, yet physically powerless
to continue much longer. Oh! horror of horrors! to be cast away in this
wide expanse of waters without food or drink, and only a treacherous
iceberg for an abiding place. My heart sank within me, and all semblance
of hope was fading into black despair.

Then the hand of the Deliverer was extended, and the death-like
stillness of a solitude rapidly becoming unbearable was suddenly broken
by the firing of a signal-gun. I looked up in startled amazement, when,
I saw, less than a half-mile away, a whaling-vessel bearing down toward
me with her sail full set.

Evidently my continued activity on the iceberg had attracted their
attention. On drawing near, they put out a boat, and, descending
cautiously to the water's edge, I was rescued, and a little later lifted
on board the whaling-ship.

I found it was a Scotch whaler, "The Arlington." She had cleared from
Dundee in September, and started immediately for the Antarctic, in
search of whales. The captain, Angus MacPherson, seemed kindly disposed,
but in matters of discipline, as I soon learned, possessed of an iron
will. When I attempted to tell him that I had come from the "inside" of
the earth, the captain and mate looked at each other, shook their heads,
and insisted on my being put in a bunk under strict surveillance of the
ship's physician.

I was very weak for want of food, and had not slept for many hours.
However, after a few days' rest, I got up one morning and dressed myself
without asking permission of the physician or anyone else, and told them
that I was as sane as anyone.

The captain sent for me and again questioned me concerning where I
had come from, and how I came to be alone on an iceberg in the far off
Antarctic Ocean. I replied that I had just come from the "inside" of the
earth, and proceeded to tell him how my father and myself had gone in
by way of Spitzbergen, and come out by way of the South Pole country,
whereupon I was put in irons. I afterward heard the captain tell the
mate that I was as crazy as a March hare, and that I must remain in
confinement until I was rational enough to give a truthful account of
myself.

Finally, after much pleading and many promises, I was released from
irons. I then and there decided to invent some story that would satisfy
the captain, and never again refer to my trip to the land of "The Smoky
God," at least until I was safe among friends.

Within a fortnight I was permitted to go abo