CHAPTER VII.
WE DISCOVER THE INTERIOR WORLD.
The officers and sailors responded to my speech with ringing cheers.Every man of them volunteered to stay by the ship and continue ourvoyage down the gulf. Whatever malcontents there may have been amongthe sailors, those, influenced by the prevailing enthusiasm, wereafraid to exhibit any cowardice, and all were unanimous for furtherexploration.
I signalled our resolution by a discharge of three guns, which createdthe most thrilling reverberations in the mysterious abyss.
Starting the engine again, the prow of the _Polar King_ was pointeddirectly toward the darkness before us, toward the centre of theearth. We were determined to explore the hollow ocean to its furtherconfines, if our provisions held out until such a work would beaccomplished.
We hoped at midnight to obtain our last look at the sun, as we wouldthen be brought into the position of the opposite side of the waterycrater down which we sailed. At eleven o'clock the sun rose above thelimb of the gulf, which was now veiled in darkness. We were gladdenedwith two hours of sunlight, the sun promptly setting at 1 A.M. of thenew day.
We continued our voyage in the semi-darkness, the prow of the vesselstill pointed to the centre of the earth, while the polar star shonein the outer heavens on the horizon directly over the rail of thevessel's stern.
It did not appear to us that we were dropping straight down into theinterior of the earth; on the contrary, we always seemed to float on ahorizontal sea, and the earth seemed to turn up toward us and thepolar cavern to gradually engulf us. The sight we beheld that day wasinexpressibly magnificent. Five hundred miles above us rose the crestof the circular polar sea. Its upper hemisphere glowed with the lightof the unseen sun. We were surrounded by fifteen hundred miles ofperpendicular ocean, crowned with a diadem of icebergs!
AT THIS MOMENT A WILD CRY AROSE FROM THE SAILORS. WITHONE VOICE THEY SHOUTED, "THE SUN! THE SUN!"]
Glorious as was the sight, the sailors were terribly apprehensive ofnameless disasters in such monstrous surroundings. It was impossiblefor them to understand how the ocean roof could remain suspendedabove us like the vault of heaven. The idea of being able to sail downa tubular ocean, the antechamber of some infernal world, wasincomprehensible. We were traversing sea-built corridors, whoseoscillating floors and roof remained providentially apart to permit usto explore the mystery beyond.
Mid-day on the 13th of May brought no sight of the sun, but only adeepening twilight, the dim reflection of the bright sky we had leftbehind. The further we sailed into the gulf the less its diametergrew. When we had penetrated the vast aperture some two hundred andfifty miles, we found the aerial diameter was reduced to about fiftymiles, thus forming a conical abyss. We were clearly sailing down agigantic vortex or gulf of water, and we began to feel a diminishinggravity the further we approached the central abyss.
The cavernous sea was subject to enormous undulations, or tidal waves,either the result of storms in the interior of the earth or mightyadjustments of gravity between the interior and exterior oceans. As wewere lifted up upon the crest of an immense tidal wave several of thesailors, as well as the lookout, declared they had seen a flash oflight, in the direction of the centre of the earth!
We were all terribly excited at the news, and as the ship was liftedon the crest of the next wave, we saw clearly an orb of flame thatlighted up the circling undulations of water with the flush of dawn!We were now between two spectral lights--the faint twilight of theouter sun and the intermittent dawn of some strange source of light inthe interior of the earth.
The sailors crowded to the top of both masts and stood uponcross-trees and rigging, wildly anxious to discover the meaning of thestrange light and whatever the view from the next crest of waterswould reveal.
"What do you think is the source of this strange illumination," Iinquired of the captain, "unless it is the radiance of fires in thecentre of the earth?"
"It comes from some definite element of fire," said the professor,"the nature of which we will soon discover. It certainly does notbelong to the sun, nor can I attribute it to an aurora dependent onsolar agency."
"Possibly," said Professor Rackiron, "we are on the threshold of ifnot the infernal regions at least a supplementary edition of thesame. We may be yet presented at court--the court of Mephistopheles."
"You speak idle words, professor," said I. "On the eve of confrontingunknown and perhaps terrible consequences you walk blindfold into thedesperate chances of our journey with a jest on your lips."
"Pardon me, commander," said he, "I do not jest. Have not the ablesttheologians concurred in the statement that hell lies in the centre ofthe earth, and that the lake of fire and brimstone there sends up itssmoke of torment? For aught we know this lurid light is the reflectionof the infernal fires."
At this moment a wild cry arose from the sailors. With one voice theyshouted:
"The sun! The sun! The sun!"
The _Polar King_ had gained at last the highest horizon or vortex ofwater, and there, before us, a splendid orb of light hung in thecentre of the earth, the source of the rosy flame that welcomed usthrough the sublime portal of the pole!
As soon as the astonishment consequent on discovering a sun in theinterior of the earth had somewhat subsided, we further discoveredthat the earth was indeed a hollow sphere. It was now as far to theinterior as to the exterior surface, thus showing the shell of theearth to be at the pole at least 500 miles in thickness. We were halfway to the interior sphere.
Professor Starbottle, who had been investigating the new world withhis glass, cried out: "Commander, we are to be particularlycongratulated; the whole interior planet is covered with continentsand oceans just like the outer sphere!"
"We have discovered an El Dorado," said the captain, with enthusiasm;"if we discover nothing else I will die happy."
"The heaviest elements fall to the centre of all spheres," saidProfessor Goldrock. "I am certain we shall discover mountains of goldere we return."
"I think we ought to salute our glorious discovery," said ProfessorRackiron. "You see the infernal world isn't nearly so bad a place aswe thought it was."
I ordered a salute of one hundred terrorite guns to be given in honorof our discovery, and the firing at once began. The echoed roaring ofthe guns was indescribably grand. The trumpet-shaped caverns of water,both before and behind us, multiplied the heavy reverberations untilthe air of the gulf was rent with their thunder. The last explosionwas followed by long-drawn echoes of triumph that marked ourintroduction to the interior world.
Strange to say that on the very threshold of success there are men whosuddenly take fright at the new conditions that confront them. Itappeared that Boatswain Dunbar and eleven sailors who had unwillinglysailed thus far refused to proceed further with the ship, beingterrified at the discovery we had made. I could have obliged them tohave remained with us, but their reason being possibly affected, I sawthat their presence as malcontents might in time cause a mutiny, or atall events an ever-present, source of trouble. They were wildlyanxious to leave the ship and return home; consequently I gave themliberty to depart. The largest boat was lowered, together with a mastand sails. I gave the command to Dunbar, and furnished the boat withample stores and plenty of clothing. I also gave them one-half of thedogs and two sledges for crossing the ice. When the men were finallyseated Dunbar cast off the rope and steered for the outer sea. We gavethem a parting salute by firing a gun, and in a short time they werelost in the darkness of the gulf.
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