THE PURCHASE OF THE NORTH POLE
A SEQUEL TO
“FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON”
BY
JULES VERNE
AUTHOR OF “TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA,” “AROUND THE WORLD IN
EIGHTY DAYS,” “THE FUR COUNTRY,” ETC., ETC.
ILLUSTRATED
LONDON AND EDINBURGH
SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON & COMPANY
-Limited-
------------------------------------------------------------------------
BARBICANE & CO.;
OR,
THE PURCHASE OF THE NORTH POLE.
CHAPTER I.
THE NORTH POLAR PRACTICAL ASSOCIATION.
“And so, Mr. Maston, you consider that a woman can do nothing for the
advance of the mathematical or experimental sciences?”
“To my extreme regret, Mrs. Scorbitt,” said J. T. Maston, “I am obliged
to say so. That there have been many remarkable female mathematicians,
especially in Russia, I willingly admit; but with her cerebral
conformation it is not in a woman to become an Archimedes or a Newton.”
“Then, Mr. Maston, allow me to protest in the name of my sex--”
“Sex all the more charming, Mrs. Scorbitt, from its never having taken
to transcendental studies!”
“According to you, Mr. Maston, if a woman had seen an apple fall she
would never have been able to discover the laws of universal gravitation
as did the illustrious Englishman at the close of the seventeenth
century!”
“In seeing an apple fall, Mrs. Scorbitt, a woman would have only one
idea--to eat it, after the example of our mother Eve.”
“You deny us all aptitude for the higher speculations--”
“All aptitude? No, Mrs. Scorbitt. But I would ask you to remember that
since there have been people on this earth, and women consequently,
there has never been discovered a feminine brain to which we owe a
discovery in the domain of science analogous to the discoveries of
Aristotle, Euclid, Kepler, or Laplace.”
“Is that a reason? Is it inevitable that the future should be as the
past?”
“Hum! That which has not happened for thousands of years is not likely
to happen.”
“Then we must resign ourselves to our fate, Mr. Maston. And as we are
indeed good--”
“And how good!” interrupted J. T. Maston, with all the amiable gallantry
of which a philosopher crammed with -x- was capable.
Mrs. Scorbitt was quite ready to be convinced.
“Well, Mr. Maston,” she said, “each to his lot in this world. Remain the
extraordinary mathematician that you are. Give yourself entirely to the
problems of that immense enterprise to which you and your friends have
devoted their lives! I will remain the good woman I ought to be, and
assist you with the means.”
“For which you will have our eternal gratitude,” said J. T. Maston.
Mrs. Scorbitt blushed deliciously, for she felt, if not for philosophers
in general, at least for J. T. Maston, a truly strange sympathy. Is not
a woman’s heart unfathomable?
An immense enterprise it was which this wealthy American widow had
resolved to support with large sums of money. The object of its
promoters was as follows:--
The Arctic territories, properly so called, according to the highest
geographical authorities, are bounded by the seventy-eighth parallel,
and extend over fourteen hundred thousand square miles, while the seas
extend over seven hundred thousand.
Within this parallel have intrepid modern discoverers advanced nearly as
far as the eighty-fourth degree of latitude, revealing many a coast
hidden beyond the lofty chain of icebergs, giving names to capes,
promontories, gulfs, and bays of these vast Arctic highlands. But beyond
this eighty-fourth parallel is a mystery, the unrealizable desideratum
of geographers. No one yet knows if land or sea lies hid in that space
of six degrees, that impassable barrier of Polar ice.
In this year, 189--, the United States Government had unexpectedly
proposed to put up to auction the circumpolar regions then remaining
undiscovered, having been urged to this extraordinary step by an
American society which had been formed to obtain a concession of the
apparently useless tract.
Some years before the Berlin Conference had formulated a special code
for the use of Great Powers wishing to appropriate the property of
another under pretext of colonization or opening up commercial routes.
But this code was not applicable, under the circumstances, as the Polar
domain was not inhabited. Nevertheless, as that which belongs to nobody
belongs to all, the new society did not propose to “take” but to
“acquire.”
In the United States there is no project so audacious for which people
cannot be found to guarantee the cost and find the working expenses.
This was well seen when a few years before the Gun Club of Baltimore had
entered on the task of despatching a projectile to the Moon, in the hope
of obtaining direct communication with our satellite. Was it not these
enterprising Yankees who had furnished the larger part of the sums
required by this interesting attempt? And if it had succeeded, would it
not be owing to two of the members of the said club who had dared to
face the risk of an entirely novel experiment?
If a Lesseps were one day to propose to cut a gigantic canal through
Europe and Asia, from the shores of the Atlantic to the China Sea; if a
well-sinker of genius were to offer to pierce the earth in the hopes of
finding and utilizing the beds of silicates supposed to be there in a
fluid state; if an enterprising electrician proposed to combine the
currents disseminated over the surface of the globe so as to form an
inexhaustible source of heat and light; if a daring engineer were to
have the idea of storing in vast receptacles the excess of summer
temperature, in order to transfer it to the frozen regions in the
winter; if a hydraulic specialist were to propose to utilize the force
of the tide for the production of heat or power at will; if companies
were to be formed to carry out a hundred projects of this kind--it is the
Americans who would be found at the head of the subscribers, and rivers
of dollars would flow into the pockets of the projectors, as the great
rivers of North America flow into--and are lost in--the ocean.
It was only natural that public opinion should be much exercised at the
announcement that the Arctic regions were to be sold to the highest
bidder, particularly as no public subscription had been opened with a
view to the purchase, for “all the capital had been subscribed in
advance,” and, “it was left for Time to show how it was proposed to
utilize the territory when it had become the property of the purchaser!”
Utilize the Arctic regions! In truth such an idea could only have
originated in the brain of a madman!
But nevertheless nothing could be more serious than the scheme.
In fact, a communication had been sent to many of the journals of both
continents, concluding with a demand for immediate inquiry on the part
of those interested. It was the -New York Herald- that first published
this curious farrago, and the innumerable patrons of Gordon Bennett
read, on the morning of the 7th of November, the following
advertisement, which rapidly spread through the scientific and
industrial world, and became appreciated in very different ways:--
“NOTICE TO THE INHABITANTS OF THE TERRESTRIAL GLOBE.
“The regions of the North Pole situated within the eighty-fourth degree
of north latitude have not yet been utilized, for the very good reason
that they have not yet been discovered.
“The furthest points attained by the navigators of different nations are
the following:-- 82° 45′, said to have been reached by the Englishman,
Parry, in July, 1847, in long. 28° E. north of Spitzbergen; 83° 20′ 28″,
said to have been reached by Markham in the English expedition of Sir
John Nares, in May, 1876, in long. 50° W. north of Grinnell Land; 83°
35′, said to have been reached by Lockwood and Brainard in the American
expedition of Lieutenant Greely, in May, 1882, in long. 42° W. in the
north of Nares’ Land.
“It can thus be considered that the region extending from the
eighty-fourth parallel to the Pole is still undivided among the
different States of the globe. It is, therefore, excellently adapted for
annexation as a private estate after formal purchase in public auction.
“The property belongs to nobody by right of occupation, and the
Government of the United States of America, having been applied to in
the matter, have undertaken to name an official auctioneer for the
purposes of its disposal.
“A company has been formed at Baltimore, under the title of the North
Polar Practical Association, which proposes to acquire the region by
purchase, and thus obtain an indefeasible title to all the continents,
islands, islets, rocks, seas, lakes, rivers, and watercourses whatsoever
of which this Arctic territory is composed, although these may be now
covered with ice, which ice may in summertime disappear.
“It is understood that this right will be perpetual and indefeasible,
even in the event of modification--in any way whatsoever--of the
geographical or meteorological conditions of the globe.
“The project having herewith been brought to the knowledge of the people
of the two worlds, representatives of all nations will be admitted to
take part in the bidding, and the property will be adjudged to the
highest bidder.
“The sale will take place on the 3rd of December of the present year in
the Auction Mart at Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America.
“For further particulars apply to William S. Forster, provisional agent
of the North Polar Practical Association 93, High Street, Baltimore.”
It may be that this communication will be considered as a madman’s
freak; but at any rate it must be admitted that in its clearness and
frankness it left nothing to be desired. The serious part of it was that
the Federal Government had undertaken to treat a sale by auction as a
valid concession of these undiscovered territories.
Opinions on the matter were many. Some readers saw in it only one of
those prodigious outbursts of American humbug, which would exceed the
limits of puffism if the depths of human credulity were not
unfathomable. Others thought the proposition should be seriously
entertained. And these laid stress on the fact that the new company had
not appealed to the public for funds. It was with their own money that
they sought to acquire the northern regions. They did not seek to drain
the dollars and banknotes of the simple into their coffers. No! All they
asked was to pay with their own money for their circumpolar property!
This was indeed extraordinary!
To those people who were fond of figures it seemed that all the said
company had to do was to buy the right of the first occupant, but that
was difficult, as access to the Pole appeared to be forbidden to man,
and the new company would necessarily act with prudence, for too many
legal precautions could hardly be taken.
It was noticed that the document contained a clause providing for future
contingencies. This clause gave rise to much contradictory
interpretation, for its precise meaning escaped the most subtle minds.
It stipulated that the right would be perpetual, even in the event of
modification in any way whatsoever of the geographical or meteorological
conditions of the globe. What was the meaning of this clause? What
contingency did it provide for? How could the earth ever undergo a
modification affecting its geography or meteorology, especially in the
territories in question?
“Evidently,” said the knowing ones, “there is something in this!”
Explanations there were many to exercise the ingenuity of some and the
curiosity of others.
The -Philadelphia Ledger- made the following suggestion:--
“The future acquirers of the Arctic regions have doubtless ascertained
by calculation that the nucleus of a comet will shortly strike the earth
in such a manner that the shock will produce the geographical and
meteorological changes for which the clause provides.”
This sounded scientific, but it threw no light on the matter. The idea
of a shock from such a comet did not commend itself to the intelligent.
It seemed inadmissible that the concessionaries should have prepared for
so hypothetical an eventuality.
“Perhaps,” said the -New Orleans Delta-, “the new company imagine that
the precession of the equinoxes will produce the modification favourable
to the utilization of their new property.”
“And why not,” asked the -Hamburger Correspondent-, “if the movement
modifies the parallelism of the axis of our spheroid?”
“In fact,” said the Paris -Revue Scientifique-, “did not Adhemar say, in
his book on the revolutions of the sea, that the precession of the
equinoxes, combined with the secular movement of the major axis of the
terrestrial orbit, would be of a nature to bring about, after a long
period, a modification in the mean temperature of the different parts of
the Earth, and in the quantity of ice accumulated at the Poles?”
“That is not certain,” said the -Edinburgh Guardian-, “and even if it
were so, would it not require a lapse of twelve thousand years for Vega
to become our pole-star, in accordance with the said phenomenon, and for
the Arctic regions to undergo a change in climate?”
“Well,” said the -Copenhagen Dagblad-, “in twelve thousand years it will
be time enough to subscribe the money. Meanwhile we do not intend to
risk a krone.”
But although the -Revue Scientifique- might be right with regard to
Adhemar, it was probable that the North Polar Practical Association had
never reckoned on a modification due to the precession of the equinoxes.
And no one managed to discover the meaning of the clause, or the
cosmical change for which it provided.
To ascertain what it meant application might perhaps be made to the
directorate of the new company? Why not apply to its chairman? But the
chairman was unknown! Unmentioned, too, were the secretary and
directors. There was nothing to show from whom the advertisement
emanated. It had been brought to the office of the -New York Herald- by
a certain William S. Forster, of Baltimore, a worthy agent for codfish,
acting for Ardrinell and Co., of Newfoundland, and evidently a man of
straw. He was as mute on the subject as the fish consigned to his care,
and the cleverest of reporters and interviewers could get nothing out of
him.
But if the promoters of this industrial enterprise persisted in keeping
their identity a mystery, their intentions were indicated clearly
enough.
They intended to acquire the freehold of that portion of the Arctic
regions bounded by the eighty-fourth parallel of latitude, with the
North Pole as the central point.
Nothing was more certain than that among modern discoverers only Parry,
Markham, Lockwood and Brainard had penetrated beyond this parallel.
Other navigators of the Arctic seas had all halted below it. Payer, in
1874, had stopped at 82° 15′, to the north of Franz Joseph Land and Nova
Zembla; De Long, in the -Jeannette- expedition in 1879, had stopped at
78° 45′, in the neighbourhood of the islands which bear his name.
Others, by way of New Siberia and Greenland, in the latitude of Cape
Bismarck, had not advanced beyond the 76th, 77th, and 79th parallels; so
that by leaving a space of twenty-five minutes between Lockwood and
Brainard’s 83° 35′ and the 84° mentioned in the prospectus, the North
Polar Practical Association would not encroach on prior discoveries. Its
project affected an absolutely virgin soil, untrodden by human foot.
The area of the portion of the globe within this eighty-fourth parallel
is tolerably large.
From 84° to 90° there are six degrees, which, at sixty miles each, give
a radius of 360 miles and a diameter of 720 miles. The circumference is
thus 2216 miles, and the area, in round numbers, 407,000 square miles.
This is nearly a tenth of the whole of Europe--a good-sized estate!
The advertisement, it will have been noticed, assumed the principle that
regions not known geographically and belonging to nobody in particular
belonged to the world at large. That the majority of the Powers would
admit this contention was supposable, but it was possible that States
bordering on these Arctic regions, or considering the regions as the
prolongation of their dominions towards the north, might claim a right
of possession. And their pretensions would be all the more justified by
the discoveries that had been made having been chiefly due to these
regions; and of course the Federal Government, as nominators of the
auctioneer, would give these Powers an opportunity of claiming
compensation, and satisfy the claim with the money realized by the sale.
At the same time, as the partisans of the North Polar Practical
Association continually insisted, the property was uninhabited, and as
no one occupied it, no one could oppose its being put up to auction.
The bordering States with rights not to be disregarded were six in
number--Great Britain, the United States, Denmark, Sweden and Norway,
Holland, and Russia. But there were other countries that might put in a
claim on the ground of discoveries made by their navigators.
France might, as usual, have intervened on account of a few of her
children having taken part in occasional expeditions. There was the
gallant Bellot, who died in 1853 near Beechey Island, during the voyage
of the -Phœnix-, sent in search of Sir John Franklin. There was Dr.
Octave Pavy, who died in 1884 at Cape Sabine, during the stay of the
Greely expedition at Fort Conger. And there was the expedition in
1838–39, which took to the Spitzbergen Seas, Charles Martins and Marmier
and Bravais, and their bold companions. But France did not propose to
meddle in the enterprise, which was more industrial than scientific;
and, at the outset, she abandoned any chance she might have of a slice
of the Polar cake.
It was the same with Germany. She could point to the Spitzbergen
expedition of Frederick Martens, and to the expeditions, in 1869–70, of
the -Germania- and -Hansa-, under Koldewey and Hegeman, which reached
Cape Bismarck on the Greenland coast. But notwithstanding these
brilliant discoveries she decided to make no increase to the Germanic
empire by means of a slice from the Pole.
So it was with Austria-Hungary, which, however, had her claims on Franz
Joseph Land to the northward of Siberia.
As Italy had no right of intervention she did not intervene--which is not
quite so obvious as it may appear.
The same happened with regard to the Samoyeds of Siberia, the Eskimos
who are scattered along the northern regions of America, the natives of
Greenland, of Labrador, of the Baffin Parry Archipelago, of the Aleutian
Islands between Asia and America, and of Russian Alaska, which became
American in 1867. But these people--the undisputed aborigines of the
northern regions--had no voice in the matter. How could such poor folks
manage to make a bid at the auction promoted by the North Polar
Practical Association? And if they outbid the rest, how could they pay?
In shellfish, or walrus teeth, or seal oil? But surely they had some
claim on this territory? Strange to say, they were not even consulted in
the matter!
Such is the way of the world!
CHAPTER II.
TO SYNDICATE OR NOT TO SYNDICATE.
If the new company “acquired” the Arctic regions, these regions would,
owing to the company’s nationality, become for all practical purposes a
part of the United States. What would the first inhabitant say? Would
the other Powers permit it?
The Swedes and Norwegians were the owners of the North Cape, situated
within the seventieth parallel, and made no secret that they considered
they had rights extending beyond Spitzbergen up to the Pole itself. Had
not Kheilhau, the Norwegian, and Nordenskiold, the celebrated Swede,
contributed much to geographical progress in those regions? Undoubtedly.
Denmark was already master of Iceland and the Faroe Isles, besides the
colonies in the Arctic regions at Disco, in Davis’s Straits; at
Holsteinborg, Proven, Godhavn, and Upernavik, in Baffin Sea; and on the
western coast of Greenland. Besides, had not Behring, a Dane in the
Russian service, passed through in 1728 the straits now bearing his
name? And had he not thirteen years afterwards, died on the island also
named after him? And before him, in 1619, had not Jon Munk explored the
eastern coast of Greenland, and discovered many points up to then
totally unknown? Was not Denmark to have a voice in the matter?
There was Holland, too. Had not Barents and Heemskerk visited
Spitzbergen and Nova Zembla at the close of the sixteenth century? Was
it not one of her children, Jan Mayen, whose audacious voyage in 1611
gave her possession of the island named after him situated within the
seventy-first parallel?
And how about Russia? Had not Behring been under the orders of Alexis
Tschirikof? Had not Paulutski, in 1751, sailed into the Arctic seas? Had
not Martin Spanberg and William Walton adventured in these unknown
regions in 1739, and done notable exploring work in the straits between
Asia and America? Had not Russia her Siberian territories, extending
over a hundred and twenty degrees to the limits of Kamtschatka along the
Asiatic littoral, peopled by Samoyeds, Yakuts, Tchouktchis, and others,
and bordering nearly half of the Arctic Ocean? Was there not on the
seventy-fifth parallel, at less than nine hundred miles from the Pole,
the Liakhov Archipelago, discovered at the beginning of the eighteenth
century?
And how about the United Kingdom, which possessed in Canada a territory
larger than the whole of the United States, and whose navigators held
the first place in the history of the frozen north? Had not the British
a right to be heard in the matter?
But, not unnaturally, the British Government considered that they had
quite enough to do without troubling themselves about an advertisement
in the -New York Herald-. The Foreign Office did not consider the
consignee of codfish even worthy of a pigeon-hole; and the Colonial
Office seemed quite ignorant of his existence until the Secretary’s
attention was called to the subject, when the official reply was given
that the matter was one of purely local interest, in which her Majesty’s
Government had no intention of concerning themselves.
In Canada, however, some stir was made, particularly among the French;
and at Quebec a syndicate was formed for the purpose of competing with
the company at Baltimore. The other countries interested followed the
Canadian lead. Although the Governments haughtily ignored the audacious
proposition, speculative individuals were found in Holland, Scandinavia,
Denmark, and Russia to venture sufficient funds for preliminary expenses
with a view to acquire imaginary rights that might prove profitably
transferable.
Three weeks before the date fixed for the sale the representatives of
these various syndicates arrived in the United States.
The only representative of the American company was the William S.
Forster whose name figured in the advertisement of the 7th of November.
Holland sent Jacques Jansen, a councillor of the Dutch East Indies,
fifty-three years of age, squat, broad, and protuberant, with short arms
and little bow legs, aluminium spectacles, face round and red, hair in a
mop, and grizzly whiskers--a solid man, not a little incredulous on the
subject of an enterprise whose practical consequences he did not quite
see.
The Danish syndicate sent Erik Baldenak, an ex-subgovernor of the
Greenland colonies, a man of middle height, somewhat unequal about the
shoulders, with a perceptible corporation, a large head, and eyes so
short-sighted that everything he read he almost touched with his nose.
His instructions were to treat as beyond argument the rights of his
country, which was the legitimate proprietor of the Polar regions.
The Swedes and Norwegians sent Jan Harald, professor of cosmography at
Christiania, who had been one of the warmest partisans of the
Nordenskiold expedition, a true type of the Norseman, with clear, fresh
face, and beard and hair of the colour of the over-ripe corn. Harald’s
private opinion was that the Polar cap was covered with the Palæocrystic
Sea, and therefore valueless. But none the less, he intended to do the
best he could for those who employed him.
The representative of the Russian financiers was Colonel Boris Karkof,
half soldier, half diplomatist; tall, stiff, hairy, bearded, moustached;
very uncomfortable in his civilian clothes, and unconsciously seeking
for the handle of the sword he used to wear. The colonel was very
anxious to know what was concealed in the proposition of the North Polar
Practical Association, with a view to ascertaining if it would not give
rise to international difficulties.
England having declined all participation in the matter, the only
representatives of the British Empire were those from the Quebec
Company. These were Major Donellan, a French-Canadian, whose ancestry is
sufficiently apparent from his name, and a compatriot of his named
Todrin. Donellan was tall, thin, bony, nervous, and angular, and of just
such a figure as the Parisian comic journals caricature as that of an
Englishman. Todrin was the very opposite of the Major, being short and
thick-set, and talkative and amusing. He was said to be of Scotch
descent, but no trace of it was observable in his name, his character,
or his appearance.
The representatives arrived at Baltimore by different steamers. They
were each furnished with the needful credit to outbid their rivals up to
a certain point; but the limit differed in each case. The Canadian
representatives had command of much the most liberal supplies, and it
seemed as though the struggle would resolve itself into a dollar duel
between the two American companies.
As soon as the delegates arrived they each tried to put themselves in
communication with the North Polar Practical Association unknown to the
others. Their object was to discover the motives of the enterprise, and
the profit the Association expected to make out of it. But there was no
trace of an office at Baltimore. The only address was that of William S.
Forster, High Street, and the worthy codfish agent pretended that he
knew nothing about it. The secret of the Association was impenetrable.
The consequence was that the delegates met, visited each other,
cross-examined each other, and finally entered into communication with a
view of taking united action against the Baltimore company. And one day,
on the 22nd November, they found themselves in conference at the
Wolseley Hotel, in the rooms of Major Donellan and Todrin, the meeting
being due to the diplomatic efforts of Colonel Boris Karkof.
To begin with, the conversation occupied itself with the advantages,
commercial or industrial, which the Association expected to obtain from
its Arctic domain. Professor Harald inquired if any of his colleagues
had been able to ascertain anything with regard to this point; and all
of them confessed that they had endeavoured to pump William S. Forster
without success.
“I failed,” said Baldenak.
“I did not succeed,” said Jansen.
“When I went,” said Todrin, “I found a fat man in a black coat and
wearing a stove-pipe hat. He had on a white apron, and when I asked him
about this affair, he told me that the -South Star- had just arrived
from Newfoundland with a full cargo of fine cod, which he was prepared
to sell me on advantageous terms on behalf of Messrs. Ardrinell and Co.”
“Eh! eh!” said the Councillor of the Dutch East Indies. “You had much
better buy a full cargo of fine cod than throw your money into the
Arctic Sea.”
“That’s not the question,” said the Major. “We are not talking of
codfish, but of the Polar ice-cap--”
“Which,” said Todrin, “the codfish-man wants to wear.”
“It will give him influenza,” said the Russian.
“That is not the question,” said the Major. “For some reason or other,
this North Polar Practical Association--mark the word ‘Practical,’
gentlemen--wishes to buy four hundred and seven thousand square miles
round the North Pole, from the eighty-fourth--”
“We know all that,” said Professor Harald. “But what we want to know is,
what do these people want to do with these territories, if they are
territories, or these seas, if they are seas--”
“That is not the question,” said Donellan. “Here is a company proposing
to purchase a portion of the globe which, by its geographical position,
seems to belong to Canada.”
“To Russia,” said Karkof.
“To Holland,” said Jansen.
“To Scandinavia,” said Harald.
“To Denmark,” said Baldenak.
“Gentlemen!” said Todrin, “excuse me, but that is not the question. By
our presence here we have admitted the principle that the circumpolar
territories can be put up to auction, and become the property of the
highest bidder. Now, as you have powers to draw to a certain amount, why
should you not join forces and control such a sum as the Baltimore
company will find it impossible to beat?”
The delegates looked at one another. A syndicate of syndicates! In these
days we syndicate as unconcernedly as we breathe, as we drink, as we
eat, as we sleep. Why not syndicate still further?
But there was an objection, or rather an explanation was necessary, and
Jansen interpreted the feeling of the meeting when he asked,--
“And after?”
Yes! After?
“But it seems to me that Canada--” said Donellan.
“And Russia--” said Karkof.
“And Holland--” said Jansen.
“And Denmark--” said Baldenak.
“Don’t quarrel, gentlemen,” said Todrin. “What is the good? Let us form
our syndicate.”
“And after?” said Harald.
“After?” said Todrin. “Nothing can be simpler, gentlemen. When you have
bought the property it will remain indivisible among you, and then for
adequate compensation you can transfer it to one of the syndicates we
represent; but the Baltimore company will be out of it.”
It was a good proposal, at least for the moment, for in the future the
delegates could quarrel among themselves for the final settlement.
Anyway, as Todrin had justly remarked, the Baltimore company would be
out of it.
“That seems sensible,” said Baldenak.
“Clever,” said Karkof.
“Artful,” said Harald.
“Sly,” said Jansen.
“Quite Canadian,” said Donellan.
“And so, gentlemen,” said Karkof, “it is perfectly understood that if we
form a syndicate the rights of each will be entirely reserved.”
“Agreed.”
It only remained to discover what sums had been placed to the credit of
the delegates by the several associations which amounts when totalled
would probably exceed anything at the disposal of the North Polar
Practical people.
The question was asked by Todrin.
But then came a change over the scene. There was complete silence. No
one would reply. Open his purse, empty his pocket into the common
cash-box, tell in advance how much he had to bid with--there was no hurry
to do that! And if disagreement arose later on, if circumstances obliged
the delegates to look after themselves, if the diplomatic Karkof were to
feel hurt at the little wiles of Jansen, who might take offence at the
clumsy artifices of Baldenak, who, in turn, became irritated at the
ingenuities of Harald, who might decline to support the pretentious
claims of Donellan, who would find himself compelled to intrigue against
all his colleagues individually and collectively--to proclaim the length
of their purses was to reveal their game, which above all things they
desired to keep dark.
Obviously there were only two ways of answering Todrin’s indiscreet
demand. They might exaggerate their resources, which would be
embarrassing when they had to put the money down; or they might minimize
them in such a way as to turn the proposition into a joke.
This idea occurred to the Dutchman.
“Gentlemen,” said he, “I regret that for the acquisition of the Arctic
regions I am unable to dispose of more than fifty gulden.”
“And,” said the Russian, “all I have to venture is thirty-five roubles.”
“I have twenty kroner,” said Harald.
“I have only fifteen,” said Baldenak.
“Well,” said the Major, “it is evident that the profit in this matter
will be yours, for all I have at my disposal is the miserable sum of
thirty cents.”
CHAPTER III.
THE NORTH POLE IS KNOCKED DOWN TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER.
That the sale of the 3rd of December should take place in the Auction
Mart might appear strange. As a rule, only furniture, instruments,
pictures, and objects of art were sold there. But for this curious
departure from the ordinary practice in the sale of land a precedent was
discoverable, as already a portion of our planet had changed hands under
the hammer.
A few years before, at San Francisco, in California, an island in the
Pacific Ocean, Spencer Island, had been sold to the rich W. W. Kolderup,
when he outbid J. R. Taskinar, of Stockton.[1] Spencer Island was
habitable; it was only a few degrees from the Californian coast; it had
forests, watercourses, a fertile soil, and fields and prairies fit for
cultivation; it was not an indefinite region, covered perhaps with sea
and perpetual ice, which probably no one would ever occupy. For Spencer
Island four hundred thousand dollars had been paid; for the polar
territories it was not to be expected that anything like that amount
would be forthcoming.
Footnote 1:
See “Godfrey Morgan,” by the same author.
Nevertheless, the strangeness of the affair had brought together a
considerable crowd, chiefly of lookers-on, to witness the result. The
sale was to take place at noon, and all the morning the traffic in
Bolton Street was seriously interfered with. Long before the hour fixed
for the sale the room was full, with the exception of a few seats railed
off and reserved for the delegates; and when Baldenak, Karkof, Jansen,
Harald, Donellan, and Todrin had taken these places, they formed a
compact group, shoulder to shoulder, and looked as if they were a
veritable storming column ready for the assault of the Pole.
Close to them was the consignee of codfish, whose vulgar visage
expressed the sublimest indifference. He looked the least excited of all
the crowd, and seemed to be thinking only of how he could most
profitably dispose of the cargoes now on their way to him from
Newfoundland. Who were the capitalists represented by this man, with
probably millions of dollars at his command?
There was nothing to show that J. T. Maston and Mrs. Scorbitt had
anything to do with the affair. How could it be supposed that they had?
They were there, though, but lost in the crowd, and were surrounded by a
few of the principal members of the Gun Club, apparently simply as
spectators and quite disinterested. William S. Forster seemed to have
not the least knowledge of their existence.
As it was impossible to hand round the North Pole for the purposes of
examination, a large map of the Arctic regions had been hung behind the
auctioneer’s desk. Seventeen degrees above the Arctic Circle a broad red
line around the eighty-fourth parallel marked off the portion of the
globe which the North Polar Practical Association had brought to the
hammer. According to the map, the region was occupied by a sea covered
with an ice-cap of considerable thickness. But that was the affair of
the purchasers. At least, no one could complain that they had been
deceived as to the nature of the goods.
As twelve o’clock struck, the auctioneer, Andrew R. Gilmour, entered by
a little door behind his desk. He surveyed the assembly for an instant
through his glasses, and then, calling for silence by a tap from his
hammer, he addressed the crowd as follows:--
“Gentlemen, I have been instructed by the Federal Government to offer
for sale a property situated at the North Pole, bounded by the
eighty-fourth parallel of latitude, and consisting of certain continents
and seas, either solid or liquid--but which I am not quite sure. Kindly
cast your eyes on this map. It has been compiled according to the latest
information. You will see that the area is approximately four hundred
and seven thousand square miles. To facilitate the sale it has been
decided that the biddings for this extensive region shall be made per
square mile. You will therefore understand that every cent bid will
represent in round numbers 407,000 cents, and every dollar 407,000
dollars. I must ask you to be silent, gentlemen, if you please.”
The appeal was not superfluous, for the impatience of the public was
producing a gradually-increasing tumult that would drown the voices of
the bidders.
When tolerable quietness had been established thanks to the intervention
of Flint, the auctioneer’s porter, who roared like a siren on a foggy
day, Gilmour continued,--
“Before we begin the biddings, I think it right to remind you of three
things. The property has only one boundary, that of the eighty-fourth
degree of north latitude. It has a guaranteed title. And it will remain
the property of the purchasers, no matter what geographical or
meteorological modifications the future may produce.”
Always this curious observation!
“Now, gentlemen,” said Gilmour; “what offers?” and, giving his hammer a
preliminary shake, he continued in a vibrating nasal tone, “We will
start at ten cents the square mile.”
Ten cents, the tenth of a dollar, meant 40,700 dollars for the lot.
Whether Gilmour had a purchaser at this price or not, the amount was
quickly increased by Baldenak.
“Twenty cents!” he said.
“Thirty cents!” said Jansen for the Dutchmen.
“Thirty-five!” said Professor Harald.
“Forty!” said the Russian.
That meant 162,800 dollars, and yet the bidding had only begun. The
Canadians had not even opened their mouths. And William S. Forster
seemed absorbed in the -Newfoundland Mercury-.
“Now, gentlemen,” said Gilmour, “any advance on forty cents? Forty
cents! Come, the polar cap is worth more than that; it is--”
What he would have added is unknown; perhaps it was, “guaranteed pure
ice;” but the Dane interrupted him with--
“Fifty cents!”
Which the Dutchman at once capped with--
“Sixty!”
“Sixty cents the square mile! Any advance on sixty cents?”
These sixty cents made the respectable sum of 244,200 dollars.
At Jansen’s bid, Donellan raised his head and looked at Todrin; but at
an almost imperceptible negative sign from him he remained silent.
All that Forster did was to scrawl a few notes on the margin of his
newspaper.
“Come, gentlemen,” said the auctioneer; “wake up! Surely you are going
to give more than that?”
And the hammer began to move up and down, as if in disgust at the
weakness of the bidding.
“Seventy cents!” said Harald, in a voice that trembled a little.
“Eighty cents!” said Karkof, almost in the same breath.
A nod from Todrin woke up the Major, as if he were on springs.
“Hundred cents!” said the Canadian.
That meant 407,000 dollars!
Four hundred and seven thousand dollars! A high price to pay for a
collection of icebergs, ice-fields, and ice-floes!
And the representative of the North Polar Practical Association did not
even raise his eyes from his newspaper. Had he been instructed not to
bid? If he had waited for his competitors to bid their highest, surely
the moment had come? In fact, their look of dismay when the Major fired
his “hundred cents” showed that they had abandoned the battle.
“A hundred cents the square mile!” said the auctioneer. “Any advance? Is
that so? Is that so? No advance?”
And he took a firm grasp on his hammer, and looked round him.
“Once!” he continued. “Twice! Any advance?”
“A hundred and twenty cents!” said Forster, quietly, as he turned over a
page of his newspaper.
“And forty!” said the Major.
“And sixty!” drawled Forster.
“And eighty!” drawled the Major, quite as placidly.
“A hundred and ninety!” said Forster.
“And five!” said the Major, as if it were a mere casual observation.
You might have heard an ant walk, a bleak swim, a moth fly, a worm
wriggle, or a microbe wag its tail--if it has a tail.
Gilmour allowed a few moments to pass, which seemed like centuries. The
consignee of codfish continued reading his newspaper and jotting down
figures on the margin which had evidently nothing to do with the matter
on hand. Had he reached the length of his tether? Had he made his last
bid? Did this price of 195 cents the square mile, or 793,050 dollars for
the whole, appear to him to have reached the last limit of absurdity?
“One hundred and ninety-five cents!” said the auctioneer. “Going at one
hundred and ninety-five cents!”
And he raised his hammer.
“One hundred and ninety-five cents! Going! Going!”
And every eye was turned on the representative of the North Polar
Practical Association.
That extraordinary man drew a large handkerchief from his pocket, and,
hiding his face in it, blew a long, sonorous blast with his nose.
Then J. T. Maston looked at him, and Mrs. Scorbitt’s eyes took the same
direction. And by the paleness of their features it could be seen how
keen was the excitement they were striving to subdue. Why did Forster
hesitate to outbid the Major?
Forster blew his nose a second time; then, with an even louder blast, he
blew it a third time. And between the blasts he quietly observed,--
“Two hundred cents!”
A shudder ran through the hall.
The Major seemed overwhelmed, and fell back against Todrin. At this
price per square mile, the Arctic regions would cost 814,000 dollars.
The Canadian limit had evidently been passed.
“Two hundred cents!” said Gilmour. “Once! Twice! Any advance?” he
continued.
The Major looked at the Professor, and the Colonel, and the Dutchman,
and the Dane; and the Professor, and the Colonel, and the Dutchman, and
the Dane looked at the Major.
“Going! Going!” said the auctioneer.
Every one looked at the codfish man.
“Gone!”
And down came Gilmour’s hammer.
The North Polar Practical Association, represented by William S.
Forster, had become the proprietors of the North Pole and its promising
neighbourhood. And when William S. Forster had to name the real
purchasers, he placidly drawled,--“Barbicane & Co!”
CHAPTER IV.
OLD ACQUAINTANCES.
Barbicane & Co.! The president of the Gun Club! What was the Gun Club
going to do with the North Pole? We shall see.
Is it necessary to formally introduce Impey Barbicane, the president of
the Gun Club, and Captain Nicholl, and J. T. Maston, and Tom Hunter with
the wooden legs, and the brisk Bilsby, and Colonel Bloomsberry and their
colleagues? No! Although twenty years had elapsed since the attention of
the world was concentrated on these remarkable personages, they had
remained much as they were, just as incomplete corporeally, and just as
obstreperous, just as daring, just as wrapped up in themselves as when
they had embarked in their extraordinary adventure. Time had made no
impression on the Gun Club; it respected them as people respect the
obsolete cannon that are found in the museums of old arsenals.
If the Gun Club comprised 1833 members at its foundation--that is persons
and not limbs, for a number of these were missing--if 30,575
correspondents were proud of their connection with the club, the number
had in no way decreased. On the contrary, thanks to the unprecedented
attempt they had made to open communication with the Moon, as related in
the Moon Voyage, its celebrity had increased enormously.
It will be remembered that a few years after the War of Secession
certain members of the Gun Club, tired of doing nothing, had proposed to
send a projectile to the Moon by means of a monster Columbiad. A gun
nine hundred feet long had been solemnly cast at Tampa Town, in the
Floridan peninsula, and loaded with 400,000 lbs. of fulminating cotton.
Shot out by this gun, a cylindro-conical shell of aluminium had been
sent flying among the stars of the night under a pressure of six million
millions of litres of gas. Owing to a deviation of the trajectory, the
projectile had gone round the Moon and fallen back to the earth,
dropping into the Pacific Ocean in lat. 27° 7′ N., long. 141° 37′ west;
when the frigate -Susquehanna- had secured it, to the great satisfaction
of its passengers.
Of its passengers, two members of the Gun Club, the president, Impey
Barbicane, and Captain Nicholl, with a hare-brained Frenchman, had taken
passage in the projectile and had all returned from the voyage safe and
sound. But if the two Americans were then present ready to risk their
lives in some new adventure, it was not so with Michel Ardan. He had
returned to Europe, and made a fortune, and was now planting cabbages in
his retirement, if the best-informed reporters were to be believed.
Barbicane and Nicholl had also retired, comparatively speaking, but they
had retired only to dream of some new enterprise of a similar character.
They were in no want of money. From their last undertaking there
remained nearly two hundred thousand dollars out of the five millions
and a half yielded by the public subscriptions of the old and new
worlds; and by exhibiting themselves in their aluminium projectile
throughout the United States they had realized enough wealth and glory
to satisfy the most exacting of human ambitions. They would have been
content if idleness had not been wearisome to them; and it was probably
in order to find something to do that they had now bought the Arctic
regions.
But it should not be forgotten that if they had paid for their purchase
eight hundred thousand dollars and more, it was because Evangelina
Scorbitt had advanced the balance they required.
Although Barbicane and Nicholl enjoyed incomparable celebrity, there was
one who shared it with them. This was J. T. Maston, the impetuous
secretary of the Gun Club. Was it not this able mathematician who had
made the calculations which had enabled the great experiment to be made?
If he had not accompanied his two colleagues on their extraordinary
voyage, it was not from fear; certainly not! But the worthy gunner
wanted a right arm, and had a gutta-percha cranium, owing to one of
those accidents so common in warfare; and if he had shown himself to the
Selenites it might have given them an erroneous idea of the inhabitants
of the Earth, of which the Moon after all is but the humble satellite.
To his profound regret J. T. Maston had had to resign himself to staying
at home. But he was not idle. After the construction of the immense
telescope on the summit of Long’s Peak, one of the highest of the Rocky
Mountains, he had transported himself there, and from the moment he
found the projectile describing its majestic trajectory in the sky he
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