d, returning home, allow others to
snatch from our grasp the golden prize?

"My men, I cannot think you will do this. Our future lies entirely in
your hands. We cannot proceed further on our voyage without your
assistance. I will not compel a single man to go further against his
will. I call for volunteers for the interior world! I am willing to
lead you on; who will follow me?"

CHAPTER VII.

WE DISCOVER THE INTERIOR WORLD.

The officers and sailors responded to my speech with ringing cheers.
Every man of them volunteered to stay by the ship and continue our
voyage down the gulf. Whatever malcontents there may have been among
the sailors, those, influenced by the prevailing enthusiasm, were
afraid to exhibit any cowardice, and all were unanimous for further
exploration.

I signalled our resolution by a discharge of three guns, which created
the most thrilling reverberations in the mysterious abyss.

Starting the engine again, the prow of the _Polar King_ was pointed
directly toward the darkness before us, toward the centre of the
earth. We were determined to explore the hollow ocean to its further
confines, if our provisions held out until such a work would be
accomplished.

We hoped at midnight to obtain our last look at the sun, as we would
then be brought into the position of the opposite side of the watery
crater down which we sailed. At eleven o'clock the sun rose above the
limb of the gulf, which was now veiled in darkness. We were gladdened
with two hours of sunlight, the sun promptly setting at 1 A.M. of the
new day.

We continued our voyage in the semi-darkness, the prow of the vessel
still pointed to the centre of the earth, while the polar star shone
in the outer heavens on the horizon directly over the rail of the
vessel's stern.

It did not appear to us that we were dropping straight down into the
interior of the earth; on the contrary, we always seemed to float on a
horizontal sea, and the earth seemed to turn up toward us and the
polar cavern to gradually engulf us. The sight we beheld that day was
inexpressibly magnificent. Five hundred miles above us rose the crest
of the circular polar sea. Its upper hemisphere glowed with the light
of the unseen sun. We were surrounded by fifteen hundred miles of
perpendicular ocean, crowned with a diadem of icebergs!

[Illustration: AT THIS MOMENT A WILD CRY AROSE FROM THE SAILORS. WITH
ONE VOICE THEY SHOUTED, "THE SUN! THE SUN!"]

Glorious a