Indeed, it seemed to me that nothing had been overlooked, and as Torrence had all his life had a hankering for Arctic exploration, I was not greatly astonished at his decision. I reflected that the pole could never be reached except by balloon, and that the difficulty of ordinary ballooning was the impossibility of advancing against air currents, and that since our ship had overcome that point, it did really appear as if we might be in a fair way to accomplish something more than other explorers. I became greatly interested, and began to look for marvelous results.
At noon I went into the galley and prepared dinner, while Torrence kept watch above on the upper deck, where there was also a duplicate controlling board. We had eaten nothing since the previous night; the excitement of getting off having kept the thought of food from entering our heads, but now we were hungry. It was undoubtedly the first time since the creation that a meal had been cooked and eaten at that elevation over Northhampton, but it was none the worse for that, and two hungrier men could not have honored the occasion. From our seats in the saloon we had a good outlook upon every side. Forward we looked directly ahead through the cuddy ports – aft – through our stern lights in the galley, and upon either side were great sliding windows. The watch was, of course, only to guard against any unexpected elevation in the land, such as a hill, otherwise – or even had we been a little higher – we might have drawn the blinds and run on with impunity. After dinner we threw the scraps overboard, and went on deck for a smoke, and watched the country steadily slipping away beneath us. We were fanned by a gentle breeze, which might have been stiffer, but such wind as there was, was blowing dead aft.
"This," said Torrence, looking about him with pride, "is what I call the climax of living. Above your enemies; above your friends; and out of reach of all the petty annoyances of earth!"
I was as jubilant as he, and found it quite as difficult to conceal my emotions, which were altogether natural; for has not flight been always regarded as a prerogative of angels? and has not man aspired to it as the most perfect form of migration? The exhilaration was beyond description; and as we swept on through that long summer day, there was a sense of power and freedom which no other form of locomotion could impart.
"I could never be content to live down there again!" I said, flipping the ashes from my cigar overboard.
"Nor I," said Torrence; "not after this experience. The sky is good enough for me!"
Toward evening we could hear the tinkling of bells and lowing of herds, and catch an occasional shout of surprise from a frightened farmer, as we dipped a little nearer earthward, and then skurried aloft and away, before he had time to recover his equanimity. At a small village in the southern part of Lincolnshire we pounced suddenly upon a traveling circus, and stampeded the entire crowd, not one of which will ever forget us. It was the grandest game imaginable; to come swooping down to within fifty or seventy-five feet of the ground, over an unsuspecting congregation of countrymen, and then dart onward and upward amid their shouts of consternation. However, we did not indulge in this sort of thing often, not wishing to incur the risk of being fired at. It showed, nevertheless, the absolute control we had over the machine, and was interesting from a scientific, as well as a humorous point of view.
Toward sundown I smelled salt air, and knew we were approaching the sea. Then we ran into a bank of mist, and the earth was lost to view. I asked Torrence where we were heading for, and he said:
"I am going to run around the city of Hull; leaving it a few miles upon our right, so as not to attract attention, and then cross over to Norway."
"You surely don't intend to try the North Sea to-night!" I exclaimed in surprise.
"Why not? There is no danger," he answered.
I did not argue the matter, feeling safe in his hands. The fog bank continued for some minutes, and when we suddenly ran out of it, imagine my astonishment to find ourselves hovering directly over a large city, with the sea beyond.
X
Torrence jumped up in consternation, and looking overboard, exclaimed with an oath that he thought we were at least five miles to the southwest of that town.
"And what difference does it make?" I inquired.
"Look for yourself!" he cried; "they are expecting us. I feared our course would be telegraphed to all sea ports; but they shan't track me out of the country," he added, looking aloft significantly, "that is, not if I can help it."
"I should say we had decidedly the whip handle of them!" I replied.
"So we have. Of course they can't stop us, but I think it will be just as well to give them a false scent for their trouble. It may be interesting to use a little strategy with these people, Gurt, although we are undoubtedly masters of the situation."
Looking down I saw that the streets were crowded with people gazing up at us; and around the Wilberforce monument, on both sides of the bridge, it looked as if a mob had gathered to intercept our progress. In the open square, probably not less than a hundred soldiers had been assembled under arms, and had a very threatening aspect.
"Surely they won't fire on us!" I exclaimed.
"Not a bit of danger, they wouldn't dare; and if they did, they couldn't hurt us. No, the red coats are only for show; but if they got ugly, we could clean out the crowd by simply dropping a lot of cartridges overboard, without taking our guns out of the racks."
He pressed a button, turned a lever, and we slowed down.
"They want to speak to us, and perhaps it will be just as well to give them a chance."
A man was waving a white flag, evidently intended to attract our attention. He appeared to be some high functionary of the town, judging from his dress and general deportment. He held a paper in his other hand, which he indicated was for us. Torrence waved his handkerchief in reply, and pulled the air ship down to a dead halt, about two hundred and fifty feet above the level of the street.
"It may be the injunction!" I suggested.
"Too late for that now," said Torrence; "they can't enjoin me after I've left. But I don't want them to know my course, and shall therefore humbug them a little."
He looked earnestly above at a great white cloud that had crept up from the southwest, and which had now nearly covered the sky. He then took a pencil, and with a writing pad resting on the rail, wrote:
"If you have any communication to make I will let down a line."
This he threw overboard. It was picked up immediately, and handed to the official who was standing quite separate from the others. Shouts of "lower your line!" were now heard distinctly, and in another minute we had dropped a cord overboard, with a screw tied to the end for a weight. It did not take long to draw up the line again, at the end of which was an official looking document. Torrence tore open the envelope hastily, and began reading. In a minute he thrust it into his pocket and said:
"Rot!"
"What's the matter?" I asked him.
"That blackguard, Hart, wants to get me back to London. Pretends I've committed a crime by moving the air ship without his consent. Promises forgiveness – the lunatic – if I'll return; and – of all the gall in creation – says he will pay down a handsome sum, as he calls it, for a half interest in the air ship, if I'll come back and make it over to him; and then to cap the climax, has the effrontery to threaten me if I don't do it. The fellow must either be a dolt himself or take me for one. But I'll make it interesting for him, nevertheless!"
"They must take us for a brace of nincompoops," I replied; "but is it in the form of a summons?"
"Seems to be a kind of capias for my arrest, but how on earth can they execute their orders while I'm up here?" said Torrence.
"You surely don't intend to return," I said, looking over his shoulder.
"Of course not; but I'm determined not to be tracked out of the country. The man has done all he could to thwart me by foul means. He has tried to entrap me in a pretended form of law. He endeavored to prevent my sailing by procuring an injunction issued upon false representations, and if he's fool enough to suppose that I'd return to London – why let him suppose it, and wait, and sweat!"
He now headed the air ship toward London, and rising, sailed away from the town.
"Let them think what they please!" he said. Torrence got up on the top deck and waved his hat, and then every one shouted. I think there was some doubt, however, as to whether we really intended to return, until they saw us gradually head about, and point our prow toward London; then there was an unmistakable yell of delight from every throat.
We were soon running against the wind, due south. The cloud bank which had been steadily pushing up out of the southwest now nearly covered the sky at an elevation of many thousand feet. The city of Hull was fading in the distance. It would soon be lost to sight. I looked at the earth below, and saw that we were steadily ascending upon an inclined plane.
"When we are wrapt in the bosom of the clouds," said Torrence, "I intend to put about, and run directly over their heads, out of sight, and be far to seaward before the sun sets."
The clouds were still at a great altitude above us; and to prevent our real intentions being discovered we made the ascent very gradually, still steering south, but on an ascending plane, so that upon entering the cloud bank it would be apparent to all that we were still headed for London. The elevation might be easily accounted for on the hypothesis of air currents, so that no suspicion of insincerity would be aroused on the part of those watching us.
"Now," said Torrence, "as we are going up to a great height, we might find it more comfortable to slip on warmer clothing; or at all events to get out some top coats."
This we did, and then seating ourselves on deck, watched the great feathery mass into whose bosom we were gradually ascending. All at once the earth, the sky, and the greater part of the air ship vanished. We had plunged into the cloud, and I could not even see Torry, who was sitting only a few feet away. Luckily we had on tarpaulins, or we should have been wet to the skin. It was like unaided flight, not even our support being visible. Torrence's voice came out of the invisible, producing a weird sensation, and I could feel that we were still being borne rapidly upward.
"Still ascending?" I inquired, feeling as if I were addressing chaos.
"Still ascending!" came the answer.
"How much higher do we go?"
"Clear above this bank. It will be pleasanter."
The words had a strange unnatural sound, as if coming from under the water. My body was the only objective reality in all creation, and even the more distant parts of that showed a tendency to evade me. Still onward and upward, with nothing to prove our motion save the feeling which the vessel imparted. Suddenly a flood of sunlight enveloped us, and we rose like a duck out of the water into another element. A milk-white sea was spread beneath; a dazzling sky above. Again Torrence was at his screws and levers. We halted, and trembled for a moment in midair, preparatory to changing our course; and then, with the rush of a sudden gale, went swirling ahead in the opposite direction. A minute later he looked at the register and said:
"Altitude, eight thousand two hundred. Speed, a mile a minute. Course, northeast by north!"
And now the Hullites could amuse themselves speculating how long it would take us to reach London, while we swept on to the North Sea.
Our present altitude was unpleasantly cold, and the atmosphere perceptibly rarefied, but it was not the intention to remain at such an elevation longer than necessary, and when well beyond the English coast we would descend to our former level. It was here that a strange sight attracted our attention.
As the sun worn down, our milky ocean became transfused with color. At first the change was slight, merely a rosy flush caught against the higher points; but quickly the entire surface was emblazoned; flooded with a million dyes of liquid fire, of a depth and splendor that was dazzling. Such purples, greens, and violets – vivid, intense, pale, and shadowy. It was as if we had suddenly discovered the polychromatic sea of an unknown planet, but a sea whose waters were strangely lacking in specific gravity and from whose surface a myriad eddies of violet and other colored smokes arose like incense, curling, twisting, and falling, and constantly changing tone, shape, and density over the entire mass.
We were bewildered – dazed. While looking down upon this marvelous panorama we were suddenly startled by a sight I shall never forget. Far down to the east another air ship was following at tremendous speed. Black and forbidding it plunged along through the fiery waves, as if bent on running us down. It was the counterpart of our own vessel. We seized each other's hands in amazement, overcome with horror. So brilliant was the scene below that it was an instant before we realized that the awful object was our own phantom, or shadow, cast upon the clouds beneath; but during that instant it was a terrifying sight.
When the sun disappeared we were left in the dull gray of twilight, and as the cold was increasing began at once descending to a lower level. Again the cloud drift was about us, darker and denser than ever; but we quickly passed through it, and I was surprised on emerging, to find the North Sea beneath, and the bluffs of Scarborough fading in the distance.
"There is no danger of our being sighted from land now!" said Torrence, checking our descent, and fixing the altitude at about five hundred feet above the sea, He also reduced our speed to its former rate, twenty-five miles an hour, which he said was fast enough. The temperature here was warm and pleasant, with light breeze from the southwest, which, by the by, we did not catch, as we were moving faster, in the opposite direction, making our own wind. The sea was deserted, and the land barely visible. It would still be some time before dark, and we took places on deck to watch out for vessels. We had purposely taken a course away from the track of the Wilson steamers, which ply between Drontheim and Hull; not that it was a matter of any vital importance, but Torrence wanted to keep our movements from the public if possible. This was easily done, both by reason of an extended horizon and the enormous speed we could develop if necessary.
As darkness came on we went below, closing the shutters to all lookouts, so as not to reveal our position, and then lighted a swinging lamp, deriving all necessary ventilation from above, whence no light was visible. Having thus shut ourselves in from the observation of the world, we set about getting supper. Nothing could be more cosy; suspended in midair, and surrounded with every luxury, while partaking of our evening meal. The consciousness of absolute independence of the world; the sense of power, which our command of the situation imparted, was, to say the least, extremely gratifying. The feudal lord in his castle might be harried and captured by an enemy; but our enemies could be laughed at with impunity. After supper we amused ourselves with an experiment at dish washing, which proved very satisfactory. The plates were simply piled into a net and lowered to the sea by a cord. After swishing about for a while, they were drawn up clean. Of course we dropped our level to within forty or fifty feet of the water, and greatly slackened speed during the performance, but it saved a lot of trouble. On completing these housekeeping arrangements we climbed up on deck, for a chat and smoke before retiring.
The night was dark, there being no moon, and the sky overcast, beside which the air was misty. We kept our position well above all mast-heads, should there be any, and took extra precaution to prevent a certain nimbus-like reflection against the mist by putting out the lights as soon as supper was over.
Torrence touched his controller, and we rose to our former altitude, remarking that our course only insured us against collision with steamers; and that sailing ships were liable to be found wherever there was water enough to float them.
"And there is no danger of dropping to a lower level unawares?" I asked.
"Such a thing is impossible!" he replied. "The air ship has just such an antipathy for earth as her vibrations impart. It is like the negative pole of a magnet, and unless my controllers move of their own accord, which is an impossibility, the vessel must remain upon just such a plane as I put her."
"How about our being discovered in the morning? Will you run up into the clouds again?"
"No," he said, "let them discover us. I was only anxious to delude those Hullites into the belief that we had really gone back to London. If we are seen to-morrow, they won't find it out until the next day, and they are welcome to all the satisfaction it will give them. One thing is certain; they will never follow where we are going!"
"No," I replied, "not if we succeed in reaching the Pole!"
"There is no if in this matter," said Torrence, "for straight through the Arctic regions we go, and without many stations either. I know the road. We 've got the machine. We're stocked with provisions and clothing. The great mystery will be solved at last. By the by, old man, hadn't you better keep a record of our trip?"
"Decidedly!" I replied.
From that time, whenever possible, I wrote up the account of this voyage, beginning with our landing in London; and the present voluminous paper is the result.
At 11 o'clock Torrence insisted on my going below to bed, while he continued the watch above. It was a strange sensation, this crawling into a bunk to sleep on an air ship, but I was exhausted with the excitement of the day, and soon fell into a sound slumber, rocked by the gentle swaying of the car. Nothing could have been more soothing than the situation; though why I should have felt no fear of falling was a mystery, possibly induced by the negation of gravity which pervaded all my surroundings, and perhaps, to a certain extent, even penetrated my own body; though this is only a surmise.
If I dreamed, I do not know it, but was awakened while it was still dark by the sound of music. Sitting up, I listened in amazement. Several instruments were distinctly audible, and these were accompanied by half a dozen voices. Probably every one is familiar with the ravishing charm of music while sleeping, and I awoke enraptured with this unearthly fascination, believing at first that the sound had only been in my dreams; but to my amazement it continued. I recalled immediately where I was, and my astonishment was only increased on remembering our singular isolation. There could be no doubt about it – there were musical instruments, and there were human voices – but where out of heaven or earth did they come from. Slowly I crawled down from my bunk and groped my way through the dividing curtains to Torrence's; but he was not there. I thought it must be nearly morning but evidently he had not come to bed. Had he crossed the North Sea and landed without my knowledge? I could not believe it; nor could I think that we had returned to England. I pinched myself and bit my finger to make sure that I was awake, and then slowly felt the way into the saloon, and having reached the ladder, commenced climbing above, with a horrid dread of some awful catastrophe having befallen us. I stepped out upon the deck and looked around. The dull red glow of Torry's cigar caught my eye; for there he was in the gloom, still sitting where I had left him, his chair against the rail, and his arm hanging over. Evidently he was looking at something below, and leaning outward, did not see me. Here the music was even clearer than it had been below, and I paused for a moment in dumb amazement to listen. The instruments were well played, and the voices strong and thrilling, with a wild pathos. I glanced out over the taffrail. The misty waters were still spread around us, and the swish of the waves was distinctly heard. Feeling as though suddenly bewitched, I groped my way toward Torrence, who at that moment caught sight of me. He raised his hand, and said softly:
"Hush! Do not speak a word!"
I moved cautiously along to his elbow.
"What is it?" I whispered; "where are we, and what does this music mean?"
Taking me by the arm, he said in a low voice:
"We are floating just above the masthead of a Norwegian bark. The men are having a little frolic on board, and are playing and singing!"
He then went on to explain how he had overhauled the bark shortly after I had gone below, and hearing the music had dropped a little and slackened speed to enjoy it.
I looked over the rail and a weird sight it was. Just below, through the turgid atmosphere, was the huge silhouette of the ship, magnified in the fog. A few lights were visible along her deck, and near the center was a reddish glow through which shadowy figures moved and danced. No detail was visible. Nothing but the shifting shadows and the light, and the great mass of the vessel. It was like a huge kinetoscope, with the addition of music.
"The fellows are having a good time!" said Torrence; "sometimes in rifts of the fog we can see them more distinctly. Far from home, and with a good-natured skipper, there is nothing to prevent their enjoying themselves!"
At one moment the shadows would form a circle, when one would step into the glowing center and perform some fantastic evolutions to the music. The whole scene was wild and weird in the extreme. A pink nebulosity from out which dark mysterious figures were forever coming and going, dancing, falling, and jumping.
We lingered quite awhile, looking and listening without their having a suspicion of our proximity, and then Torrence, with a sudden burst of enthusiasm over one of the performers, shouted "Hooray," at the top of his voice. Instantly the music stopped, and every man, seized with panic, looked aloft; but we were dark and silent, and gave no token. Slowly we rose again in the air, and in another minute had left the Norwegian bark far behind. It was a queer experience, and I have often wondered how those people explained the mystery of the heavenward voice.