He continued,--
“And now, is it a continent at the Pole? Is it not a sea such as Sir
George Nares called the Palæocrystic Sea, the sea of ancient ice? To
that I say, We do not think so.”
“That is not good enough,” said Baldenak. “It is not a question of not
thinking so but of being certain.”
“Well! I reply to our exuberant interrupter that we are certain. It is
solid ground, not a liquid basin, that the North Polar Practical
Association has purchased. It is a plateau like the desert of Gobi in
Central Asia, two or three miles above sea-level, as can be easily and
logically proved from the observations made in the regions of which the
polar domain is really a prolongation. Nordenskiold and other observers
have all stated that Greenland increases in height as it goes northward.
A hundred miles from Disko its altitude is nearly 7000 feet. And if we
consider the different products, animal or vegetable, found in the
secular ice, such as the carcases of mastodons, the trunks of conifers,
you can see that the continent was once a fertile one, inhabited
certainly by animals, and probably by men. There lie buried the thick
forests of pre-historic times, which have formed the coal-fields we
propose to develop. Yes! It is a continent round the Pole, a virgin
continent untrodden by human foot.”
Great applause.
When the echoes of the applause had rolled away, the strident voice of
the Canadian was heard,--
“Seven minutes out of the ten have gone, and we have not yet reached the
Pole!”
“We will be there in three minutes,” placidly remarked Barbicane.
He continued,--
“But if it is a continent, and the continent is elevated as we have
reason to believe, it is obstructed by eternal ice, covered with
icebergs and ice-fields, and under such circumstances its development
would be difficult--”
“Impossible!” said Harald.
“Impossible, I am aware,” said Barbicane. “And it is to conquer this
impossibility that our efforts are directed. We have no need of ships or
sledges to reach the Pole, but thanks to our arrangements the fusion of
the ice, ancient or modern, will take place like enchantment!”
He paused. There was absolute silence.
“Gentlemen,” he continued, “Archimedes demanded but a fulcrum to lift
the world! Well, we have found a fulcrum! A lever was what the great
Syracusan geometer required, and a lever we possess! We are in a
position to displace the Pole--”
“Displace the Pole!” exclaimed Baldenak.
“Bring it to Baltimore!” said Professor Harald.
Evidently Barbicane did not wish to be more precise, for he continued,--
“As to this fulcrum--”
“Don’t tell! Don’t tell!” shouted one of the audience excitedly.
“As to this lever--”
“Keep it secret! Keep it secret!” shouted the spectators.
“We will keep it secret!” said Barbicane.
Baldenak and Co. protested in vain. The orator continued,--
“As to the results of this mechanical operation--an operation
unprecedented in industrial annals--which we have undertaken and will
bring to a successful issue thanks to your capital, I will say a few
words.”
“Listen! listen!” shouted the crowd.
“The first idea of our enterprise occurred to one of the most learned,
devoted, and illustrious of our colleagues. To him also belongs the
glory of having made the calculations which rendered the theory
practicable, for if the development of the Polar mines is child’s play,
the displacement of the Pole is a problem which higher mechanics can
alone deal with. That is why we addressed ourselves to our worthy
secretary, J. T. Maston!”
“Hurrah! Hip ! hip ! hip! hurrah! for J. T. Maston!” shouted the whole
assembly, electrified by the presence among them of that extraordinary
man.
Ah! How much was Mrs. Scorbitt moved at the acclamations which resounded
round the celebrated calculator!
He, with great modesty, bowed his head to the right; then to the left,
and then saluted in front with his metal hook.
“Already,” said Barbicane, “when the great meeting which celebrated the
arrival in America of the Frenchman Michel Ardan, a few months before
our departure for the Moon--”
The American spoke as coolly of the voyage to the Moon as of a railway
journey to New York.
“--J. T. Maston had exclaimed, “Let us invent machines, let us find a
fulcrum, and we will shift the axis of the Earth!” Many of you heard
him, and will remember it. Well, the machines are invented, the fulcrum
is found, and it is to the righting of the Earth’s axis that our efforts
will be directed.”
“What!” exclaimed Donellan. “You will put the Earth’s axis upright?”
“Yes, sir,” said Barbicane; “or rather we can make a new axis on which
the diurnal rotation formerly--”
“Modify the diurnal rotation!” exclaimed Karkof.
“Absolutely! and without touching its duration. The operation will bring
the Pole to about the sixty-seventh parallel, and under such
circumstances the Earth will behave like Jupiter, whose axis is nearly
perpendicular to the plane of his orbit. This displacement of 23° 28′
will suffice to obtain for our Polar property sufficient warmth to melt
the ice accumulated for thousands of years.”
The audience looked at him in a state of breathlessness. No one dared to
interrupt or even to applaud him. All were overwhelmed with the idea,
which was so ingenious and so simple; to change the axis on which the
globe turns!
The representatives of the rival syndicates were astounded, annihilated,
and remained without a word to say for themselves.
But the applause broke out when Barbicane concluded with sublime
simplicity,--
“Thus it is the Sun himself who will melt the icebergs and ice-floes,
and render it easy to obtain access to the Pole!”
“And so,” said Donellan, “if man cannot get to the Pole, the Pole must
come to man?”
“Just so!” said Barbicane.
CHAPTER VIII.
LIKE JUPITER.
Yes! Like Jupiter.
At the time of that memorable meeting in honour of Michel Ardan--so
appropriately mentioned by the orator--if J. T. Maston had excitedly
exclaimed, “Let us right the Earth’s axis,” it was because the daring
and fantastical Frenchman, one of the heroes of the Moon Voyage, had
chanted his dithyrambic hymn in honour of the most important planets of
our solar system. In his superb panegyric he had celebrated the special
advantages of the giant planet, as we briefly reported at the time.
The problem solved by the calculator of the Gun Club was the
substitution of a new axis of rotation for the old one on which the
Earth had turned ever since in popular phrase, “the world was a world.”
This new axis of rotation would be perpendicular to the plane of its
orbit; and under such conditions the climatal situation of the old Pole
would be much the same as that of Trondhjem, in Norway, in spring-time.
The palæocrystic armour would thus naturally melt under the rays of the
Sun; and at the same time climate would be distributed over the Earth as
the climates are distributed in Jupiter.
The inclination of our planet’s axis, or in other terms, the angle which
its axis of rotation makes with the plane of its ecliptic is 66° 32′. A
few degrees would thus bring the axis perpendicular to the plane of the
orbit it describes round the Sun.
But--it is important to remark--the effort that the North Polar Practical
Association was about to make would not, strictly speaking, right the
Earth’s axis. Mechanically, no force, however considerable, could
accomplish that. The Earth is not like a chicken on a spit, that we can
take it in our hand and shift it as we will. But the making of a new
axis was possible--it may be said easy--if the engineers only had the
fulcrum dreamt of by Archimedes and the lever imagined by J. T. Maston.
But as it had been decided to keep the invention a secret until further
orders, all that could be done was to study the consequences. And to
begin with, the journals and reviews of all sorts appealing to the
learned and the ignorant devoted themselves to considering how Jupiter
was affected by the approximate perpendicularity of his axis to the
plane of his orbit.
Jupiter, like Mercury, Venus, the Earth, Mars, Saturn, Uranus, and
Neptune, forms part of the solar system, and sweeps round at nearly five
hundred million miles from the central fire; and his volume is about
fourteen times that of the Earth.
If there be such a thing as Jovian life, that is to say, if there are
any inhabitants on Jupiter, the following are the advantages they obtain
by living on the great planet--advantages so poetically brought into
relief at the memorable meeting above alluded to.
In the first place, during the diurnal rotation of Jupiter, which
occupies nine hours, fifty-five minutes, the days are always equal to
the nights in all latitudes; that is to say, the Jovian day is four
hours, fifty-seven minutes long, and the Jovian night lasts also four
hours and fifty-seven minutes.
“There,” said the admirers of Jovian existence, “you have something
suited to people of regular habits. They will be delighted to submit to
such regularity.”
That is what would happen to the Earth if Barbicane did what he
promised, only as the new axis would make no difference in the time of
rotation, twenty-four hours would still separate the successive noons,
and our spheroid would be blessed with nights and days each twelve hours
long, and we should live in a perpetual equinox.
“But the climatal phenomena would be much more curious; and no less
interesting,” said the enthusiasts, “would be the absence of the
seasons.”
Owing to the inclination of the axis to the plane of the orbit, we have
the annual changes known as spring, summer, autumn, and winter. The
Jovians could know nothing of these things, and the Terrestrians would
know them no more. The moment the new axis became perpendicular to the
ecliptic there would be neither frigid zones nor torrid zones, but the
whole Earth would rejoice in a temperate climate.
Why was this?
What is the Torrid zone? It is that part of the Earth comprised between
the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. Every place within this zone has
the Sun in the zenith twice a year.
What are the Temperate zones? The part comprised between the Tropics and
the Polar circles; between 23° 28′ and 66° 32′ of latitude, and in which
the Sun never rises to the zenith, but is above the horizon on every day
in the year.
What are the Frigid zones? That part of the circumpolar regions in which
the Sun does not rise above the horizon on every day in the year; while
at the Pole itself he does not rise for six months at a time.
The height of the Sun above the horizon is the cause of the excessive
heat of the Torrid zone, the moderate heat of the Temperate zone, and
the excessive cold within the Polar circles.
When the axis became perpendicular these things would be different. The
Sun would remain on the plane of the Equator. All the year round he
would pursue his imperturbable twelve-hour course, and rise to a
distance from the zenith according to the latitude of the place. In
countries of twenty degrees of latitude he would rise seventy degrees
above the horizon; in countries of forty-nine degrees of latitude he
would rise forty-one; in places of eighty-four degrees he would rise
six, and of ninety degrees (the Pole), he would just peep half his
diameter above the horizon. The days would be perfectly regular, and the
Sun would rise at the same time, and also at the same point on the
horizon, throughout the year.
“Look at the advantages!” said the friends of Barbicane. “Every man,
according to his temperament, can choose his own climate, which will be
invariable!”
Those modern Titans, the North Polar Practical Association, were going
to effect a complete change in the state of things which had existed
ever since the spheroid had been launched on its orbit to become the
Earth as we know it.
The astronomer might lose a few of the familiar constellations; the poet
might lose the long winter nights and the long summer days that figure
so frequently in modern verse; but what of that when we think of the
advantages that would be enjoyed by the majority of the human race?
As the newspapers in the Barbicane interest pointed out, the products of
the Earth being reduced to regularity, the farmer could always plant and
sow in the most favourable temperature.
“Be it so!” said the opposition. “But are we to have no rains, or hail,
or storms, or waterspouts, or other odds and ends that make matters
pleasant for the depressed agriculturist?”
“You may have them, of course,” said the Barbicanians, “but they will
probably be rarer, owing to the regularity of the climate having its
effect on the troubles of the atmosphere! Yes, humanity will profit
greatly by the new state of things. It will be quite a transformation of
the terrestrial globe. Barbicane & Co. will have conferred much good on
the present and future generations by destroying the inequality of the
days and nights and the irritating diversity of the seasons!”
And the -New York Sun- of the 27th of December concluded one of its most
eloquent articles:--
“Honour to Impey Barbicane and his colleagues! Not only will they have
made the Earth more hygienically habitable, but they will have made it
more productive; for then we can sow as soon as we have harvested, for
no time will be wasted over the winter. Not only will our coal supplies
be increased by the new fields, which will insure a supply for many long
years, but the climatal conditions will be altered to our great
advantage! Honour, then, to Barbicane & Co., who will take the first
rank among the benefactors of mankind!”
CHAPTER IX.
SULPHURIC ALCIDE.
Such were the advantages promised by Barbicane’s changing the axis of
rotation--a change, however, which would only slightly affect the
movement of our spheroid round the Sun. The Earth would continue to
describe its orbit through space, and the conditions of the solar year
would remain the same.
When the consequences of the change of axis were brought to the
knowledge of the world, they caused extraordinary excitement. At first
this problem of the higher mechanics received an enthusiastic welcome.
The idea of having seasons of constant equality, and, according to the
latitude, “to suit consumers,” was very attractive. The crowd revelled
in the thought that they could enjoy the perpetual spring which the bard
of Telemachus accorded to the Island of Calypso, and that they could
have the spring either fresh or mild. Where the new axis was to be
seemed to be the secret of Barbicane, Nicholl, and J. T. Maston, which
they were in no hurry to present to the public. Would they reveal it in
advance, or would it be known after the experiment? It would be as well
to say so, perhaps, as opinion began to show signs of anxiety in the
matter.
One observation occurred naturally to the mind, and was at once
commented on in the newspapers. By what mechanical means was the change
to be produced, which evidently required the employment of an enormous
force?
The -Forum-, an important New York review, very justly remarked:--
“If the Earth did not turn on its axis, it is probable that a relatively
feeble shock would suffice to give a movement of rotation round an axis
arbitrarily chosen; but the Earth is like an enormous gyroscope moving
at high velocity, and it is a natural law that such an apparatus has a
tendency to turn round the same axis, as Foucault demonstrated in his
well-known experiments. It will therefore be very difficult, if not
impossible, to shift it.”
But after asking what would be the effort required by the engineers of
the North Polar Practical Association, it was at least as interesting to
know if the effort was to be suddenly or insensibly applied. And if it
was to be a sudden effort, would not the proceedings of Messrs.
Barbicane & Co. produce some rather alarming catastrophes on the face of
the earth?
Here was something to occupy the brains of the wise and foolish. A shock
is a shock, and it is never agreeable to receive the blow or the
counter-blow. There was a likelihood that the promoters of the
enterprise had been so busy with the advantages the world was to possess
that they had overlooked the destruction the operation would entail. And
with considerable cleverness the Major and his allies made the most of
this, and began to agitate public opinion against the president of the
Gun Club.
Although France had taken no part in the syndicating, and officially
treated the matter with disdain, yet there was in that country an
individual who conceived the idea of setting out for Baltimore, to
follow, for his own private satisfaction, the different phases of the
enterprise.
He was a mining engineer of about five and thirty years of age. He had
been the first on the list when admitted to the Polytechnic School, and
he had been the first on the list when he left it, so that he must have
been a mathematician of the first order, and probably superior to J. T.
Maston, who, though he was a long way above the average, was only a
calculator after all--that is to say, what Leverrier was compared to
Newton or Laplace.
This engineer was a man of brains, and--though he was none the worse for
that--somewhat of a humourist, and an original. In conversation with his
intimates, even when he talked science, his language was more that of
the slang of the streets than of the academical formulæ he employed when
he wrote. He was a wonderful worker, being accustomed to sit for ten
hours at a stretch before his table, writing pages on pages of algebra
with as much ease as he would have written a letter.
This singular man was called Pierdeux (Alcide), and in his way of
condensing it--as is the custom of his comrades--he generally signed
himself [AP]ierd, or even ^{[AP]}I, without even dotting the i. He was
so perfervid in his discussions that he had been named Sulphuric Alcide.
Not only was he big, but he was tall. His friends affirmed that his
height was exactly the five millionth part of a quarter of the meridian,
and they were not far out. Although his head was rather too small for
his powerful bust and shoulders, yet he held it well, and piercing were
the eyes that looked through his -pince-nez-. He was chiefly
distinguished by one of those physiognomies in which gaiety and gravity
intermingle, and his hair had been prematurely thinned by the abuse of
algebraic signs under the light of the gas-lamps in the study.
He was one of the best fellows whose memory lingers at the school.
Although his character was independent enough, he was always loyal to
the requirements of Code X, which is law among the Polytechnicians in
all that concerns comradeship and respect for the uniform. He was
equally appreciated under the trees of the court of “Acas,” so named
because there are no acacias, as in the “casers,” the dormitories, in
which the arrangements of his box, and the order that reigned in his
“coffin,” denoted an absolutely methodical mind.
That the head of Alcide Pierdeux was a little too small for his body we
admit, but that it was filled to the meninges will be believed. Above
all things, he was a mathematician like all his comrades are, or have
been, but he only used his mathematics in application to experimental
science, whose chief attraction to him was that it had much to do with
industry. Herein he recognized the inferior side of his nature. No one
is perfect. His strong point was the study of those sciences which,
notwithstanding their immense progress, have, and always will have,
secrets for their followers.
Alcide was still a bachelor. He was still “equal to one,” as he phrased
it, although he had no objection to become “the half of two.” His
friends had had ideas of marrying him to a very charming girl at
Martigues. But, unfortunately, she had a father, who responded to the
first overtures in the following “martigalade:”--
“No, your Alcide is too clever! He talks to my poor girl in a way that
is unintelligible to her!”
And hence Alcide resolved to take a year’s holiday, and thought he could
not employ his time better than in following the North Polar Practical
Association in its peculiar undertaking.
As soon as he arrived at Baltimore he began to think over the matter
seriously. That the Earth would become Jovian by the change of its axis
mattered very little to him. But by what means it was to be brought
about excited his curiosity, and not without reason.
In his picturesque language he said to himself,--
“Evidently Barbicane is going to give our ball a terrible knock; but
what sort of a knock? Everything depends on that! I suppose he is going
to play for ‘side,’ as if with a cue at a billiard-ball; but if he hits
us ‘square’ he may jolt us out of our orbit, and then the years will
dance to a pretty tune. They are going to shift the old axis for a new
one, probably above it, but I do not see where they are to get their
taking-off place from, or how they are to manage the knock. If there was
no rotation, a mere flip would suffice, but they can’t put down that
diurnal spin. That is the -canisdentum-.”
He meant “the rub,” but that was his way of expressing himself.
“Whatever they do,” he continued, “there will be no end of a row before
it is over.”
Try all he could, the engineer could not discover Barbicane’s plan,
which for one reason was much to be regretted, as if it had been known
to him he would at once have made the calculations he needed.
But all at present was a mystery. And so it happened that on the 29th of
December Alcide Pierdeux, “Ingénieur au Corps National des Mines de
France,” was hurrying with lengthy strides through the crowded streets
of Baltimore.
CHAPTER X.
A CHANGE IN PUBLIC OPINION.
A month had elapsed since the meeting in the rooms of the Gun Club, and
a change had taken place in public opinion.
The advantages of altering the axis of rotation were being forgotten;
and the disadvantages were being enlarged upon. It was impossible that a
catastrophe could be avoided, for any change must necessarily be
occasioned by a violent shock. What the catastrophe would be no one
could say. Was this amelioration of climate desirable? Who would gain by
it except the Eskimos, Laps, and Samoyeds, who had nothing to lose?
The Major and his allies were indefatigable in their prophecies of evil.
“It is evident,” said Karkof “that the projectors will do all they can
to protect the United States from the consequences of the shock.”
“But can they?” asked Harald. “When you shake a tree all the branches
shake.”
“And,” said the Dutchman, “when you are hit in the stomach does not your
whole body shake?”
“That is what that famous clause meant!” said Todrin. “Here are the
geographical and meteorological modifications!”
“Yes,” said Baldenak. “But suppose the change of axis throws the seas
out of their existing basins?”
“And if the ocean level is lowered at different points,” said Jansen,
“some people may find themselves so high up in the world that
communication with them will be impossible!”
“If they go up too high they will not be able to breathe!” said Harald.
“Would you like to see Baltimore as high as Mont Blanc?” asked Donellan.
This modification of the axis was evidently a public danger.
A change of 23° 28′ would produce a considerable displacement in the
seas, owing to the flattening at the Poles. The Earth was thus
threatened with similar disasters to those that, it is believed, have
recently occurred in Mars. There entire continents, among others Libya
and Schiaparelli, have been submerged, as shown by the faint blue
replacing the faint red. Lake Moeris has disappeared. North and south
there have been changes, and the oceans have withdrawn from many
localities they formerly occupied. If a few charitable souls have been
much affected at the “floods in Mars”--almost as much as to open
subscriptions for the sufferers--what would they do for the floods on the
Earth?
Protests came in by every post. The United States Government was urged
to interfere.
“Look at these Yankees,” said one. “They want to hang the globe on
another axletree! As if the old one, after all these centuries, had worn
out! But is it not as sound as it was at the beginning?”
And there was Sulphuric Alcide at work trying to find out the nature and
direction of the shock that J. T. Maston had arranged. Once master of
the secret, he would very soon know what parts of the Earth were in
danger.
It was not likely that the United States would suffer. Barbicane & Co.
were quite Yankees enough to take care of their own country. Evidently
the new Continent between the Arctic Sea and the Gulf of Mexico had
nothing to fear. It was even possible that North America would gain a
considerable accession of territory.
“That may be,” said the nervous people who only saw the perilous side of
things. “But are you sure? Supposing J. T. Maston has made a mistake?
Supposing Barbicane makes a mistake when he puts Maston’s theory in
practice? Such a thing can happen to the cleverest artillerists! They do
not always score a bull’s-eye!”
These fears were sedulously worked upon by the Major and the opposition.
Todrin published a number of articles in a leading Canadian newspaper.
Harald rushed into print in a Swedish journal. Colonel Boris Karkof
tried his hand in a Russian one. The Americans began to take sides. The
-New York Tribune- and the -Boston Journal- took up their parable
against Barbicane. In vain the North Polar Practical Association tried
to stem the rising tide. In vain Mrs. Scorbitt paid ten dollars a line
for serious articles, humorous articles, and smart, scathing paragraphs
treating the dangers as chimerical. In vain the enthusiastic widow
endeavoured to show that if ever hypothesis was unjustifiable, it was
that which assumed that J. T. Maston was capable of an error!
Neither Barbicane nor his co-directors took the trouble to say anything.
They let the talk go on without making any change in their habits. They
seemed to be thoroughly absorbed in the immense preparations
necessitated by their undertaking. The revulsion of public opinion
seemed to concern them not in the least.
But in spite of all Mrs. Scorbitt could do, it soon came about that
Impey Barbicane, Captain Nicholl, and J. T. Maston began to be looked
upon as dangers to society. So high grew the clamour that the Federal
Government had to interfere, and call upon them to declare their
intentions. What were their means of action? How did they intend to
substitute one axis for another? What would be the consequences of the
substitution? What parts of the globe would the substitution endanger?
The excitement raging in every State in the Union allowed of no
hesitation on the part of the Washington Government. A Commission of
Inquiry, composed of engineers, mathematicians, hydrographers, and
geographers, to the number of fifty, presided over by the celebrated
John Prestice, was appointed on the 19th of February, with full powers
to investigate the affair, and put a stop to it if necessary.
Impey Barbicane was requested to attend before the Commission.
Barbicane did not come.
The police went to look for him at his residence, 95, Cleveland Street,
Baltimore.
Barbicane was there no longer.
Where was he?
They did not know.
When had he gone away?
Five weeks ago, on the 11th of January, he had left Maryland in company
with Captain Nicholl.
Where had they gone?
No one could say.
Evidently the two members of the Gun Club were on their way to the
mysterious region where preparations would begin under their direction.
But where could that be?
It was important to know, if the scheme of these dangerous projectors
was to be nipped in the bud.
The effect of this departure of Barbicane and Nicholl was immense. The
popular wrath rose like the rising of the equinoctial tide against the
North Polar Practical Association.
But there was one man who ought to know what had become of Impey
Barbicane and his colleague. There was one who ought to be able to
reply, and that instantly.
J. T. Maston!
J. T. Maston was requested to appear before the Commission.
He did not go!
Had he then left Baltimore? Had he gone with his colleagues, to help in
the work of which the world awaited the results with such very natural
alarm?
No! J. T. Maston was still to be found at Ballistic Cottage. He was
still incessantly at work, but now on other calculations, which he only
left to spend an occasional evening with Mrs. Scorbitt at New Park.
A policeman was sent with an order from the president of the Commission.
The policeman reached the cottage, knocked at the door, entered the
hall, and had a warm reception from Fire-Fire and a cool one from J. T.
Maston.
However, the secretary of the Gun Club thought it as well to go quietly,
and he appeared before the Commission complaining bitterly of having
been interrupted in his occupation.
The first question put to him was,--
“Do you know the whereabouts of Impey Barbicane and Captain Nicholl?”
“I do,” said J. T. Maston, “but I am not authorized to tell you.”
Second question,--
“Are these two men occupied in the preparations for their intended
modification of the terrestrial axis?”
“That,” said J. T. Maston, “is part of the secret with which I am
entrusted, and I refuse to say.”
Would he submit his calculations to the Commission, that they might
judge if the project of the Association could be accomplished?
“No, certainly not!” said J. T. Maston. “It is my right as a free
American citizen to keep from anybody the result of my work!”
“But if that is your right, Mr. Maston,” said President Prestice
solemnly, as if he spoke in the name of the entire world, “it may be
your duty to speak in face of the anxiety that exists.”
J. T. Maston did not think it was his duty. He had only one duty--to keep
silent; and he would keep silent.
In spite of their persistence, their supplications, their threats, the
members of the Commission of Inquiry could get nothing out of the man
with the iron hook. Never would they have believed that so much
obstinacy lurked within a gutta-percha cranium!
J. T. Maston left as he had arrived, and that he was congratulated on
his valiant defence by Mrs. Scorbitt we need hardly say.
When the result of J. T. Maston’s appearance was made known, public
opinion took a form that was really serious for his safety. The pressure
on the Government became so great that Secretary John S. Wright had to
obtain permission from the President to act -manu militari-.
On the evening of the 13th of March, J. T. Maston was in his workroom at
Ballistic Cottage, absorbed in his algebra, when the bell of the
telephone tinkled nervously.
“Hallo, there! Hallo, there!” murmured the instrument in a way that
showed great anxiety.
“Who’s there?” asked J. T. Maston.
“Mrs. Scorbitt.”
“What is it?”
“Be on your guard! I have just heard that this very night--”
The sentence had not been finished when the door of Ballistic Cottage
was burst open by a push from several shoulders, and up the staircase
came an extraordinary tumult. There was a voice protesting; then other
voices silencing it; then a bump as of a fallen body--bump, bump--it was
the negro, Fire-Fire, rolling downstairs after an unavailing defence of
his master’s home--bump, bump; the door of the workroom flew open;
policemen rushed in; the excitable Maston seized a revolver; instantly
he was disarmed; a policeman laid his hand on the papers on the desk;
Maston slipped free and dashed at a note-book; the police were after
him; before they could reach him he had torn out the last leaf, clapped
it to his mouth, and gulped it down as if it had been a pill!
“Now!” said he in the tone of a Leonidas at Thermopylæ. “-Now- you can
do your duty.”
An hour afterwards he was in the gaol at Baltimore.
And that was probably the best thing that could have happened to him,
for the populace were in such a state of excitement that the police
might have found themselves powerless to protect him.
CHAPTER XI.
THE CONTENTS OF THE NOTE-BOOK.
The book seized by the Baltimore police contained thirty pages,
sprinkled with formulæ, multiplications, equations, and finally the
general results of J. T. Maston’s calculation. It was a work of the
higher mechanics, appreciable only by mathematicians. One of the
equations was the--
V^2 - (V-{0})^2 = 2-g-(-r--{0})^2(1/-r- - 1/-r--{0})
of which we heard in the Moon Voyage.
The “general reader” could make neither head nor tail of Maston’s
performances; but they could understand the results as communicated to
the newspapers a few days afterwards.
There was nothing wrong with J. T. Maston’s working, the Commission
reported. The calculations had been made with such precision that the
Commission had no doubt as to their accuracy and consequences. If the
operation was effected, the terrestrial axis would be undoubtedly
changed, and then the catastrophes foreseen would be accomplished in all
their plenitude.
“The object,” said the official communication to the newspapers, “of the
directorate of the North Polar Practical Association is the substitution
of a new axis of rotation for the old one; and it is proposed to attain
this object by means of the recoil of an apparatus fixed in some agreed
upon point of the Earth’s circumference. If the core of this apparatus
is firmly fixed in the ground, there can be no doubt but that it would
communicate its recoil to the mass of our planet.
“The apparatus adopted by the Association is a monster cannon, which
would have no effect if discharged vertically. To produce the maximum
effect it must be aimed horizontally towards the north or south, and it
is this latter direction which has been decided on by the Association.
In this way the recoil will produce a shock towards the north of the
nature of that given to a billiard-ball when struck on the side.”
Exactly as Alcide had foreseen!
“As soon as the explosion takes place, the centre of the Earth will be
displaced in a direction parallel to that of the impetus, and a change
will ensue in the plane of the orbit, and consequently in the length of
the year; but this will be so slight as to be of no appreciable amount.
At the same time the Earth would take a movement of rotation around an
axis, supposing that no rotation existed previous to the shock. But as
the rotation in the line of the Poles already exists, it will combine
with the accessory rotation produced by the recoil, and result in a new
axis. If the gun is fired at the moment when the Equator and the
Ecliptic are in intersection, and if the recoil is enough to displace
the Pole 23° 28′, then the new axis will become perpendicular to the
plane of the orbit.
“The consequences of this perpendicularity were clearly stated by Impey
Barbicane at the meeting on the 22nd of December.
“Given the mass of the Earth and the amount of movement it possesses,
can a gun be produced having a recoil sufficient to produce such a
displacement of the Pole as 23° 28′?
“Undoubtedly, if a gun, or series of guns, be constructed in accordance
with the laws of mechanics, or if the inventors possess an explosive of
the necessary power. Such an explosive they unfortunately possess. It
was discovered by Captain Nicholl. Its name is meli-melonite, but all
that is known of it is that it is a mixture of organic substances with
nitric acid. A certain number of monatomic radicles are substituted for
the same number of atoms of hydrogen, and a powder is obtained, which,
like fulmi-cotton, is formed by combination, and not by mechanical
mixture of the principal comburents and combustibles.
“Whatever this explosive may be, the force it possesses is sufficient to
carry a projectile weighing 180,000 tons beyond the terrestrial
attraction, and it is hoped by the Association that the recoil will have
the effect of displacing the Pole, and forming a new axis perpendicular
to the plane of the ecliptic. From which would result the catastrophes
at which the inhabitants of the Earth have taken alarm.
“There is a chance that humanity may yet escape the consequences of an
operation which would bring about such regrettable geographical and
meteorological changes in the surface of the globe.
“Is it possible to construct a cannon of the dimensions required?
“We are of opinion that it is very doubtful if it can be done.
“It is well known that the two chief directors of the North Polar
Practical Association have left Baltimore and America, probably for the
purpose of attempting the manufacture of this cannon in some distant
part of the world.
“Where they have gone to is unknown, and consequently it is impossible
to secure the malefactors who would upset the world under pretence of
opening up new coal-fields.
“Evidently the place was indicated on the last page of the note-book
captured by the police from J. T. Maston. But this last page had
disappeared, having been swallowed by the said J. T. Maston, now in
prison at Baltimore.
“Such is the position. If Impey Barbicane can make his cannon and his
projectile, he will change the earth’s axis, and within the next six
months the earth will be subjected to his reckless assault.
“A date has been chosen for the discharge of the projectile, the date on
which the shock would have its maximum of effect on the terrestrial
spheroid.
“This date is the 22nd of September, twelve hours after the passage of
the Sun across the meridian of the place -x-.
“This place it is impossible from the calculations to discover.
“There is nothing in J. T. Maston’s note-book to show the position of
the new axis.
“It is therefore impossible to state what territories or seas will be
affected by the attempt.
“The difference of level will be considerable. After the shock the
surface of the sea will take the form of an ellipsoid of revolution, and
the level will change nearly all over the globe.
“In fact the intersection of the level of the old sea with the level of
the new sea, of two equal surfaces of revolution with the axes
intersecting, will be of two curved planes, and the maxima of elevation
or abasement will exceed 25,000 feet.
“It is worthy of remark that the ancient Pole will be immersed under
more than 9000 feet of water, so that the district acquired by the North
Polar Practical Association will be flooded unless there exists at the
Pole a plateau of more than that number of feet of elevation.
“Where the maximum of alteration of land will take place is unknown.
There is in the equation an unknown quantity, which no known formula can
value. This unknown is the position of -x-, where the shock is to be
applied. This -x- is the secret of the promoters of this deplorable
affair.
“In conclusion, it is desirable to point out that all the inhabitants of
the Earth are interested in unravelling the secret, for all are menaced
by the proceedings of the Association.
“Notice is therefore given to the inhabitants of all parts of the world
to keep a strict watch over all operations regarding the founding of
cannons, or the fabrication of powders or projectiles taking place on
their territories, and to report the appearance of any stranger
connected therewith to the Commission of Inquiry at Baltimore, U.S.A.
“It is urgently necessary that the information should reach the
Commission before the 22nd of September next, the date on which the
established order of the terrestrial system is so seriously menaced.”
CHAPTER XII.
HEROIC SILENCE.
It was a cannon that hurled the projectile up to the Moon; it was to be
a cannon that was to change the terrestrial axis! The cannon! Always the
cannon! Barbicane and Co. evidently suffered from chronic attacks of
aggravated “cannonism”! Was a cannon the -ultima ratio- of the world?
was it to be the brutal sovereign of the universe? The canon rules
theology, was the cannon to give the law to commerce and cosmology?
A cannon was the engine Barbicane & Co. were to bring into action. They
had not devoted their lives to ballistics for nothing. After the
Columbiad of Tampa Town there was to come the monster cannon of--of--the
place -x-! And already there were people who could hear the sonorous
command.
“No. 1! Aim at the Moon! Fire!”
“No. 2! Change the Earth’s axis! Fire!”
And then for the “general upset” predicted by Sulphuric Alcide!
The publication of the report of the Commission produced an effect of
which it is impossible even to give an idea. There was nothing in it of
a soothing tendency, it must be admitted. By J. T. Maston’s
calculations, the problem had evidently been solved. The operation to be
attempted by Barbicane & Co. would, it was only too clear, introduce a
most regrettable modification in the diurnal movement. A new axis would
be substituted for the old. And we know what would be the consequences
of that substitution.
The enterprise of Barbicane & Co. was thus judged, cursed, and demitted
to general reprobation. Barbicane and Co. were dangers to society. If
they retained a few partisans in the United States, the partisans were
few indeed.
From the point of view of their own personal safety, Impey Barbicane and
Captain Nicholl had certainly done wisely to clear out. They would
assuredly have come to grief if they had not done so. It was not with
impunity that they could menace fourteen hundred millions of people,
upset their habits and customs, and disturb their very existence by
provoking a general catastrophe.
But how had these two men managed to disappear without leaving a trace?
How could they have got away unperceived with the men and material
necessary for their project? Hundreds of waggons, if they went by
railway, and hundreds of ships, if they went by sea, would be required
for the transport of the metal, the fuel, and the meli-melonite. It was
quite incomprehensible how the departure could have taken place
incognito. But it had taken place nevertheless.
Inquiries were made, but nothing was discovered as to any order being
sent to any of the metallurgical or chemical works of the world. It was
inexplicable! But the explanation would come--some day!
Barbicane and Nicholl having mysteriously disappeared, were beyond
immediate danger. But J. T. Maston! He was under lock and key; but were
not public reprisals to be feared? Bah! He did not trouble himself about
that in the least! Admirably obstinate was the calculator! He was of
iron--like his fore-arm! At nothing did he quail!
From the depths of his cell in the gaol of Baltimore the secretary of
the Gun Club became more and more absorbed in the distant contemplation
of the colleagues he had not accompanied. In his mind’s eye he could see
Barbicane and Nicholl preparing their gigantic enterprise in that
unknown region where no one could interfere with them. He saw them
making the cannon, mixing the meli-melonite, casting the projectile
which the Sun would soon count among its minor asteroids! That new star
which was to bear the name of Scorbitta, as a delicate compliment to the
millionaire of New Park! and J. T. Maston began to count the days that
would elapse before the word to fire was given.
It was the month of April. In two months and a half the Sun would halt
at the solstice on the Tropic of Cancer and retrograde towards the
Tropic of Capricorn. Three months later he would cross the Equator at
the autumnal equinox. And with that would finish the seasons that for
millions of ages had alternated with such regularity in every
terrestrial year. For the last time the spheroid would submit to the
inequality of its days and nights. For the future the number of hours
between sunrise and sunset would be equal all over the globe.
In truth it was a magnificent work! J. T. Maston forgot all about the
Polar coal-field in contemplating the cosmographical consequences of his
labours. The principal object of the Association had been forgotten in
the transformations the face of the earth would undergo--notwithstanding
that the earth did not care about these magnificent transformations.
J. T. Maston, alone and defenceless in his cell, resisted every pressure
brought to bear on him. The members of the Commission of Inquiry visited
him daily, and obtained nothing. It occurred at last to John Prestice to
make use of an influence that might succeed better than his--that of Mrs.
Scorbitt. No one was ignorant of the lengths to which the widow would go
when the celebrated calculator was in peril.
There was a meeting of the Commission, and Mrs. Scorbitt was authorized
to visit the prisoner as often as she thought fit. Was not she
threatened with the danger from the recoil of the monster cannon as much
as any other of the world’s inhabitants? Would her New Park mansion
escape the final catastrophe any more than the wigwam of the poor Indian
or the humble hut of the backwoodsman? Was not her life as much in
danger as that of the obscurest Samoyed or South Sea Islander? The
president of the Commission elaborately explained this to her, and
suggested that she should bring her influence to bear for the general
good.
If she could only get J. T. Maston to state where Barbicane and Nicholl
had gone, there would still be time to pursue them and save humanity
from the impending fate.
And so Mrs. Scorbitt had access to the gaol. What she desired above all
was to see J. T. Maston, who had been torn by the police from the
comforts of his cottage. Let it not be supposed that the heroic
Evangelina was a slave to human weakness. And if, on the 9th of April,
some indiscreet ear had been applied to the keyhole the first time that
the widow appeared in the cell, this is what would have met it,--
“At last, dear Maston, I see you again!”
“You, Mrs. Scorbitt!”
“Yes, my friend, after four weeks, four long weeks of separation--”
“Exactly twenty-eight days, five hours, forty-five minutes,” said
Maston, looking at his watch.
“At last we meet!”
“But why, Mrs. Scorbitt? Why have they allowed you to come here?”
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