d by several lights, up
to the observatory itself. At the top, or ball of the mast, was a light
of thirty-two hundred candle power. Altogether, the ship must have been
at night an object of terrific splendor to the observer below.

Will was the originator of the steel-springs motor idea, and he daily
attended to winding them with great faithfulness and pride. And it was a
most invaluable adjunct to the comfort and success of the expedition, as
will be seen before the end of this history is reached.

At daylight, on the following morning, all were up and looking out upon
wild Canadian forests. Here and there were small towns and settlements,
but they realized that they were fast hastening beyond the pale of
civilization. The wind had moved during the night into the southwest,
and the Professor informed them that they were sailing at the rate of
more than thirty miles an hour.

"If this wind will only continue, we shall not be long reaching our
destination," said the Doctor. "While I am enjoying the trip splendidly,
yet I am anxious to reach the Pole as soon as possible. After that we
will start on a general sightseeing tour. But until I have planted our
aluminum shaft exactly upon the north end of the earth's axis,
sightseeing is but incidental and secondary."

All day they skimmed like a frigate bird across the face of Canada, at
an altitude of about two thousand feet. All were delighted with the
behavior of the ship. Her capacity for floating and retaining heat far
exceeded their most sanguine expectations.

It was interesting to watch the fast changing appearance of the country,
and they could note that the timber was rapidly growing smaller.
Clearings and settlements became more and more rare, and as the day
closed they were looking upon primitive, unbroken forests, known only to
hunters, both white and red.

Another night passed without incident. The wind held all night in the
same quarter. On the following morning the beautiful ship was enveloped
in a dense fog. "We are in the midst of a great cloud," said Professor
Gray.

"I think we will rise a few hundred feet and see if we can get out of
it," replied Dr. Jones.

The temperature within the globe was raised a few degrees, and the ship
rapidly rose to twenty-five hundred feet altitude. This carried them
high above the clouds, and it was with new and strange sensations that
our aerial navigators looked down upon the dense cloud that obscured the
face of t