Under the Sea to the North Pole Read Online Free PDF Page A

to the other without going outside.
    As they were going through the house which had been built and furnished in less than forty-eight hours, the chemist Schnecker, who had been examining everything with the greatest attention, suddenly exclaimed in surprise,—
    “Ah, my dear sir, there is something which might have been thought of.”
    “What is that?” asked De Keralio.
    “How about the fire-places? They are not only not designed to give enough heat, but where are you going to get the gas for them?”
    Before De Keralio could reply, Hubert struck in.
    “Sir,” said he with a laugh, “please to remember that if we wish to produce gas in the ordinary sense of the word, that is to say, bicarburetted hydrogen, the thing would not be impossible, for there ought not to be any want of coal seams in the neighbourhood. Nares and Greely found them ready to hand at Port Discovery on the coast of Grinnell Land. But you may say it would be easier for us to burn the coal itself, and you will see that this reply has been foreseen, and that the fire-places are designed to serve more purposes than one.”
    And so saying, Hubert took hold of a sort of handle at the side of one of the fire-places, and turned the receptacle completely over; the sheet of shining copper at the bottom disappeared and gave place to a regular grate for coke or coals.
    Schnecker opened his big eyes.
    “That is a good fire-place, certainly; but all the same, I am surprised that the gas-burning arrangement is there, if there is to be no use for it.”
    ”I did not say that,” said Hubert.
    “Then I do not understand. Where are your pipes and your gasometers, your condensers and your retorts? Where are you going to get the heat necessary for the distillation of the carburet?”
    “Bah!” replied the young man, “we will find it. And allow me to be surprised in my turn that a chemist like you should require to use such cumbrous apparatus, which would be quite useless for travellers as we are.”
    “Useless!” exclaimed the Alsacian. “Would you have me believe that you can get heat without employing the usual methods of modern industry?”
    D’Ermont put his hand on his questioner’s arm.
    “I do not try to make you believe it, but to show it you quite simply. There is gas and gas. I have only to get a source of heat ten times, twenty times, a hundred times superior to those of modern industry to realize the miracle you would deny.”
    The chemist shook his head.
    “ I do not deny it—I doubt it. That is another thing.”
    And as he said it, he frowned, and gave the lieutenant an evil look from the corner of his eye.
    Isabelle noticed this look, but made no sign of the impression it had on her, contenting herself with keeping a more careful watch on this suspicious companion. At the same time, she remembered that on the Polar Star, Hubert had knitted his brows at Schnecker’s name, and in some way communicated his dislike of the chemist to the faithful Salvator.
    “Scientific rivalry,” she said, “that is all it is between them.”
    And as Isabelle was the most trusting, the most generous of girls she did not allow her thoughts to dwell longer on the second incident than she had on the first.
    They were soon to recognize the advantages of the house scientifically constructed by De Keralio and Doctor c pi-van. Owing to the absence of trees, the concluding period of the polar summer was, in these latitudes, remarkably warm. The temperature reached sixteen degrees centigrade, and proved almost insupportable to the travellers, who feared it might rise higher. These days of inaction were devoted to hunting and fishing, and in both Isabelle took her share. It was the only recreation possible, and it was desirable to add to the stock of provisions. The duration of their stay in these desolate lands could not be foreseen, and it was as well to lay in a large quantity of fresh victuals. There was abundance of game, chiefly feathered .game. Guerbraz, the