Part 11

I saw from his mood that it would be useless to argue, and so continued my investigation of the twin mountains, which had grown near enough to be easily inspected with the naked eye. Torrence calculated that they must, have been more than two hundred miles away when first seen.

When we had approached near enough to observe them in detail, we slackened speed. Rising directly out of the ocean, they presented a marvelous picture; for their stupendous height and rugged grandeur is surely not equalled in the world we inhabit. We moved slowly toward them, wishing to take in the scene from our deck to the best advantage. We photographed them at different ranges, and were always surprised to find that our last picture had been so remote. We moved more slowly as we approached, finally reducing the rate to five miles an hour, believing we were within half an hour's run of the shore, but were undoubtedly ten or a dozen miles away at that time.

A stupendous wall of black granite rose before us, to a height which we estimated to exceed twelve thousand feet. This was the mountain upon the left; the one on the right was nearly as high, though not so absolutely precipitous. Between these mountains was a channel about a mile wide. Coming to a halt before these appalling objects, two hundred and fifty feet above the sea, we stood on deck, overwhelmed at the awful sight. Below stretched a crimson beach, running back to a chaotic sand hill, strewn with huge masses of broken stone, from the top of which towered in one unbroken wall the palisade or face of the mountain itself.

Lowering ourselves gently to this beach we landed in a new world and language cannot picture the appalling sublimity of the scene, or describe our emotions.

"Surely these cliffs must mark the end of the earth!" I exclaimed.

"Hush!" said Torrence solemnly; "it is only the beginning!"

He was pale, and I could not help wondering if my face were as white as his.

Craning my neck backward I looked up. A cloud had hidden the top, and I felt dizzy.

* * * * *

*XV.*

Immediately on landing we made another careful examination of the air ship, and to our intense satisfaction found that she was still in perfect condition. We had come a long journey, and thoroughly tested her powers in varied temperatures and atmospheric conditions, but the distance was as nothing to what was to come.

As we stood on this brilliant beach and looked back at the southern sky I observed that the disk of blue light was a little smaller, and a very little higher in the heavens. Still there was no sun, but this great circular shield was a focus for the dissemination of light upon every side. I stood marveling at it until Torrence called me. He was examining the crimson shells a little higher up the shore.

"Come," he said, "and look at these!"

I walked over to where he was.

The shore was literally covered with pink mollusks, a large percentage of which contained true pearls of extraordinary size and beauty. Torrence was pounding them open with a couple of stones.

"Within a hundred yards of this spot," he said, "lies a fortune greater than the combined wealth of the Rothschilds. In the pearl fisheries of the old world not one shell in a thousand contains a pearl of any value. But here, in these strangely colored mollusks, ninety per cent. enclose gems of extraordinary merit."

He held one up for my inspection.

"Here," he said, "is one which I have opened at random. It is of the first water; of perfect skin and orient; the most delicate texture, and without speck or flaw, and is worth at the lowest estimate one hundred pounds. Without going a dozen steps we can find ten times that value. Some of these pearls are pink, and from what I have seen and heard of them, I do not think they will ever fade----"

"From what you have heard?" I interrupted; "what do you mean?"

"My dear fellow, the shores of this continent are strewn with these shells for hundreds of miles at a stretch, as its mountains are filled with gold and diamonds. Do you not know that Merrick had the value of millions in them. It was from him that I heard of them, and from him that I bought millions of pounds worth."

"Bought!" I exclaimed in astonishment.

"Yes, bought!"

"And with what pray?"

"With a promise," said Torrence "Money was of no use to him, but fame he valued. As you know, he and Niles escaped from Von Broekhuysen Island. Niles was lost, while Merrick alone reached the world we are now in. How he got there, or what his adventures are, it is not necessary to relate; but he did it, and I now know that he found land much nearer the island than we have--but that is unimportant. How he reached his home again is even still more wonderful, and a volume might be written about the man's terrible sufferings and adventures; but his life was embittered by the incredulity, the cold skepticism, and indifference with which he was greeted on every hand, by those who were too bigoted and ignorant to heed his story, or even investigate the proofs of the new world, which he brought with him. The geographical societies of a dozen cities either listened to him as they would to the ravings of a madman, or turned a deaf ear with scorn. And this treatment he received wherever he went, and at the hands of organizations termed scientific, whose plain duty was to listen to the words and test the affidavits of the applicant. But the nature of Merrick's claims was so astounding that no one, high or low, would heed him, and yet he only discovered that which I have always believed in. I, alone, of all the world, gave the fellow proper audience. I saw at once his claim to credence. I promised what he demanded in exchange for his wealth--notoriety. He saw that with the air ship I should be able to prove all that he had ever said, and that I could make his name great among coming generations. He saw that I could upset the position of the wiseacres who had refused to hear him, and make them the butt of their fellows. All this I promised to do, if able, and in exchange for that promise he gave me the few millions in pearls, diamonds, and other precious stones he had brought with him as proofs of his discovery. Gurthrie, have you not yet guessed the nature of that discovery?"

"I should hope so," I answered.

"And what is it?"

"That the North Pole has a continent around it which is blessed with a temperate climate."

"And is that all?"

"That the sky has a luminous disk as big as a cart wheel, that takes the place of the sun!"

"Nothing more?"

"That the electrical condition of the atmosphere is highly beneficial to the nerves."

"Go on!" said Torrence impatiently.

"That pearls and precious stones are as common as dirt!"

"Tell me what else he discovered," exclaimed Torrence, "and be quick about it!"

"Not being Mr. Merrick, I'm sure I don't know," I answered.

"Don't know!" roared Torrence, "do you mean to tell me that you don't know where you are?"

"Somewhere about the role I suppose. I might say ninety degrees north."

My brother looked at me with a singular expression of pity, and then stooping down resumed his work of opening shells with an indifference that exasperated me.

"Where in Heaven's name are we then?" I shouted.

"No matter just now," he answered. "I thought perhaps you would have guessed. I don't want to shock you. Perhaps the truth will dawn on you later; if not I will tell you. Meanwhile, let us gather a few bushels of these pearls. They are of no value here, but they will be if we ever go home again."

And so we set to work under the shadow of those awful cliffs, and in a couple of hours had secured unestimated value in the most perfect specimens conceivable. We packed these away in the air ship in a small sack, and then Torrence proposed that we name the stupendous headland before us "Mount Horror."

I agreed that it would be an excellent name, well adapted to our feelings on approaching it, and descriptive of the gloom and phenomenal aspect of the mountain itself. The one on the opposite side of the channel he suggested we call "Mount Gurthrie," to which I also assented, and entered the names in our chart of discoveries.

It was upon this desolate shore that we cooked our first ration of bear meat, brought all the way from Spitzbergen.

Climbing into the hill beyond the beach among the sand and rocks, we found a quantity of dried seaweed, which we carried down to the shore for a fire. It burned with a crackling noise and pungent smell, so pleasant that we decided to carry some of it away with us, filling some bags, and throwing them on board before leaving. We had quite a picnic over our bear steak and coffee, although it was impossible to divest ourselves of a certain gloom, resulting from the lowering heights above. The air was still, and only the tiniest ripple of a surf came rolling in upon our rosy beach, and the stillness, the cessation of motion, and our extraordinary situation, made me for the first time long for home.

A bird of an unknown species came flying toward us from over the water. Its plumage was brilliant with trailing feathers of red, green, and yellow; while upon its head was a topknot of the same colors. Torrence thought he should like to have it and so fetched his gun. The bird circled above, full of curiosity. Perhaps we were the first human beings it had ever seen. Descending spirally it came at last within easy range, but we had not the heart to kill it. Then, apparently satisfied with its investigation, commenced an upward course, circling away again, just as it had come; only this time aiming its spirals toward the top of the cliff, until lost to view. Torrence then discharged the gun in the air to hear the reverberation from the rocks. The sound was impressive, coming back to us like thunder from the heights. It was probably the first time a gun had ever been discharged in this desolate quarter of the globe, and I was glad it was not in the destruction of life.

When the smoke had cleared away and the echoes ceased, we were attracted by a whirring sound above, and looking up saw thousands of pigeons which our shot had frightened from their nests. We watched them while they skurried about in dismay, until, finding that no harm had been done, they settled back among the rocks again.

* * * * *

We had made a hearty meal and were beginning to think of going when Torrence suggested that we ascend the face of Mount Horror in the air ship instead of taking our way up the channel, or following the precipitous and rugged shore line for another exit. I reminded him that it would probably be cold at such an elevation, but agreed that it would afford a magnificent view of the country. Besides, we wanted to inspect the crater, feeling sure the mountain was an extinct volcano, and so determined to ascend to the highest elevation first, and then continue our journey northward over the country beyond, or through the channel which offered a clear passage in the direction of our course. This chasm through which the river ran was sublime and terrible. A rent in that stupendous rock formation which seemed to dwarf and threaten the very foundations of the earth on which it rested. We could but regard it with feelings of awe. An overpowering desire to escape its depressing influence possessed us.

Safely aboard the air ship we began ascending the wall as if passengers in a huge elevator, which in fact we were. Again the birds flew out, terrified at our approach, some falling dead from sheer fright, a few of which we secured on deck. Hugging this terrible escarpment we were enabled to examine its formation with accuracy. Large blocks of syenitic granite hung loose, ready to drop at any minute and we saw how for ages the cliff had been slowly disintegrating, and receding from the sea by action of storm and catyclism. Lightning had also played its part, and its handwriting was visible on every side. Ledges large enough to hold a house were loaded with nests and eggs of every color and size. We consulted about the feasibility of capturing some of these, by halting and climbing out after them, but concluded to let them go, as the danger was too great. It involved not only the risk in scrambling from the vessel to the ledge, but the additional chance of being smashed by a falling rock from above. Of course in our ascent we were careful to keep far enough away to obviate that possibility.

When we had risen clear above Mount Horror we looked down into the fearful chasm that separated us from Mount Gurthrie. It was a sight never to be forgotten. To the south lay the unspotted ocean; but to the north the land sloped away rapidly, and beyond the highest elevations which, in themselves, were mountains of no mean height, but so far below as to seem trivial; beyond these, I say as far as the eye could reach, extended a beautiful country, with rivers, valleys, lakes and hills, with forest, plain, and mountain. The panorama was entrancing, and the effect on us profound.

Hovering over the crater, which we found just as we expected, we looked down into a black abyss, so vast and awful, that we had no inclination to investigate it, although it was large enough for us to have descended bodily with the air ship. There was no smoke, nor were any sulphurous fumes emitted. Evidently the volcano had been extinct for ages; and we passed rapidly on upon our north bound course, glad enough to have dry land under us once again, and to descend to a lower and warmer level. We were soon down among the foothills, and traversing a well timbered country, rising from time to time to clear the elevations encountered. The panorama that now stretched away before us was one of ravishing beauty, and we took our places on deck with lighted cigars to enjoy it. I suggested that we name the new land "Torrenzia," but Torrence only declared that while people might call it what they pleased, the credit of the new world must go to the man who had first seen it.

"You seem to think there is only one scrap of a continent here," he said, "and Torrenzia may do well enough for one; but remember it is a new world we have entered; and if I am not greatly mistaken we shall find it studded with civilizations equal to any we know. Certainly you are dense, Gurthrie, and stupid to a degree, not to have guessed by this time where we are!"

I did not answer; in fact I was provoked that he should be so secretive with the information he possessed. I confessed to my bewilderment at what we saw but was still in the dark as to the truth.

We now ran rapidly forward over a picturesque country, and through an atmosphere not only temperate but exhilarating. About a hundred miles inland the timber and water courses were less prolific, and fifty miles farther we merged upon a great, treeless plain, covered with short tussocky grass, sand, and rocks. At intervals were to be seen the bones of animals bleaching where they had fallen, the entire skeletons being generally intact. More than once we descended to the ground to examine them, but could not decide whether they were buffalo or some other creature. What surprised us most was the fact that there appeared to be no living ones. But we did not waste our time upon this arid plain, fearing to run short of water, and being particularly anxious to discover if our new world was inhabited. As we sat on deck smoking our cigars, rushing into the gentle breeze ahead, we felt like monarchs, or rather god-like creatures, who owned and ruled a world from above.

We had little time for sleep, our excitement being intense, and the short intervals we spared for an occasional nap, were taken alternately, the one remaining on deck promising the other to wake him as soon as anything of special interest occurred. I had just come above after one of these short siestas and joining my brother observed him looking with unusual interest through the glass at something below.

"What is it now?" I called, leaning over the rail.

At a glance I saw that the nature of the country had changed. No more skeletons; no more sand and rocks, or arid desert, but a great sheet of water lay to our right, while below and beyond were trees and fields, which looked as if they were cultivated; and here and there, at intervals of a mile or two, were undoubtedly the walls of human habitations. I do not say they were houses, for houses have roofs, whereas these edifices were roofless.

"I am sure I have discovered houses," said Torrence; "and I am trying to see if there are any people!"

I took the glass from his hand.

"There is no doubt about it," I exclaimed; "and what is more, they do not appear to be ruins, but houses in perfect repair, judging from their similarity and the condition of the grounds around them. But what kind of climate must these people enjoy to require no roofs? Certainly it can never rain!"

"Nor snow!" he added with a smile.

"What made you think of snow?"

"I thought, perhaps, you were thinking of it," he replied.

"Why?"

"Because you said it was high time we were in the ice belt again!"

I started.

"And how far have we come?" I asked.

"From where?"

He looked carefully at his register and made a calculation. He then said:

"We are now one thousand three hundred and eighty miles from Von Broekhuysen's Island, and about one thousand one hundred and thirty miles north of the North Pole--if you can imagine such a thing--I mean that we have advanced upon a straight line for this distance; and as you see, we have met neither ice, snow, nor cold weather yet!"

I looked above. The great disk of light was still bright in the heavens; I thought a little nearer the zenith than before. Unless there had been some gross miscalculation in our speed we had got to face a physical problem of the most stupendous nature. A problem so appalling that I began to dread the explanation as much as I had recently sought it.

"Yes," I answered in a weak voice, "there is certainly neither ice nor snow here!"

"Nor cold!" added Torrence.

"Nor cold!" I admitted.

"Nor undue heat!" he continued.

"Certainly not. The temperature has been perfect."

"And the air has a vitality unknown to us in the old world," he pursued.

"I grant every word you say. This may be a dream, but it is a paradise!"

"It is not a dream!" cried Torrence; "it is another world; a world within our own. Yonder disk of light in the sky is the opening at the pole through which we have sailed. The earth is a hollow globe, with an opening at each pole, through which the sunlight always enters. For six months it comes through the northern opening, and for six months through the southern. But the change is gradual. With the advent of the southern day, the disk is in the south, fading imperceptibly as the northern light supplants it, and _vice versa_. The great aurora borealis which illumines the Arctic regions of our world is simply the sunlight pouring through from the southern hemisphere, or the light which enters the earth at the South Pole, discharging itself at the north. For ages our world was believed to be flat; but time and study proved the fallacy. In the days of Hipparchus and Ptolemy, and for centuries after it was believed that the sun revolved around the earth; what a stupendous change in man's knowledge when the opposite was found to be the case. From the days of Columbus to our own--with a few notable exceptions--the world was supposed to be filled with amass of molten material; but within recent years facts observed in the boiling of water have compelled men to abandon that theory and substitute that of a world solid to the core. One by one the theories which have stood on the bed rock of science and been held as irrefutable by the wisdom of the age, have crumbled to pieces, and been supplanted by others; and now the faith in a solid earth is to be shattered, for you and I know that it is hollow--light and inhabited. But let us see what small beginnings led to the change in men's views in the past, and observe how similar they are to those operating now----"

"What!" I interrupted, "do you mean to say that we have sailed through an opening at the pole, and are now in the interior of the earth?"

"That is exactly it," answered Torrence.

"I can't comprehend such a thing. What is the diameter of this opening; and where is the North Pole?"

"The North Pole has no existence except as an imaginary point in space, at least five hundred miles from the surface of the earth. The openings at the so-called poles are more than a thousand miles in diameter, admitting the light of the sun and holding it with a denser and more highly electrified atmosphere than our own, making perpetual daylight, for, as I have told you, when the sun crosses the line, its light is derived through the opening at the opposite pole. The frozen belt surrounding each of these openings mark the regions of the verge, and the distance across this ring is about fifteen hundred miles.

"But the polar regions are declared to be slightly flattened."

"That is because men have penetrated far enough into the verge to mark the change in the earth's convexity, but not far enough to perceive that they had actually begun to enter the sphere itself. But I am coming to that presently. I wish to show you why certain men, in advance of their time, have believed that the earth was a hollow globe, luminous and desirable for man's abode, as we now know it to be; and how, as in some of the greatest discoveries of the past these views have been based on the study of facts as we find them, and not upon theories, which distort facts to maintain themselves. About the year 1470, a Portuguese sailor by the name of Vicente found a piece of curiously carved wood more than a thousand miles to the west of Algarve, a province of southern Portugal. This relic was discovered after a westerly gale of long duration. It set the fellow thinking. It also set Christopher Columbus thinking. Another mariner, by the name of Correa had observed certain flotsam and jetsam under similar circumstances, and was impressed by the fact. Then there was the belief in the mysterious islands of St. Brandam; and nearly 8 thousand miles west of the Canaries was supposed to be the lost island of the Seven Cities, upon which theme you remember Irving's charming story, 'The Adalantado of the Seven Cities.' These and a few other facts led Columbus to stake his life and fortune in sailing into the unknown West for the new world. I now want to show you some of the reasons for believing in a hollow, habitable globe, and to ask if they are not equally as strong as those which guided Columbus."

I was astounded, dazed, and stood trembling by the taffrail, while Torrence proceeded.

*XVI.*

* * * * *

"Do not be appalled by our discovery," he continued; "it is as simple and natural as that which proved the earth a sphere, when the wisdom of the ages had declared it flat. The old arguments against its rotundity were quite as potent as any ever brought to refute the theory of a hollow globe, first advanced by Captain Symmes. How could the earth be round? Would not all the water run off on the underside? The thing was absurd. 'How could the world be hollow and habitable? Would not the inside be dark? and would not the water drop from the upper to the lower half?' Why does not the moon drop? The land and water above us are so distant, and so screened by the atmosphere as to be invisible even if we were thousands of miles above our present position. The center of gravity lies somewhere within the crust, which is probably nowhere more than a hundred miles thick.