days,"
said Will.

"I suppose that we shall then be obliged to get out our furs," replied
Fred.

"No," returned the architect. "These walls are double as well as the
floor, with air chambers between, and I can turn hot air into them at
pleasure. The windows and doors are all double, also, and Jack Frost can
never penetrate this cabin."

"What a contrast between this luxurious sail through the sky, and the
buffetings upon sea and land, the hunger, cold, and oftentimes death,
suffered by former Arctic explorers," said the Professor. "And, Doctor,"
he continued, "if we make a successful trip, the matter of aerial
navigation will have been settled. What a power this ship would have
been in the late war of the Rebellion."

"The war would have been very quickly terminated if our globe had been
in existence at that time," returned Dr. Jones. "We could have sailed
above the reach of their best guns and dropped bombs upon them that
would have destroyed their forts, gunboats, and armies at will. But I am
glad things were as they were. We fought a fair fight to the finish, and
settled forever the question of human slavery in America. Had the first
few battles of the war been won by the North, the South might have laid
down their arms, and have been permitted to retain their institution of
slavery. When Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation, I remember
that even we soldiers in the field received the news with a sort of
shock, and thought our President over-bold. We had not thought of that
extreme measure as a result of the war. We were simply out to preserve
the Union."

"And right well you did it, Doctor," said Denison. "I have always
noticed in reading the history of that war, that in the latter part of
it you fought with much greater skill and judgment than you did in the
first year or two."

"That is quite true, and nothing more than what might have been
expected," replied Dr. Jones. "It is marvelous what we accomplished with
an absolutely empty treasury, no credit, no standing army to speak of,
and our little navy scattered to the four ends of the earth. The vast,
splendidly drilled armies which we brought into existence as if by
magic, were the wonder of the world. We had everything to learn, both
North and South, in the matter of logistics. Long lines of
communications had to be kept open, and such splendid raiders as John
Morgan, Forest, Mosby, etc., were not slow to break them frequently, so
that I remembe