turn 
 back for some reason which they did not under 
 stand, or for a reason such as we could give 
 them. I would not like to have to bring them 
 back, now that they are getting on so well." 
 
 In the course of the morning there came from 
 the officers, men, and passenger of the Dipsey a 
 very cordial and pleasant message to Mr. Clewe 
 and Mrs. Raleigh, congratulating them upon the 
 happy event of which they had been informed. 
 Sarah Block insisted on sending a supplementary 
 message for herself, in which she was privately 
 congratulatory to as great an extent as her hus 
 band would allow her to go, and which ended 
 with a hope that if they lived to be married they 
 would content themselves with doing their ex 
 plorations on solid ground. She did not want to 
 come back until she had seen the pole, but some 
 of her ideas about that kind of travelling were 
 getting to be a good deal more fixed than they 
 had been. 
 
 The advice which Roland Clewe gave to Samuel 
 Block was simple enough and perhaps unneces 
 sary, but there was nothing else for him to say. 
 He urged that the strictest watch be kept on Ro- 
 vinski ; that he should never be allowed to go 
 near the telegraph instrument ; and if, by insub 
 ordination or any bad conduct, a pretext for his 
 punishment should offer itself, he should be im 
 mediately shut up where he could not commu 
 nicate with the men. It was very important to 
 5
 
 66 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 keep him as much as possible in ignorance of 
 what was going on and of what should be accom 
 plished ; that, after all, was the main point. If 
 the pole should be discovered, Rovinski must 
 have nothing to do with it. Sammy replied that 
 everything should he reported as soon as it turn 
 ed up, and any orders received from Mr. Clewe 
 should be carried out so long as he was alive to 
 help carry them. 
 
 "Now," said Roland to Margaret, "there s 
 nothing more that we can do in regard to that 
 affair. As soon as there are any new develop 
 ments we shall have to consider it again, but 
 until then let us give up our whole souls to each 
 other and the Artesian ray." 
 
 "It seems to me," said she, "that if we could 
 have discovered a good while ago some sort of 
 ray by which we could see into each other s souls, 
 we should have gained a great many hours which 
 are now lost." 
 
 " Not at all," replied Clewe ; " they are not lost. 
 In our philosophy, nothing is lost. All the joys 
 we have missed in days that are past shall be 
 crowded into the days that are to come."
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE ARTESIAN RAY 
 
 IN less than a week after the engagement of 
 Roland Clewe and Margaret Raleigh work on the 
 great machine which was to generate the Arte 
 sian ray had so far progressed that it was possi 
 ble to make some preliminary experiments with 
 it. Although Clewe was sorry to think of the 
 very undesirable companion which Samuel Block 
 had carried with him into the polar regions, he 
 could not but feel a certain satisfaction when he re 
 flected that there was now no danger of Rovinski 
 gaining any knowledge of the momentous opera 
 tions which he had in hand in Sardis. He had 
 had frequent telegrams from Sammy, but no 
 trouble of any kind had yet arisen. It was true 
 that the time for trouble, if there were to be any, 
 had probably not yet arrived, but Clewe could 
 not afford to disturb his mind with anticipations 
 of disagreeable things which might happen. 
 
 The masses of lenses, batteries, tubes, and coils 
 which constituted the new instrument had been 
 set up in the lens - house, and it was with this 
 invention that Clewe had succeeded in produc 
 ing that new form of light which would not only 
 penetrate any material substance, but illuminate 
 and render transparent everything through which
 
 68 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 it passed, and which would, it was hoped, extend 
 itself into the earth to a depth only limited by 
 the electric power used to generate it. 
 
 Margaret was very anxious to be present at the 
 first experiment, but Clewe was not willing that 
 this should be. 
 
 " It is almost certain," he said, "that there will 
 be failures at first, not caused perhaps by any 
 radical defects in the apparatus, but by some 
 minor fault in some part of it. This almost al 
 ways happens in a new machine, and then there 
 are uninteresting work and depressing waiting. 
 As soon as I see that my invention will act as I 
 want it to act, I shall have you in the lens-house 
 with me. We may not be able to do very much 
 at first, but when I really begin to do anything I 
 want both of us to see it done." 
 
 There was no flooring in that part of the lens- 
 house where the machine was set up, for Clewe 
 wished his new light to operate directly upon the 
 earth. At about eight feet above the ground 
 was the opening through which the Artesian ray 
 would pass perpendicularly downward whenever 
 the lever should be moved which would connect 
 the main electric current. 
 
 When all was ready, Clewe sent every one, even 
 Bryce, the master-workman, from the room. If 
 his invention should totally fail, he wanted no 
 one but himself to witness that failure ; but if 
 it should succeed, or even give promise of doing 
 so, he would be glad to have the eyes of his trusted 
 associates witness that success. When the doors 
 were shut and locked, Clewe moved a lever, and a 
 disk of light three feet in diameter immediately
 
 THE ARTESIAN RAY 69 
 
 appeared upon the ground. It was a colorless 
 light, but it seemed to give a more vivid hue to 
 everything it shone upon such as the little 
 stones, a piece of wood half embedded in the 
 earth, grains of sand, and pieces of mortar. In a 
 few seconds, however, these things all disappeared, 
 and there revealed itself to the eyes of Clewe a 
 perfectly smooth surface of brown earth. This 
 continued for some little time, now and then a 
 rounded or a flattened stone appearing in it, and 
 then gradually fading away. 
 
 As Clewe stared intently down upon the illumi 
 nated space, the brown earth seemed to melt and 
 disappear, and he gazed upon a surface of fine 
 sand, dark or yellowish, thickly interspersed with 
 gravel-stones. This appearance changed, and a 
 large rounded stone was seen almost in the centre 
 of the glowing disk. The worn and smooth sur 
 face of the stone faded away, and he beheld what 
 looked like a split section of a cobble-stone. Then 
 it disappeared altogether, and there was another 
 flat surface of gravel and sand. 
 
 Between himself and the illuminated space on 
 which he gazed his breath quick and his eyes 
 widely distended there seemed to be nothing at 
 all. To all appearances he was looking into a 
 cylindrical hole a few feet deep. Everything be 
 tween the bottom of this hole and himself was 
 invisible ; the light had made intervening sub 
 stances transparent, and had deprived them of 
 color and outlines. It was as though he looked 
 through air. 
 
 Then his eyes fell upon the sides of this cylin 
 drical opening, and these, illuminated, but not
 
 70 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 otherwise acted upon by the volume of Artesian 
 rays, showed, in all their true colors and forms, 
 everything which went to make up the sides of 
 the bright cavity into which he looked. He saw 
 the various strata of clay, sand, gravel, exactly as 
 he would have seen them in a circular hole cut 
 accurately and smoothly into the earth. No stone 
 or lump protruded from the side of this apparent 
 excavation, the inner surface of Avhich was as 
 smooth as if it had been cut down with a sharp 
 instrument. 
 
 Clewe was frightened. Was it possible that 
 this could be an imaginary cavity into which he 
 was looking ? He drew back ; he was about to 
 put out one foot to feel if it were really solid 
 ground upon which this light was pouring, but 
 he refrained. He got a long stick, and with it 
 touched the centre of the light. What he felt 
 was hard and solid ; the end of the stick seemed 
 to melt, and this startled him. He pulled back 
 the stick he could go on no further by himself. 
 He must have somebody in here with him ; he 
 must have the testimony of some other eyes ; he 
 needed the company of a man with a cool and 
 steady brain. 
 
 He ran to the door and called Bryce. When 
 the master-workman had entered and the door 
 had been locked behind him, he exclaimed : 
 
 " How pale you are ! Does it work ?" 
 
 " I think so," said Clewe ; " but perhaps I am 
 crazy and only imagine it. You see that circular 
 patch of light upon the ground there ? I want 
 you to go close to it and look down upon it, and 
 tell me what you see."
 
 "THE END OF THE STICK SEEMED TO MELT"
 
 THE ARTESIAN RAY 71 
 
 Bryce stepped quickly to the illuminated 
 space. He looked down at it ; then he ap 
 proached nearer ; then he carefully placed his 
 feet by its edge and leaned over further, gazing 
 intently downward, and he exclaimed : 
 
 " Good heavens ! How did you make the 
 hole?" 
 
 At that moment he heard a groan, and, looking 
 across the illuminated space, he saw Clewe totter 
 ing. In the next moment he was stretched upon 
 the ground in a dead faint. 
 
 When Bryce had hurried to the side of his em 
 ployer and had thrown a pitcher of water over 
 him, it was not long before Clewe revived. In 
 answer to Bryce s inquiries he simply replied 
 that he supposed he had been too much excited 
 by the success of his work. 
 
 "You see," said he, "that was not a hole at 
 all that you were looking into ; it was the solid 
 earth made transparent by the Artesian ray. 
 The thing works perfectly. Please step to that 
 lever and turn it off. I can stand no more at 
 present." 
 
 Bryce moved the lever, and the light upon the 
 ground disappeared. He approached the place 
 where it had been ; it was nothing but common 
 earth. He put his foot upon it ; he stamped ; it 
 was as solid as any other part of the State. 
 
 " And yet I have looked down into it," he ejacu 
 lated, "at least half a dozen feet !" 
 
 When Bryce turned and went back to Clew r e, 
 he too was pale. 
 
 " I do not wonder you fainted," said he. " I do 
 not believe it was what you saw that upset you ;
 
 72 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 it was what you expected to see wasn t that 
 it?" 
 
 Clewe nodded in an indefinite way. " We won t 
 talk about it now," said he. " I don t want any 
 more experiments to-day. We will cover up the 
 instrument and go." 
 
 When Roland Clewe reached his room, he sat 
 down in the arm-chair to think. He had made a 
 grand and wonderful success, but it was not upon 
 that that his mind was now fixed. It was upon 
 the casual and accidental effect of the work of 
 his invention, of which he had never dreamed. 
 Bryce had made a great mistake in thinking that 
 it was not what Roland Clewe had seen, but what 
 he had expected to see, which had caused him to 
 drop insensible. It was what he had seen. 
 
 When the master - workman had approached 
 the lighted space upon the ground, Clewe stood 
 opposite to him, a little distance from the appa 
 ratus. As Bryce looked down, he leaned forward 
 more and more, until the greater part of his body 
 was directly over the lighted space. Looking at 
 him, Clewe was startled, amazed, and horrified to 
 find all that portion of his person which project 
 ed itself into the limits of the light had entirely 
 disappeared, and that he was gazing upon a sec 
 tion of a man s trunk, brightly illuminated, and 
 displayed in all its internal colors and outlines. 
 Such a sight was enough to take away the senses 
 of any man, and he did not wonder that he had 
 fainted. 
 
 " Now," said he to himself, "all the time that I 
 was looking into that apparent hole, never think 
 ing that in order to see down into it I was obliged
 
 THE ARTESIAN RAY 73 
 
 to project a portion of myself into the line of the 
 Artesian ray, that portion of me was transparent, 
 invisible. If Bryce had come in ! and then " as 
 the thought came into his mind his heart stopped 
 beating " if Margaret had been there !" 
 
 For an hour he sat in his chair, racking his 
 brain. 
 
 " She must see the working of the ray," he said. 
 " I must tell her of my success. She must see it 
 as soon as possible. It is cruel to keep her wait 
 ing. But how shall I manage it ? How shall I 
 shield her from the slightest possibility of what 
 happened to me? Heavens!" he exclaimed, "if 
 she had been there !" 
 
 After a time he determined that before any 
 further experiments should take place he would 
 build a circular screen, a little room, which should 
 entirely surround the space on which the Arte 
 sian ray was operated. Only one person at a time 
 should be allowed to enter this screened apart 
 ment, which should then be closed. It would 
 make no difference if one should become invisi 
 ble, provided there was no one else to know it. 
 
 It was on the evening of the next day that 
 Margaret beheld the action of the Artesian ray. 
 She greatly objected at first to going inside of 
 the screened space by herself, and urged Roland 
 to accompany her ; but this he stoutly refused to 
 do, assuring her that it was essential for but one 
 person at a time to view the action of the ray. 
 She demurred a good deal, but at last consented 
 to allow herself to be shut up within the screen. 
 
 What Margaret saw was different from the 
 gradual excavation which had revealed itself be-
 
 74 THE GREAT STOXE OF SARDIS 
 
 fore the eyes of Roland. She looked immediately 
 into a hole nearly ten feet deep. The action of 
 the apparatus was such that the power of pene 
 tration gained by the ray during its operation at 
 any time was retained, so that when the current 
 was shut off the photic boring ceased, and recom 
 menced when the batteries were again put into 
 action at the point where it had left off. The 
 moment Margaret looked down she gave a little 
 cry, and started back against the screen. She 
 was afraid she would fall in. 
 
 " Roland," she exclaimed, " you don t mean 
 to say that this is not really an opening into the 
 earth ?" 
 
 He was near her on the other side of the screen, 
 and he explained to her the action of the light. 
 Over and over she asked him to come inside 
 and tell her what it was she saw, but he always 
 refused. 
 
 " The bottom is beautifully smooth and gray," 
 she exclaimed ; " what is that ?" 
 
 " Sand," said Roland. 
 
 "And now it is white, like a piece of pottery," 
 she exclaimed. 
 
 "That is white clay," said he. 
 
 " Don t you want to take my place," said she, 
 " if you will not come with me ?" 
 
 " No," said Roland. " Look down as long as 
 you wish ; I know pretty well what you will see 
 for some time to come. Has there been any 
 change ?" 
 
 "The bottom is still white," she replied, "but 
 it is glittering." 
 
 " That is white sand," said he. " The Artesian
 
 THE ARTESIAN RAY 75 
 
 well which supplies the works revealed to me long 
 ago the character of the soil at this spot, so that 
 for a hundred feet or more I know what we may 
 expect to see." 
 
 She came out hurriedly. " When you begin to 
 speak of wells," she said, " I am frightened. If I 
 should see water, I should lose my head." She 
 sat down and put her hand before her eyes. " My 
 brain is dazzled," she said. " I don t feel strong 
 enough to believe what I have seen." 
 
 Roland shut off the current and opened the 
 screen. " Come here, Margaret," he said ; " this is 
 the spot upon which the light was shining. I 
 think it will do you good to look at it. Tread 
 upon it ; it will help to reassure you that the 
 things about us are real." 
 
 Margaret was silent for a few moments, and 
 then, approaching Roland, she took him by both 
 hands. " You have succeeded," said she ; " you 
 are the greatest discoverer of this age !" 
 
 " My dear Margaret," he interrupted, quickly, 
 " do not let us talk in that way ; we have only 
 just begun to work. Above all things, do not let 
 us get excited. If everything works properly, it 
 will not be long before I can send the Artesian 
 ray down into depths with which I am not ac 
 quainted how far I do not know but we must 
 wait and see what is the utmost we can do. 
 When we have reached that point, it will be in 
 order to hoist our flags and blow our trumpets. 
 I hope it will not be long before the light de 
 scends so deep that we shall be obliged to use a 
 telescope." 
 
 "And will it not be possible, Roland," Marga-
 
 76 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 ret said, earnestly, " that we shall ever look down 
 into the earth together ? When the light gets 
 beyond the depth to which people have dug and 
 bored, I shall never want to stand there alone be 
 hind the screen and see what next shall show it 
 self." 
 
 " That screen is an awkward affair," said Ro 
 land. " Perhaps I may think of a method by 
 which it can be done away with, and by which 
 we can stand side by side and look down as far 
 into the depths of the earth as our Artesian ray 
 can be induced to bore."
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 "LAKE SHIVER" 
 
 STEADILY the Dipscy worked her way north 
 ward, and as she moved on her course her prog 
 ress became somewhat slower than it had been 
 at first. This decrease in speed was due partially 
 to extreme caution on the part of Mr. Gibbs, the 
 Master Electrician. 
 
 The attenuated cable, which continually stretch 
 ed itself out behind the little vessel, was of the 
 most recent and improved pattern for deep-sea 
 cables. The conducting wires in the centre of it 
 were scarcely thicker than hairs, while the wires 
 forming the surrounding envelope, although they 
 were so small as to make the whole cable not 
 more than an eighth of an inch in diameter, were 
 far stronger than the thick submarine cables 
 which were used in the early days of ocean teleg 
 raphy. These outer wires were made of the 
 Swedish toughened steel fibre, and in 1939, with 
 one of them a little over a sixteenth of an inch 
 in diameter, a freight -ship of eleven thousand 
 tons had been towed through the Great New 
 Jersey Canal, which had then just been opened, 
 and which connected Philadelphia with the ocean. 
 
 But notwithstanding his faith in the strength 
 of the cable, Mr. Gibbs felt more and more, the
 
 7 8 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 farther he progressed from the habitable world, 
 the importance of preserving it from accident. 
 He had gone so far that it would be a grievous 
 thing to be obliged to turn back. 
 
 The Dipscy sailed at a much lower depth than 
 when she had first started upon her submarine 
 way. After they had become accustomed to the 
 feeling of being surrounded by water, her in 
 mates seemed to feel a greater sense of security 
 when they were well down below all possible dis-" 
 turbing influence. When they looked forward in 
 the line of the search-light, or through any of the 
 windows in various parts of the vessel, they never 
 saw anything but water no fish, nothing float 
 ing. They were too far below the ice above them 
 to see it, and too far from Avhat might be on 
 either side of them to catch a glimpse of it. The 
 bottom was deep below them, and it was as 
 though they were moving through an aqueous 
 atmosphere. 
 
 They were comfortable, and beginning to be 
 accustomed to their surrounding circumstances. 
 The air came in regularly and steadily through 
 the electric gills, and when deteriorated air had 
 collected in the expiration-chamber in the upper 
 part of the vessel, it was forced out by a great 
 piston, which sent it by a hundred little valves 
 into the surrounding water. Thus the pure air 
 came in and the refuse air went out just as if the 
 little Dipscy had been healthfully breathing as it 
 pushed its way through the depths. 
 
 Mrs. Block was gaining flesh. The narrow ac- 
 commod ations, the everlasting electric light, the 
 sameness of food, and a total absence of incident
 
 LAKE SHIVER 79 
 
 had become quite natural to her, and she had 
 ceased to depend upon the companionship of the 
 dust-brush and the almanac to carry her mind 
 back to what she considered the real things of 
 life. 
 
 Sarah had something better now to take her 
 mind back to Sardis and the people and things 
 on dry land. The engagement and probably ear 
 ly marriage of Mr. Clewe and Mrs. Raleigh had 
 made a great impression upon her, and there 
 were days when she never thought of the pole, 
 so busy was she in making plans based upon the 
 future connection of the life of herself and Sam 
 my and that of Mr. and Mrs. Clewe. 
 
 Sammy and his wife had very good quarters 
 within the boundaries of the works, but Sarah 
 had never been quite satisfied with them, and 
 when the new household of Clewe should be set 
 up, and all the new domestic arrangements should 
 be made, she hoped for better things. Mr. Clewe s 
 little cottage would then be vacant, for of course 
 he and his wife would not live in such a place 
 as that, and she thought that she and Sammy 
 should have it. Hour by hour and day by day 
 she planned the furnishing, the fitting, and the 
 management of this cottage. 
 
 She was determined to have a servant, a woman 
 thoroughly capable of doing general house-work ; 
 and then there were times when she believed that 
 if Sammy should succeed in finding the pole 
 his salary would be increased, and they might be 
 able to afford two servants. Over and over again 
 did she consider the question whether, in this 
 latter case, these women should both be general
 
 8o THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 house-work servants, or one of them a cook and 
 the other a chamber-maid and laundress. There 
 was much to be considered on each side. In the 
 latter case more efficient work could be obtained ; 
 but in the former, in case one of them should 
 suddenly leave, or go away for a day out, the 
 other could do all the work. It was very pleasant 
 to Mrs. Block to sit in a comfortable arm-chair 
 and gaze thus into the future. Sometimes she 
 looked up into the water above, and sometimes" 
 out into the water ahead, but she could see noth 
 ing. But in the alluring expanse of her fancied 
 future she could see anything which she chose 
 to put there. 
 
 Sammy, however, did not increase in flesh ; in 
 fact, he grew thinner. Nothing important in 
 regard to the Pole, Rovinski, had occurred, but 
 of course something would occur ; otherwise why 
 did the Pole come on board the Dipscy? End 
 less conjectures as to what Rovinski would do 
 when he did anything, and when he would be 
 gin to do it, kept the good Samuel awake during 
 many hours when he should have been soundly 
 sleeping. He had said nothing yet to Mr. Gibbs 
 in regard to the matter. Every day he made 
 a report to Roland Clewe about Rovinski, but 
 Clewe s instructions were that so long as the 
 Pole behaved himself properly there was no rea 
 son to trouble the minds of the party on board 
 with fears of rascality on his part. They had 
 enough to occupy their minds without any dis 
 turbing influence of that sort. 
 
 Clewe s own opinion on the subject was that 
 Rovinski could do nothing but act as a spy, and
 
 "LAKE SHIVER" 81 
 
 afterwards make dishonest use of the knowledge 
 he should acquire ; but the man had put himself 
 into Clewe s power, and he could not possibly get 
 away from him until he should return to Cape 
 Tariff, and even there it would be difficult. The 
 proper and only thing to do was to keep him in 
 custody as long as possible. When he should be 
 brought back to a region of law and justice, it 
 might be that the Pole could be prevented, for a 
 time, at least, from using the results of his knav 
 ish observations. 
 
 There was another person on board whose 
 mind was disturbed by Rovinski. This was Mr. 
 Marcy, the Assistant Engineer, an active, ener 
 getic fellow, filled with ambition and love of ad 
 venture, and one of the most hopeful and cheer 
 ful persons on board. He had never heard of 
 Rovinski, and did not knoAV that there was any 
 body in the world who was trying to benefit him 
 self by fraudulent knowledge of Mr. Clewe s dis 
 coveries and inventions, but he hated the Pole 
 on his own account. 
 
 The man s countenance was so villainous that 
 it was enough of itself to arouse the dislike of a 
 healthy - minded young fellow such as Marcy ; 
 but, moreover, the Pole had habits of sneaking 
 about the vessel, and afterwards retiring to quiet 
 corners, where he would scribble in a pocket note 
 book. Such conduct as this in a man whose po 
 sition corresponded with that of a common sea 
 man on an ordinary vessel, seemed contrary to 
 discipline and good conduct, and he mentioned 
 the matter to Mr. Gibbs. 
 
 " I suppose the man is writing a letter to his 
 6
 
 82 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 wife," said the latter. " You would not want to 
 hinder him from doing that, would you ?" 
 
 And to this no good answer could be made. 
 
 The Pole never took notes when Sammy was 
 anywhere where he could see him, and if Mr. 
 Marcy had reported this conduct to the old man, 
 it is likely that Rovinski would speedily have 
 been deprived of pencils and paper, and his real 
 character made known to the officers. 
 
 One day it was observed by those who looked 
 out of the window in the upper deck that the 
 water above them was clearer than they usually 
 saw it, and when the electric lights in the room 
 immediately under the window were turned out 
 it was almost possible to discern objects in the 
 room. Instantly there was a great stir on board 
 the Dipscy, and observations soon disclosed the 
 fact that there was nothing above the vessel but 
 water and air. 
 
 At first, like an electric flash, the thought ran 
 through the vessel that they had reached the 
 open sea which is supposed to surround the pole, 
 but reflection soon showed those who were cool 
 enough to reflect that if this were the case that 
 sea must be much larger than they had sup 
 posed, for they were still a long way from the 
 pole. Upon one thing, however, everybody was 
 agreed : they must ascend without loss of time 
 to the surface of the water above them. 
 
 Up went the Dipsey, and it was not long be 
 fore the great glass in the upper deck admitted 
 pure light from the outer world. Then the vessel 
 rose boldly and floated upon the surface of the 
 open sea.
 
 HK WOULD SCRIBliLE IN A POCKET NOTE-BOOK
 
 " LAKE SHIVER " 83 
 
 The hatchways were thrown open, and in a few 
 moments nearly everybody on board stood upon 
 the upper deck, breathing the outer air and gaz 
 ing about them in the pure sunlight. The deck 
 was almost flat, and surrounded by a rail. The 
 flooring was wet, and somewhat slippery, but 
 nobody thought of that ; they thought of noth 
 ing but the wonderful place in which they found 
 themselves. 
 
 They were in a small lake surrounded by lofty 
 and precipitous icebergs. On every side these 
 glittering crags rose high into the air ; nowhere 
 was there a break or an opening. They seemed 
 to be in a great icy prison. It might be supposed 
 that it would be exhilarating to a party who had 
 long been submerged beneath the sea to stand 
 once more in the open air and in the light of day; 
 but this was not the case. The air they breathed 
 was sharp and cold, and cut into throats and 
 lungs now accustomed to the softer air within 
 their vessel. Scarcely any of them, hurrying out 
 of the warm cabins, had thought of the necessity 
 of heavy wraps, and the bitter cold of the outer 
 air perceptibly chilled their blood. Involuntarily, 
 even while they were staring about them, they 
 hurried up and down the deck to keep themselves 
 warm. 
 
 The officers puzzled their brains over the pecul 
 iar formation of this ice -encompassed lake. It 
 seemed as if a great ice mountain had sunk down 
 from the midst of its companions, and had left 
 this awful hole. This, however, was impossible. 
 No law of nature would account for such a disap 
 pearance of an ice mountain. Mr. Gibbs thought,
 
 84 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 under some peculiar circumstances, a mass of ice 
 might have broken away and floated from its 
 surroundings, and that afterwards, increased in 
 size, it had floated back again, and, too large to 
 re-enter the opening it had made, had closed up 
 the frozen walls of this lonely lake, accessible only 
 to those who should rise up into it from the sea. 
 Suddenly Mrs. Block stopped. 
 
 "What is that?" she cried, pointing to a spot 
 in the icy wall which was nearest to the vessel. 
 Instantly every eye was turned that way. They 
 saw a very distinct, irregular blotch, surrounded 
 by almost transparent ice. 
 
 Several glasses were now levelled upon this 
 spot, and it was discovered to be the body of a 
 polar bear, lying naturally upon its side, as if 
 asleep, and entirely incased in ice. 
 
 " It must have lain down to die, on the surface 
 of the ice," said Mr. Gibbs, "and gradually the 
 ice has formed above it, until it now rests in that 
 vast funeral casket." 
 
 " How long since he laid down there to die, Mr. 
 Gibbs ?" asked Sarah, as she took the glass from 
 her eye. " He looks as natural as if he was asleep." 
 
 " I cannot say," he answered. " It may have 
 been hundreds, even thousands, of years ago." 
 
 "Oh, horrible !" said Sarah. "All that makes 
 me shiver, and I am sure I don t need anything 
 to make me do that. I wish we would go down, 
 Sammy ; I would like to get out of this awful 
 place, with those dreadful glitterin walls that 
 nobody could get up or over, and things lyin 
 frozen for a thousand years ; and, besides, it s so 
 cold !"
 
 " LAKE SHIVER " 85 
 
 It seemed as if Sarah s words had struck the 
 key-note to the feelings of the whole company. 
 In the heart of every one arose a strong desire 
 to sink out of this cold, bleak, terrifying open air 
 into the comfortable motherly arms of the en 
 circling waters. For a few minutes Captain Jim 
 Hubbell had experienced a sense of satisfaction 
 at finding himself once more upon the deck of a 
 vessel floating upon the open sea. He felt that 
 he was in his element, and that the time had 
 come for him to assume his proper position as a 
 sailor ; but this feeling soon passed, and he de 
 clared that his spine was like a long icicle. 
 
 " Don t you think we had better go down 
 again ?" said Sammy. " I think we have all seen 
 enough of this, and it isn t anything that any use 
 can be made of." 
 
 " You are right," said Mr. Gibbs ; " let every 
 body go below." 
 
 But it w r as not easy for everybody to obey this 
 command. The wet decks were now covered with 
 a thin surface of ice, and those who had been 
 standing still for a few moments found it difficult 
 to release their shoes from the flooring of the 
 deck, while several of the men slipped down as 
 they made their way to the forward hatch. As 
 for Sarah Block, she found it impossible to move 
 at all. Her shoes were of a peculiar kind, the 
 soles being formed of thick felt, and these, having 
 been soaked with water, had frozen firmly to the 
 deck. She tried to make a step and almost fell 
 over. 
 
 " Heavens and earth !" she screamed ; " don t let 
 this boat go down and leave me standing outside!"
 
 86 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 Her husband and two men tried to release her, 
 but they could not disengage her shoes from the 
 deck ; so Sammy was obliged to loosen her shoe 
 strings, and then he and another man lifted her 
 out of her shoes and carried her to the hatchway, 
 whence she very speedily hurried below. 
 
 Everybody was now inside the vessel, the 
 hatches were tightly closed, and the Dipscy began 
 to sink. When she had descended to the com-., 
 paratively temperate depths of the sea, and her 
 people found themselves in her warm and well- 
 lighted compartments, there was a general dis 
 position to go about and shake hands with each 
 other. Some of them even sang little snatches of 
 songs, so relieved were they to get down out of 
 that horrible upper air. 
 
 " Of course I shall never see my shoes again," 
 said Mrs. Block; "and they were mighty com 
 fortable ones, too. I suppose, when they have 
 been down here awhile in this water, which must 
 be almost lukewarmish compared to what it is 
 on top, they will melt loose and float up ; and 
 then, Sammy, suppose they lodge on some of that 
 ice and get frozen for a thousand years ! Good 
 gracious ! It sets me all of a creep to think of 
 that happenin to my shoes, that I have been 
 wearin every day ! Don t you want a cup of 
 tea?" 
 
 " It s a great pity," thought Sammy to himself, 
 "that it wasn t that Pole that had his feet frozen 
 to the deck. The rest of us might have been 
 lucky enough not to have noticed him as the boat 
 went down." 
 
 " We ought to get a name for that body of
 
 
 SARAH BLOCK S SHOES WERE KRO/.KN TO THE DECK
 
 "LAKE SHIVER" 87 
 
 water up there," said Mr. Gibbs, as he was writing 
 out his report of the day s adventures. " Shall 
 we call it Lake Clewe ?" 
 
 "Oh, don t do that !" exclaimed Sammy Block. 
 " Air. Clewe s too good a man to have his name 
 tacked on to that hole. If you want to name it, 
 why don t you call it Lake Shiver ?" 
 
 " That is a good name," answered Mr. Gibbs ; 
 and so it was called.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 THEY BELIEVE IT IS THE POLAR SEA 
 
 WITH no intention of ascending again into any 
 accidental holes in the ice above them, the voy 
 agers on the Dipsey kept on their uneventful way, 
 until, upon the third day after their discovery of 
 the lake, the electric bell attached to the heavy 
 lead which always hung suspended below the ves 
 sel, rang violently, indicating that it had touched 
 the bottom. This sound startled everybody on 
 board. In all their submarine experiences they 
 had not yet sunk down low enough to be any 
 where near the bottom of the sea. 
 
 Of course orders were given to ascend immedi 
 ately, and at the same time a minor search-light 
 was directed upward through the deck skylight. 
 To the horror of the observers, ice could plainly 
 be seen stretching above them like an irregular, 
 gray sky. 
 
 Here was a condition of things which had not 
 been anticipated. The bottom below and the ice 
 above were approaching each other. Of course 
 it might have been some promontory of the rocks 
 under the sea against which their telltale lead 
 had struck ; but there was an instrument on 
 board for taking soundings by means of a lead 
 suspended outside and a wire running through a
 
 THEY BELIEVE IT IS THE POLAR SEA 89 
 
 water-proof hole in the bottom of the vessel, and 
 when the Dipscy had risen a few fathoms, and 
 was progressing very slowly, this instrument was 
 used at frequent intervals, and it was found that 
 the electric lead had not touched a rock project 
 ing upward, and that the bottom was almost 
 level. 
 
 Mr. Gibbs s instrument gave him an approxi 
 mate idea of the vessel s depth in the water, and 
 the dial connected with the sounding apparatus 
 told him hour by hour that the distance from the 
 bottom, as the vessel kept forward on the same 
 plane, was becoming less and less. Consequently 
 he determined, so long as he was able to proceed, 
 to keep the Dipscy as near as possible at a median 
 distance between the ice and the bottom. 
 
 This was an anxious time. So long as they had 
 felt that they had plenty of sea -room the little 
 party of adventurers had not yet recognized any 
 danger which they thought sufficient to deter 
 them from farther progress ; but if the ice and 
 the bottom were coming together, what could 
 they do ? It was possible, by means of explosives 
 they carried, to shatter the ice above them ; but 
 action of this kind had not been contemplated 
 unless they should find themselves at the pole 
 and still shut in by ice. They did not wish to 
 get out into the open air at the point where they 
 found themselves ; and, moreover, it would not 
 have been safe to explode their great bombs in 
 such shallow water. A consultation was held, 
 and it was agreed that the best thing to do was 
 to diverge from the course they had steadily 
 maintained, and try to find a deeper channel lead-
 
 90 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 ing to the north. Accordingly they steered east 
 ward. 
 
 It was not long before they found that they 
 had judged wisely ; the bottom descended far out 
 of the reach of their electric lead, and they were 
 enabled to keep a safe distance below the over 
 hanging ice. 
 
 "I feel sure," said Mr. Gibbs, "that we came 
 near running against some outreaching portion, 
 of the main Western Continent, and now we have 
 got to look out for the foundations of Greenland s 
 icy mountains." He spoke cheerily, for he wished 
 to encourage his companions, but there was a very 
 anxious look upon his face when he was not speak 
 ing to any one. 
 
 The next day every one was anxious, whether 
 he spoke or was silent. The bottom was rising 
 again, and the Dipscy was obliged to sail nearer 
 and nearer to the ice above. Between two dan 
 gers, constricted and trammelled as they were, 
 none of them could help feeling the terrors of their 
 position, and if it had not been for the encourag 
 ing messages which continually came to them 
 from Sardis, they might not have been able to 
 keep up brave hearts. 
 
 After two days of most cautious progress, dur 
 ing which the water became steadily shallower 
 and shallower, it was discovered that the ice above, 
 which they were now obliged to approach much 
 more closely than they had ever done before, was 
 comparatively thin, and broken in many places. 
 Great cracks could be seen in it here and there, 
 and movements could be discerned indicating 
 that it was a floe, or floating mass of ice. If that
 
 THEY BELIEVE IT IS THE POLAR SEA 91 
 
 were the case, it was not impossible that they 
 were now nearing the edge of the ice under which 
 they had so long been sailing, and that beyond 
 them was the open water. If they could reach 
 that, and find it the unobstructed sea which was 
 supposed to exist at this end of the earth s axis, 
 their expedition was a success. At that moment 
 they were less than one hundred miles from the 
 pole. 
 
 Whether the voyagers on the Dipsey were more 
 excited when the probable condition of their situ 
 ation became known to them, or whether Roland 
 Clewe and Margaret Raleigh in the office of the 
 Works at Sardis were the more greatly moved 
 when they received that day s report from the 
 arctic regions, it would be hard to say. If there 
 should be room enough for the little submarine 
 vessel to safely navigate beneath the ice which 
 there was such good reason to believe was float 
 ing on the edge of the body of water they had 
 come in search of, and on whose surface they 
 might freely sail, what then was likely to hinder 
 them from reaching the pole ? The presence of 
 ice in the vicinity of that extreme northern point 
 was feared by no one concerned in the expedition, 
 for it was believed that the rotary motion of the 
 earth would have a tendency to drive it away 
 from the pole by centrifugal force. 
 
 The little thermometer-boat which during the 
 submarine voyage of the Dipsey had constantly 
 preceded her to give warning of the sunken base 
 of some great iceberg, was now drawn in close to 
 the bow ; there was so much ice so near that its 
 warnings were constant, and therefore unneeded.
 
 92 THE GREAT STONE OP SARDIS 
 
 The electric lead-line was shortened to the length 
 of a few fathoms, and even then it sometimes 
 suddenly rang out its alarm. After a time the 
 bottom of the sea became visible through the 
 stout glass of a protected window near the bow, 
 and a man was placed there to report what he 
 could see below them. 
 
 It had now become so light that in some parts 
 of the vessel the electric lamps were turned out. 
 Fissures of considerable size appeared in the ice 
 above, and then, to the great excitement of every 
 one, the vessel slowly moved under a wide space 
 of open water ; but the ice could be seen ahead, 
 and she did not rise. The bottom came no nearer, 
 and the Dipscy moved cautiously on. Nobody 
 thought of eating ; they did not talk much, but 
 at every one of the outlooks there were eager faces. 
 
 At last they saw nothing above them but float 
 ing fragments of ice. Still they kept on, until 
 they were plainly moving below the surface of 
 open water. Then Mr. Gibbs looked at Sammy. 
 
 "I think it is time to rise," said he; and Sam 
 my passed the word that the Dipscy was going up 
 into the upper air. 
 
 When the little craft, so long submerged in the 
 quiet depths of the Arctic Sea, had risen until 
 she rested on the surface of the water, there was 
 no general desire, as there had been when she 
 emerged into Lake Shiver, to rush upon the up 
 per deck. Instead of that, the occupants gath 
 ered together and looked at each other in a hesi 
 tating way, as if they were afraid to go out and 
 see whether they were really in an open sea, or 
 lying in some small ice-locked body of water.
 
 THEY BELIEVE IT IS THE POLAR SEA 93 
 
 Mr. Gibbs was very pale. 
 
 " My friends," said he, " we are going on deck 
 to find out whether or not we have reached the 
 open polar sea, but we must not be excited, and 
 we must not jump to hurried conclusions ; we 
 may have found what we are in search of, and 
 we may not have found it yet. But we will go 
 up and look out upon the polar world as far as 
 we can see it, and we shall not decide upon 
 this thing or that until we have thoroughly 
 studied the whole situation. The engines are 
 stopped, and every one may go up, but I ad 
 vise you all to put on your warmest clothes. 
 We should remember our experience at Lake 
 Shiver." 
 
 " It wouldn t be a bad idea," said Sammy Block, 
 " to throw out a lot of tarpaulins to stand on, so 
 that none of us will get frozen to the wet deck, as 
 happened before." 
 
 When the hatch was opened a man with a black 
 beard pushed himself forward towards the com- 
 panionway. 
 
 " Keep back here, sir," said Mr. Marcy, clapping 
 his hand upon the man s shoulder. 
 
 " I want to be ready to spread the tarpaulins, 
 sir," said he, with a wriggling motion, as if he 
 would free himself. 
 
 " You want to be the first to see the polar sea, 
 that is my opinion," said Mr. Marcy ; "but you 
 keep back there where you belong." And with 
 that he gave the eager Rovinski a staggering 
 push to the rear. 
 
 Five minutes afterwards Margaret Raleigh and 
 Roland Clewe, sitting close together by the tele-
 
 94 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 graph instrument in the Works at Sardis, received 
 the following message : 
 
 We have risen to the surface of what we believe to be the 
 open polar sea. Everybody is on deck but me. It is very cold, 
 and a wind is blowing. Off to our left there are high mountains, 
 stretching westward as far as we can see. They are all snow 
 and ice, but they look blue and green and beautiful. From 
 these mountains there comes this way a long cape, with a little 
 mountain at the end of it. Mr. Gibbs says this mountain, which 
 is about twenty miles away, must be just about between us and. 
 the pole, but it does not cut us off. Far out to the right, as far 
 as we can see, there is open water shining in the sun, so that we 
 can sail around the cape. On the right and behind us, south 
 ward, are everlasting plains of snow and ice, which we have 
 just come from under. They are so white that it dazzles our 
 eyes to look at them. In some places they are smooth, and in 
 some places they are tumbled up. On the very edge of the sky, 
 in that direction, there are more mountains. There are no ani 
 mals or people anywhere. It is very cold, even inside the vessel. 
 My fingers are stiff. Now that we are out on the water, in 
 regular shipshape, Captain Jim Hubbell has taken command. 
 We are going to cruise northward as soon as we can get things 
 regulated for outside sailing. 
 
 " SAMUEL BLOCK."
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 CAPTAIN HUBBELL TAKES COMMAND 
 
 IT was a high - spirited and joyous party that 
 the Dipscy now carried ; not one of them doubted 
 that they had emerged from under the ice into 
 the polar sea. To the northeast they could see 
 its waves shining and glistening all the way to 
 the horizon, and they believed that beyond the 
 cape in front of them these waters shone and 
 glistened to the very north. They breathed the 
 polar air, which, as they became used to it, was 
 exhilarating and enlivening, and they basked in 
 the sunshine, which, although it did not warm 
 their bodies very much, cheered and brightened 
 their souls. But what made them happier than 
 anything else was the thought that they would 
 soon start direct for the pole, on top of the water, 
 and with nothing in the way. 
 
 When Captain Jim Hubbell took command of 
 the Dipsey the state of affairs on that vessel un 
 derwent a great change. He was sharp, exact, 
 and severe ; he appreciated the dignity of his po 
 sition, and he wished to let everybody see that 
 he did so. The men on board who had previous 
 ly been workmen now became sailors at least 
 in the eyes of Captain Hubbell. He did not know 
 much about the work that they had been in the
 
 96 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 habit of doing, but he intended to teach them the 
 duties of sailors just as soon as he could find any 
 such duties for them to perform. He walked 
 about the deck with an important air, and looked 
 for something about which he might give orders. 
 There were no masts or spars or shrouds or sheets, 
 but there were tarpaulins on the deck, and these 
 were soon arranged in seamanlike fashion. A 
 compass was rigged up on deck, and Captain 
 Hubbell put himself into communication with 
 the electric steersman. 
 
 It was morning when the Dipsey emerged from 
 the sea, although day and night were equally 
 bright at that season, and at twelve o clock Cap 
 tain Hubbell took an observation, assisted by 
 Sammy. The result was as follows : longitude, 
 69 30 ; latitude, 88 42 . 
 
 " It strikes me," said Captain James Hubbell, 
 " that that latitude goes over anything ever set 
 down by any skipper, ancient or modern." 
 
 " I should say so," answered Sammy. " But 
 that record won t be anything compared to what 
 we are goin to set down." 
 
 Work went on very rapidly, in order to get the 
 Dipsey into regular nautical condition, and al 
 though it was out of his line, Captain Hubbell 
 made it a point to direct as much of it as he 
 could. The electric gills were packed as close 
 to the side of the vessel as possible, and the 
 various contrivances for heating and ventila 
 tion when sailing in the open air were put into 
 working order. At four o clock in the afternoon 
 our party started to round the icy promontory 
 ahead of them, encouraged by a most hearty
 
 "A COMPASS WAS RIGGED UP ON DECK"
 
 CAPTAIN HUBBELI, TAKES COMMAND 97 
 
 and soul-inspiring message from the hills of New 
 Jersey. 
 
 " It s all very fine," said Sarah Block to her 
 husband, "for everybody on board to be talkin 
 about what a splendid thing it is to be sailin on 
 the surface of the sea, in the bright and beauti 
 ful air, but I must say that I like a ship to keep 
 quiet when I am on board of her. I had a pretty 
 bad time when I was comin up on the Go Lightly, 
 but she was big and didn t wabble like this little 
 thing. We went along beautifully when we were 
 under the water, with the floor just as level as if 
 we were at home in a house, and now I am not 
 feelin anything like as well as I have been. For 
 my part, I think it would be a great deal better 
 to sink down again and go the rest of the way 
 under the water. I am sure we found it very 
 comfortable, and a great deal warmer." 
 
 Sammy laughed. 
 
 " Oh, that would not do at all," he said. " You 
 can t expect the people on board this vessel to 
 be willin to scoop along under the water when 
 they have got a chance of sailin like Chris 
 tians in the open air. It s the sudden change 
 that troubles you, Sarah ; you ll soon get over 
 it." 
 
 But Sarah was not satisfied. The Dipscy rolled 
 a good deal, and the good woman was frequently 
 obliged to stop and steady herself when crossing 
 the little cabin. 
 
 " I feel," said she, " as if I had had a Christmas 
 dinner yesterday and somebody else had made 
 the pies." 
 
 The dissatisfied condition of Mrs. Block had a 
 
 7
 
 98 THE GREAT STOXE OF SARDIS 
 
 cheering influence upon Captain Hubbell when 
 he heard of it. 
 
 " By George !" said he, " this seems like good 
 old times. When I was young and there was 
 women on board, they all got a little sea -sick; 
 but nowadays, with these ball-and-socket ships, 
 you never hear of that sort of thing. A sea-sick 
 woman is the most natural thing I have struck 
 yet on this cruise." 
 
 Mrs. Block s uneasiness, however, did not last 
 very long. A few electric capsules of half an 
 alterative volt each soon relieved her ; but her 
 mind was still out of order ; she was not satisfied. 
 She had accustomed herself to submerged con 
 ditions, and ordinary voyaging was very different. 
 
 " It wouldn t surprise me," she said, " if we 
 should find that there wasn t any pole ; that s 
 about the way these things generally turn out." 
 
 In a few hours the Dipscy had rounded the 
 cape, keeping well off shore. In front was a clear 
 sweep of unobstructed water. With their tele 
 scopes they could see nothing on the horizon 
 which indicated the presence of land. If the sea 
 should stretch out before them, as they hoped 
 and expected, a sail of about seventy miles ought 
 to bring them to the pole. The Dipscy did not 
 go at full speed ; there was no hurry, and as he 
 was in absolutely unknown waters, Captain Hub- 
 bell wished to take no risks of sunken reefs or 
 barely submerged islands. Soundings were fre 
 quent, and they found that the polar sea at 
 least that part over which they were sailing 
 was a comparatively shallow body of water. 
 
 Before they left Sardis, preparations had been
 
 CAPTAIN HUBBELL TAKES COMMAND 99 
 
 made for an appropriate and permanent designa 
 tion of the exact position of the northern end of 
 the earth s axis. If this should be discovered to 
 be on solid land, there was a great iron standard, 
 or column, on board, in detached parts, with all 
 appliances for setting it up firmly in the rocks 
 or earth or ice ; but if the end of the said axis 
 should be found to be covered by water of not 
 too great depth, a buoy had been provided which 
 should be anchored upon the polar point. 
 
 This buoy was a large hollow, aluminium globe, 
 from which a tall steel flag-post projected up 
 ward to a considerable height, bearing a light 
 weather-vane, which, when the buoy should be in 
 its intended position, would always point south 
 ward, no matter which way the wind might blow. 
 This great buoy contained various appropriate 
 articles, which had been hermetically sealed up 
 in it before it left Sardis, where it was manu 
 factured. All the documents, books, coins, and 
 other articles which are usually placed in the 
 corner - stones of important buildings were put 
 in this, together with the names of the persons 
 who had gone on this perilous expedition and 
 those who had been its projectors and promot 
 ers. More than this, there was an appropriate 
 inscription deeply cut into the metal on the up 
 per part of the buoy, with a space left for the 
 date of the discovery, should it ever take place. 
 
 But the mere ceremony of anchoring a buoy 
 at the exact position of the pole was not enough 
 to satisfy the conscientious ambition of Mr. 
 Gibbs. He had come upon this perilous voyage 
 with the earnest intention of doing his duty in
 
 100 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 all respects, Avhile endeavoring to make the great 
 discovery of the age ; and if that discovery 
 should be made, he believed that his country 
 should share in the glory and in the material ad 
 vantage, whatever that might be, of the achieve 
 ment. Consequently it was his opinion that if 
 the pole should be discovered, the discoverers 
 should take possession of it in the name of their 
 country. Every one on board except Sarah., 
 Block, who had something to say about the old 
 proverb concerning the counting of chickens 
 before they are hatched thought this a good 
 idea, and when the plan was submitted to Air. 
 Clewe and Mrs. Raleigh, they heartily approved. 
 
 Preparations were now made to take posses 
 sion of the pole if they should reach it on the 
 water. On the after-part of the deck a ring about 
 three feet in diameter was marked, and it was ar 
 ranged that when they had ascertained, by the 
 most accurate observations and calculations, the 
 exact position of the pole, they would so guide 
 their vessel that this ring should be as nearly as 
 possible directly over it. Then one of the party 
 should step inside of the ring and take posses 
 sion of the pole. After this the buoy would be 
 anchored, and their intended scientific observa 
 tions and explorations would proceed. 
 
 It was supposed both on the Dipscy and at 
 Sardis that Mr. Gibbs would assume the honor of 
 this act of taking possession, but that gentleman 
 declined to do so. He considered that he would 
 no more discover the pole, if they should reach it, 
 than would his companions ; and he also believed 
 that, from a broad point of view, Mr. Roland
 
 THE liUOY ON THE NORTH 1 OLE
 
 CAPTAIN HUBBELL TAKES COMMAND IOI 
 
 Clewe was the real discoverer. Consequently he 
 considered that the direct representative of the 
 interests of Mr. Clewe should take possession, and 
 it was decided that Samuel Block should add the 
 north pole to the territory of his native land. 
 
 When this had been settled, a very great change 
 came over the mind of Sarah Block. That her 
 husband should be the man to do this great thing 
 filled her with pride and alert enthusiasm. 
 
 " Sammy," she exclaimed, "when you are doin 
 that, you will be the greatest man in this world, 
 and you will stand at the top of everything." 
 
 " Suppose there should be a feller standin on 
 the south pole," said Sammy, " wouldn t he have 
 the same right to say that he was on top of every 
 thing ?" 
 
 " No," said Sarah, sharply. " The way I look 
 at it, the north pole is above and the south pole 
 is below ; but there ain t any other feller down 
 there, so we needn t talk about it. And now, 
 Sammy, if you are goin to take possession of the 
 pole, you ought to put on your best clothes. For 
 one thing, you should w r ear a pair of those new 
 red flannel socks that you haven t had on yet ; it 
 will be a good way to christen em. Everything 
 on you ought to be perfectly fresh and clean, 
 and just as nice as you ve got. This will be 
 the first time that anybody ever took posses 
 sion of a pole, and you ought to look your very 
 best. I would ask you to shave, because you 
 would look better that way, but I suppose if you 
 took off your beard you would take cold in your 
 jaws. And I want you to stand up straight, and 
 talk as long about it as you can. You are too
 
 102 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 much given to citttin off ceremonies mighty 
 short, as I remember was the case when you 
 were statin your pinions about our weddin ; 
 but I had my way then, and I want to have it 
 now. You are goin to be a big man, Sammy, 
 and your name will go all over the world, so you 
 must screw yourself up to as much eminence as 
 you think you can stand." 
 
 Sammy laughed. " Well, I will do what I 
 can," said he ; " that is, providin our chickens" 
 are hatched." 
 
 "Oh, they ll come out all right," said Sarah. 
 " I haven t the least doubt of it, now that you 
 are to be the chief figure in the hatchin ." 
 
 Shortly after the ordinary hour for rising, an 
 order was issued by Captain Hubbell, and en 
 forced by Samuel Block, that no one should be 
 allowed to come on deck who had not eaten 
 breakfast. There were those on board that ves 
 sel who would have stayed on deck during all the 
 hours which should have been devoted to sleep 
 ing, had it not been so cold. There would prob 
 ably be nothing to see when they reached the 
 pole, but they wanted to be on hand, that they 
 might see for themselves that there was nothing 
 to see.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 LONGITUDE EVERYTHING 
 
 THE sun was as high in the polar heavens as it 
 ever rises in that part of the world. Captain 
 Hubbell stood on the deck of the Dipsey with his 
 quadrant in hand to take an observation. The 
 engines had been stopped, and nearly everybody 
 on the vessel now surrounded him. 
 
 " Longitude everything," said Captain James 
 Hubbell, " latitude ninety, which is as near as I 
 can make it out." 
 
 " My friends," said Mr. Gibbs, looking about 
 him, " we have found the pole." 
 
 And at these words every head was uncovered. 
 
 For some moments no one spoke ; but there 
 was a look upon the faces of most of the party 
 which expressed a feeling which was voiced by 
 Sarah Block. 
 
 u And yet, v said she, speaking in a low tone, 
 " there s nothing to see, after all !" 
 
 Captain Hubbell s observations and calcula 
 tions, although accurate enough for all ordinary 
 nautical purposes, were not sufficiently precise 
 to satisfy the demands of the present occasion, 
 and Mr. Gibbs and the electricians began a series 
 of experiments to determine the exact position 
 of the true pole.
 
 104 THK GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 The vessel was now steered this way and that, 
 sometimes backed, and then sent forward again. 
 After about an hour of this zigzag work Mr. 
 Gibbs ordered the engine stopped. 
 
 " Now," said he, " the ring on the deck is ex 
 actly over the pole, and we may prepare to take 
 possession." 
 
 At these words Samuel Block disappeared be 
 low, followed by his wife. 
 
 " That was an odd expression of yours, Captain 
 Hubbell," said Mr. Gibbs, "when you said we 
 had reached longitude everything. It is correct, 
 of course, but it had not struck me in that light." 
 
 " Of course it is correct," said Captain Hubbell. 
 " The end of every line of longitude is right here 
 in a bunch. If you were a bird, you could choose 
 one of em and fly down along it to Washington 
 or Greenwich or any other point you pleased. 
 Longitude everything is what it is ; we ve got the 
 whole of em right under us." 
 
 Now Samuel Block came on deck, where every 
 body else on board soon gathered. With a furled 
 flag in his hand, dressed in his best and cleanest 
 clothes, and with a large fur cloak thrown over 
 his shoulders, Mr Block advanced towards the 
 ring on the deck, near the compass. 
 
 But he was yet several yards from this point 
 when a black figure, crouching close to the deck, 
 issued from among the men, a little in the rear 
 of the party, and made a dash towards the ring. 
 It was the Pole, Rovinski, who had been standing 
 quivering with excitement, waiting for this su 
 preme moment. But almost at the same instant 
 there sprang from the side of Mr. Gibbs another
 
 LONGITUDE EVERYTHING 105 
 
 figure, with a face livid with agitation. This was 
 Mr. Marcy, who had noticed the foreigner s ex 
 citement and had been watching him. Like a 
 stone from a catapult, Mr. Marcy rushed towards 
 Rovinski, taking a course diagonal to that of the 
 latter, and, striking him with tremendous force 
 just before he reached the ring, he threw him 
 against the rail with such violence that the mo 
 mentum given to his head and body carried them 
 completely over it, and his legs following, the 
 man went headlong into the sea. 
 
 Instantly there was a shout of horror. Sarah 
 Block screamed violently, and her husband ex 
 claimed : " That infernal Pole ! He has gone 
 down to the pole, and I hope he may stay there !" 
 
 "What does all this mean, Mr. Marcy?" roared 
 Captain Hubbell ; " and why did you throw him 
 overboard ?" 
 
 " Never mind now," cried Sammy, his voice 
 rising above the confusion. " I will tell you all 
 about it. I see what he was up to. He wanted 
 to take possession of the pole in his own beastly 
 name, most likely." 
 
 " I don t understand a word of all this," ex 
 claimed Mr. Gibbs. " But there is the man ; he 
 has risen to the surface." 
 
 " Shall we let him sink," cried Sammy, " or haul 
 him aboard ?" 
 
 " Let the man sink !" yelled Captain Hubbell. 
 "What do you mean, sir?" 
 
 "Well, I suppose it wouldn t do," said Sammy, 
 " and we must get him aboard." 
 
 Captain Hubbell roared out orders to throw 
 out life-preservers and lower a boat ; but, remem-
 
 106 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 bering that he was not on board a vessel of the 
 olden times, he changed the order and com 
 manded that a patent boat-hook be used upon 
 the man in the water. 
 
 The end of this boat-hook, which could be shot 
 out like a fishing-rod, was hooked into Rovinski s 
 clothes, and he was pulled to the vessel. Then a 
 rope was lowered, and he was hauled on board, 
 shivering and shaking. 
 
 " Take him below and put him in irons," cried 
 Sammy. 
 
 " Mr. Block," said Captain Hubbell, " I want 
 you to understand that I am skipper of this ves 
 sel, and that I am to give orders. I don t know 
 anything about this man ; but do you want him 
 put in irons ?" 
 
 "I do," said Sammy, "for the present." 
 
 "Take that man below and put him in irons !" 
 roared Captain Hubbell. 
 
 "And give him some dry clothes," added Sarah 
 Block. 
 
 When the confusion consequent upon the inci 
 dent had subsided there was a general desire not 
 to delay for a moment the actual act of taking 
 legal possession of the pole they had discovered. 
 
 Sammy now advanced, his fur cap in one hand 
 and his flag in the other, and took his position 
 in the centre of the circle. For a few moments 
 he did not speak, but turned slowly around, as if 
 desirous of availing himself of the hitherto un 
 known privilege of looking southward in every 
 direction. 
 
 " I m glad he remembers what I told him," said 
 Sarah. " He s making it last as long as he can."
 
 THE POLE AT THE POLE
 
 LONGITUDE EVERYTHING 107 
 
 "As the representative of Roland Clewe, Esq.," 
 said Samuel, deliberately and distinctly, " I take 
 possession of the north pole of this earth in the 
 name of United North America." With these 
 words he unfurled his flag, with its broad red 
 and white stripes, and its seven great stars in the 
 field of blue, and stuck the sharp end of the flag 
 staff into the deck in the centre of the circle.* 
 
 " Now," said he to his companions, " this pole 
 is ours, and if anybody ever comes into this sea 
 from Russia, or Iceland, or any other place, they 
 will find the north pole has been pre-empted." 
 At this three hearty cheers were given by the as 
 sembled company, who thereupon put on their 
 hats. 
 
 The rest of that day and part of the next were 
 spent in taking soundings, and very curious and 
 surprising results were obtained. The electric 
 lead, which rang the instant it touched bottom, 
 showed that the sea immediately over the pole 
 was comparatively shallow, while in every direc 
 tion from this point the depth increased rapidly. 
 Many interesting experiments were made, which 
 determined the character of the bottom and the 
 varied deposits thereupon, but the most impor 
 tant result of the work of Mr. Gibbs and his asso 
 ciates was the discovery of the formation of the 
 extreme northern portion of the earth. The rock- 
 
 * It must be understood that at this time the seven great 
 countries of North America Greenland, Norland (formerly 
 British America, British Columbia, and Alaska), Canada, the 
 United States, Mexico, Central America, and West Indies were 
 united under one confederated government, and had one Hag, 
 a modification of the banner of the dominant nation.
 
 108 THE GREAT STONE OF SARD1S 
 
 bed of the sea was found to be of the shape of a 
 flattened cone, regularly sloping off from the polar 
 point. 
 
 This peculiar form of the solid portion of the 
 earth at the pole was occasioned, Mr. Gibbs be 
 lieved, by the rotary motion of the bottom of the 
 sea, which moved much more rapidly than the 
 water above it, thus gradually wearing itself away, 
 and giving to our earth that depression at the^ 
 poles which has been so long known to geogra 
 phers. 
 
 Day after day the experiments went on ; but 
 Mr. Gibbs and his associates w r ere extremely in 
 terested in what they were doing ; some of the 
 rest of the party began to get a little tired of the 
 monotony. There was absolutely nothing to see 
 except water and sky ; and although the temper 
 ature was frequently some degrees above freez 
 ing, and became sometimes quite pleasant as they 
 gradually grew accustomed to the outer arctic at 
 mosphere, those who had no particular occupation 
 to divert their minds made frequent complaints 
 of the cold. There were occasional snow-storms, 
 but these did not last long, and as a rule the 
 skies were clear. 
 
 " But think, Sarah," said Samuel Block, in an 
 swer to some of her complaints, "what it would 
 be if this were winter, and, instead of being light 
 all the time, it was dark, with the mercury way 
 down at the bottom of the thermometer !" 
 
 " I don t intend to think of it at all," replied 
 Sarah, sharply. " Do you suppose I am goin to 
 consent to stay here until the everlastin night 
 comes on ? If that happened, I would simply
 
 I TAKE POSSESSION OF THE NORTH I OLK
 
 LONGITUDE EVERYTHING 109 
 
 stretch myself out and die. It s bad enough as 
 it is ; but when I look out on the sun, and think 
 that it is the same sun that is shinin on Sardis, 
 and on the house which I hope we are goin to 
 have when we get back, I feel as if there was 
 somethin up here besides you, Sammy, that I m 
 accustomed to. If it was not for you and the 
 sun, I could not get along at all ; but if the sun s 
 gone, I don t think you will be enough. I wish 
 they would plant that corner-stone buoy and let 
 us be off." 
 
 But by far the most dissatisfied person on board 
 was the Pole, Rovinski. He was chained to the 
 floor in the hold, and could see nothing ; nor 
 could he find out anything. Sammy had ex 
 plained his character and probable intentions to 
 Captain Hubbell, who had thereupon delivered 
 to Mr. Block a very severe lecture for not telling 
 him before. 
 
 If I ve got a scoundrel on board I want to 
 know it, and I hope this sort of thing won t hap 
 pen again, Mr. Block." 
 
 " I don t see how it can," answered Sammy ; 
 " and I must admit I ought to have told you as 
 soon as you took command ; but people don t al 
 ways do all they ought to do ; and, as for tellin 
 Mr. Gibbs, I would not do that, for his mind is 
 rigged on a hair - spring balance anyway ; it 
 wouldn t do to upset him." 
 
 " And what are we goin to do with the feller ?" 
 said the captain. " Now that I know what this 
 Pole is, I wish I had let him go down to the other 
 pole and stay there." 
 
 "I thought so at first," said Sammy; "but I m
 
 110 THE GREAT STONE OP SARDIS 
 
 glad he didn t ; I d hate to think of our glorious 
 pole with that thing floppin on it." 
 
 At last all was ready to anchor the great buoy, 
 and preparations were in progress for this impor 
 tant event, when everybody was startled by a 
 shout from Mr. Marcy. 
 
 " Hello !" he cried. " What s that ? A sail ?" 
 
 " Where away ?" shouted the captain. 
 
 " To the south," replied Mr. Marcy. And in T , 
 stantly everybody was looking in opposite direc 
 tions. But Mr. Marcy s outstretched arm soon 
 indicated to all the position of the cause of his 
 outcry. It was a black spot clearly visible upon 
 the surface of the sea, and apparently about two 
 miles away. Quickly Captain Hubbell had his 
 glass directed upon it, and the next moment he 
 gave a loud cry. 
 
 " It s a whale !" he shouted. " There s whales 
 in this polar sea !" 
 
 u I thought you said whales were extinct," cried 
 Sammy. 
 
 " So I did," replied the captain. " And so they 
 are in all Christian waters. Who ever could have 
 imagined that we would have found em here ?" 
 
 Sarah Block was so frightened when she found 
 there was a whale in the same water in which the 
 Dipscy floated that she immediately hurried be 
 low, with an indistinct idea of putting on her 
 things. In such a case as this, it was time for 
 her to leave. But soon recognizing the state of 
 affairs, she sat down in a chair, threw a shawl 
 over her head, and waited for the awful bump. 
 
 " Fortunately whales are soft," she said to her 
 self over and over again.
 
 " THERE S WHALES IN THIS POLAR SEA "
 
 LONGITUDE EVERYTHING III 
 
 No one now thought of buoys. Every eye on 
 deck was fixed upon the exposed back of the 
 whale, and everybody speedily agreed that it was 
 coming nearer to them. It did come nearer and 
 nearer, and at one time it raised its head as if it 
 were endeavoring to look over the water at the 
 strange object which had come into those seas. 
 Then suddenly it tossed its tail high into the air 
 and sank out of sight. 
 
 "It s a right- whale!" cried Captain Hubbell. 
 " There s whales in this sea ! Let s get through 
 this buoy business and go cruisin after "em." 
 
 There was a great deal of excited talk about 
 the appearance of the whale, but this was not al 
 lowed to interfere with the business in hand. A 
 chain, not very heavy but of enormous strength, 
 and of sufficient length to reach the bottom and 
 give plenty of play, was attached to an anchor of 
 a peculiar kind. It was very large and heavy, 
 made of iron, and shaped something like a cuttle 
 fish, with many arms which would cling to the 
 bottom if any force were exerted to move the 
 anchor. The other end of the chain was attached 
 to the lower part of the buoy, and with powerful 
 cranes the anchor was hoisted on deck, and when 
 everything had been made ready the buoy, which 
 had had the proper date cut upon it, was lowered 
 into the water. Then the great anchor was drop 
 ped into the sea, as nearly as possible over the 
 pole. 
 
 The sudden rush downward of the anchor and 
 the chain caused the buoy to dip into the sea as 
 if it were about to sink out of sight, but in a few 
 moments it rose again, and the great sphere, half-
 
 112 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 way out of the water, floated proudly upon the 
 surface of the polar sea. 
 
 Then came a great cheer, and Mrs. Block who, 
 having been assured that the whale had entirely 
 disappeared, had come on deck turned to her 
 husband and remarked : " Now, Sammy, is there 
 any earthly reason why we should not turn right 
 around and go straight home? The pole s found, 
 and the place is marked, and what more is there 
 for us to do ?" 
 
 But before her husband could answer her, Cap 
 tain Hubbell lifted up his voice, which was full of 
 spirit and enthusiasm. 
 
 "Messmates !" he cried, "we have touched at the 
 pole, and we have anchored the buoy, and now let 
 us go whalin . It s thirty years since I saw one 
 of them fish, and I never expected in all my born 
 days I d go a-whalin ." 
 
 The rest of the company on the Dipscy took no 
 very great interest in the whaling cruise, but, on 
 consultation with Mr. Clewe and Mrs. Raleigh at 
 Sardis, it was decided that they ought by no 
 means to leave the polar sea until they had ex 
 plored it as thoroughly as circumstances would 
 allow. Consequently the next day the Dipscy 
 sailed away from the pole, leaving the buoy 
 brightly floating on a gently rolling sea, its high- 
 uplifted weather-vane glittering in the sun, with 
 each of its ends always pointing bravely to the 
 south.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 A REGION OF NOTHINGNESS 
 
 IN the office of the Works at Sardis, side by 
 side at the table on which stood the telegraph in 
 strument, Margaret Raleigh and Roland Clewe, 
 receiving the daily reports from the Dipscy, had 
 found themselves in such sympathy and harmony 
 with the party they had sent out on this expedi 
 tion that they too, in fancy, had slowly groped 
 their way under the grim overhanging ice out 
 into the open polar sea. They too had stood on 
 the deck of the vessel which had risen like a 
 spectre out of the waters, and in the cold, clear 
 atmosphere had gazed about them at this hitherto 
 unknown part of the world. They had thrilled 
 with enthusiastic excitement when the ring on 
 the deck of the Dipscy was placed over the actual 
 location of the pole ; they had been filled with 
 anger when they heard of the conduct of Ro- 
 vinski ; and their souls had swelled with a noble 
 love of country and pride in their own achieve 
 ments when they heard that they, by their repre 
 sentative, had made the north pole a part of their 
 native land. They had listened, scarcely breath 
 ing, to the stirring account of the anchoring of 
 the great buoy to one end of the earth s axis, 
 and they had exclaimed in amazement at the an-
 
 114 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 nouncement that in the lonely waters of the pole 
 whales were still to be found, when they were 
 totally unknown in every other portion of the 
 earth. 
 
 But now the stirring events in the arctic re 
 gions which had so held and enthralled them day 
 by day had, after a time, ceased. Mr. Gibbs was 
 engaged in making experiments, observations, 
 and explorations, the result of which he would em 
 body in carefully prepared reports, and Sammy s 
 daily message promised to be rather monoto 
 nous. Roland Clewe felt the great importance 
 of a thorough exploration and examination of 
 the polar sea. The vessel he had sent out had 
 reached this hitherto inaccessible region, but it 
 was not at all certain that another voyage, even 
 of the same kind, would be successful. Conse 
 quently he advised those in charge of the expedi 
 tion not to attempt to return until the results of 
 their work were as complete as possible. Should 
 the arctic night overtake them before they left 
 the polar sea, this would not interfere with their 
 return in the same manner in which they had 
 gone north, for in a submarine voyage artificial 
 light would be necessary at any season. So, for 
 a time, Roland and Margaret withdrew in a great 
 measure their thoughts from the vicinity of the 
 pole, and devoted themselves to their work at 
 home. 
 
 When Roland Clewe had penetrated with his 
 Artesian ray as deeply into the earth beneath him 
 as the photic power of his instrument would ad 
 mit, he had applied all the available force of his 
 establishment the men working in relays day
 
 "SIDE BY SIDE AT THE TABLE"
 
 A REGION OF NOTHINGNESS 115 
 
 and night to the manufacture of the instru 
 ments which should give increased power to the 
 penetrating light, which he hoped would make 
 visible to him the interior structure of the earth, 
 up to this time as unknown to man as had been 
 the regions of the poles. 
 
 Roland had devoted a great deal of time to the 
 arrangement of a system of reflectors, by which 
 he hoped to make it possible to look down into 
 the cylinder of light produced by the Artesian 
 ray without projecting any portion of the body 
 of the observer into the ray. This had been done 
 principally to provide against the possibility of a 
 shock to Margaret, such as he received when he 
 beheld a man with the upper part of his body 
 totally invisible, and a section of the other portion 
 laid bare to the eye of a person standing in front 
 of it. But his success had not been satisfactory. 
 It was quite different to look directly down into 
 that magical perforation at his feet, instead of 
 studying the reflection of the same, indistinctly 
 and uncertainly revealed by a system of mirrors. 
 
 Consequently the plan of reflectors was dis 
 carded, and Roland determined that the right 
 thing to do was to take Margaret into his confi 
 dence and explain to her why he and she should 
 not stand together and look down the course of 
 the Artesian ray. She scolded him for not tell 
 ing her all this before, and a permanent screen 
 was erected around the spot on which the ray 
 was intended to work, formed of Venetian blinds 
 with fixed slats, so that the person inside could 
 readily talk and consult with others outside with 
 out being seen by them.
 
 Il6 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 As might well be supposed, this work with the 
 "photic borer," as Clewe now called his instru 
 ment, was of absorbing interest. For a day or 
 two after it was again put into operation Marga 
 ret and Roland could scarcely tear themselves 
 away from it long enough for necessary sleep 
 and meals, and several persons connected with 
 the Works were frequently permitted to witness 
 its wonderful operations. 
 
 Down, down descended that cylinder of light/ 
 until it had passed through all the known geo 
 logical strata in that part of New Jersey, and had 
 reached subterranean depths known to Clewe 
 only by comparison and theory. 
 
 The apparent excavation had extended itself 
 down so far that the disk at the bottom, although 
 so brightly illuminated, was no longer clearly visi 
 ble to the naked eye, and was rapidly decreas 
 ing in size on account of the perspective. But 
 the telescopes which Clewe had provided easily 
 overcame this difficulty. He was sure that it 
 would be impossible for his light to penetrate to 
 a depth which could not be made clearly visible 
 by his telescopes. 
 
 It was a wonderful and weird sensation which 
 came over those who stood, glass in hand, and 
 gazed down the track of the Artesian ray. Far, 
 far below them they saw that illuminated disk 
 which revealed the character of the stratum 
 which the light had reached. And yet they could 
 not see the telescope which they held in their 
 hands ; they could not see their hands ; they 
 knew that their heads and shoulders were invisi 
 ble. All observers except Clewe kept well back
 
 A REGION OP NOTHINGNESS 1 17 
 
 from the edge of the frightful hole of light down 
 which they peered ; and once, when the weight 
 of the telescope which she held had caused Mar 
 garet to make an involuntary step forward, she 
 gave a fearful scream, for she was sure she was 
 going to fall into the bowels of the earth. Clewe, 
 who stood always near by, with his hand upon 
 the lever which controlled the ray, instantly shut 
 off the light ; and although Margaret was thus 
 convinced that she stood upon commonplace 
 ground, she came from within the screen, and did 
 not for some time recover from the nervous shock 
 occasioned by this accident of the imagination. 
 
 Clewe himself took great pleasure in making 
 experiments connected with the relation of the 
 observer to the action of the Artesian ray. For 
 instance, he found that when standing and gaz 
 ing down into the great photic perforation below 
 him, he could see into it quite as well when he 
 shut his eyes as when they were open ; the light 
 passing through his head made his eyelids invisi 
 ble. He stood in the very centre of the circle of 
 light and looked down through himself. 
 
 That this application of light which he had dis 
 covered would be of the greatest possible service 
 in surgery, Roland Clewe well knew. By totally 
 eliminating from view any portion of the human 
 body so as to expose a section of said body which 
 it was desirable to examine, the interior structure 
 of a patient could be studied as easily as the ex 
 terior, and a surgeon would be able to dissect a 
 living being as easily as if the subject were a 
 corpse. But Clewe did not now wish to make pub 
 lic the extraordinary adaptations of his discovery
 
 Il8 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 to the uses of the medical man and the surgeon. 
 He was intent upon discovering, as far as was 
 possible, the internal structure of the earth on 
 which he dwelt, and he did not wish to interfere 
 at present with this great and absorbing object 
 by distracting his mind with any other applica 
 tion of his Artesian ray. 
 
 It is not intended to describe in detail the vari 
 ous stages of the progress of the Artesian ray t 
 into the subterranean regions. Sometimes it re 
 vealed strata colored red, yellow, or green by the 
 presence of iron ore ; sometimes it showed for a 
 short distance a glittering disk, produced by the 
 action of the light upon a deep-sunken reservoir 
 of water ; then it passed on, hour by hour, down, 
 down into the eternal rocks. 
 
 When the Artesian ray had begun to work its 
 way through the rocks, Margaret became less in 
 terested in observing its progress. Nothing new 
 presented itself ; it was one continual stony disk 
 which she saw when she looked down into the shaft 
 of light beneath her. Observation was becoming 
 more and more difficult even to Roland Clewe, and 
 at last he was obliged to set up a large telescope 
 on a stand, and mount a ladder in order to use it. 
 
 Day after day the Artesian ray went down 
 ward, always revealing rock, rock, rock. The 
 appliances for increased electric energy were 
 working well, and Clewe was entirely satisfied 
 with the operation of his photic borer. 
 
 One morning he came hurriedly to Margaret 
 at her house, and announced with glistening eyes 
 that his ray had now gone to a greater degree 
 into the earth than man had ever yet reached.
 
 A REGION OF NOTHINGNESS 119 
 
 "What have you found?" she asked, excitedly. 
 
 " Rock, rock, rock," he answered. " This little 
 State of ours rests upon a firm foundation." 
 
 Although Roland Clewe found his observations 
 rather monotonous work, he was regular and 
 constant at his post, and gave little opportuni 
 ty to his steadily progressing cylinder of light to 
 reach and pass unseen anything which might be 
 of interest. 
 
 It was nearly a week after he had announced 
 to Margaret that he had seen deeper into the 
 earth than any man before him that he mounted 
 his ladder to take his final observation for the 
 night. When he looked through his telescope 
 his eye was dazzled by a light which obliged him 
 suddenly to close it and lift his head. At first 
 he thought that he had reached the fabulous 
 region of eternal fire, but this he knew to be 
 absurd ; and, besides, the light was not that of 
 fire or heated substances. It was pale, colorless; 
 and although dazzling at first, he found, when 
 very cautiously he applied his eye again to the 
 telescope, that it was not blinding. In fact, he 
 could look at it as steadily as he could upon a 
 clear sky. 
 
 But, gaze as he would, he could see nothing 
 nothing but light ; subdued, soft, beautiful light. 
 He knew the ray was passing steadily downward, 
 for the mechanism was working with its accus 
 tomed regularity, but it revealed to him nothing 
 at all. He could not understand it ; his brain 
 was dazed. He thought there might be some 
 thing the matter with his eyesight. He got down 
 from the ladder and hurriedly sent for Margaret,
 
 120 THE GREAT STONE OP SARDIS 
 
 and when she came he begged her to look through 
 the telescope and tell him what she saw. She 
 went inside the screen, ascended the ladder, and 
 looked down. 
 
 " It isn t anything," she called out presently. 
 " It looks like lighter air ; it can t be that. Per 
 haps there is something the matter with your 
 telescope." 
 
 Clewe had thought of that, and as soon as she 
 came out he examined the instrument, but the 
 lenses were all right. There was nothing the 
 matter with the telescope. 
 
 That night Roland Clewe spent in the lens- 
 house, almost constantly at the telescope, but 
 nothing did he see but a disk of soft, white 
 light. 
 
 "The world can t be hollow !" he said to "Mar 
 garet the next morning. " It can t be filled with 
 air, or nothing, and my ray would not illuminate 
 air or nothing. I cannot understand it. If you 
 did not see what I see, I should think I was go 
 ing crazy." 
 
 " Don t talk that way," exclaimed Margaret. 
 " This may be some cavity which the ray will 
 soon pass through, and then we shall come to the 
 good old familiar rock again." 
 
 But Clewe could not be consoled in this way. 
 He could see no reason why his ray acting upon 
 the emptiness of a cavern should produce the 
 effect he beheld. Moreover, if the ray had re 
 vealed a cavern of considerable extent he could 
 not expect that it could now pass through it, for 
 the limit of its operations was almost reached. 
 His electric cumulators would cease to act in a
 
 A REGION OP NOTHINGNESS 121 
 
 few hours more. The ray had now descended 
 more than fourteen miles its limit was fifteen. 
 
 Margaret was greatly troubled because of the 
 effect of this result of the light borer upon Ro 
 land. His disappointment was very great, and 
 it showed itself in his face. His Artesian ray 
 had gone down to a distance greater than had 
 been sometimes estimated as the thickness of the 
 earth s crust, and the result was of no value. 
 Roland did not believe that the earth had a crust. 
 He had no faith in the old-fashioned idea that 
 the great central portion was a mass of molten 
 matter, but he could not drive from his mind the 
 conviction that his light had passed through the 
 solid portion of the earth, and had emerged into 
 something which was not solid, which was not 
 liquid, which was in fact nothing. 
 
 All his labors had come to this : he had dis 
 covered that the various strata near the earth s 
 surface rested upon a vast bed of rock, and that 
 this bed of rock rested upon nothing. Of course 
 it was not impossible that the arrangement of 
 the substances which make up this globe was 
 peculiar at this point, and that there was a great 
 cavern fourteen miles below him ; but why should 
 such a cavern be filled with a light different from 
 that which would be shown by his Artesian ray 
 when shining upon any other substances, open 
 air or solid matter ? 
 
 He could go no deeper down at least at pres 
 ent. If he could make ah instrument of increased 
 power, it would require many months to do it. 
 
 "But I will do it," said he to Margaret. "If 
 this is a cavern, and if it has a bottom, I will
 
 122 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 reach it. I will go on and see what there is be 
 yond. On such a discovery as I have made one 
 can pass no conclusion whatever. If I cannot go 
 farther, I need not have gone down at all." 
 
 " No," said Margaret, " I don t Avant you to go 
 on at least at present ; you must wait. The earth 
 will wait, and I want you to be in a condition to be 
 able to wait also. You must now stop this work 
 altogether. Stop doing anything ; stop thinking 
 about it. After a time say early in winter we 
 can recommence operations with the Artesian 
 ray; that is, if we think well to do so. You should 
 stop this and take up something else. You have 
 several enterprises which are very important and 
 ought to be carried on. Take up one of them, 
 and think no more for a few months of the noth 
 ingness which is fourteen miles below us." 
 
 It was not difficult for Roland Clewe to con 
 vince himself that this was very good advice. 
 He resolved to shut up his lens-house entirely 
 for a time, and think no more of the great work 
 he had done within it, but apply himself to some 
 thing which he had long neglected, and which 
 would be a distraction and a recreation to his dis 
 appointed mind.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 THE AUTOMATIC SHELL 
 
 IN a large building, not far from the lens-house 
 in which Roland Clewe had pursued the experi 
 ments which had come to such a disappointing 
 conclusion, there was a piece of mechanism which 
 interested its inventor more than any other of his 
 works, excepting of course the photic borer. 
 
 This was an enormous projectile, the peculiar 
 ity of which was that its motive power was con 
 tained within itself, very much as a rocket con 
 tains the explosives which send it upward. It 
 differed, however, from the rocket or any other 
 similar projectile, and many of its features were 
 entirely original with Roland Clewe. 
 
 This extraordinary piece of mechanism, which 
 was called the automatic shell, w r as of cylindrical 
 form, eighteen feet in length and four feet in 
 diameter. The forward end was conical and not 
 solid, being formed of a number of flat steel rings, 
 decreasing in size as they approached the point of 
 the cone. When not in operation these rings did 
 not touch one another, but they could be forced 
 together by pressure on the point of the cone. 
 This shell might contain explosives or not, as 
 might be considered desirable, and it was not in 
 tended to fire it from a cannon, but to start it
 
 124 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 on its course from a long semicylindrical trough, 
 which would be used simply to give it the desired 
 direction. After it had been started by a ram 
 worked by an engine at the rear end of the 
 trough, it immediately began to propel itself by 
 means of the mechanism contained within it. 
 
 But the great value of this shell lay in the fact 
 that the moment it encountered a solid siibstance 
 or obstruction of any kind its propelling power 
 became increased. The rings which formed the 
 cone on its forward end were pressed together, 
 the electric motive power was increased in pro 
 portion to the pressure, and thus the greater the 
 resistance to this projectile the greater became 
 its velocity and power of progression, and its on 
 ward course continued until its self - containing 
 force had been exhausted. 
 
 The power of explosives had reached, at this 
 period, to so high a point that it was unnecessary 
 to devise any increase in their enormous energy, 
 and the only problems before the students of 
 artillery practice related to methods of getting 
 their projectiles to the points desired. Progress 
 in this branch of the science had proceeded so 
 far that an attack upon a fortified port by ar 
 mored vessels was now considered as a thing of 
 the past ; and although there had been no naval 
 wars of late years, it was believed that never 
 again would there be a combat between vessels 
 of iron or steel. 
 
 The recently invented magnetic shell made ar 
 tillery practice against all vessels of iron a mere 
 mechanical process, demanding no skill whatever. 
 When one of these magnetic shells was thrown
 
 THE AUTOMATIC SHELL 125 
 
 anywhere in the vicinity of an iron ship, the 
 powerful magnetism developed within it instant 
 ly attracted it to the vessel, which was destroyed 
 by the ensuing contact and explosion. Two iron 
 clads meeting on the ocean need each to fire but 
 one shell to be both destroyed. The inability of 
 iron battle - ships to withstand this improvement 
 in artillery had already set the naval architects 
 of the world upon the work of constructing war 
 ships which would not attract the magnetic shell 
 which was effective even when laid on the bot 
 toms of harbors and Roland Clewe had been 
 engaged in making plans and experiments for 
 the construction of a paper man-of-war, which he 
 believed would meet the requirements of the 
 situation. 
 
 When Clewe determined to follow Margaret 
 Raleigh s advice and give up for a time his work 
 with the Artesian ray, his thoughts naturally 
 turned to his automatic shell. Work upon this 
 invention was now almost completed, but the 
 great difficulty which its inventor expected to 
 meet with was that of inducing his government 
 to make a trial of it. Such a trial would be ex 
 tremely expensive, involving probably the de 
 struction of the shell, and he did not feel able or 
 willing to experinient with it without govern 
 mental aid. 
 
 The shell was intended for use on land as well 
 as at sea, against cities and great fortified struct 
 ures, and Clewe believed that the automatic 
 shell might be brought within fifty miles of a 
 city, set up with its trough and ram, and pro 
 jected in a level line towards its object, to which
 
 126 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 it would impel itself with irresistible power and 
 velocity, through forests, hills, buildings, and ev 
 erything, gaining strength from every opposi 
 tion which stood in the direct line of its progress. 
 Attacking fortifications from the sea, the vessel 
 carrying this great projectile could operate at 
 a distance beyond the reach of the magnetic 
 shell. 
 
 Now that the automatic shell itself was finish 
 ed, and nothing remained to be done but to com- 
 plete the great steel trough in which it would lie, 
 Roland Clewe found himself confronted with a 
 business which was very hard and very distaste 
 ful to him. He must induce other people to do 
 what he was not able to do himself. Unless his 
 shell was put to a practical trial, it could be of no 
 value to the world or to himself. 
 
 In one of the many conversations on the sub 
 ject, Margaret had suggested something which 
 rapidly grew and developed in Roland s mind. 
 
 " It would be an admirable thing to tunnel 
 mountains with," said she. " Of course I mean a 
 large one, as thick through as a tunnel ought 
 to be." 
 
 In less than a day Clewe had perfected an idea 
 which he believed might be of practical service. 
 For some time there had been talk of a new rail 
 road in this part of the State, but one of the diffi 
 culties in the way was the necessity of making a 
 tunnel or a deep cut through a small mountain. 
 To go round this mountain would be objection 
 able for many reasons, and to go through it 
 would be enormously expensive. Clewe knew the 
 country well, and his soul glowed within him
 
 THE AUTOMATIC SHELL
 
 THE AUTOMATIC SHELL 127 
 
 as he thought that here perhaps was an oppor 
 tunity for him to demonstrate the value of his in 
 vention, not only as an agent in warfare, but as 
 a wonderful assistant in the peaceful progress of 
 the world. 
 
 There was no reason why such shells should not 
 be constructed for the express purpose of making 
 tunnels. Nothing could be better adapted for an 
 experiment of this kind than the low mountain in 
 question. If the shell passed through it at the de 
 sired point, there would be nothing beyond which 
 could be injured, and it would then enter the end 
 of a small chain of mountains, and might pass on 
 ward, as far as its motive power would carry it, 
 without doing any damage whatever. Moreover, 
 its course could be followed and it could be re 
 covered. 
 
 Both Roland and Margaret were very enthusi 
 astic in favor of this trial of the automatic shell, 
 and they determined that if the railroad company 
 would pay them a fair price if they should suc 
 ceed in tunnelling the mountain, they would 
 charge nothing should their experiment be a fail 
 ure. Of course the tunnel the shell would make, 
 if everything worked properly, would not be large 
 enough for any practical use ; but explosives 
 might be placed along its length, which, if de 
 sired, would blow out that portion of the moun 
 tain which lay immediately above the tunnel, and 
 this great cut could readily be enlarged to any 
 desired dimensions 
 
 Clewe would have gone immediately to confer 
 with the secretary of the railroad company, with 
 whom he was acquainted, but that gentleman was
 
 128 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 at the sea-side, and the business was necessarily 
 postponed. 
 
 " Now," said Clewe to Margaret, " if I could do 
 it, I d like to take a run up to the polar sea and see 
 for myself what they have discovered. Judging 
 from Sammy s infrequent despatches, the party 
 in general must be getting a little tired of Mr. 
 Gibbs s experiments and soundings ; but I should 
 be intensely interested in them." 
 
 " I don t wonder," answered Margaret, " that 
 they are getting tired ; they have found the pole, 
 and they want to come home. That is natural 
 enough. But, for my part, I am very glad we 
 can t run up there. Even if we had another 
 Dipscy I should decidedly oppose it. I might 
 agree that we should go to Cape Tariff, but I 
 would not agree to anything more. You may 
 discover poles if you want to, but you must do 
 it by proxy." 
 
 At this moment an awful crash was heard. It 
 came from the building containing the automatic 
 shell. Clewe and Margaret started to their feet. 
 They glanced at each other, and then both ran 
 from the office at the top of their speed. Other 
 people were running from various parts of the 
 Works. There was no smoke ; there was no dust. 
 There had been no explosion, as Clewe had feared 
 in his first alarm. 
 
 When they entered the building, Clewe and 
 Margaret stood aghast. There were workmen 
 shouting or standing with open mouths ; others 
 were running in. The massive scaffolding, twenty 
 feet in height, on which the shell had been raised 
 so that the steel trough might be run under it, lay
 
 KALI. OK THE SHKl.l.
 
 THE AUTOMATIC SHELL 129 
 
 in splinters upon the ground. The great auto 
 matic shell itself had entirely disappeared. 
 
 For some moments no one said anything ; all 
 stood astounded, looking at the space where the 
 shell had been. Then Clewe hurried forward. 
 In the ground, amid the wreck of the scaffolding, 
 was a circular hole about four feet in diameter. 
 Clasping the hand of a man near him, he cau 
 tiously peered over the edge and looked down. 
 It was dark and deep ; he saw nothing. 
 
 Roland Clewe stepped back ; he put his hands 
 over his eyes and thought. Now he compre 
 hended everything clearly. The weight of the 
 shell had been too great for its supports. The for 
 ward part, which contained the propelling mech 
 anism, was much heavier than the other end, and 
 had gone down first, so that the shell had turned 
 over and had fallen perpendicularly, striking the 
 ground with the point of the cone. Then its 
 tremendous propelling energy, infinitely more 
 powerful than any dynamic force dreamed of in 
 the preceding century, was instantly generated. 
 The inconceivably rapid motion which forced it 
 forward like a screw must have then commenced, 
 and it had bored itself down deep into the solid 
 earth. 
 
 " Roland, dear," said Margaret, stepping quietly 
 up to him, tears on her pale countenance, " don t 
 you think it can be hoisted up again ?" 
 
 " I hope not," said he. 
 
 " Why do you say that ?" she asked, aston 
 ished. 
 
 " Because," he answered, " if it has not pene 
 trated far enough into the earth to make it utter- 
 
 9
 
 130 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 ly out of our power to get it again, the thing is a 
 failure." 
 
 " More than that," thought Margaret ; " if it 
 has gone down entirely out of our reach, the 
 thing is a failure all the same, for I don t believe 
 he can ever be induced to make another."
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 THE TRACK OF THE SHELL 
 
 DURING the course of his inventive life Roland 
 Clewe had become accustomed to disappoint 
 ments ; he was very much afraid, indeed, that 
 he was beginning to expect them. If that really 
 happened, there would be an end to his career. 
 
 But when he spoke in this way to Margaret, 
 she almost scolded him. 
 
 " How utterly absurd it is," she said, " for a 
 man who has just discovered the north pole to 
 sit down in an arm-chair and talk in that way !" 
 
 " I didn t discover it," he said ; " it was Sammy 
 and Gibbs who found the pole. As for me I 
 don t suppose I shall ever see it." 
 
 "I am not so sure of that," she said. "We 
 may yet invent a telescope which shall curve its 
 reflected rays over the rotundity of the earth 
 and above the highest icebergs, so that you and 
 I may sit here and look at the waters of the pole 
 gently splashing around the great buoy." 
 
 " And charge a dollar apiece to all other people 
 who would like to look at the pole, and so we 
 might make much money," said he. " But I 
 must really go and do something ; I shall go 
 crazy if I sit here idle." 
 
 Margaret knew that the loss of the shell was
 
 132 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 the greatest blow that Roland had ever yet re 
 ceived. His ambitions as a scientific inventor 
 were varied, but she was well aware that for some 
 years he had considered it of great importance 
 to do something which would bring him in money 
 enough to go on with his investigations and labors 
 without depending entirely upon her for the nec 
 essary capital. If he could have tunnelled a 
 mountain with this shell, or if he had but par 
 tially succeeded in so doing, money would have 
 come to him. He would have made his first pe 
 cuniary success of any importance. 
 
 " What are you going to do, Roland ?" said she, 
 as he rose to leave the room. 
 
 " I am going to find the depth of the hole that 
 shell has made. It ought to be filled up, and 
 I must calculate how many loads of earth and 
 stones it will take to do it." 
 
 That afternoon he came to Mrs. Raleigh s 
 house. 
 
 " Margaret," he exclaimed, " I have lowered a 
 lead into that hole with all the line attached 
 which we have got on the place, and we can touch 
 no bottom. I have telegraphed for a lot of sound 
 ing-wire, and I must wait until it shall arrive be 
 fore I do anything more." 
 
 " You must be very, very careful, Roland, when 
 you are doing that work," said Margaret. " Sup 
 pose you should fall in !" 
 
 "I have provided against that," said he. "I 
 have laid a floor over the hole with only a small 
 opening in it, so there is no danger. And an 
 other curious thing I must tell you our line is 
 not wet : we have struck no water !"
 
 THE TRACK OF THE SHELL 133 
 
 When Margaret visited the Works the next day 
 she found Roland Clewe and a number of work 
 men surrounding the flooring which had been laid 
 over the hole. They were sounding with a wind 
 lass which carried an immense reel of wire. The 
 wire was extremely thin, but the weight of that 
 portion of it which had already been unwound 
 was so great that four men were at the handles 
 of the windlass. 
 
 Roland came to meet Margaret as she entered. 
 
 " The lead has gone down six miles," he said, 
 in a low voice, " and we have not touched the 
 bottom yet." 
 
 "Impossible!" she cried. " Roland, it cannot 
 be ! The wire must be coiling itself up some 
 where. It is incredible ! The lead cannot have 
 gone down so far !" 
 
 " Leads have gone down as far as that before 
 this," said he. " Soundings of more than six 
 miles have been obtained at sea." 
 
 She went with him and stood near the wind 
 lass. For an hour she remained by his side, and 
 still the reel turned steadily and the wire de 
 scended into the hole. 
 
 " Shall you surely know when it gets to the 
 bottom ?" said she. 
 
 " Yes," he answered. "When the electric but 
 ton under the lead shall touch anything solid, or 
 even anything fluid, this bell up here will ring." 
 
 She stayed until she could stay no longer. She 
 knew it would be of no use to urge Roland to 
 leave the windlass. Very early the next morn 
 ing a note was brought to her before she was up, 
 and on it was written:
 
 134 THE GREAT STONE OP SARJDIS 
 
 "We have touched bottom at a depth of fourteen and an 
 eighth miles." 
 
 When Roland came to Mrs. Raleigh s house, 
 about nine o clock that morning, his face was 
 pale and his whole form trembled. 
 
 " Margaret," he cried, " what are we going to do 
 about it ? It is wonderful ; I cannot appreciate 
 it. I have had all the men up in the office this 
 morning and pledged them to secrecy. Of course 
 they won t keep their promises, but it was all 
 that I could do. I can think of no particular 
 damage which would come to me if this thing 
 were known, but I cannot bear that the public 
 should get hold of it until I know something my 
 self. Margaret, I don t know anything." 
 
 " Have you had your breakfast ?" she asked. 
 
 " No," he said ; " I haven t thought of it." 
 
 "Did you eat anything last night ?" 
 
 " I don t remember," he answered. 
 
 "Now I want you to come into the dining- 
 room," said she. " I had a light breakfast some 
 time ago, and I am going to eat another with 
 you. I want you to tell me something. There 
 was a man here the other day with a patent 
 machine for making button-holes you know the 
 old-fashioned button-holes are coming in again 
 and if this is a good invention it ought to sell, 
 for nearly everybody has forgotten how to make 
 button-holes in the old way." 
 
 " Oh, nonsense !" said Roland. " How can you 
 talk of such things? I can t take my mind 
 
 " I know you can t," she interrupted. " You 
 are all the time thinking of that everlasting old
 
 THE TRACK OF THE SHELL 135 
 
 hole in the ground. Well, I am tired of it ; do 
 let us talk of something else." 
 
 Margaret Raleigh was much more than tired 
 of that phenomenal hole in the earth which had 
 been made by the automatic shell ; she was 
 frightened by it. It was something terrible to 
 her ; she had scarcely slept that night, and she 
 needed breakfast and change of thought as much 
 as Roland. 
 
 But it was not long before she found that it 
 was impossible to turn his thoughts from that 
 all-absorbing subject. All she could do was to 
 endeavor to guide them into quiet channels. 
 
 "What are you going to do this morning?" she 
 asked, towards the close of the breakfast. 
 
 " I am going to try to take the temperature of 
 that shaft at various points," said he. 
 
 " That will be an excellent thing," she an 
 swered ; " you may make valuable discoveries ; 
 but I should think the heat at that great depth 
 would be enough to melt your thermometers." 
 
 " It did not melt my lead or my sounding- 
 wire," said he. And as he said these words her 
 heart fell. 
 
 The temperature of this great perforation was 
 taken at many points, and when Roland brought 
 to Margaret the statement of the height of the 
 mercury at the very bottom she was astounded 
 and shocked to find that it was only eighty-three 
 degrees. 
 
 " This is terrible !" she ejaculated. 
 
 "What do you mean?" he asked in surprise. 
 " That is not hot. Why, it is only summer 
 weather."
 
 136 THE GREAT STOXE OF SARDIS 
 
 But she did not think it terrible because it was 
 so hot ; the fact that it was so cool had shocked 
 her. In such temperature one could live ! A 
 great source of trust and hope had been taken 
 from her. 
 
 "Roland," she said, sinking into a chair, "I 
 don t understand this at all. I always thought 
 that it became hotter and hotter as one went 
 down into the earth ; and I once read that at 
 twenty miles below the surface, if the heat in 
 creased in proportion as it increased in a mine, 
 the temperature must be over a thousand de 
 grees Fahrenheit. Your instrument could not 
 have registered properly ; perhaps it never went 
 all the way down ; and perhaps it is all a mis 
 take. It may be that the lead did not go down 
 so far as you think." 
 
 He smiled; he was becoming calmer now, for 
 he was doing something : he was obtaining re 
 sults. 
 
 " Those ideas about increasing heat at increas 
 ing depths are old-fashioned, Margaret," he said. 
 "Recent science has given us better theories. It 
 is known that there is great heat in the interior 
 of the earth, and it is also known that the trans 
 mission of this heat towards the surface depends 
 upon the conductivity of the rocks in particular 
 locations. In some places the heat comes very 
 near the surface, and in others it is very, very far 
 down. More than that, the temperature may rise 
 as we go down into the earth and afterwards fall 
 again. There may be a stratum of close-grained 
 rock, possibly containing metal, coming up from 
 the interior in an oblique direction and bringing
 
 THE TRACK OF THE SHELL 137 
 
 the heat towards the surface ; then below that 
 there may be vast regions of other rocks which 
 do not readily conduct heat, and which do not 
 originate in heated portions of the earth s inte 
 rior. When we reach these, we must find the 
 temperature lower, as a matter of course. Now 
 I have really done this. A little over five miles 
 down my thermometer registered ninety -one, 
 and after that it began to fall a little. But the 
 rocks under us are poor conductors of heat ; and, 
 moreover, it is highly probable that they have no 
 near communication with the source of internal 
 heat." 
 
 " I thought these things were more exact and 
 regular," said she; " I supposed if you went down 
 a mile in one place, you would find it as hot as 
 you would in another." 
 
 " Oh no," said he. " There is nothing regular 
 or exact in nature ; even our earth is not a per 
 fect sphere. Nature is never mathematically cor 
 rect. You must always allow for variations. In 
 some parts of the earth its heated core, or what 
 ever it is, must be very, very far down." 
 
 At this moment a happy thought struck Mar 
 garet. 
 
 " How easy it would be, Roland, for you to ex 
 amine this great hole ! I can do it ; anybody can 
 do it. It s perfectly amazing when you think of 
 it. All you have to do is to take your Artesian- 
 ray machine into that building and set it over 
 the hole ; then you can light the whole interior, 
 all the way down to the bottom, and with a tele 
 scope you can see everything that is in it." 
 
 " Yes," said he ; " but I think I can do it better
 
 138 THE GREAT STONE OP SARDIS 
 
 than that. It would be very difficult to transfer 
 the photic borer to the other building, and I can 
 light up the interior perfectly well by means of 
 electric lights. I can even lower a camera down 
 to the very bottom and take photographs of the 
 interior." 
 
 "Why, that would be perfectly glorious !" cried 
 Margaret, springing to her feet, an immense re 
 lief coming to her mind with the thought that to 
 examine this actual shaft it would not be neces 
 sary for anybody to go down into it. 
 
 " I should go to work at that immediately," 
 said he, " but I must have a different sort of 
 windlass one that shall be moved by an engine. 
 I will rig up the big telescope too, so that we can 
 look down when we have lighted up the bottom." 
 
 It required days to do all that Roland Clewe 
 had planned. A great deal of the necessary work 
 was done in his own establishment, and much ma 
 chinery besides was sent from New York. When 
 all was ready many experiments were made with 
 the electric lights and camera, and photographs 
 of inexpressible value and interest were taken at 
 various points on the sides of this wonderful per 
 pendicular tunnel. 
 
 At last Clewe was prepared to photograph the 
 lower portion of the shaft. With a peculiar cam 
 era and a powerful light five photographs were 
 taken of the very bottom of the great shaft 
 four in horizontal directions and one immediate 
 ly below the camera. When these photographs 
 were printed by the improved methods then in 
 vogue, Clewe seized the pictures and examined 
 them with eager haste. For some moments he
 
 THE TRACK OP THE SHELL 139 
 
 stood silent, his eyes faxed upon the photographs 
 as if there was nothing else in this world ; but all 
 he saw on each was an irregular patch of light. 
 He thrust the prints aside, and in a loud, sharp 
 voice he gave orders to bring the great telescope 
 and set it up above the hole. The light was still 
 at the bottom, and the instant the telescope was 
 in position Clewe mounted the step-ladder and 
 directed the instrument downward. In a few 
 moments he gave an exclamation, and then he 
 came down from the ladder so rapidly that he 
 barely missed falling. He went into his office 
 and sent for Margaret. When she came he 
 showed her the photographs. 
 
 " See !" he said. " What I have found is noth 
 ing ; even a camera shows nothing, and when I 
 look down through the glass I see nothing. It is 
 just what the Artesian ray showed me ; it is noth 
 ing at all !" 
 
 " I should think," said she, speaking very slow 
 ly, " that if your sounding-lead had gone down 
 into nothing, it would have continued to go 
 down indefinitely. What was there to stop it if 
 there is nothing there ?" 
 
 " Margaret," said he, " I don t know anything 
 about it. That is the crushing truth. I can find 
 out nothing at all. When I look down through 
 the earth by means of the Artesian ray I reach a 
 certain depth and then I see a void ; when I look 
 down through a perfectly open passage to the 
 same depth, I still see a void." 
 
 " But, Roland," said Margaret, holding in her 
 hand the view taken of the bottom of the shaft, 
 "what is this in the middle of the proof? It is
 
 140 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 darker than the rest, but it seems to be all cov 
 ered up with mistiness. Have you a magnifying- 
 glass ?" 
 
 Roland found a glass, and seized the photo 
 graph. He had forgotten his usual courtesy. 
 
 " Margaret," he cried, "that dark thing is my 
 automatic shell ! It is lying on its side. I can 
 see the greater part of it. It is not in the hole it 
 made itself ; it is in a cavity. It has turned over, 
 and lies horizontally ; it has bored down into a 
 cave, Margaret into a cave a cave with a solid 
 bottom a cave made of light !" 
 
 "Nonsense!" said Margaret. "Caves cannot 
 be made of light ; the light that you see comes 
 from your electric lamp." 
 
 " Not at all !" he cried. " If there was anything 
 there, the light of my lamp would show it. Dur 
 ing the whole depth of the shaft the light showed 
 everything and the camera showed everything ; 
 you can see the very texture of the rocks ; but 
 when the camera goes to the bottom, when it en 
 ters this space into which the shaft plainly leads, 
 it shows nothing at all, except what I may be said 
 to have put there. I see only my great shell sur 
 rounded by light, resting on light !" 
 
 " Roland," said Margaret, " you are crazy ! 
 Perhaps it is water which fills that cave, or what 
 ever it is." 
 
 " Not at all," said Roland. " It presents no ap 
 pearance of water, and when the camera came up 
 it was not wet. No ; it is a cave of light." 
 
 He sat for some minutes silently gazing out of 
 the window. Margaret drew her chair closer to 
 him. She took one of his hands in both of hers.
 
 " CLKWE MOUNTED THE STEP-LADDER"
 
 THE TRACK OF THE SHELL 141 
 
 "Look at me, Roland !" she said. "What are 
 you thinking about ?" 
 
 He turned his face upon her, but said nothing. 
 She looked straight into his eyes, and she needed 
 no Artesian ray to enable her to see through them 
 into his innermost brain. She saw what was fill 
 ing that brain ; it w r as one great, overpowering 
 desire to go down to the bottom of that hole, to 
 find out what it was that he had discovered. 
 
 "Margaret, you hurt me !" he exclaimed, sud 
 denly. In the intensity of the emotion excited 
 by what she had discovered, her finger-nails had 
 nearly penetrated through his skin. She had felt 
 as if she would hold him and hold him forever, 
 but she released his hand. 
 
 "We haven t talked about that button-hole ma 
 chine," she said. " I want your opinion of it." 
 To her surprise, Roland began immediately to 
 discuss the new invention of which she had 
 spoken, and asked her to describe it. He was not 
 at all anxious now to tell Margaret what he was 
 thinking of in connection with the track of the 
 shell.
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 CAPTAIN HUBBELL DECLINES TO GO WHALING 
 
 THE most impatient person on board the Dip- 
 sey was Captain Jim Hubbell. Sarah Block was 
 also very anxious to go home as soon as matters 
 could be arranged for the return journey, and 
 she talked a great deal of the terrible fate which 
 would be sure to overtake them if they should be 
 so unfortunate as to stay until the season of the 
 arctic night ; but, after all, she was not as impa 
 tient as Captain Hubbell. She simply wanted to 
 go home ; but he not only greatly desired to re 
 turn to his wife and family, but he wanted to do 
 something else before he started south ; he want 
 ed to go whaling. He considered himself the 
 only man in the whole world who had a chance 
 to go whaling, and he chafed as he thought of 
 the hindrances which Mr. Gibbs was continually 
 placing in the way of this, the grandest of all 
 sports. 
 
 Mr. Gibbs was a mild man, and rather a quiet 
 one ; but he thoroughly understood the impor 
 tance of the investigations he was pursuing in the 
 polar sea, and placed full value upon the oppor 
 tunity w r hich had come to him of examining the 
 wonders of a region hitherto locked up from civil 
 ized man. Captain Hubbell was astonished to
 
 CAPTAIN HUBBELL DECLINES TO GO WHALING 143 
 
 find that Mr. Gibbs was as hard and unyielding 
 as an iceberg during his explorations and sound 
 ings. It was of no use to talk to him of whaling ; 
 he had work before him, and he must do it. 
 
 But the time came when Mr. Gibbs relented. 
 The Dipscy had sailed around the whole boundary 
 of the polar sea ; observations, surveys, and maps 
 had been made, and the general geography of the 
 region had been fairly well determined. There 
 still remained some weeks of the arctic day, and 
 it was desirable that they should begin their re 
 turn journey during that time ; so Mr. Gibbs in 
 formed Captain Jim that if he wanted to do a 
 little whaling, he would like him to lose no time. 
 
 Almost from the time of their arrival in the 
 polar sea the subject of whales had greatly inter 
 ested everybody on the Dipscy. Even Rovinski, 
 who had been released from his confinement af 
 ter a few days, because he had really committed 
 no actual crime except that of indulging in over 
 leaping ambition, had spent every available min 
 ute of leisure in looking for whales. It was 
 strange that nothing in this Northern region in 
 terested the people on the Dipscy (with the sole 
 exception of Mr. Gibbs) so much as these great 
 fish, which seemed to be the only visible inhabi 
 tants of the polar solitudes. There were prob 
 ably white bears somewhere on the icy shores 
 about them, but they never showed themselves ; 
 and if birds were there, they did not fly over that 
 sea. 
 
 There was reason to suppose that there were 
 a good many whales in the polar sea. Wherever 
 our party sailed, lay to, or anchored for a time.
 
 144 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 they were very sure, before long, to see a whale 
 curving his shining black back into the light, or 
 sending two beautiful jets of water up into the 
 air. Whenever a whale was seen, somebody on 
 board was sure to remark that these creatures in 
 this part of the world seemed to be very tame. 
 It was not at all uncommon to see one disport 
 himself at no great distance from the vessel for 
 an hour or more. 
 
 " If I could get among a school of whales any 
 where around Nantucket and find em as tame as 
 these fellers," said Captain Jim, " I d give a boom 
 to the whale-oil business that it hasn t had for 
 forty years." 
 
 But not long before Mr. Gibbs told the captain 
 that he might go whaling if he felt like it, the old 
 sailor had experienced a change of mind. He 
 had become a most ardent student of whales. In 
 his very circumscribed experience when a young 
 man he had seen whales, but they had generally 
 been a long way off ; and as the old-fashioned 
 method of row r ing after them in boats had even 
 then been abandoned in favor of killing them by 
 means of the rifled cannon, Captain Hubbell had 
 not seen very much of these creatures until they 
 had been towed alongside. But now he could 
 study whales at his leisure. It was seldom that 
 he had to wait very long before he would see one 
 near enough for him to examine it with a glass, 
 and he never failed to avail himself of such op 
 portunities. 
 
 The consequence of this constant and careful 
 inspection was the conclusion in Captain Hub- 
 bell s mind that there was only one whale in
 
 CAPTAIN HUBBELL DECLINES TO GO WHALING 145 
 
 the polar sea. He had noticed, and others had 
 noticed, that they never saw two at once, and the 
 captain had used his glass so often and so well 
 that one morning he stamped his foot upon the 
 deck and said to Sammy : 
 
 " I believe that s the same whale over and over 
 and over ag in. I know him like a book ; he has 
 his ways and his manners, and it isn t reasonable 
 to suppose that every whale has the same ways 
 and manners. He comes just so near the vessel, 
 and then he stops and blows. Then he suns his 
 back for a while, and then he throws up his flukes 
 and sounds. He does that as regular as if he 
 was a polar clock. I know the very shape of his 
 flukes ; and two or three days ago, as he was 
 soundin , I thought that the tip of the upper one 
 looked as if it had been damaged as if he had 
 broken it floppin about in some tight place ; and 
 ever since, when I have seen a whale, I have 
 looked for the tip of that upper fluke, and there s 
 that same old break. Every time I have looked 
 I have found it. It can t be that there are a lot 
 o whales in here and each one of em with a 
 battered fluke." 
 
 " That does look sort o queer," said Sammy, 
 reflectively. 
 
 " Sammy Block," said Captain Jim, impressive 
 ly, " it s my opinion that there s only one whale 
 in this here polar sea ; an , more than that, it s 
 my opinion that there s only one whale in this 
 world, an that that feller we ve seen is the one ! 
 Samuel Block, he s the last whale in the whole 
 world ! Now you know that I wanted to go 
 a-whalin that s natural enough but since Mr.
 
 146 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 Gibbs has got through, and has said that I could 
 take this vessel an go a-whalin if I wanted to 
 which would be easy enough, for we have got 
 guns aboard which would kill any right-whale I 
 don t want to go. I don t want to lay on my 
 dyin bed an think that I m the man that killed 
 the last whale in the world. I m commandin this 
 vessel, and I sail it wherever Mr. Gibbs tells me 
 to sail it ; but if he wants the bones of a whale to 
 take home as a curiosity, an tells me to sail this 
 vessel after that Avhale, I won t do it." 
 
 " I m with you there," said Sammy. " I have 
 been thinkin while you was talkin , an it s my 
 opinion that it s not only the last whale in the 
 world, but it s purty nigh tame. I believe it s so 
 glad to see some other movin creature in this 
 lonely sea that it wants to keep company with 
 us all the time. No, sir, I wouldn t have any 
 thing to do with killin that fish !" 
 
 The opinions of the captain and Sammy were 
 now communicated to the rest of the company 
 on board, and nearly all of them thought that 
 they had had such an idea themselves. The 
 whale certainly looked very familiar every time 
 he showed himself. 
 
 To Mr. Gibbs this lonely creature, if he were 
 such, now became an object of intense interest. 
 It was evidently a specimen of the right-whale, 
 once common in the Northern seas, skeletons of 
 which could be seen in many museums. Nothing 
 would be gained to science by his capture, and 
 Mr. Gibbs agreed with the others that it would 
 be a pity to harm this, the last of his race. 
 
 In thinking and talking over the matter Mr.
 
 CAPTAIN HUBBELL DECLINES TO GO WHALING 147 
 
 Gibbs formed a theory which he thought would 
 explain the presence of this solitary whale in the 
 polar sea. He thought it very likely that it had 
 gotten under the ice and had pursued its northern 
 journey very much as the Dipsey had pursued 
 hers, and had at last emerged, as she had, into the 
 polar sea at a place perhaps as shallow as that 
 where the submarine vessel came out from under 
 the ice. 
 
 " And if that s the case," said Captain Hubbell, 
 " it is ten to one that he has not been able to get 
 out again, and has found himself here caught just 
 as if he was in a trap. Fishes don t like to swim 
 into tight places. They may do it once, but they 
 don t want to do it again. It is this disposition 
 that makes em easy to catch in traps. I believe 
 you are right, Mr. Gibbs. I believe this whale 
 has got in here and can t get out or, at least, he 
 thinks he can t and nobody knows how long it s 
 been since he first got in. It may have been a 
 hundred years ago. There s plenty o little fish 
 in these waters for him to eat, and he s the only 
 one there is to feed." 
 
 The thought that in this polar sea with them 
 selves was a great whale, which was probably here 
 simply because he could not get out, had a de 
 pressing effect upon the minds of the party on 
 the Dipsey. There was perhaps no real reason 
 why they should fear the fate of the great fish, 
 but, after all, this subject was one which should 
 be very seriously considered. The latter part of 
 their passage under the ice had been very hazard 
 ous. Had they struck a sharp rock below them, 
 or had they been pierced by a jagged mass of ice
 
 148 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 above them, there probably would have been a 
 speedy end of the expedition ; and now, having 
 come safely out of that dangerous shallow water, 
 they shrank from going into it again. 
 
 It was the general opinion that if they would 
 sail a considerable distance to the eastward they 
 could not fail to find a deep channel by which 
 the waters of this sea communicated with Baffin s 
 Bay ; but in this case they would be obliged to 
 leave the line of longitude by which they had 
 safely travelled from Cape Tariff to the pole and 
 seek another route southward, along some other 
 line, which would end their journey they knew 
 not where. 
 
 " I am cold," said Sarah Block. "At first I got 
 along all right, with all these furs, and goin 
 down-stairs every time I felt chilly, but the freez- 
 in air is beginnin to go into my very bones like 
 needles ; and if winter is comin on, and it s goin 
 to be worse than this, New Jersey is the place for 
 me. But there s one thing that chills my blood 
 clammier than even the cold weather, and that is 
 the thought of that whale follerin us. If we get 
 down into those shaller places under the ice an 
 he takes it into his head to come along, he ll be 
 worse than a bull in a china-shop. I don t mean 
 to say that I think he ll want to do us any harm, 
 for he has never shown any sign of such a feelin , 
 but if he takes to bouncin and thrashin when he 
 scratches himself on any rocks, it 11 be a bad box 
 for us to be in." 
 
 None of the others shared these special fears of 
 Mrs. Block, but they were all as much disinclined 
 as she was to begin another submarine voyage in
 
 
 SAKAH HI.OCK ON THE MOTOR SLEDGE
 
 CAPTAIN HUBBELL DECLINES TO GO WHALING 149 
 
 the shallow waters which they had been so glad 
 to leave. 
 
 It was believed, from the general contour of 
 the surrounding region, that if the ice were all 
 melted away it would be seen that a cape pro 
 jected from the American continent eastward at 
 the point where they had entered the polar sea, 
 and that it was in crossing the submerged con 
 tinuation of this cape that they had found the 
 shallow water. Beyond and southward they knew 
 that the water was deep and safe. If they could 
 reach that portion of the sea without crossing the 
 shallow point, they would have no fears regard 
 ing their return voyage. They knew how far 
 south it was that that deep water lay, and the 
 questions before them related to the best means 
 of reaching it. 
 
 At a general council of officers, Sammy and 
 Captain Hubbell both declared that they were 
 not willing to take any other path homeward ex 
 cept one which led along the seventieth line of 
 longitude. That had brought them safely up, 
 and it would take them safely down. If they 
 went under the ice at some point eastward, how 
 were they to find the seventieth line of longitude? 
 They could not take observations down there ; 
 and they might have to go south on some other 
 line, which would take them nobody knew where. 
 Mr. Gibbs said little, but he believed that it 
 would be well to go back the way they came. 
 
 At last a plan was proposed by Mr. Marcy, and 
 adopted without dissent. The whole country 
 which lay in the direction they wished to travel 
 seemed to be an immense plain of ice and snow,
 
 150 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 with mountains looming up towards the west and 
 in the far southeast. In plaees great slabs of ice 
 seemed to be piled up into craggy masses, but in 
 general the surface of the country was quite lev 
 el, indicating underlying water. In fact, a little 
 east of the point where they had entered the po 
 lar sea great cracks and reefs, some of them ex 
 tending nearly a mile inward, broke lip the shore 
 line. The party on the Dipscy were fully able to 
 travel over smooth ice and frozen snoAv, for this 
 contingency had been thought of and provided 
 for ; but to take the Dipscy on an overland jour 
 ney would, of course, be impossible. By Mr. 
 Marcy s plan, however, it was thought that it 
 would be quite feasible for the Dipscy to sail in 
 land until she had reached a point where they 
 were sure the deep sea lay serenely beneath the 
 ice around them.
 
 CHAPTER XVTII 
 
 MR. MARCY S CANAL 
 
 THE twelve men and the one woman on board 
 the Dipsey, now lying at anchor in the polar sea, 
 were filled with a warming and cheering ardor as 
 they began their preparations for the homeward 
 journey, although these preparations included 
 what was to all of them a very painful piece of 
 work. It was found that it would be absolutely 
 necessary to disengage themselves from the elec 
 tric cord which in all their voyaging in these des 
 olate arctic regions, under water and above water, 
 had connected them with the Works of Roland 
 Clewe at Sardis, New Jersey. A sufficient length 
 of this cord, almost too slight to be called cable, to 
 reach from Cape Tariff to the pole, with a margin 
 adequate for all probable emergencies, had been 
 placed on board the Dipscy, and it was expected 
 that on her return these slender but immensely 
 strong wires would be wound up, instead of being 
 let out, and so still connect the vessel with Mr. 
 Clewe s office. 
 
 But the Dipsey had sailed in such devious ways 
 and in so many directions that she had laid a 
 great deal of the cable upon the bottom of the 
 polar sea, and it would be difficult, or perhaps im 
 possible, to sail back over her previous tracks and
 
 152 THE GREAT STONE OP SARDIS 
 
 take it up again ; and there was not enough of it 
 left for her to proceed southward very far and 
 still keep up her telegraphic communication. 
 Consequently it was considered best, upon start 
 ing southward, that they should cut loose from all 
 connection with their friends and the rest of the 
 world. They would have to do this anyway in a 
 short time. If they left the end of the wire in 
 some suitable position on the coast of the polar 
 sea, it might prove of subsequent advantage to 
 science, whereas if they cut loose when they were 
 submerged in the ocean, this cable from Cape 
 Tariff to the pole must always be absolutely val 
 ueless. It was therefore determined to build a 
 little house, for which they had the material, and 
 place therein a telegraph instrument connected 
 with the wire, and provided with one of the Col- 
 lison batteries, which would remain in working 
 order with a charge sufficient to last for forty 
 years, and this, with a ground - wire run down 
 through the ice to the solid earth, might make 
 telegraphic communication possible to some sub 
 sequent visitor to the pole. 
 
 But apart from the necessity of giving up con 
 nection with Sardis, the journey did not seem like 
 such a strange and solemn progress through un 
 known regions as the northern voyage had been. 
 If they could get themselves well down into the 
 deep sea at a point on the seventieth line of lon 
 gitude, they would sail directly south with every 
 confidence of emerging safely into Baffin s Bay. 
 
 The latest telegrams between Sardis and the 
 polar sea were composed mostly of messages of 
 the warmest friendship and encouragement. If
 
 * -*~*~ 
 
 4*3 
 
 K LITTLE TKLEGKAl H-HUUSK
 
 MR. MARCY S CANAL 153 
 
 Mr. Clewe and Mrs. Raleigh felt any fears as to 
 the success of the first part of the return journey, 
 they showed no signs of them, and Sammy never 
 made any reference to his wife s frequently ex 
 pressed opinion that there was good reason to be 
 lieve that the end of this thing would be that the 
 Dipscy, with everybody on board of her, would 
 suddenly, by one of those mishaps which nobody 
 can prevent, be blown into fine dust. 
 
 Mr. Marcy s plan was a very simple one. The 
 Dipscy carried a great store of explosive appliances 
 of various patterns and of the most improved kinds, 
 and some of them of immense power, and Mr. 
 Marcy proposed that a long line of these should 
 be laid over the level ice and then exploded. The 
 ice below them would be shivered into atoms, and 
 he believed that an open channel might thus be 
 made, through which the Dipscy might easily pro 
 ceed. Then another line of explosives would be 
 laid ahead of the vessel, and the length of the 
 canal increased. This would be a slow method of 
 proceeding, but it was considered a sure one. 
 
 As to the progress over the snow and ice of those 
 who were to lay the lines of shells, that would be 
 easy enough. It had been supposed that it might 
 be necessary for the party to make overland trips, 
 and for this purpose twenty or more electric- 
 motor sledges had been provided. These sledges 
 were far superior to any drawn by dogs or rein 
 deer ; each one of them, mounted on broad run 
 ners of aluminium, was provided with a small en 
 gine, charged at the vessel with electricity enough 
 to last a week, and was propelled by means of a 
 light metal wheel with sharp points upon its out-
 
 154 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 er rim. This wheel was under the fore part of the 
 sledge, and, revolving rapidly, its points caught in 
 the ice or frozen snow and propelled the sledge at 
 a good rate of speed. The wheel could be raised 
 or lowered, so that its points should take more or 
 less hold of the ice, according as circumstances de 
 manded. In descending a declivity it could be 
 raised entirely, so that the person on the sledge 
 might coast, and it could at any time be brought 
 down hard to act as a brake. 
 
 As soon as it was possible to get everything 
 in order, a party of six men, on electric sledges, 
 headed by Mr. Marcy, started southward over 
 the level ice, carrying with them a number of 
 shells, which were placed in a long line, and con 
 nected by an electric wire with the Dipscy. When 
 the party had returned and the shells were ex 
 ploded, the most sanguine anticipations of Mr. 
 Marcy were realized. A magnificent canal three 
 miles long lay open to the south. 
 
 Now the anchor of the Dipscy was weighed, 
 and our party bade, farewell to the polar sea. The 
 great ball buoy, with its tall pole and weather- 
 vane, floated proudly over the northern end of 
 the earth s axis. The little telegraph-house was 
 all in order, and made as secure as possible, and 
 under it the Dipscy people made a " cache " of 
 provisions, leaving a note in several languages 
 to show what they had done. 
 
 " If the whale wants to come ashore to get 
 somethin to eat and send a message, why, here s 
 his chance !" said Sammy ; " but it strikes me that 
 if any human beings ever reach this pole again, 
 they won t come the way we came, and they ll
 
 
 
 THEY CKASF.D OPERATIONS
 
 MR. MARCY S CANAL 155 
 
 not see this little house, for it won t take many 
 snow-storms even if they are no worse than 
 some of those we have seen to cover it up out 
 o sight." 
 
 " I don t believe the slightest good will ever re 
 sult on account of leaving this instrument here," 
 said Mr. Gibbs ; " but it seemed the right thing 
 to do, and I would not be satisfied to go away 
 and leave the useless end of the cable in these 
 regions. We will set up the highest rod we have 
 by the little house, and then we can do no more." 
 
 When the Dipsey started, everybody on board 
 looked over the stern to see if they could catch a 
 glimpse of their old companion, the whale. Near 
 ly all of them were sorry that it was necessary to 
 go away and desert this living being in his lonely 
 solitude. They had not entered the canal when 
 they saw the whale. Two tall farewell spouts rose 
 into the air, and then his tail with its damaged 
 fluke was lifted aloft and waved in a sort of gi 
 gantic adieu. Cheers and shouts of good - bye 
 came from the Dipsey, and the whale disappeared 
 from their sight. 
 
 " I hope he won t come up under us," said Mrs. 
 Block. " But I don t believe he will do that. He 
 always kept at a respectful distance, and as long as 
 we are goin to sail in a canal, I wouldn t mind in 
 the least if he followed us. But as for goin under 
 water with him I don t want anybody to speak 
 of it." 
 
 Our exploring party now found their arctic life 
 much more interesting than it had lately been, 
 for, from time to time, they were all enabled to 
 leave the vessel and travel, if not upon solid land,
 
 156 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 upon very solid ice. The Dipscy carried several 
 small boats, and even Sarah Block frequently 
 landed and took a trip upon a motor sledge. 
 Sometimes the ice was rough, or the frozen 
 snow was piled up into hillocks, and in such 
 cases it was easy enough to walk and draw the 
 light sledges ; but as a general thing the people 
 on the sledges were able to travel rapidly and 
 pleasantly. The scenery was rather monotonous, 
 with its everlasting stretches of ice and snow, but" 
 in the far distance the mountains loomed up in 
 the beautiful colors given them by an arctic at 
 mosphere, and the rays of the sun still brighten 
 ed the landscape at all hours. Occasionally ani 
 mals, supposed to be arctic foxes, were seen at a 
 afreat distance, and there were those in the com- 
 
 o 
 
 pany who declared that they had caught sight of 
 a bear. But hunting was not encouraged. The 
 party had no need of fresh meat, and there was 
 important work to be done which should not be 
 interfered with by sporting expeditions. 
 
 There were days of slow progress, but of varied 
 and often exciting experiences, for sometimes the 
 line of Mr. Marcy s canal lay through high masses 
 of ice, and here the necessary blasting was often 
 of a very startling character. They expected to 
 cease their overland journey before they reached 
 the mountains, which on the south and west were 
 piled up much nearer to them than those in other 
 quarters, but they were surprised to find their 
 way stopped much sooner than they had expect 
 ed it would be by masses of icebergs, which stood 
 up in front of them out of the snowy plain. 
 
 When they were within a few miles of these
 
 MR. MARCY S CANAL 157 
 
 glittering eminences they ceased further opera 
 tions and held a council. It was perfectly pos 
 sible to blow a great hole in the ice and descend 
 into the sea at this point, but they would have 
 preferred going farther south before beginning 
 their submarine voyage. To the eastward of the 
 icebergs they could see with their glasses great 
 patches of open water, and this would have pre 
 vented the making of a canal around the ice 
 bergs, for it would have been impossible to sur 
 vey the route on sledges or to lay the line of 
 bombs. 
 
 A good deal of discussion followed, during 
 which Captain Hubbell strongly urged the plan 
 of breaking a path to the open water, and finding 
 out what could be done in the way of sailing south 
 in regular nautical fashion. If the Dipscy could 
 continue her voyage above water he was in favor 
 of her doing it, but even Captain Jim Hubbell 
 could give no good reason for believing that if 
 the vessel got into the open water the party 
 would not be obliged to go into winter-quarters 
 in these icy regions ; for in a very few weeks the 
 arctic winter would be upon them. Once under 
 the water, they would not care whether it was 
 light or dark, but in the upper air it would be 
 quite another thing. 
 
 So Captain Hubbell s plan was given up, but it 
 was generally agreed that it would be a very wise 
 thing, before they took any further steps, to as 
 cend one of the icebergs in front of them and see 
 what was on the other side. 
 
 The mountain-climbing party consisted of Mr. 
 Gibbs, Mr. Marcy, and three of the most active
 
 158 THE GREAT STONE OF SARD1S 
 
 of the men. Sammy Block wanted to go with 
 them, but his wife would not allow him to do it. 
 
 " You can take possession of poles, Sammy," 
 said she, "for that is the thing you are good at, 
 but when it comes to slidin down icebergs on the 
 small of your back you are out of place ; and if 
 I get that house that Mr. Clewe lives in now, but 
 which he is goin to give up when he gets mar 
 ried, I don t want to live there alone. I can t 
 think of nothin dolefuler than a widow with a 
 polar rheumatism, and that s what I m pretty 
 sure I m goin to have." 
 
 The ascent of the nearest iceberg was not such 
 a difficult piece of work as it would have been in 
 the days when Sammy Block and Captain Hub- 
 bell were boys. The climbers wore ice-shoes with 
 leather suckers on the soles, such as the feet of 
 flies are furnished with, so that it was almost im 
 possible for them to slip ; and when they came 
 to a sloping surface, where it was too steep for 
 them to climb, they made use of a motor sledge 
 furnished with a wheel different from the others. 
 Instead of points, this wheel had on its outer rim 
 a series of suckers, similar to those upon the soles 
 of the shoes of the party. As the wheel, which 
 was of extraordinary strength, revolved, it held 
 its rim tightly to whatever surface it was pressed 
 against, without reference to the angle of said 
 surface. In 1941, with such a sledge, Martin Gal- 
 linet, a Swiss guide, ascended seventy-five feet 
 of a perpendicular rock face on Monte Rosa. The 
 sledge, slowly propelled by its wheel, went up the 
 face of the rock as if it had been a fly climbing 
 up a pane of glass, and Gallinet, suspended below
 
 MR. MARCY S CANAL 159 
 
 this sledge by a strap under his arms, was hauled 
 to the top of the precipice. 
 
 It was not necessary to climb any such preci 
 pices in ascending an iceberg, but there were 
 some steep slopes, and up these the party were 
 safely carried, one by one, by what they called 
 their Fly-foot Sledge. 
 
 After an hour or two of climbing, our party 
 safely reached the topmost point of the iceberg, 
 and began to gaze about them. They soon found 
 that beyond them there were other peaks and 
 pinnacles, and that it would have been difficult to 
 make a circuit which would enable them to con 
 tinue Mr. Marcy s plan of a canal along the level 
 ice. Far beyond them, to the south, ice hills and 
 ice mountains were scattered here and there. 
 
 Suddenly Mr. Gibbs gave a shout of surprise. 
 
 " I have been here before," said he. 
 
 " Of course you have," replied Mr. Marcy. 
 " This is Lake Shiver. Don t you see, away over 
 there on the other side of the open water below 
 us, that little dark spot in the icy wall ? That is 
 the frozen polar bear. Take your glass and see 
 if it isn t."
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 THE ICY GATEWAY 
 
 WHEN Mr. Gibbs and his party returned to the 
 Dipsey, after descending the iceberg, their report 
 created a lively sensation. 
 
 "Why, it s like goin home," said Mrs. Block. 
 " Perhaps I may find my shoes." 
 
 It was not a very strange thing that they 
 should have again met with this little ice-locked 
 lake, for they had endeavored to return by a 
 route as directly south as the other had been di 
 rectly north. But no one had expected to see 
 the lake again, and they were not only surprised, 
 but pleased and encouraged. Here was a spot 
 where they knew the water was deep enough for 
 perfectly safe submarine navigation, and if they 
 could start here under the ice they would feel 
 quite sure that they would meet with no obsta 
 cles on the rest of their voyage. 
 
 As there was no possible entrance to this lake 
 from the point where the Dipsey now lay at the 
 end of her canal, Sammy proposed that they 
 should make a descent into the water at the 
 place where they were, if, after making sound 
 ings, they should find the depth sufficient. Then 
 they might proceed southward as well as if they 
 should start from Lake Shiver.
 
 THE ICY GATEWAY l6l 
 
 But this did not suit Mr. Gibbs. He had a 
 very strong desire to reach the waters of the lit 
 tle lake, because he knew that at their bottom 
 lay the telegraphic cable which he had been 
 obliged to abandon, and he had thought he might 
 be able to raise this cable and re-establish tele 
 graphic communication with Cape Tariff and 
 New Jersey. 
 
 Sammy thought that Mr. Gibbs s desire could 
 be accomplished by sinking into the water in 
 which they now lay and sailing under the ice 
 bergs to the lake, but Mr. Gibbs did not favor 
 this. He was afraid to go under the icebergs. 
 To be sure, they had already sailed under one of 
 them when the Dipscy had made her way north 
 ward from the lake, but they had found that the 
 depth of water varied very much in different 
 places, and the icebergs in front of them might 
 be heavier, and therefore more deeply sunken, 
 than those which they had previously passed 
 under. 
 
 If it were possible to extend their canal to 
 Lake Shiver, Mr. Gibbs wanted to do it, but if 
 they should fail in this, then, of course, they 
 would be obliged to go down at this or some 
 adjacent spot. 
 
 " It s all very well," said Captain Hubbell, who 
 was a little depressed in spirits because the time 
 was rapidly approaching when he would no long 
 er command the vessel, " but it s one thing to 
 blow a canal through fields of flat ice, and an 
 other to make it all the way through an iceberg ; 
 but if you think you can do it, I am content. I d 
 like to sail above water just as far as we can go."
 
 162 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 Mr. Gibbs had been studying the situation, and 
 some ideas relating to the solution of the prob 
 lem before him were forming themselves in his 
 mind. At last he hit upon a plan which he 
 thought might open the waters of Lake Shiver 
 to the Dipsey, and, as it would not take very long 
 to test the value of his scheme, it was determined 
 to make the experiment. 
 
 There were but few on board who did not know 
 that if a needle were inserted into the upper part- 
 of a large block of ice, and were then driven 
 smartly into it, the ice would split. Upon this 
 fact Mr. Gibbs based his theory of making an en 
 trance to the lake. 
 
 A climbing party, larger than the previous 
 one, set out for the iceberg, carrying with them, 
 on several sledges, a long and heavy iron rod, 
 which was a piece of the extra machinery on the 
 Dipscy, and some explosives of a special kind. 
 
 When the iceberg had been reached, several of 
 the party ascended with a hoisting apparatus, 
 and with this the rod was hauled to the top and 
 set up perpendicularly on a central spot at the 
 summit of the iceberg, the pointed end down 
 ward, and a bomb of great power fastened to its 
 upper end. This bomb was one designed to exert 
 its whole explosive power in one direction, and 
 it was so placed that this force would be exerted 
 downward. When all was ready, the electric-wire 
 attachment to the bomb was carried down the 
 iceberg and carefully laid on the ice as the party 
 returned to the Dipsey. 
 
 Everybody, of course, was greatly interested 
 in this experiment. The vessel was at least two
 
 
 LAKK SHIVER REDISCOVERED
 
 THE ICY GATEWAY 163 
 
 miles from the iceberg, but in the clear atmos 
 phere the glittering eminence could be plainly 
 seen, and, with a glass, the great iron rod stand 
 ing high up on its peak was perfectly visible. 
 All were on deck when Mr. Gibbs stood ready to 
 discharge the bomb on top of the rod, and all 
 eyes were fixed upon the iceberg. 
 
 There was an explosion not very loud, even 
 considering the distance and those who had 
 glasses saw the rod disappear downward. Then 
 a strange grating groan came over the snow- 
 white plain, and the great iceberg was seen to 
 split in half, its two peaks falling apart from 
 each other. The most distant of the two great 
 sections toppled far backward, and with a great 
 crash turned entirely over, its upper part being 
 heavier than its base. It struck an iceberg be 
 hind it, slid upon the level ice below, crashed 
 through this, and sank out of sight. Then it was 
 seen to slowly rise again, but this time with its 
 base uppermost. The other and nearest section, 
 much smaller, fell against an adjacent iceberg, 
 where it remained leaning for some minutes, 
 but soon assumed an erect position. The line 
 of cleavage had not been perpendicular, and the 
 greater part of the base of the original iceberg 
 remained upon the nearer section. 
 
 When the scene of destruction had been thor 
 oughly surveyed from the deck of the Dipscy, 
 volunteers were called for to go and investigate 
 the condition of affairs near the broken iceberg. 
 Four men, including Mr. Gibbs and Mr. Marcy, 
 went out upon this errand, a dangerous one, for 
 they did not know how far the ice in their direc-
 
 164 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 tion might have been shattered or weakened by 
 the wreck of the iceberg. They found that little 
 or no damage had been done to the ice between 
 them and the nearer portion of the berg, and, 
 pursuing an eastward course on their sledges, 
 they were enabled to look around this lofty mass 
 and see a body of open water in the vicinity of 
 the more distant section almost covered with 
 floating ice. Pressing forward still farther east-, 
 ward, and going as far south as they dared, they 
 were enabled at last to see that the two portions 
 of the original iceberg were floating at a consid 
 erable distance from each other, and that, there 
 fore, there was nothing to prevent the existence 
 of an open passage between them into the lake. 
 
 When the party returned with this report work 
 was suspended, but the next day blasting parties 
 went out. The canal was extended to the base 
 of the nearer iceberg, a small boat was rowed 
 around it, and after a careful survey it was found 
 that unless the sections of the iceberg moved to 
 gether there Avas plenty of room for the Dipscy 
 to pass between them. 
 
 When the small boat and the sledges had re 
 turned to the vessel, and everything was prepared 
 for the start along the canal and into the lake, 
 one of the men came to Captain Hubbell and re 
 ported that the Pole Rovinski was absent. For 
 one brief moment a hope arose in the soul of 
 Samuel Block that this man might have fallen 
 overboard and floated under the ice, but he Avas 
 not allowed to entertain this pleasant thought. 
 Mr. Marcy had seized a glass, and with it was 
 sweeping the icy plain in all directions.
 
 i 
 
 HE WAS STRUCK FULL IN THE FACE
 
 THE ICY GATEWAY 165 
 
 " Hello !" he cried. " Some one come here ! Do 
 you see that moving speck off there to the north ? 
 I believe that is the scoundrel." 
 
 Several glasses were now directed to the spot. 
 
 " It is the Pole !" cried Sammy. " He has sto 
 len a sledge and is running away !" 
 
 " Where on earth can he be running to ?" ex 
 claimed Mr. Gibbs. " The man is insane !" 
 
 Mr. Marcy said nothing. His motor sledge, a 
 very fine one, furnished with an unusually large 
 \vheel, was still on the deck. He rushed tow 
 ards it. 
 
 "I am going after him !" he shouted. "Let 
 somebody come with me. He s up to mischief ! 
 He must not get away !" 
 
 " Mischief !" exclaimed Mr. Gibbs. " I don t 
 see what mischief he can do. He can t live out 
 here without shelter ; he ll be dead before morn 
 ing." 
 
 " Not he," cried Sammy. " He s a born devil, 
 with a dozen lives ! Take a gun with you, Mr. 
 Marcy, and shoot him if you can t catch him !" 
 
 Mr. Marcy took no gun ; he had no time to 
 Stop for that. In a few moments he was on the 
 ice with his sledge, then away he went at full 
 speed towards the distant moving black object. 
 
 Two men were soon following Mr. Marcy, but 
 they were a long way behind him, for their sledges 
 did not carry them at the speed with which he 
 was flying over the ice and snow. 
 
 It was not long before Rovinski discovered 
 that he was pursued, and, frequently turning his 
 head backward, he saw that the foremost sledge 
 was gaining upon him ; but, crouching as low
 
 1 66 THE GREAT STONE OP SARDIS 
 
 as he could to avoid a rifle-shot, he kept on his 
 way. 
 
 But he could not help turning his head every 
 now and then, and at one of these moments his 
 sledge struck a projecting piece of ice and was 
 suddenly overturned. Rovinski rolled out on the 
 hard snow, and the propelling wheel revolved rap 
 idly in the air. The Pole gathered himself up 
 quickly and turned his sledge back into its proper 
 position. He did this in such haste that he for 
 got that the wheel was still revolving, and there 
 fore was utterly unprepared to see the sledge 
 start away at a great speed, leaving him stand 
 ing on the snow, totally overwhelmed by aston 
 ishment and rage. 
 
 Marcy was near enough to view this catastro 
 phe, and he stopped his sledge and burst out 
 laughing. Now that the fellow was secure, Marcy 
 would wait for his companions. When the others 
 had reached him, the three proceeded towards Ro 
 vinski, who was standing facing them and wait 
 ing. As soon as they came within speaking dis 
 tance he shouted : 
 
 " Stop where you are ! I have a pistol, and I 
 will shoot you in turn if you come any nearer. 
 I am a free man ! I have a right to go where I 
 please. I have lost my sledge, but I can walk. 
 Go back and tell your masters I have left their 
 service." 
 
 Mr. Marcy reflected a moment. He was armed, 
 but it was with a very peculiar weapon, intended 
 for use on shipboard in case of mutinous disturb 
 ances. It was a pistol with a short range, carrying 
 an ammonia shell. If he could get near enough
 
 I WOULD HAVE SHOWN YOU WHAT SORT OK AN IMBECILE 
 1 AM "
 
 THE ICY GATEWAY 167 
 
 to Rovinski, he could settle his business very 
 quickly ; but he believed that the pistol carried 
 by the Pole was of the ordinary kind, and dan 
 gerous. 
 
 Something must be done immediately. It was 
 very cold ; they must soon return to the vessel. 
 Suddenly, without a word, Mr. Marcy started his 
 sledge forward at its utmost speed. The Pole 
 gave a loud cry and raised his right hand, in 
 which he held a heavy pistol. For some minutes 
 he had been standing, his glove off, and this pis 
 tol clasped in his hand. He was so excited that 
 he had entirely forgotten the intense coldness of 
 the air. He attempted to aim the pistol and to 
 curl his forefinger around the trigger, but his 
 hand and wrist were stiff, his fingers were stiff. 
 His pistol-barrel pointed at an angle downward ; 
 he had no power to straighten it or to pull the 
 trigger. Standing thus, his face white with the 
 rage of impotence and his raised hand shaking 
 as if it had been palsied, he was struck full in the 
 face with the shell from Marcy s wide -mouthed 
 pistol. The brittle capsule burst, and in a sec 
 ond, insensible from the fumes of the powerful 
 ammonia it contained, Rovinski fell flat vipon the 
 snow. 
 
 When the Pole had been taken back to the ves 
 sel, and had been confined below, Mr. Gibbs, ut 
 terly unable to comprehend the motives of the 
 man in thus rushing off to die alone amid the 
 rigors of the polar regions, went down to talk to 
 him. At first Rovinski refused to make any an 
 swers to the questions put to him, but at last, ap 
 parently enraged by the imputation that he must
 
 1 68 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 be a weak-minded, almost idiotic, man to behave 
 himself in such an imbecile fashion, he suddenly 
 blazed out : 
 
 "Imbecile!" he cried. "Weak-minded! If it 
 had not been for that accursed sledge, I would have 
 shown you what sort of an imbecile I am. I can t 
 get away now, and I will tell you how I would have 
 been an idiot. I would have gone back to the pole, 
 at least to the little house, where, like a fool, you 
 left the end of your cable open to me, open to any-- 
 body on board who might be brave enough to take 
 advantage of your imbecility. I had food enough 
 with me to last until I got back to the pole, and I 
 knew of the t cache which you left there. Long, 
 long before you ever reached Cape Tariff, and be 
 fore your master was ready to announce your dis 
 coveries to the world, I would have been using 
 your cable. I would have been announcing my 
 discoveries, not in a cipher, but in plain words ; 
 not to Sardis, but to the Observatory at St. Peters 
 burg. I would have proclaimed the discovery of 
 the pole, I would have told of your observations 
 and your experiments ; for I am a man of science, 
 I know these things. I would have had the honor 
 and the glory. The north pole would have been 
 Rovinski s Pole ; that open sea would have been 
 Rovinski s Sea. All you might have said after 
 wards would have amounted to nothing ; it would 
 have been an old story ; I would have announced 
 it long before. The glory would have been mine 
 mine for all ages to come." 
 
 " But, you foolish man," exclaimed Mr. Gibbs, 
 "you would have perished up there no fire, no 
 shelter but that cabin, and very little food. Even
 
 THK / // .SAT SLOWLY SAIKKD UKTWKKN 
 THK TWO ri KICIIT SKCTIONS OK 
 THK ICEliKKc; "
 
 THE ICY GATEWAY 169 
 
 if, kept warm and alive by your excitement and 
 ambition, you had been able to send one message, 
 you would have perished soon afterwards." 
 
 " What of that ?" said Rovinski. " I would have 
 sent my message ; I would have told how the 
 north pole was found. The glory and the honor 
 would have been mine." 
 
 When Mr. Gibbs related what was said at this 
 interview, Sammy remarked that it was a great 
 pity to interfere with ambition like that, and 
 Sarah acknowledged to her husband, but to him 
 only, that she had never felt her heart sink as it 
 had sunk when she saw Mr. Marcy coming back 
 with that black -faced and black-hearted Pole 
 with him. 
 
 "I felt sure," said she, "that we had got rid of 
 him, and that after this we would not be a party 
 of thirteen. It does seem to me as if it is wicked 
 to take such a creature back to civilized people. 
 It s like carrying diseases about in your, clothes, 
 as people used to do in olden times." 
 
 " Well," said Sammy, " if we could fumigate this 
 vessel and feel sure that only the bad germs would 
 shrivel, I d be in favor of doin it." 
 
 In less than two hours after the return of Mr. 
 Marcy with his prisoner, the Dipscy started along 
 the recently made canal, carefully rounded the 
 nearer portion of the broken iceberg, and slowly 
 sailed between the two upright sections. These 
 were sufficiently far apart to afford a perfectly 
 safe passage, but the hearts of those who gazed 
 up on their shining, precipitous sides were filled 
 with a chilling horror, for if a wind had sudden 
 ly sprung up, these two great sections of the icy
 
 170 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 mountain might have come together, cracking 
 the Dipscy as if it had been a nut. 
 
 But no wind sprang up ; the icebergs remained 
 as motionless as if they had been anchored, and 
 the Dipscy entered safely the harboring waters of 
 Lake Shiver.
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 " THAT IS HOW I LOVE YOU " 
 
 FOR several days the subject of the great per 
 foration made by the automatic shell was not 
 mentioned between Margaret and Roland. This 
 troubled her a great deal, for she thoroughly un 
 derstood her lover s mind, and she knew that he 
 had something important to say to her, but was 
 waiting until he had fully elaborated his intended 
 statement. She said nothing about it, because it 
 was impossible for her to do so. It made her feel 
 sick even to think of it, and yet she was thinking 
 of it all the time. 
 
 At last he came to her one morning, his face 
 pale and serious. She knew the moment her eyes 
 fell upon him that he had come to tell her some 
 thing, and what it was he had to tell. 
 
 " Margaret," said he, beginning to speak as soon 
 as he had seated himself, " I have made up my mind 
 about that shaft. It would be absolutely wicked 
 if I were not to go down to the bottom and see 
 what is there. I have discovered something- 
 something wonderful and I do not know what it 
 is. I can form no ideas about it, there is nothing 
 on which I can base any theory. I have done my 
 best to solve this problem without going down,
 
 172 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 but my telescope reveals nothing, my camera 
 shows me nothing at all." 
 
 She sat perfectly quiet, pallid and listening. 
 
 " I have thought over this thing by day and by 
 night," he continued, " but the conclusion forces 
 itself upon me, steadily and irresistibly, that it is 
 my duty to descend that shaft. I have carefully 
 considered everything, positively everything, con 
 nected with the safety of such a descent. The 
 air in the cavity where my shell now rests is per 
 fectly good ; I have tested it. The temperature 
 is simply warm, and there is no danger of quick 
 sands or anything of that sort, for my shell still 
 rests as immovable as when I first saw it below 
 the bottom of the shaft. 
 
 "As to the distance I should have to descend, 
 when you come to consider it, it is nothing. 
 What is fourteen miles in a tunnel through a 
 mountain ? Some of those on the Great Straight- 
 cut Pacific Railroad are forty miles in length, and 
 trains run backward and forward every day with 
 out any one considering the danger ; and yet 
 there is really more danger from one of those tun 
 nels caving in than in my perpendicular shaft, 
 where caving in is almost impossible. 
 
 " As to the danger which attends so great a de 
 scent, I have thoroughly provided against that. 
 In fact, I do not see, if I carry out my plans, how 
 there could be any danger, more than constantly 
 surrounds us, no matter what we are doing. In 
 the first place, we should not think of that great 
 depth. If a man fell down any one of the deep 
 shafts in our silver mines, he would be as thor 
 oughly deprived of life as if he should fall down
 
 THAT IS HOW I LOVE YOU 173 
 
 my shaft. But to fall clown mine and I want 
 you to consider this, Margaret, and thoroughly 
 understand it would be almost impossible. I 
 have planned out all the machinery and appli 
 ances which would be necessary, and I want to 
 describe them to you, and then, I am sure, you 
 will see for yourself that the element of danger is 
 more fully eliminated than if I should row you 
 on the lake in a little boat." 
 
 She sat quiet, still pale, still listening, her eyes 
 fixed upon him. 
 
 " I have devised a car," he said, " in which I can sit 
 comfortably and smoke my cigar while I make the 
 descent. This, at the easy and steady rate at which 
 my engines would move, would occupy less than 
 three hours. I could go a good deal faster if I 
 wanted to, but this would be fast enough. Think of 
 that fourteen miles in three hours ! It would be 
 considered very slow and easy travelling on the 
 surface of the earth. This car would be suspend 
 ed by a double chain of the very best toughened 
 steel, which would be strong enough to hold ten 
 cars the weight of mine. The windlass would be 
 moved by an electric engine of sufficient power 
 to do twenty times the work I should require of 
 it, but in order to make everything what might 
 be called supersafe, there would be attached to 
 the car another double chain, similar to the first, 
 and this would be wound upon another windlass 
 and worked by another engine, as powerful as the 
 first one. Thus, even if one of these double 
 chains should break an accident almost impossi 
 ble or if anything should happen to one of these 
 engines, there would be another engine more
 
 174 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 than sufficient for the work. The top of this car 
 would be conical, ending in a sharp point, and 
 made of steel, so that if any fragment in the wall 
 of the tunnel should become dislodged and fall, it 
 would glance from this roof and fall between the 
 side of the car and the inner surface of the shaft; 
 for the car is to be only twenty-six inches in di 
 ameter quite wide enough for my purpose- and 
 this would leave at least ten inches of space all 
 around the car. But, as I have said before, the 
 sides of this tunnel are hard and smooth. The 
 substances of which they are composed have been 
 pressed together by a tremendous force. It is as 
 unlikely that anything should fall from them as 
 that particles should drop from the inside of a 
 rifle-barrel. 
 
 " I admit, Margaret, that this proposed jour 
 ney into the depths of the earth is a very peculiar 
 one, but, after all, it is comparatively an easy and 
 safe performance when compared to other things 
 that men have done. The mountain-climbers of 
 our fathers time, who used to ascend the highest 
 peaks with nothing but spiked shoes and sharp 
 ened poles, ran far more danger than would be 
 met by one who would descend such a shaft as 
 mine. 
 
 " And then, Margaret, think of what our friends 
 on board the Dipscy have been and are doing ! 
 Think of the hundreds of miles they have trav 
 elled through the unknown depths of the sea ! 
 Their expedition was fifty times as hazardous as 
 the trip of a few hours which I propose." 
 
 Now Margaret spoke. 
 
 " But I am not engaged to be married to Sam-
 
 BE1UKK HK COULD TOUCH HER SIIK HAD FAI.T.F.N
 
 THAT IS HOW I LOVE YOU 175 
 
 uel Block, or to Mr. Gibbs, or to any of the rest 
 of them." 
 
 He drew his chair closer to her, and he took 
 both of her hands in his own. He held them as 
 if they had been two lifeless things. 
 
 " Margaret," he said, " you know I love you, 
 and 
 
 "Yes," she interrupted, "but I know that you 
 love science more." 
 
 " Not at all," said he, " and I am going to show 
 you how greatly mistaken you are. Tell me not 
 to go down that shaft, tell me to live on without 
 ever knowing what it is I have discovered, tell 
 me to explode bombs in that great hole until I 
 have blocked it up, and I will obey you. That is 
 how I love you, Margaret." 
 
 She gazed into his eyes, and her hands, from 
 merely lifeless things, became infused with a 
 gentle warmth ; they moved as if they might 
 return the clasp in which they were held. But 
 she did not speak, she simply looked at him, and 
 he patiently waited. Suddenly she rose to her 
 feet, withdrawing her hands from his hold as if 
 he had hurt her. 
 
 " Roland," she exclaimed, " you think you know 
 all that is in my heart, but you do not. You 
 know it is filled with dread, with horror, with a 
 sickening fear, but it holds more than that. It 
 holds a love for you which is stronger than any 
 fear or horror or dread. Roland, you must go 
 down that shaft, you must know the great dis 
 covery you have made even if you should never 
 be able to come back to earth again, you must 
 die knowing what it is. That is how I love you !"
 
 176 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 Roland quickly made a step forward, but she 
 moved back as if she were about to seat herself 
 again, but suddenly her knees bent beneath her, 
 and, before he could touch her, she had fallen 
 over on her side and lay senseless on the floor.
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 THE CAVE OF LIGHT 
 
 MARGARET was put into the charge of her 
 faithful house - keeper, and Roland did not see 
 her again until the evening. As she met him 
 she began immediately to talk upon some unim 
 portant subject, and there was that in her face 
 which told him that it was her desire that the 
 great thought which filled both their minds 
 should not be the subject of their conversation. 
 She told him she was going to the sea-shore for 
 a short time; she needed a change, and she would 
 go the next day. He understood her perfectly, 
 and they discussed various matters of business 
 connected with the Works. She said nothing 
 about the time of her return, and he did not al 
 lude to it. 
 
 On the day that Margaret left Sardis, Roland 
 began his preparations for descending the shaft. 
 He had so thoroughly considered the machinery 
 and appliances necessary for the undertaking, 
 and had worked out all his plans in such detail, 
 in his mind and upon paper, that he knew ex 
 actly what he wanted to do. His orders for the 
 great length of chain exhausted the stock of sev 
 eral manufactories, and the engines he obtained 
 were even more powerful than he had intended
 
 178 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 them to be ; but these he could procure immedi 
 ately, and for smaller ones he would have been 
 obliged to wait. 
 
 The circular car which was intended to move 
 up and down the shaft, and the peculiar machinery 
 connected with it, with the hoisting apparatus, 
 were all made in his Works. His skilled artisans 
 labored steadily day and night. 
 
 It was ten days before he was ready to make 
 his descent. Margaret was still at the sea-shore. 
 They had written to each other frequently, but 
 neither had made mention of the great shaft. 
 Even when he was ready to go down he said 
 nothing to any one of any immediate intention 
 of descending. There was a massive door which 
 covered the mouth of the pit ; this he ordered 
 locked and went away. 
 
 The next morning he walked into the building 
 a little earlier than was his custom, called for the 
 engineers, and for Mr. Bryce, who was to take 
 charge of everything connected with the descent, 
 and announced that he was going down as soon 
 as preparations could be made. 
 
 Mr. Bryce and the men who were to assist him 
 were very serious. They said nothing that was 
 not necessary. If their employer had been any 
 other man than Roland Clewe it is possible they 
 might have remonstrated with him. But they 
 knew him, and they said and did nothing more 
 than was their duty. 
 
 The door of the shaft was removed, the car 
 which had hung high above it was lowered to the 
 mouth of the opening, and Roland stepped within 
 it and seated himself. Above him and around him
 
 THE CAVE OF LIGHT 179 
 
 were placed geological tools and instruments of 
 many kinds ; a lantern, food and drink ; every 
 thing, in fact, which he could possibly be pre 
 sumed to need upon this extraordinary journey. 
 A telephone was at his side by which he could 
 communicate at any time with the surface of the 
 earth. There were electric bells ; there was every 
 thing to make his expedition safe and profitable. 
 When he gave the word to start the engines, 
 there were no ceremonies, and nothing was said 
 out of the common. 
 
 When the conical top of the car had descended 
 below the surface, a steel grating, with orifices for 
 the passage of the chains, was let down over the 
 mouth of the shaft, and the downward journey 
 was begun. In the floor of the car were grated 
 openings, through which Clewe coiild look down 
 ward; but although the shaft below him was brill 
 iantly illuminated by electric lights placed under 
 the car, it did not frighten him or make him 
 dizzy to look clown, for the aperture did not ap 
 pear to be very far below him. The upper part 
 of the car was partially open, and bright lights 
 shone upon the sides of the shaft. 
 
 As he slowly descended, he could see the vari 
 ous strata appearing and disappearing in the 
 order in which he knew them. Not far below the 
 surface he passed cavities which he believed held 
 water ; but there was no water in them now. He 
 had expected these, and had feared that upon 
 their edges there might be loosened patches of 
 rock or soil, but everything seemed tightly packed 
 and hard. If anything had been loosened it had 
 gone down already.
 
 I So THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 Down, down he went until he came to the eter 
 nal rocks, where the inside of the shaft was pol 
 ished as if it had been made of glass. It became 
 warmer and warmer, but he knew that the heat 
 would soon decrease. The character of the rocks 
 changed, and he studied them as he went down, 
 and continually made notes. 
 
 After a time the polished rocky sides of the 
 shaft grew to be of a solemn sameness. Clewe 
 ceased to take notes ; he lighted a cigar and 
 smoked. He tried to quietly imagine what he 
 would come to when he got to the bottom ; it 
 would be some sort of a cave into which his shell 
 had made an opening. He wondered what sort 
 of a cave it would be, and how high the roof of it 
 was from the bottom. He wondered if his gar 
 dener had remembered what he had told him 
 about the flower-beds in front of his house ; he 
 wanted certain changes made which Margaret 
 had suggested. He tried to keep his mind on 
 the flower-beds, but it drifted away to the cave 
 below. He began to wonder if he would come 
 to some underground body of water where he 
 would be drowned; but he knew that was a silly 
 thought. If the shaft had gone through subter 
 ranean reservoirs, the w r ater of these would have 
 run out, and before they reached the bottom of 
 the shaft would have dissipated into mist. 
 
 Down, down he went. He looked at his watch; 
 he had been in that car only an hour and a half. 
 Was that possible ? He had supposed he was al 
 most at the bottom. Suddenly he thought of 
 the people above, and of the telephone. Why 
 had not some of them spoken to him ? It was
 
 "UK LIGHTED A CIGAR"
 
 THE CAVE OF LIGHT l8l 
 
 shameful ! He instantly called Bryce, and his 
 heart leaped with joy when he heard the familiar 
 voice in his ear. Now he talked steadily on for 
 more than an hour. He had his gardener 
 called, and he told him all that he wanted done 
 in the flower-beds. He gave many directions in 
 regard to the various operations of the Works. 
 Things had been put back a great deal of late. 
 He hoped soon to have everything going on in 
 the ordinary way. There were two or three in 
 ventions in which he took particular interest, 
 and of these he talked at great length with Mr. 
 Bryce. Suddenly, in the midst of some talk 
 about hollow steel rods, he told Bryce to let the 
 engines move faster ; there was no reason why 
 the car should go so slowly. 
 
 The windlasses moved with a little more rapid 
 ity, and Clewe now turned and looked at an in 
 dicator which was placed on the side of the car, 
 a little over his head. This instrument showed 
 the depth to which he had descended, but he had 
 not looked at it before, for if there should be any 
 thing which would make him nervous it would 
 be the continual consideration of the depth to 
 which he had descended. 
 
 The indicator showed that he had gone down 
 fourteen and one eighth miles. Clewe turned 
 and sat stiffly in his seat. He glanced down and 
 saw beneath him only an illuminated hole, fading 
 away at the bottom. Then he turned to speak 
 to Bryce, but to his surprise he could think of 
 nothing to say. After that he lighted another 
 cigar and sat quietly. 
 
 Some minutes passed he did not know how
 
 1 82 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 many and he looked down through the grat 
 ings at the floor of the car. The electric light 
 streamed downward through a deep orifice, which 
 did not fade away and end in nothing ; it ended 
 in something dark and glittering. Then, as he 
 came nearer and nearer to this glittering thing, he 
 saw that it was his automatic shell, lying on its 
 side, but he could see only a part of it through 
 the opening of the bottom of the shaft which he 
 was descending. In an instant, as it seemed to 
 him, the car emerged from the narrow shaft, and 
 he seemed to be hanging in the air at least there 
 was nothing he could see except that great shell, 
 lying some forty feet below him. But it was im 
 possible that the shell should be lying on the air ! 
 He rang to stop the car. 
 
 " Anything the matter ?" cried Bryce, almost 
 at the same instant. 
 
 " Nothing at all," Clewe replied. " It s all right, 
 I am near the bottom." 
 
 In a state of the highest nervous excitement, 
 Clewe gazed about him. He was no longer in a 
 shaft ; but where was he ? Look out on what side 
 he would, he saw nothing but the light going out 
 from his lamps, but which seemed to extend in 
 definitely all about him. There seemed to be no 
 limit to his vision in any direction. Then he 
 leaned over the side of his car and looked down 
 ward. There was the great shell directly under 
 him, but under it and around it, extending as far 
 beneath it as it extended in every other direction, 
 was the light from his own lamps, and yet that 
 great shell, weighing many tons, lay as if it rested 
 upon the solid ground !
 
 THE CAVE OF LIGHT 183 
 
 After a few moments Clewe shut his eyes ; 
 they pained him. Something seemed to be com 
 ing into them like a fine frost in a winter wind. 
 Then he called to Bryce to let the car descend 
 very slowly. It went down, down, gradually ap 
 proaching the great shell. When the bottom of 
 the car was within two feet of it, Clewe rang to 
 stop. He looked down at the complicated ma 
 chine he had worked upon so long, with some 
 thing like a feeling of affection. This he knew, it 
 was his own. Looking upon its familiar form, he 
 felt that he had a companion in this region of 
 unreality. 
 
 Pushing back the sliding door of the car, Clewe 
 sat upon the bottom and cautiously put out his 
 feet and legs, lowering them until they touched 
 the shell. It Avas firm and solid. Although he 
 knew it must be so, the immovability of the great 
 mass of iron gave him a sudden shock of mysteri 
 ous fear. How could it be immovable when there 
 was nothing under it ? 
 
 But he must get out of that car, he must ex 
 plore, he must find out. There certainly could 
 be no danger so long as he could cling to his 
 shell. 
 
 He now cautiously got out of the car and let 
 himself down upon the shell. It was not a pleas 
 ant surface to stand upon, being uneven, with 
 great spiral ribs, and Clewe sat down upon it, 
 clinging to it with his hands. Then he leaned 
 over to one side and looked beneath him. The 
 shadows of that shell went down, down, down, 
 until it made him sick to look at it. He drew 
 back quickly, clutched the shell with his arms,
 
 184 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 and shut his eyes. He felt as if he were about to 
 drop with it into a measureless depth of atmos 
 phere. 
 
 But he soon raised himself. He had not come 
 down here to be frightened, to let his nerves run 
 away with him. He had come to find out things. 
 What was it that this shell rested upon ? Seizing 
 two of the ribs with a strong clutch, he let him 
 self hang over the sides of the shell until his feet 
 were level with its lower side. They touched 
 something hard. He pressed them downward ; 
 it was very hard. He raised himself and stood 
 upon the substance which supported the shell. 
 It was as solid as any rock. He looked down 
 and saw his shadow stretching far beneath him. 
 It seemed as if he were standing upon petri 
 fied air. He put out one foot and he moved a 
 little, still holding on to the shell. He walked, as 
 if upon solid air, to the foremost end of the long 
 projectile. It relieved him to turn his thoughts 
 from what w r as around him to this familiar object. 
 He found its conical end shattered and broken. 
 
 After a little he slowly made his way back to 
 the other end of the shell, and now his eyes be 
 came somewhat accustomed to the great radi 
 ance about him. He thought he could perceive 
 here and there faint indications of long, nearly 
 horizontal lines lines of different shades of light. 
 Above him, as if it hung in the air, was the round, 
 dark hole through which he had descended. 
 
 He rose, took his hands from the shell, and 
 made a few steps. He trod upon a horizontal 
 surface, but in putting one foot forward, he felt 
 a slight incline. It seemed to him that he was
 
 THE CAVE OF LIGHT 185 
 
 about to slip downward ! Instantly he retreated 
 to the shell and clutched it in a sudden frenzy of 
 fear. 
 
 Standing thus, with his eyes still wandering, he 
 heard the bell of the telephone ring. Without 
 hesitation he mounted the shell and got into the 
 car. Bryce was calling him. 
 
 " Come up," he said. " You have been down 
 tli ere long enough. No matter what you have 
 found, it is time for you to come up." 
 
 Roland Clewe was not accustomed to receive 
 commands, but he instantly closed the sliding 
 door of the car, seated himself, and put his mouth 
 to the telephone. 
 
 " All right," he said. "You can haul me up, but 
 go very slowly at first." 
 
 The car rose. When it reached the orifice in 
 the top of the cave of light, Clewe heard the coni 
 cal steel top grate slightly as it touched its edge, 
 for it was still swinging a little from the motion 
 given to it by his entrance ; but it soon hung 
 perfectly vertical and went silently up the shaft.
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 C I- E W E S T H E O R Y 
 
 SEATED in the car, which was steadily ascend- " 
 ing the great shaft, Roland Clewe took no no 
 tice of anything about him. He did not look at 
 the brilliantly lighted interior of the shaft, he 
 paid no attention to his instruments, he did not 
 consult his watch, nor glance at the dial which 
 indicated the distance he had travelled. Several 
 times the telephone bell rang, and Bryce inquired 
 how he was getting along ; but these questions he 
 answered as briefly as possible, and sat looking 
 down at his knees and seeing nothing. 
 
 When he was half-way up, he suddenly became 
 conscious that he was very hungry. He hurried 
 ly ate some sandwiches and drank some water, 
 and then, again, he gave himself up entirely to 
 mental labor. When, at last, the noise of machin 
 ery above him and the sound of voices aroused 
 him from his abstraction, the car emerged upon 
 the surface of the earth, Clewe hastily slid back 
 the door and stepped out. At that instant he 
 felt himself encircled by a pair of arms. Bryce 
 was near by, and there were other men by the 
 engines, but the owner of those arms thought 
 nothing of this. 
 
 "Margaret !" cried Clewe, "how came you here?"
 
 "HE KELT HIMSELF ENCIRCLED"
 
 CLEWE S THEORY 187 
 
 " I have been here all the time," she exclaimed ; 
 " or, at least, nearly all the time." And as she spoke 
 she drew back and looked at him, her eyes full of 
 happy tears. " Mr. Bryce telegraphed to me the 
 instant he knew you were going down, and I was 
 here before you had descended half-way." 
 
 "What!" he cried. "And all those messages 
 came from you ?" 
 
 " Nearly all," she answered. " But tell me, Ro 
 land tell me ; have you been successful ? What 
 have you discovered ?" 
 
 " I am successful," he answered. " I have dis 
 covered everything !" 
 
 Mr. Bryce came forward. 
 
 " I will speak to you all very soon," said Clewe. 
 " I can t tell you anything now. Margaret, let 
 us go. I shall want to talk to you directly, but 
 not until I have been to my office. I will meet 
 you at your house in a very few minutes." And 
 with that he left the building and fairly ran to 
 his office. 
 
 A quarter of an hour later Roland entered 
 Margaret s library, where she sat awaiting him. 
 He carefully closed the doors and windows. 
 They sat side by side upon the sofa. 
 
 " Now, Roland," she said, " I cannot wait one 
 second longer. What is it that you have dis 
 covered ?" 
 
 " Margaret," said he, " I am afraid you will have 
 to wait a good many seconds. If I were to tell 
 you directly what I have discovered, you would 
 not understand it. I am the possessor of won 
 derful facts, but I believe also that I am the mas 
 ter of a theory more wonderful. The facts I
 
 1 88 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 found out when I got to the bottom of the shaft, 
 but the theory I worked out coming up." 
 
 "But give them to me quickly!" she cried. 
 "The facts first I can wait for the theory." 
 
 " No," he said, " I cannot do it; I must tell you 
 the whole thing as I have it arranged in my mind. 
 Now, in the first place, you must understand that 
 this earth was once a comet." 
 
 "Oh, bother your astronomy, I really can t un 
 derstand it ! What did you find in the bottom of" 
 that hole ?" 
 
 " You must listen to me," he said. " You can 
 not comprehend a thing I say if I do not give it 
 to you in the proper order. There have been a 
 great many theories about comets, but there is 
 only one of them in which I have placed any be 
 lief. You know that as a comet passes around 
 the sun, its tail is always pointed away from the 
 sun, so that no matter how rapidly the head shall 
 be moving in its orbit, the end of the tail in 
 order to keep its position must move with a 
 rapidity impossible to conceive. If this tail were 
 composed of nebulous mist, or anything of that 
 sort, it could not keep its position. There is 
 only one theory which could account for this 
 position, and that is that the head of a comet is a 
 lens and the tail is light. The light of the sun 
 passes through the lens and streams out into space, 
 forming the tail, which does not follow the comet 
 in the inconceivable manner generally supposed, 
 but is constantly renewed, always, of course, 
 stretching away from the sun !" 
 
 " Oh, dear !" ejaculated Margaret. " I have 
 read that."
 
 CLKWE S THEORY 189 
 
 "A little patience," he said. "When I arrived 
 at the bottom of the shaft, I found myself in a 
 cleft, I know not how large, made in a vast mass 
 of transparent substance, hard as the hardest 
 rock and transparent as air in the light of my 
 electric lamps. My shell rested securely upon 
 this substance. I walked upon it. It seemed as 
 if I could see miles below me. In my opinion, 
 Margaret, that substance was once the head of a 
 comet." 
 
 " What is the substance ?" she asked, hastily. 
 
 " It is a mass of solid diamond !" 
 
 Margaret screamed. She could not say one 
 word. 
 
 " Yes," said he, " I believe the whole central 
 portion of the earth is one great diamond. When 
 it was moving about in its orbit as a comet, 
 the light of the sun streamed through this dia 
 mond and spread an enormous tail out into space ; 
 after a time this nucleus began to burn." 
 
 " Burn !" exclaimed Margaret. 
 
 " Yes, the diamond is almost pure carbon ; why 
 should it not burn ? It burned and burned and 
 burned. Ashes formed upon it and encircled it ; 
 still it burned, and when it was entirely covered 
 with its ashes it ceased to be transparent, it 
 ceased to be a comet ; it became a planet, and re 
 volved in a different orbit. Still it burned with 
 in its covering of ashes, and these gradually 
 changed to rock, to metal, to everything that 
 forms the crust of the earth." 
 
 She gazed upon him, entranced. 
 
 " Some parts of this great central mass of car 
 bon burn more fiercely than other parts. Some
 
 IpO THE GREAT STONE OF HARDIS 
 
 parts do not burn at all. In volcanic regions the 
 fires rage ; where my great shell went down it 
 does not burn at all. Now you have my theory. 
 It is crude and rough, for I have tried to give it 
 to you in as few words as possible." 
 
 "Oh, Roland," she cried, "it is absurd! Dia 
 mond ! Why, people will think you are crazy. 
 You must not say such a thing as that to any 
 body. It is simply impossible that the greater 
 part of this earth should be an enormous dia- 
 mond." 
 
 " Margaret," he answered, "nothing is impossi 
 ble. The central portion of this earth is com 
 posed of something ; it might just as well be 
 diamond as anything else. In fact, if you con 
 sider the matter, it is more likely to be, because 
 diamond is a very original substance. As I have 
 said, it is almost pure carbon. I do not intend 
 to say one word of what I have told you to any 
 one at least, until the matter has been well con 
 sidered but I am not afraid of being thought 
 crazy. Margaret, will you look at these ?" 
 
 He took from his pocket some shining sub 
 stances resembling glass. Some of them were 
 flat, some round ; the largest was as big as a 
 lemon, others were smaller fragments of various 
 sizes. 
 
 "These are pieces of the great diamond which 
 were broken when the shell struck the bottom of 
 the cave in which I found it. I picked them up 
 as I felt my way around this shell, when walking 
 upon, what seemed to me like solid air. I thrust 
 them into my pocket, and I would not come to 
 you, Margaret, with this story, until I had gone
 
 CLEWE S THEORY 191 
 
 to my office to find out if these fragments were 
 really diamond. I tested them ; their substance 
 is diamond !" 
 
 Half dazed, she took the largest piece in her 
 hand. 
 
 " Roland," she whispered, "if this is really a 
 diamond, there is nothing like it known to man !" 
 
 " Nothing, indeed," said he. 
 
 She sat staring at the great piece of glowing 
 mineral which lay in her hand. Its surface was 
 irregular ; it had many faces ; the subdued light 
 from the window gave it the appearance of ani 
 mated water. He felt it necessary to speak. 
 
 " Even these little pieces," he said, " are most 
 valuable jewels." 
 
 She still sat silent, looking at the glowing ob 
 ject she held. 
 
 " You see, these are not like the stones which 
 are found in our diamond-fields," he said. " Those, 
 most likely, were little, unconsumed bits of the 
 original mass, afterwards gradually forced up 
 from the interior in the same way that many 
 metals and minerals are forced up, and then 
 rounded and dulled by countless ages of grind 
 ing and abrasion, due to the action of rocks or 
 water." 
 
 " Roland," she cried, excitedly, " this is riches 
 beyond imagination ! What is common wealth 
 to what you have discovered ? Every living being 
 on earth could 
 
 "All, Margaret," he interrupted, "do not let 
 your thoughts run that way. If my discovery 
 should be put to the use of which you are think 
 ing, it would bring poverty, not wealth, to the
 
 192 THE GREAT STONE OF SAUDIS 
 
 world, and not a diamond on earth would he worth 
 more than a common pebble. Everywhere, in 
 civilized countries and in barbaric palaces, peo 
 ple would see their riches vanish before them as 
 if it had been blighted by the touch of an evil 
 magician." 
 
 She trembled. "And these are they to be val 
 ued as common pebbles?" 
 
 " Oh no," said he ; " so long as that great shaft 
 is mine, these broken fragments are to us riches, 
 far ahead of our wildest imaginations." 
 
 " Roland," she cried, "are you going down into 
 that shaft for more of them ?" 
 
 "Never, never, never again," he said. "What 
 we have here is enough for us, and if I were of 
 fered all the good that there is in this world, 
 which money cannot buy, I would never go down 
 into that cleft again. There was one moment 
 when I stood in that cave in which an awful ter 
 ror shot into my soul which I shall never be able 
 to forget. In the light of my electric lamps, sent 
 through a vast transparent mass, I could see noth 
 ing,, but I could feel. I put out my foot and I 
 found it was upon a sloping surface. In another 
 instant I might have slid where ? I cannot bear 
 to think of it !" 
 
 She threw her arms around him and held him 
 tightly.
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 THE LAST DIVE OF THE DIPSEY 
 
 WHEN the engines of the Dipsey had stopped, 
 and she was quietly floating upon the smooth 
 surface of Lake Shiver, Mr. Gibbs greatly desired 
 to make a connection with the telegraphic cable 
 which was stretched at the bottom of the ocean, 
 beneath him, and to thus communicate with Sardis. 
 But when this matter was discussed in council, 
 several objections were brought against it, the 
 principal one being that the cable could not be 
 connected with the Dipsey without destroying its 
 connection with the little station near the pole ; 
 and although this means of telegraphic communi 
 cation with regions which might never be visited 
 again might well be considered as possessing no 
 particular value, still it was such a wonderful 
 thing to lay a telegraph line to the pole that it 
 seemed the greatest pity in the world to after 
 wards destroy it. 
 
 The friends of this exploring party had not heard 
 from it since it left the polar sea, but there could 
 be no harm in making them wait a little longer. 
 If the return voyage under the ice should be as 
 successfully accomplished as the first submarine 
 cruise, it would not be very many days before the 
 Dipsty should arrive at Cape Tariff. She would
 
 194 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 not proceed so slowly as she did when coming 
 north, for now her officers would feel that in a 
 measure they knew the course, and moreover 
 they would not be delayed by the work of laying 
 a cable as they progressed. 
 
 So it was agreed that it would be a waste of 
 time and labor to stop here and make connection 
 with the cable, and preparations were made for a 
 descent to a safe depth beneath the surface, when 
 they would start southward on their homeward 
 voyage. Mrs. Sarah Block, wrapped from head 
 to foot in furs, remained on deck as long as her 
 husband would allow her to do so. For some 
 time before her eyes had been slowly wandering 
 around the edge of that lonely piece of water, and 
 it was with an unsatisfied air that she now stood 
 gazing from side to side. At last Sammy took 
 her by the arm and told her she must go below, 
 for they were going to close up the hatchways. 
 
 " Well," said Sarah, with a sigh, " I suppose I 
 must give em. up; they were the warmest and 
 most comfortable ones I had, and I could have 
 thawed em out and dried em so that they would 
 have been as good as ever. I would not mind 
 leavin em if there was a human bein in this 
 neighborhood that would wear em ; but there 
 ain t, and it ain t likely there ever will be, and if 
 they are frozen stiff in the ice somewhere, they 
 may stay here, as good as new, for countless 
 ages !" 
 
 Of course everybody was very happy, now that 
 they were returning homeward from a voyage 
 successful beyond parallel in history, and even 
 Rovinski was beginning to assume an air of grati-
 
 THE LAST DIVE OF THE DIPSEY 1 95 
 
 fied anticipation. He had been released from his 
 confinement and allowed to attend to his duties, 
 but the trust which had been placed in him when 
 this kindness had been extended to him on a pre 
 vious occasion was wanting now. Everybody 
 knew that he was an unprincipled man, and that 
 if he could gain access to the telegraph instru 
 ment at Cape Tariff he would make trouble for 
 the real discoverer of the north pole ; so it was 
 agreed among the officers of the vessel that the 
 strictest watch must be kept on him and no shore 
 privileges be allowed him. 
 
 The southward voyage of the Dipscy was an 
 easy one and without notable incident ; and at 
 last a lookout who had been posted at the upper 
 skylight reported light from above. This meant 
 that they had reached open water southward of 
 the frozen regions they had been exploring, and 
 the great submarine voyage, the most peculiar 
 ever made by man, was ended. Captain Jim 
 Hubbell immediately put on a heavy pea-jacket 
 with silver buttons, for as soon as the vessel 
 should sail upon the surface of the sea he would 
 be in command. 
 
 When the dripping Dipscy rose from the waters 
 of the arctic regions, it might have been supposed 
 that the people on board of her were emerging 
 into a part of the world where they felt perfectly 
 at home. Cape Tariff, to which they were bound, 
 was a hundred miles away, and was itself a lonely 
 spot, often inaccessible in severe weather, and 
 they must make a long and hazardous voyage 
 from it before they could reach their homes ; but 
 by comparison with the absolutely desolate and
 
 196 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 mysterious region they had left, any part of the 
 world where there was a possibility of meeting 
 with other human beings seemed familiar and 
 homelike. 
 
 But when the Dipscy was again upon the sur 
 face of the ocean, when the light of day was shin 
 ing unobstructed upon the bold form of Captain 
 Hubbell as he strode upon the upper deck being 
 careful not to stand still lest his shoes should 
 freeze fast to the planks beneath him the party 
 on board were not so well satisfied as they ex 
 pected to be. There was a great wind blowing, 
 and the waves were rolling high. Not far away, 
 on their starboard bow, a small iceberg, tossing 
 like a disabled ship, was surging towards them, 
 impelled by a biting blast from the east, and the 
 sea was so high that sometimes the spray swept 
 over the deck of the vessel, making it impossible 
 for Captain Hubbell and the others with him to 
 keep dry. 
 
 Still the captain kept his post and roared out 
 his orders, still the Dipscy pressed forward against 
 wind and wave. Her engines were strong, her 
 electric gills were folded close to her sides, and 
 she seemed to feel herself able to contend against 
 the storm, and in this point she was heartily 
 seconded by her captain. 
 
 But the other people on board soon began to 
 have ideas of a different kind. It seemed to all 
 of them, including the officers, that this vessel, 
 not built to encounter very heavy weather, was 
 in danger, and even if she should be able to suc 
 cessfully ride out the storm, their situation must 
 continue to be a very unpleasant one. The Dipscy
 
 
 A I. OIF OF ICE SWEEPS THE LENGTH OF THE DECK
 
 THE LAST DIVE OF THE DIPSEY 197 
 
 pitched and tossed and rolled and shook herself, 
 and it was the general opinion, below decks, that 
 the best thing for her to do would be to sink into 
 the quiet depths below the surface, where she was 
 perfectly at home, and proceed on her voyage to 
 Cape Tariff in the submarine fashion to which 
 she was accustomed. 
 
 It was some time before Captain Hubbell would 
 consent to listen to such a proposition as this, but 
 when a wave, carrying on its crest a lump of ice 
 about the size of a flour barrel, threw its burden 
 on the deck of the vessel, raking it from stem to 
 stern, the captain, who had barely been missed 
 by the grating missile, agreed that in a vessel 
 with such a low rail and of such defective naval 
 principles, it would be better perhaps to sail un 
 der the water than on top of it, and so he went 
 below, took off his pea-jacket with the silver but 
 tons, and retired into private life. The Dipscy 
 then sank to a quiet depth and continued her 
 course under water, to the great satisfaction of 
 everybody on board. 
 
 On a fine, frosty morning, with a strong wind 
 blowing, although the storm had subsided, the 
 few inhabitants of the little settlement at Cape 
 Tariff saw in the distance a flag floating over the 
 water. The Dipscy had risen to the surface some 
 twenty miles from the Cape and now came brave 
 ly on, Captain Hubbell on deck, his silver buttons 
 shining in the sun. The sea was rough, but every 
 body was willing to bear with a little discomfort 
 in order to be able to see the point of land which 
 was the end of the voyage on the Dipscy, to let 
 their eyes rest as early as possible upon a wreath
 
 198 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 of smoke arising from the habitation of human 
 beings, and to catch sight of those human beings 
 themselves. 
 
 As soon as the Dipscy arrived in the harbor, 
 Sammy and most of the officers went on shore to 
 open communication with Sardis. Sarah Block 
 stayed on the vessel. She had been on shore 
 when she had arrived at Cape Tariff in the Go 
 Lightly, and her disgust with the methods of liv 
 ing in that part of the world had been freely ex-" 
 pressed. So long as she had perfectly comforta 
 ble quarters on board the good ship she did not 
 wish to visit the low huts and extremely close 
 quarters in which dwelt the people of the little 
 colony. Rovinski also remained on board, but 
 not because he wanted to do so. A watch was 
 kept upon him ; but as the Dipsey was anchored 
 some distance from the landing-place, Mr. Marcy 
 was of the opinion that if he attempted to swim 
 ashore it might be well to let him do so, for if he 
 should not be benumbed in the water into which 
 he would plunge he would certainly be frozen to 
 death as soon as he reached the shore. 
 
 The messages which came from Sardis as soon 
 as news had been received of the safe return of 
 the explorers were full of hearty congratulations 
 and friendly welcome, but they Avere not very long, 
 and Sammy said to Mr. Gibbs that he thought it 
 likely that this was one of Mr. Clewe s busy times. 
 The latter telegraphed that lie would send a vessel 
 for them immediately, and as she was now lying 
 at St. John s they would not have to wait very 
 long. 
 
 The fact was that the news of the arrival of the
 
 THE LAST DIVE OF THE DIPSEY 199 
 
 Dipscy at Cape Tariff had come to Sardis a week 
 after Clewe s descent into the shaft, and he was 
 absorbed, body and soul, in his underground dis 
 coveries. He was not wanting in sympathy, or 
 even affection, for the people who had been doing 
 his work, and his interest in their welfare and 
 their achievements was as great as it ever had 
 been, but the ideas and thoughts which now occu 
 pied his mind were of a character which lessened 
 and overshadowed every other object of consider 
 ation. Most of the messages sent to Cape Tariff 
 had come from Margaret Raleigh.
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 ROVINSKI COMES TO THE SURFACE 
 
 WHEN Sammy Block and his companion ex 
 plorers had journeyed from Cape Tariff to Sardis, 
 they found Roland Clewe ready to tender a most 
 grateful welcome, and to give full and most in 
 terested attention to the stories of their advent 
 ures and to their scientific reports. For a time 
 he was willing to allow his own great discovery 
 to lie fallow in his mind, and to give his whole 
 attention to the wonderful achievement which 
 had been made under his direction. 
 
 He had worked out his theory of the formation 
 and present constitution of the earth ; had written 
 a full and complete report of what he had seen 
 and done, and was ready, when he thought the 
 proper time had arrived, to announce to the world 
 his theories and his facts. Moreover, he had sent 
 to several jewelers and mineralogists some of the 
 smaller fragments which he had picked up in the 
 cave of light, and these specialists, while report 
 ing the material of the specimens purest dia 
 mond, expressed the greatest surprise at their 
 shape and brilliancy. They had evidently not 
 been ground or cut, and yet their sharp points 
 and glittering surfaces reflected light as if they 
 had been in the hands of a diamond-cutter. One
 
 ROVINSKI COMES TO THE SURFACE 2OI 
 
 of these experts wrote to Clewe asking him if he 
 had been digging diamonds with a machine which 
 broke the gems to pieces. 
 
 So the soul of Roland Clewe was satisfied ; it 
 seemed to walk the air as he himself once had 
 trod what seemed to him a solid atmosphere. 
 There was now nothing that his ambition might 
 point out which would induce him to endeavor 
 to climb higher in the field of human achieve 
 ment than the spot on which he stood. From 
 this great elevation he was perfectly willing to 
 look down and kindly consider the heroic per 
 formances of those who had reached the pole, and 
 who had anchored a buoy on the extreme northern 
 point of the earth s axis. 
 
 Mr. Gibbs s reports, and those of his assist 
 ants, were well worked out, and of the greatest 
 value to the scientific world, and every one who 
 had made that memorable voyage on the Dipscy 
 had stories to tell for which editors in every civil 
 ized land would have paid gold beyond all former 
 precedent. 
 
 But Roland Clewe did not care to say anything 
 to the world until he could say everything that 
 he wished to say. It had been known that he 
 had sent an expedition into Northern waters, but 
 exactly what he intended to do had not been 
 known, and what he had done had not been com 
 municated even to the telegraph - operators at 
 Cape Tariff. These had received despatches in 
 cipher from points far away to the north, but 
 while they transmitted them to Sardis they had 
 no idea of their signification. When everything 
 should be ready to satisfy the learned world, as
 
 202 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 well as the popular mind, the great discovery of 
 the pole would be announced. 
 
 In the meantime there was a suspicion in the 
 journalistic world that the man of inventions who 
 lived at Sardis, New Jersey, had done something 
 out of the common in the North. A party of peo 
 ple, one of them a woman, had been taken up 
 there and left there, and they had recently been 
 brought back. The general opinion was that 
 Clewe had endeavored to found a settlement at 
 some point north of Cape Tariff, probably for 
 purposes of scientific observation, and that he 
 had failed. The stories of these people, however, 
 would be interesting, and several reporters made 
 visits to Sardis. But they all saw Sammy, and 
 not one of them considered his communications 
 worth more than a brief paragraph. 
 
 In a week Mr. Gibbs would have finished his 
 charts, his meteorological, his geological, and geo 
 graphical reports, and a clear, succinct account of 
 the expedition, written by Clewe himself from the 
 statements of the party, would be ready for pub 
 lication ; and in the brilliantly lighted sky of dis 
 covery which now rested, one edge upon Sardis 
 and the other upon the pole, there was but one 
 single cloud, and this was Rovinski. 
 
 The ambitious and unscrupulous Pole had been 
 the source of the greatest trouble and uneasi 
 ness since he had left Cape Tariff. While there 
 he had found that he could not possibly get ashore, 
 and so had kept quiet ; but when on board the 
 vessel which had been sent to them from St. 
 John s, he had soon begun to talk to the crew, 
 and there seemed to be but one way of prevent-
 
 ROVINSKI COMES TO THE SURFACE 203 
 
 ing him from making known what had been done 
 by the expedition before its promoters were ready 
 for the disclosure, and this was to declare him a 
 maniac, whose utterances were of no value what 
 ever. He was put into close confinement, and it 
 was freely reported that he had gone crazy while 
 in the arctic regions, and that his mind had been 
 filled with all sorts of insane notions regarding 
 that part of the world. 
 
 It had been intended to put him in jail on a 
 criminal charge, but this would not prevent him 
 from talking ; and so, when he arrived in New 
 Jersey, he was sent to an insane asylum, the offi 
 cers of which were not surprised to receive him, 
 for, in their opinion, a wilder-looking maniac was 
 not to be found within the walls of the institu 
 tion. 
 
 Early on the morning of the day before the 
 world was to be electrified by the announcement 
 of the discovery of the pole, a man named William 
 Cunningham, employed in the Sardis Works, en 
 tered the large building which had been devoted 
 to the manufacture of the automatic shell, but 
 which had not been used of late and had been 
 kept locked. Cunningham was the watchman, 
 and had entered to make his usual morning 
 rounds. He had scarcely closed the door behind 
 him when, looking over towards the engines 
 which still stood by the mouth of the shaft made 
 by the automatic shell, he was amazed to see that 
 the car which had been used by Roland Clewe in 
 his descent was not hanging above them. 
 
 Utterly unable to understand this state of af 
 fairs, he ran to the mouth of the shaft. He found
 
 204 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 the great trap-door which had closed it thrown 
 back, and the grating which had been made to 
 cover the orifice after the car had descended in 
 its place. The engines were not moving, and the 
 chain on the windlass of one of them appeared 
 not to have been disturbed, but on the other 
 windlass one of the chains had been unwound. 
 Cunningham was so astonished that he could not 
 believe what he saw. He had been there the 
 night before ; everything had been in order, the 
 shaft closed, and the trap-door locked. He leaned 
 over the grating and looked down ; he could see 
 nothing but a black hole without any bottom. 
 The man did not look long, for it made him diz 
 zy. He turned and ran out of the house to call 
 Mr. Bryce. 
 
 Ivan Rovinski was not perhaps a lunatic, but 
 his unprincipled ambition had made him so dis 
 regard the principles of ordinary prudence when 
 such principles stood in his way that it could not 
 be said that he was at all times entirely sane. He 
 understood thoroughly why he had been put in an 
 asylum, and it enraged him to think that by this 
 course his enemies had obtained a great advan 
 tage over him. No matter what he might say, it 
 was only necessary to point to the fact that he 
 was in a lunatic asylum, or that he had just come 
 out of one, to make his utterances of no value. 
 
 But to remain in confinement did not suit him 
 at all, and, after three days residence in the insti 
 tution in which he had been placed, he escaped 
 and made his way to a piece of woods about two 
 miles from Sardis, where, early that year, he had 
 built himself a rude shelter, from which he might
 
 ROVINSKI COMES TO THE SURFACE 205 
 
 go forth at night and study, so far as he should 
 be able, the operations in the Works of Roland 
 Clewe. Having safely reached his retreat, he 
 lost no time in sallying forth to spy out what was 
 going on at Sardis. 
 
 He was cunning and wary, and a man of in 
 finite resource. It was not long before he found 
 out that the polar discovery had not been an 
 nounced, but he also discovered from listening 
 to the conversations of some of the workmen in 
 the village, which he frequently visited in a guise 
 very unlike his ordinary appearance, that some 
 thing extraordinary had taken place in the Sar 
 dis Works, of which he had never heard. A great 
 shaft had been sunk, the people said, by accident; 
 Mr. Clewe had gone down it in a car, and it had 
 taken him nearly three hours to get to the bottom. 
 Nobody yet knew what he had discovered, but it 
 was supposed to be something very wonderful. 
 
 The night after Rovinski heard this surprising 
 news he was in the building which had contained 
 the automatic shell. As active as a cat, he had 
 entered by an upper window. 
 
 Rovinski spent the night in that building. He 
 had with him a dark lantern, and he made the 
 most thorough examination of the machinery at 
 the mouth of the shaft. He was a man of great 
 mechanical ability and an expert in applied elec 
 tricity. He understood that machinery, with all 
 its complicated arrangements and appliances, as 
 well as if he had built it himself. In fact, while 
 examining it, he thought of some very valuable 
 improvements which might have been made in 
 it. He knew that it was an apparatus for lower-
 
 206 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 ing the car to a great depth, and, climbing into the 
 car, he examined everything it contained. Com 
 ing down, he noticed the grating, and he knew 
 what it was for. He looked over the engines 
 and calculated the strength of the chains on the 
 windlasses. He took an impression of the lock 
 of the trap-door, and when he went away in the 
 very early hours of the morning he understood 
 the apparatus which was intended to lower the 
 car as well as any person who had managed it. 
 He knew nothing about the shaft under the great 
 door, but this he intended to investigate as thor 
 oughly as he had investigated the machinery. 
 
 The next night he entered the building very 
 soon after Cunningham had gone his rounds, and 
 he immediately set to work to prepare for his 
 descent into the shaft. He disconnected one of 
 the engines, for he sneeringly said to himself 
 that the other one was more than sufficient to 
 lower and raise the car. He charged and ar 
 ranged all the batteries and put in perfect work 
 ing order the mechanism by which Clewe had 
 established a connection between the car and the 
 engines, using one of the chains as a conductor, so 
 that he could himself check or start the engines 
 if an emergency should render it necessary. 
 
 Then Rovinski, bounding around like a wild 
 animal in a cage, took out a key he had brought 
 with him, opened the trap -door, lifted it back, 
 and gazed down. He could see a beautifully cut 
 well, but that was all. But no matter how deep 
 it was, he intended to go down to the bottom 
 of it. 
 
 He started the engine and lowered the car to
 
 KOVINSKl EXAMINING THE MACHINERY
 
 ROVIXSKI COMES TO THE SURFACE 207 
 
 the ground. Then he looked up at a grating 
 which hung above it and determined to make 
 use of this protection. He could not lower it in 
 the ordinary way after he had entered the car, 
 but in fifteen minutes he had arranged a pulley 
 and rope by which, after the car had gone below 
 the surface, he could lower the grating to its 
 place. He got in, started down into the dark 
 hole, stopped the engine, lowered the grating, 
 went down a little farther, and turned on the 
 electric lights. 
 
 The descent of Rovinski was a succession of 
 the wildest sensations of amazed delight. Stra 
 tum after stratum passed before his astonished 
 eyes, and, when he had gone down low enough, 
 he allowed himself the most extravagant expres 
 sions of ecstasy. His progress was not so regular 
 and steady as that of Roland Clewe had been. 
 He found that he had perfect control of the en 
 gine and car, and sometimes he went down rapid 
 ly, sometimes slowly, and frequently he stopped. 
 As he continued to descend, his amazement at 
 the wonderful depth of the shaft became greater 
 and greater and his mind was totally unable to 
 appreciate the situation. Still he was not fright 
 ened, and went on down. 
 
 At last Rovinski emerged into the cave of 
 light. There he stopped, the car hanging some 
 twenty or thirty feet above the bottom. He 
 looked out, he saw the shell, he saw the vast ex 
 panse of lighted nothingness, he tried to imagine 
 what it was that that mass of iron rested upon. 
 If he had not seen it, he would have thought he 
 had come out into the upper air of some bottom-
 
 208 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 less cavern. But a great iron machine nearly 
 twenty feet long could not rest upon air ! He 
 thought he might be dreaming ; he sat up and 
 shut his eyes ; in a few minutes he would open 
 them and see if he still saw the same incompre 
 hensible things. 
 
 The downward passage of Rovinski had occu 
 pied a great deal more time than he had calcu 
 lated for. He had stopped so much, and had been 
 so careful to examine the walls of the shaft, that" 
 morning had now arrived in the upper world, and 
 it was at this moment, as he sat with his eyes 
 closed, that William Cunningham looked down 
 into the mouth of the shaft. 
 
 Cunningham was an observing man, and that 
 morning he had picked up a pin and stuck it in 
 the lapel of his rough coat, but he had done this 
 hastily and carelessly. The pin was of a recently 
 invented kind, being of a light, elastic metil, with 
 its head of steel. As Cunningham leaned for 
 ward the pin slipped out of his coat ; it fell 
 through one of the openings in the grati ig, and 
 descended the shaft head downward. 
 
 For the first quarter of a mile the pin went 
 swiftly in an absolutely perpendicular line, nearly 
 at the middle of the shaft. For the next three- 
 quarters of a mile it went down like a rifle-ball. 
 For the next five miles it sped on as if it had 
 been a planet revolving in space. Then, for eight 
 miles, this pin, falling perpendicularly through a 
 greater distance than any object on this earth 
 had ever falLn perpendicularly, went downward 
 with a velocity like that of light. Its head struck 
 the top of the car, which was hanging motionless
 
 " RoVINSKI, MOTIOM.KSS AM) DEAD "
 
 ROVINSKI COMES TO THE SURFACE 209 
 
 in the cave of light ; it did not glance off, for 
 its momentum was so great that it would glance 
 from nothing. It passed through that steel roof ; 
 it passed through Rovinski s head, through his 
 heart, down through the car, and into the great 
 shell which lay below. 
 
 When Mr. Bryce and several workmen came 
 running back with William Cunningham, they 
 were as much surprised as he had been, and could 
 form no theory to account for the disappearance 
 of the car. It could not have slipped down acci 
 dentally and descended by its own weight, for the 
 trap-door was open and the grating was in place. 
 They sent in great haste for Mr. Clewe, and 
 when he arrived he wasted no time in conject 
 ures, but instantly ordered that the engine which 
 was attached to the car should be started and its 
 chain wound up. 
 
 So great was the anxiety to get the car to the 
 surface of the earth that the engine which raised 
 it was run at as high a speed as was deemed safe, 
 and in a little more than an hour the car came 
 out of the mouth of the shaft, and in it sat Ivan 
 Rovinski, motionless and dead. 
 
 No one who knew Rovinski wondered that he 
 had had the courage to make the descent of the 
 shaft, and those who were acquainted with his 
 great mechanical ability were not surprised that 
 he had been able to manage, by himself, the com 
 plicated machinery which would ordinarily re 
 quire the service of several men ; but every one 
 who saw him in the car, or after he had been 
 taken out of it, was amazed that he should be 
 dead. There was no sign of accident, no percep- 
 14
 
 210 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 tible wound, no appearance, in fact, of any cause 
 why he should be a tranquil corpse and not an 
 alert and agile devil. Even when a post-mortem 
 examination was made, the doctors were puzzled. 
 A threadlike solution of continuity was discov 
 ered in certain parts of his body, but it was lost 
 in others, and the coroner s verdict was that he 
 came to his death from unknown causes while de 
 scending a shaft. The general opinion was that in 
 some way or other he had been frightened to death. 
 
 This accident, much to Roland Clewe s cha 
 grin, discovered to the public the existence of the 
 great shaft. Whether or not he would announce 
 its existence himself, or whether he would close 
 it up, had not been determined by Clewe ; but 
 when he and Margaret had talked over the mat 
 ter soon after the terrible incident, his mind was 
 made up beyond all possibility of change, and, by 
 means of great bombs, the shaft was shattered 
 and choked up for a depth of half a mile from its 
 mouth. When this work was accomplished, noth 
 ing remained but a shallow well, and, when this 
 had been rilled up with solid masonry, the place 
 where the shaft had been was as substantial as any 
 solid ground. 
 
 Now the great discovery was probably shut out 
 forever from the world, but Clewe was well sat 
 isfied. He would never make another shaft, and 
 it was not to be expected that men would plan 
 and successfully construct one which would reach 
 down to the transparent nucleus of the earth. 
 The terrible fate, whatever it was, which had 
 overtaken Rovinski, should not, if Clewe could 
 help it, overtake any other human being.
 
 ROVIXSKI COMES TO THE SURFACE 211 
 
 " But my great discovery," said he to Marga 
 ret, " that remains as wonderful as the sun, and 
 as safe to look upon ; for with my Artesian ray I 
 can bore down to the solid centre of the earth, 
 and into it, and any man can study it with no more 
 danger than if he sat in his arm-chair at home ; 
 and if they doubt what I say about the material of 
 which that solid centre is composed, we can show 
 them the fragments of it which I brought up 
 with me."
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 LAURELS 
 
 NOTHING but a perusal of the newspapers, mag 
 azines, and scientific journals of the day could 
 give any idea of the enthusiastic interest which 
 was shown all over the civilized world in Roland 
 Clewe s account of the discovery of the north 
 pole. His paper on the subject, which was the 
 first intimation the public had of the great news, 
 was telegraphed to every part of the world and 
 translated into nearly every written language. 
 Sardis became a Mecca for explorers and scientific 
 people at home and abroad, and honors of every 
 kind w-ere showered by geographical and other 
 learned societies upon Clewe and the brave com 
 pany who had voyaged under the ice. 
 
 Each member of the party who had sailed on 
 the Dipscy became a hero and spent most of 
 those days in according receptions to reporters, 
 scholars, travellers, sportsmen, and as many of 
 the general public as could be accommodated. 
 
 Sarah Block received her numerous visitors in 
 the parlor of the house which had been occupied 
 by Mr. Clewe (and which he had vacated in her 
 favor the moment he had heard an intimation 
 that she would like to have it), in a beautiful 
 gown made of the silky fibre from the pods of the
 
 LAURELS 213 
 
 American milk-weed, then generally used in the 
 manufacture of the finest fabrics. 
 
 Sarah fully appreciated her position as the 
 woman who had visited the pole, a position not 
 only unique at the time, but which she believed 
 would always remain so. In every way she en 
 deavored to make her appearance suitable to her 
 new position. She wore the best clothes that her 
 money could buy, and furnished her new house 
 very handsomely. She discarded her old silver 
 andirons and fender, which required continual 
 cleaning, and which would not have been toler 
 ated by her except that they were made of a metal 
 which was now so cheap as to be used for house 
 hold utensils, and she put in their place a beau 
 tiful set of polished brass, such as people used in 
 her mother s time. Whenever Sarah found any 
 one whom she considered worthy to listen, she 
 gave a very full account of her adventures, never 
 omitting the loss of her warm and comfortable 
 shoes, which misfortune, together with the per 
 formances of Rovinski, and all the dangers conse 
 quent, and the acquaintance of the tame and 
 lonely whale, she attributed to the fact that there 
 were thirteen people on board. 
 
 Sammy s accounts were in a more cheerful key, 
 and his principles were not affected by his suc 
 cess. He never had believed that there was any 
 good in finding the pole, and he did not believe 
 it now. When they got there, it was just like any 
 other part of the ocean, and it required a great 
 deal of arithmetic and navigation to find out 
 where it was, even when they were looking at it ; 
 besides, as he had found out to his disgust, even
 
 214 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 when they had discovered it, it was not the real 
 pole to which the needle of the compass points. 
 
 Moreover, if there had been any distinctive 
 mark about it, except the buoy which they had 
 anchored there, and even if it really were the pole 
 to which needles should point, there was no par 
 ticular good in rinding it, unless other people 
 could get there. But in regard to any other ex 
 pedition reaching the open polar sea under the 
 ice, Sammy had grave doubts. If a whale could 
 not get out of that sea there was every reason 
 why nobody else should try to get into it ; the 
 Dipscy s entrance was the barest scratch, and he 
 would not try it again if the north pole were 
 marked out by a solid mountain of gold. 
 
 Roland Clewe refused in all personal interviews 
 to receive the laudations offered him as the dis 
 coverer of the pole. It was true that the expedi 
 tion had been planned by him, and all the ar 
 rangements and mechanisms which had insured 
 its success were of his invention, but he steadily 
 insisted that Mr. Gibbs and Sammy, as represent 
 atives of the party, should be awarded the glory 
 of the great discovery. 
 
 The remarkable success of this most remarka 
 ble expedition aroused a widespread spirit of arc 
 tic exploration. Not only were voyages under 
 the ice discussed and planned, but there was a 
 strong feeling in favor of overland travel by 
 means of the electric-motor sledges ; and in Eng 
 land and Norway expeditions were organized for 
 the purpose of reaching the polar sea in this way. 
 It was noticed in most that was written and said 
 upon this subject that one of the strongest in-
 
 LAURELS 215 
 
 ducements for arctic expeditions was the fact 
 that there would be found on the shores of the 
 polar sea a telegraph station, by means of which 
 instantaneous news of success could be trans 
 mitted. 
 
 The interest of sportsmen, especially of the 
 hunters of big game, was greatly excited by the 
 statement that there was a whale in the polar sea. 
 These great creatures being extinct everywhere 
 else, it would be a unique and crowning glory to 
 capture this last survivor of his race ; and there 
 were many museums of natural history which 
 were already discussing contracts with intending 
 polar whalers for the purchase of the skeleton of 
 the last whale. 
 
 During all this time of enthusiasm and excite 
 ment, Roland Clewe made no reference, in any 
 public way, to his great discovery, which, in his 
 opinion, far surpassed in importance to the world 
 all possible arctic discoveries. He was busily 
 engaged in increasing the penetrating distance 
 of his Artesian ray, and when the public mind 
 should have sufficiently recovered from the per 
 turbation into which it had been thrown by the 
 discovery of the pole, he intended to lay before it 
 the results of his researches into the depths of 
 the earth. 
 
 At last the time arrived when he was ready 
 for the announcement of the great achievement 
 of his life. The machinery for the production 
 of the Artesian ray had been removed to the 
 larger building which had contained the auto 
 matic shell, and was set up very near the place 
 where the mouth of the great shaft had been.
 
 2l6 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 The lenses were arranged so that the path of 
 the great ray should run down alongside of the 
 shaft and but a few feet from it. The screen was 
 set up as it had been in the other building, and 
 everything was made ready for the operations of 
 the photic borer. 
 
 About a dozen of the most distinguished special 
 ists in the various branches of science concerned 
 in his operations had been invited by Clewe to 
 be present on this occasion, and, in addition, of 
 course, were reporters from the principal news 
 papers. There were several ladies present, one of 
 them the celebrated Ida Tippengray, Professor 
 of Geology at Bryn-Mawr College, whose recent 
 work upon the carboniferous rocks had excited 
 great attention. Margaret Raleigh and Sarah 
 Block were also present, and Sammy, with Mr. 
 Gibbs and all the Dipscy people, assembled to learn 
 what had been done at the Works during their 
 absence, without any suspicion that there was a 
 discovery possible which could throw even the 
 smallest shadow upon their exploits. 
 
 The address which Roland Clewe now delivered 
 to the company was made as brief and as much 
 to the point as possible. The description of the 
 Artesian ray was listened to with the deepest in 
 terest and with a vast amount of unexpressed in 
 credulity. What he subsequently said regarding 
 his automatic shell and its accidental descent 
 through fourteen miles of the earth s crust, ex 
 cited more interest and more incredulity, not en 
 tirely unexpressed. Clewe was well known as 
 a man of science, an inventor, an electrician of 
 rare ability, and a person of serious purpose and
 
 LAURELS 217 
 
 strict probity, but it was possible for a man of 
 great attainments and of the highest moral 
 character to become a little twisted in his in 
 tellect. 
 
 When at last the speaker told of his descent 
 into the shaft ; of his passage fourteen miles 
 into the interior of the earth ; of his discover 
 ies, on which he based his theory that the centre 
 of our globe is one vast diamond, there was a 
 general laugh from the reporters quarter, and 
 the men of science began to move uneasily in 
 their seats and to talk to each other. Professor 
 Tippengray, her silver hair brushed smoothly 
 back from her pale countenance, sat looking at 
 the speaker through her gold spectacles, as if the 
 rays from her bright eyes would penetrate into 
 the very recesses of his soul. Not an atom of 
 doubt was in her mind ; she never doubted, she 
 believed or she disbelieved. At present she be 
 lieved ; she had come there to do that, and she 
 would wait, and when the proper time had come 
 to disbelieve she would do so. 
 
 If there had been any disposition in the audi 
 ence to considerately leave the man of shattered 
 intellect to the care of his friends, it disappeared 
 when Clewe said that he would now be glad to 
 show to all present the workings of the Artesian 
 ray. Crazy as he might be, they wanted to wait 
 and sec what he had done. The workmen who 
 had charge of the machinery were on hand, and 
 in a few moments a circle of light was glowing 
 on the ground within the screen. Clewe now 
 announced that he would take those present, one 
 at a time, inside the enclosure and show them
 
 2l8 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 how light could be made to penetrate miles down 
 ward into the solid earth and rock. 
 
 Professor Tippengray was the first one invited 
 to step within the screen. Clewe stood at the 
 entrance ready to explain or to hand her the neces 
 sary telescopes ; and as the portion of her body 
 which remained visible was between him and the 
 light, there was nothing to disturb his nerves. 
 
 The lenses were so set that they could pene 
 trate almost instantly to the depth which had" 
 previously been reached, but Clewe made his ray 
 move downward somewhat slowly ; he did not 
 wish, especially to the first observer, to show 
 everything at once. 
 
 As she beheld at her feet a great lighted well, 
 extending downward beyond the reach of her 
 sharp eyes, Professor Tippengray stepped back 
 with a scream which caused nearly everybody in 
 the audience to start to his feet. Clewe expected 
 this. He raised his hand to the company, asking 
 them to keep still ; then he handed Professor Tip 
 pengray a stick. 
 
 "Take this," he said, "and strike that disk of 
 light ; you will find it as solid ground as that you 
 stand on." She did so. 
 
 " It is solid !" she gasped; " but where is the end 
 of the stick ?" 
 
 He turned off the light ; there was the end of 
 the stick, and there was the little patch of sandy 
 gravel, which he stepped upon, stamping heav 
 ily as he did so. He then retired outside the 
 screen. Professor Tippengray turned to the au 
 dience. 
 
 " It is all right, gentlemen," she said ; " there
 
 LAURELS 219 
 
 is nothing to be afraid of. I am going on with 
 the investigation." 
 
 Down, down, down went the light, and, tele 
 scope in hand, she stood close to the shining edge 
 of the apparent shaft. 
 
 "Presently," Clewe said, "you will see the end 
 of the shaft which my Artesian ray is making ; 
 then you will perceive a vast expanse of lighted 
 nothingness ; that is the great cleft in the dia 
 mond which I described to you. In this, ap 
 parently suspended in light, you will notice the 
 broken conical end of an enormous iron shell, the 
 shell which made the real tunnel down which I 
 descended in the car." 
 
 At this she turned around and looked at him. 
 Even into her strong mind the sharp edge of dis 
 trust began to insert itself. 
 
 " Look !" said he. 
 
 She looked through her telescope. There was 
 the cave of light ; there was the shattered end of 
 the shell. 
 
 The hands which held the telescope began to 
 tremble. Quickly Clewe drew her away. 
 
 " Now," said he, "do you believe?" 
 
 For a few moments she could not speak, and 
 then she whispered, " I believe that I have seen 
 what you have told me I should see." 
 
 Now succeeded a period of intense excitement, 
 such as was perhaps never before known in an 
 assembly of scientific people. One by one, each 
 person was led by Clewe inside the screen and 
 shown the magical shaft of light. Each received 
 the revelation according to his nature. Some 
 were dumfounded and knew not what to think,
 
 220 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 others suspected all sorts of tricks, especially with 
 the telescopes, but a well-known optician, who by 
 Clewe s request had brought a telescope of his 
 own, quickly disproved all suspicions of this kind. 
 Many could not help doubting what they had 
 seen, but it was impossible for them to formu 
 late their doubts, with that wonderful shaft of 
 light still present to their mental visions. 
 
 For more than two hours Roland Clewe ex 
 hibited the action of his Artesian ray. Then he 
 called the company to order. He had shown them 
 his shaft of light, and now he would give them 
 some facts in regard to the real shaft made by 
 the automatic shell. 
 
 Every man who had been concerned in Mr. 
 Clewe s descent into the shaft, and those who had 
 assisted in the sounding and the photographing, 
 as well as the persons who had been present when 
 Rovinski was drawn up from its depths, now 
 came forward and gave his testimony. Clewe 
 then exhibited the photographs he had taken 
 with his suspended camera, and to the geologists 
 present these were revelations of absorbing in 
 terest ; seeing so much that they understood, it 
 was difficult to doubt what they saw and did not 
 understand. 
 
 Now that what Clewe had just told them was 
 substantiated by a number of witnesses, and 
 now that they had heard from these men that a 
 plummet, a camera, and a car had been lowered 
 fourteen miles into the bowels of the earth, they 
 had no reason to suppose that the great shaft 
 had existed only in the imagination of one crazy 
 man, and they could not believe that all these as-
 
 LAURELS 221 
 
 sistants and workmen were lunatics or liars. Still 
 they doubted. Clewe could see that in their 
 faces as they intently listened to him. 
 
 " My friends," said he, " I have set before you 
 nearly all the facts connected with my experience 
 in the shaft, but one important fact I have not 
 yet mentioned. I am quite sure that few, if any 
 of you, believe that I descended into the cleft of 
 a great diamond lying beneath what we call the 
 crust of the earth. I will now state that before 
 I left that cavity I picked up some fragments of 
 the material of which it is composed, which were 
 splintered off when my shell fell into it. I will 
 show you one of them." 
 
 A man brought a table covered with a blue cloth, 
 and from one of his pockets Clewe drew a small 
 bag. Opening this, he took out a diamond which 
 he had brought up from the cave of light, and 
 placed it on the middle of the table. 
 
 " This," he said, " is a fragment of the mass of 
 diamond into which I descended. I have called 
 it The Great Stone of Sardis. " 
 
 Nobody spoke, nobody seemed to breathe. The 
 huge diamond, of the form and size of a large 
 lemon, lay glowing upon the dark cloth, its ir 
 regular facets all of them clean-cut and polished, 
 the results of fracture absorbed and reflected 
 the light, and a halo of subdued radiance sur 
 rounded the great gem like a tender mist. 
 
 " I brought away a number of fragments of 
 the diamond," said Clewe, his voice sounding as 
 if he spoke into an empty hall, " and some of 
 them have been tested by two of the gentlemen 
 present. Here are the stones which have been
 
 222 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 tested." And he laid some small pieces on the 
 cloth. " They are of the same material as the 
 large one. I brought them all from what I be 
 lieve to be the great central core of the earth." 
 
 Everybody pressed forward, they surrounded 
 the table. One of the jewelers reverently took 
 up the great stone ; then in his other hand he 
 took one of the smaller fragments, which he in 
 stantly recognized from its peculiar shape. He 
 looked from one to the other ; presently he said: 
 
 " They are the same substances. This is a dia 
 mond." And he laid the great stone back upon 
 the cloth. 
 
 " Is there any other place on the surface of this 
 earth, or is there any mine," inquired a shrill 
 voice from the company, "where one could get a 
 diamond like that ?" 
 
 " There is no such place known to mortal man," 
 replied the jeweler. 
 
 " Then," said the same shrill voice, which be 
 longed to a professor from Harvard, " I think it 
 is the duty of every one present, whose mind is 
 capable of it, to believe that the centre of this 
 earth, or a part of that centre, is a vast diamond ; 
 at the same time I would say that my mind is 
 not capable of such a belief." 
 
 The public excitement produced by the an 
 nouncement of the discovery of the pole was a 
 trifle compared to that resulting from the news 
 of the proceedings of that day. Clewe s address, 
 with full accounts by the reporters, was printed 
 everywhere, and it was not long before the learned 
 world had given itself up to the discussion.
 
 THE GREAT STONE OK SARDIS
 
 LAURELS 223 
 
 From this controversy Roland Clewe kept him 
 self aloof. He had done all that he wanted to do, 
 he had shown all that he cared to show ; now he 
 would let other people investigate his facts and 
 his reasonings and argue about them ; he would 
 retire he had done enough. 
 
 Professor Tippengray was one of the most en 
 thusiastic defenders of Clewe s theories, and wrote 
 a great deal on the subject. 
 
 " Granted," she said, in one of her articles, 
 " that the carboniferous minerals, of which the 
 diamond is one, are derived from vegetable mat 
 ter, and that wood and plants must have existed 
 before the diamond, where, may I ask, did the pre- 
 diamond forests derive their carbon ? In what 
 form did it exist before they came into being ?" 
 
 In another essay she said : 
 
 " Half a century ago it was discovered that a 
 man could talk through a thousand miles of wire, 
 and yet now we doubt that a man can descend 
 through fourteen miles of rock." 
 
 As to the Artesian ray itself, there could be 
 no doubt whatever, for when Clewe, in one of his 
 experiments, directed it horizontally through a 
 small mountain and objects could be plainly dis 
 cerned upon the other side, discussions in regard 
 to the genuineness of the action of the photic 
 borer were useless. 
 
 In medicine, as well as surgery, the value of the 
 Artesian ray was speedily admitted by the civil 
 ized world. To eliminate everything between 
 the eye of the surgeon and the affected portion 
 of a human organism was like the rising of the 
 sun upon a hitherto benighted region.
 
 224 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 In the winter, Margaret Raleigh and Roland 
 Clewe were married. They travelled ; they lived 
 and loved in pleasant places ; and they returned 
 the next year rich in new ideas and old art tro 
 phies. They bought a fine estate, and furnished 
 it and improved it as an artist paints a picture, 
 without a thought of the cost of the colors he 
 puts upon it. They were rich enough to have 
 everything they cared to wish for. Undue toil 
 and troubled thought had been the companions., 
 of Roland Clewe for many a year, and their com 
 pany had been imposed upon him by his poverty; 
 now he would not, nor would his wife, allow that 
 companionship to be imposed upon him by his 
 riches. 
 
 The Great Stone of Sarclis was sold to a syndi 
 cate of kings, each member of which Avas un 
 willing that this dominant gem of the world 
 should belong exclusively to any royal family 
 other than his own. When a coronation should 
 occur, each member of the syndicate had a right 
 to the use of the jewel ; at other times it re 
 mained in the custody of one of the great bank 
 ers of the world, who at stated periods allowed 
 the inhabitants of said planet to gaze upon its 
 transcendent brilliancy. 
 
 But the Works at Sardis were not given up. 
 Margaret was not jealous of her rival, Science, 
 and if Roland had ceased to be an inventor, a 
 discoverer, a philosopher, simply because he had 
 become a rich and happy husband, he would have 
 ceased to be the Roland she had loved so long. 
 
 The discovery of the north pole had given him 
 fame and honor ; for, notwithstanding the fact
 
 LAURELS 225 
 
 that he had never been there, he was always con 
 sidered as the man who had given to the world 
 its only knowledge of its most northern point. 
 
 But in his heart Roland Clewe placed little 
 value upon this discovery. Before Mr. Gibbs 
 had announced the exact location of the north 
 pole, all the students of geography had known 
 where it was ; before the eyes of the party on 
 the Dipscy had rested upon the spot pointed out 
 by Mr. Gibbs, it was well understood that the 
 north pole was either an invisible point on the 
 surface of ice or an invisible point on the surface 
 of water. If no possible good could result from 
 a journey such as the Dipsey had made, no subse 
 quent good of a similar kind could ever be ex 
 pected ; for the next submarine vessel which at 
 tempted a northern journey under the ice was as 
 likely to remain under the ice as it was to emerge 
 into the open air ; and if any one reached the 
 open sea upon motor sledges, it would be neces 
 sary for them to carry boats with them if they 
 desired so much as a sight of that weather-vane 
 which, no matter how the wind blew, always 
 pointed to the south. 
 
 It was the Artesian ray which Clewe considered 
 the great achievement of his life, and to this he 
 intended to devote the remainder of his working 
 days. It was his object to penetrate deeper and 
 deeper with this ray into the interior of the 
 earth. Pie could always provide himself with 
 telescopes which would show him the limit reach 
 ed by his photic borer, and so long as that limit 
 was a transparent disk, illuminated by his great 
 ray, so long he would believe in the existence of 
 15
 
 226 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 the diamond centre of the earth. But when the 
 penetrating light reached something different, 
 then would come the time for a change in his 
 theories. 
 
 Discussion and controversy in regard to the 
 discoveries of the Artesian ray continued, often 
 with great earnestness and heat, in learned cir 
 cles, and there were frequent demands upon 
 Clewe to demonstrate the truth of his descent of 
 fourteen miles below the surface of the earth by" 
 an actual exhibition of the shaft he had made or 
 by the construction of another. 
 
 But to such requests Clewe turned a deaf ear. 
 It would be impossible for him to open his old 
 shaft. If in any way he could remove the rocks 
 and soil which now blocked up its upper portion 
 for a distance of half a mile, it would be impossi 
 ble to reconstruct any portion which had been 
 obstructed. The smooth and polished walls of 
 the shaft, which gave Clewe such assurance of 
 safety from falling fragments, would not exist if 
 the tunnel were opened. 
 
 As to a new shaft that would require a new 
 automatic shell, and this Clewe was not willing 
 to construct. In fact, rather than make a new 
 opening to the cave of light, he would prefer that 
 people should doubt that any such cave existed. 
 The more he thought of his own descent into 
 that great cleft, the more he thought of the hor 
 rible danger of sliding down some invisible de 
 clivity to awful, unknown regions ; the more he 
 thought of the mysterious death of Rovinski, the 
 more firmly did he determine that not by his 
 agency should a human being descend again to
 
 THIS WAY, UK WlUSI EKKl), STOOP IJOWX
 
 LAURELS 227 
 
 those mysterious depths. He would do all that 
 he could to enable men to see into the interior of 
 this earth, but he would do nothing to help any 
 man to get there. 
 
 The controversies in regard to their discoveries 
 and theory disturbed Roland and Margaret not 
 a whit ; they worked steadily, with energy and 
 zeal, and, above all, they worked without that 
 dreadful cloud which so frequently overhangs the 
 laborer in new fields the fear that the means of 
 labor will disappear before the object of the work 
 shall come in view. 
 
 One morning in the early summer, Roland 
 rushed into the room where Margaret sat. 
 
 "I have made a discovery!" he exclaimed. 
 "Come quickly, I want to show it to you !" 
 
 The heart of the young wife sank. During all 
 these happy days the only shadow that ever flit 
 ted across her sky was the thought that some 
 novel temptation of science might turn her hus 
 band from the great work to which he had dedi 
 cated himself. Much that he had purposed to do, 
 he had, at her earnest solicitation, set aside in 
 favor of what she considered the greatest task to 
 which a human being could give his time, his 
 labor, and his thought. It had been long since 
 she had heard her husband speak of a new dis 
 covery, and the words chilled her spirit. 
 
 "Come," he said, "quickly !" And, taking her 
 by the hand, he led her out upon the lawn. 
 
 Over the soft green turf, under the beautiful 
 trees, by the bright flowers of the parterres and 
 through the natural beauty of the charming park,
 
 228 THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS 
 
 he led her ; but not a word did she say of the soft 
 colors and the soft air. Not a flower did she look 
 at. It seemed to her as if she trod a bleak and 
 stony road. She dreaded what she might hear, 
 what she might see. 
 
 He led her hastily through a gate in the garden 
 wall ; they passed through the garden, and, whis 
 pering to her to step lightly, they entered a quiet, 
 shady spot beyond the house grounds. 
 
 " This way," he whispered. " Stoop down. Do 
 you see that shining thing with bright - red 
 patches of color ? It is an old tomato-can ; a 
 robin has built her nest in it ; there are three 
 dear little birds inside ; the mother-bird is away, 
 and I wanted you to come before she returned. 
 Isn t it lucky that I should have found that ? 
 And here, in our own grounds ? I don t believe 
 there was ever another robin who made her nest 
 in a tomato-can !" 
 
 Doubtless the two birds who had made that 
 nest sincerely loved each other ; and there were 
 at that moment a great many other birds, and a 
 great many men and women, in the same plight, 
 but never anywhere did any human being possess 
 a soul so happy as that of Margaret at that mo 
 ment. 
 
 " Roland," she said, " when I first knew you, you 
 would not have noticed such a little thing as that." 
 
 " I couldn t afford it." he said. 
 
 " It is the sweetest charm of all your triumphs !" 
 said she. 
 
 " What is ?" he asked. 
 
 " That you feel able to afford it now," answered 
 Margaret.
 
 LOOK AT THAI KKNDKR ; Look AT THKM ANDIRONS !
 
 LAURELS 229 
 
 Samuel Block and his wife Sarah found that 
 life grew pleasanter as they grew older. Fortu 
 nate winds had blown down to them from the dis 
 tant north ; the substantial rewards of the enter 
 prise were eminently satisfactory, and the honors 
 which came to them were not at all unwelcome 
 even to the somewhat cynical Samuel. 
 
 Sitting one evening with his wife before a 
 cheering fire for both of them were wedded to 
 the old-fashioned ways of keeping warm Sammy 
 laid down the daily paper with a smile. 
 
 "There s an account here," he said, "of a lot o 
 fools who are goin to fit out a submarine-ship to 
 try to go under the ice to the pole, as we did. 
 They may get there, and they may get back ; 
 they may get there, and they may never get back ; 
 and they may never get there, and never get 
 back ; but whichever of the three it happens to 
 be, it 11 be of no more good than if they measured 
 a mile to see how many inches there was in it." 
 
 "Sammy," exclaimed Sarah, "I do think you 
 are old enough to stop talkin such nonsense as 
 that. To be sure, there was a good many things 
 that I objected to in that voyage to the pole. In 
 the first place, there was thirteen people on board, 
 which was the greatest mistake ever committed 
 by a human explorin party ; and then, agin, there 
 was no provision for keepin whales from bump- 
 in the ship, and if you knew the number of hours 
 that I laid awake on that Dipscy thinkin what 
 would happen if the frolicsome whale determined 
 not to be left alone, and should follow us into 
 narrow quarters, you would understand my feel- 
 in s on that subject ; but as to sayin there wasn t
 
 230 THE GREAT STONE OP SARDIS 
 
 no good in the expedition I think that s down 
 right wickedness. Look at that fender ; look 
 at them andirons, them beautiful brass candle 
 sticks, and that shovel and tongs, with handles 
 shinin like gold ! If it hadn t been that we dis 
 covered the pole, and so got able to afford good 
 furniture, all those handsome things would have 
 been made of common silver, just as if they was 
 pots and kittles, or garden-spades !" 
 
 THE END
 
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