ok soundings for a mile east
and west of the chasm, and found the professor's theory of a submarine
range of hills correct. The water was shallowest right under the gap,
and was very much deeper only a short distance on either side. I
said to the officers and sailors: "My men, are you willing to enter
this gap with a view of getting beyond the barrier for the sake of
science and fortune and the glory of the United States?"

They gave a shout of assent that robbed the gulf of its terrors. I
signalled the engineer full speed ahead, and in a short time we
crossed the ice-foot and entered the chasm.

It could be nothing else but an upheaval of nature that caused the
rent, as the distance was uniform between the walls however irregular
the windings made. And such walls! For a distance of twenty miles we
sailed between smooth glistening precipices of palaeocrystic ice rising
two hundred feet above the water. The opening remained perceptibly
wider at the top than below.

After a distance of twenty miles the height gradually decreased until
within a distance of another fifty miles the ice sank to the level of
the water.

The sailors gave a shout of triumph which was echoed from the ramparts
of ice. To our astonishment we found we had reached a mighty field of
loose pack ice, while on the distant horizon were glimpses of blue
sea!

CHAPTER II.

THE CAUSE OF THE EXPEDITION.

The _Polar King_, in lat. 84', long. 151' 14", had entered an ocean
covered with enormous ice-floes. What surprised us most was the fact
that we could make any headway whatever, and that the ice wasn't
frozen into one solid mass as every one expected. On the contrary,
leads of open water reached in all directions, and up those leading
nearest due north we joyfully sailed.

May the 10th was a memorable day in our voyage. On that day we
celebrated the double event of having reached the furthest north and
of having discovered an open polar sea.

Seated in the luxurious cabin of the ship, I mused on the origin of
this extraordinary expedition. It was certain, if my father were alive
he would fully approve of the use I was making of the wealth he had
left me. He was a man utterly without romance, a hard-headed man of
facts, which quality doubtless was the cause of his amassing so many
millions of dollars.

My father could appreciate the importance of theories, of enthusiastic
ideals, but he preferred others to act upon them. As for himself he