In the heart of Labrador. 38

" X. A message from the skies. 49

" XI. Is the world growing better? 54

" XII. Greenland's Icy Mountains and the Russian Bear. 63

" XIII. Beauty and the Beast. 75

" XIV. Doctor Jones commits treason. 83

" XV. A model teacher and an ideal student. 94

" XVI. The Count steps over the line. 100

" XVII. Farewell to Beauty and the Beast. 108

" XVIII. Woman locates the North Pole. 118

" XIX. The planting of the Flagstaff. 125

" XX. Battle of Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain. 135

" XXI. Things material and spiritual. 143

" XXII. Familiar scenes and faces. 151

" XXIII. The world at the feet of Doctor Jones. 164

" XXIV. Ho! for the SOUTH POLE! 175

DOCTOR JONES' PICNIC.

CHAPTER I.

"Figures Don't Lie."

The North Pole! That spot upon earth so environed with trackless fields
of unbroken snow and mountains of ice; with an atmosphere so cold that
none but the bravest and hardiest of mankind can breathe it and live.
And yet these apparently insuperable obstacles have but stimulated men
to do and dare all things, so that they might but reach that _ultima
thule_. In vain have our utilitarians cried, "Qui bono?" God has planted
within man the spirit of lordship and domination; and, true to that
spirit, he will never rest until Nature shall have yielded up to him her
last secret, and his restless foot shall have trodden the wildest and
farthest spot of earth. Then, and not till then, will he stand crowned
"Lord of Creation."

In this faithful history of the discovery and exact location of the
North Pole, it is not necessary to bring before the reader in historical
review the many illustrious names and grand heroisms of former explorers
of Arctic regions. They did marvelous deeds, beyond the comprehension of
those who did not actually participate in them. They sacrificed
thousands of noble lives, and undoubtedly did all that could be done
with the means at their command. Ah! there we have struck the keynote.
The means at their command were inadequate, and nothing but failure and
disaster coul