_ 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 particulars, 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 would have been too heavy, and his messages could not have
been kept secret. In fact, this telegraphic communication
between Sardis and the submarine vessel was almost as primitive
as 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
him 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 himself. 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 scuttle-box was used
it was run down through a square opening in the bottom of the
Dipsey, 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 when it was entirely
inside the vessel it was empty, 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 execution.
Now that he knew the import of Sammy's extraordinary
communication, he felt that it would not be right to withhold his
knowledge from Margaret. 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 ambitions 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
almost 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 suppose 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 Dipsey 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 capture 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 Dipsey are trusty fellows--at least, I thought so when
they were engaged--but there is no knowing what mutinous poison
this Pole may have infused 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. Sammy 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 Dipsey back," said Margaret, "I would not do
it; I would take the risks."
"I think you are right," said Clewe. "I have 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 produce a bad
impression upon all of them to turn back for some reason which
they did not understand, 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 husband
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 explorations 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 unnecessary, but there was noshing else for
him to say. He urged that the strictest watch be kept on
Rovinski; that he should never be allowed to go near the
telegraph instrument; and if, by insubordination or any bad
conduct, a pretext for his punishment should offer itself, he
should be immediately shut up where he could not communicate with
the men. It was very important to keep him as much as possible
in ignorance of what was going on and of what should be
accomplished; 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
turned 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
developments 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." _