by Jules Verne
CHAPTER XVI.
THE COLUMBIAD.
Had the casting succeeded? They were reduced to mere conjecture. Therewas indeed every reason to expect success, since the mould had absorbedthe entire mass of the molten metal; still some considerable time mustelapse before they could arrive at any certainty upon the matter.
The patience of the members of the Gun Club was sorely tried during thisperiod of time. But they could do nothing. J. T. Maston escaped roastingby a miracle. Fifteen days after the casting an immense column of smokewas still rising in the open sky and the ground burnt the soles of thefeet within a radius of 200 feet round the summit of Stones Hill. It wasimpossible to approach nearer. All they could do was to wait with whatpatience they might.
"Here we are at the 10th August," exclaimed J. T. Maston one morning,"only four months to the 1st of December! We shall never be ready intime!" Barbicane said nothing, but his silence covered serious irritation.
However, daily observations revealed a certain change going on in thestate of the ground. About the 15th August the vapours ejected hadsensibly diminished in intensity and thickness. Some days afterwards theearth exhaled only a slight puff of smoke, the last breath of the monsterenclosed within its circle of stone. Little by little the belt of heatcontracted, until on the 22d August Barbicane, his colleagues, and theengineer were enabled to set foot on the iron sheet which lay level uponthe summit of Stones Hill.
"At last!" exclaimed the President of the Gun Club, with an immense sighof relief.
The work was resumed the same day. They proceeded at once to extract theinterior mould, for the purpose of clearing out the boring of the piece.Pickaxes and boring irons were set to work without intermission. Theclayey and sandy soils had acquired extreme hardness under the action ofthe heat; but by the aid of the machines, the rubbish on being dug outwas rapidly carted away on railway waggons; and such was the ardour ofthe work, so persuasive the arguments of Barbicane's dollars, that bythe 3rd of September all traces of the mould had entirely disappeared.
Immediately the operation of boring was commenced; and by the aid ofpowerful machines, a few weeks later, the inner surface of the immensetube had been rendered perfectly cylindrical, and the bore of the piecehad acquired a thorough polish.
At length, on the 22nd of September, less than a twelvemonth afterBarbicane's original proposition, the enormous weapon, accurately bored,and exactly vertically pointed, was ready for work. There was only themoon now to wait for; and they were pretty sure that she would not failin the rendezvous.
The ecstacy of J. T. Maston knew no bounds, and he narrowly escaped afrightful fall while staring down the tube. But for the strong hand ofColonel Blomsberry, the worthy secretary, like a modern Erostratus, wouldhave found his death in the depths of the Columbiad.
The cannon was then finished; there was no possible doubt as to itsperfect completion. So, on the 6th of October, Captain Nicholl openedan account between himself and President Barbicane, in which he debitedhimself to the latter in the sum of 2000 dollars. One may believe thatthe Captain's wrath was increased to its highest point, and must havemade him seriously ill. However, he had still three bets of three, four,and five thousand dollars, respectively; and if he gained two out ofthese, his position would not be very bad. But the money question didnot enter into his calculations; it was the success of his rival incasting a cannon against which iron plates sixty feet thick would havebeen ineffectual, that dealt him a terrible blow.
After the 23rd of September the enclosure of Stones Hill was thrown opento the public; and it will be easily imagined what was the concourse ofvisitors to this spot! There was an incessant flow of people to and fromTampa Town and the place, which resembled a procession, or rather, infact, a pilgrimage.
It was already clear to be seen that, on the day of the experiment itself,the aggregate of spectators would be counted by millions; for they werealready arriving from all parts of the earth upon this narrow strip ofpromontory. Europe was emigrating to America.
Up to that time, however, it must be confessed, the curiosity of thenumerous comers was but scantily gratified. Most had counted uponwitnessing the spectacle of the casting, and they were treated tonothing but smoke. This was sorry food for hungry eyes; but Barbicanewould admit no one to that operation. Then ensued grumbling, discontent,murmurs; they blamed the President, taxed him with dictatorial conduct.His proceedings were declared "un-American." There was very nearly ariot round Stones Hill; but Barbicane remained inflexible. When, however,the Columbiad was entirely finished, this state of closed doors couldno longer be maintained; besides it would have been bad taste, and evenimprudence, to affront the public feeling. Barbicane, therefore, openedthe enclosure to all comers; but, true to his practical disposition, hedetermined to coin money out of the public curiosity.
It was something, indeed, to be enabled to contemplate this immenseColumbiad; but to descend into its depths, this seemed to the Americansthe _ne plus ultra_ of earthly felicity. Consequently, there was notone curious spectator who was not willing to give himself the treat ofvisiting the interior of this metallic abyss. Baskets suspended fromsteam-cranes permitted them to satisfy their curiosity. There was aperfect mania. Women, children, old men, all made it a point of duty topenetrate the mysteries of the colossal gun. The fare for the descent wasfixed at five dollars per head; and despite this high charge, during thetwo months which preceded the experiment, the influx of visitors enabledthe Gun Club to pocket nearly 500,000 dollars!
Illustration: TAMPA TOWN AFTER THE UNDERTAKING.
It is needless to say that the first visitors of the Columbiad were themembers of the Gun Club. This privilege was justly reserved for thatillustrious body. The ceremony took place on the 25th September. A basketof honour took down the President, J. T. Maston, Major Elphinstone,General Morgan, Colonel Blomsberry, and other members of the club, tothe number of ten in all. How hot it was at the bottom of that long tubeof metal! They were half suffocated. But what delight! What ecstasy! Atable had been laid with six covers on the massive stone which formedthe bottom of the Columbiad, and lighted by a jet of electric lightresembling that of day itself. Numerous exquisite dishes, which seemedto descend from heaven, were placed successively before the guests, andthe richest wines of France flowed in profusion during this splendidrepast, served nine hundred feet beneath the surface of the earth!
The festival was animated, not to say somewhat noisy. Toasts flewbackwards and forwards. They drank to the earth and to her satellite, tothe Gun Club, the Union, the moon, Diana, Phoebe, Selene, the "peacefulcourier of the night"! All the hurrahs, carried upwards upon the sonorouswaves of the immense acoustic tube, arrived with the sound of thunderat its mouth; and the multitude ranged round Stones Hill heartily unitedtheir shouts with those of the ten revellers hidden from view at thebottom of the gigantic Columbiad.
J. T. Maston was no longer master of himself. Whether he shouted orgesticulated, ate or drank most, would be a difficult matter to determine.At all events, he would not have given his place up for an empire, "noteven if the cannon--loaded, primed, and fired at that very moment--wereto blow him in pieces into the planetary world."
Illustration: THE BANQUET IN THE COLUMBIAD.