Chapter 44: The News of Atvatabar in the Outer World

The kingdom of Atvatabar lay before us like a continent drawn upon a map, or, rather, upon the interior surface of a sphere or globe, everywhere visible to the naked eye. Its green forests, its impressive mountains, its rushing rivers, its white and many-colored cities, its wide-stretching shores, fringed with the foam of an azure sea, lay before the astonished eyes of our visitors.

When within a few miles of the city, Governor Ladalmir, accompanied by Captains Pra and Nototherboc, advanced to meet us in a large magnetic yacht, bearing the flag of Lyone. The governor hastened to inform us that, in view of our victory, the city of Kioram had declared its allegiance to the cause of Lyone, and invited myself and officers of the fleet, as well as our distinguished allies from the outer world, to a banquet in the fortress of Kioram. This news gave me great satisfaction, as the city would be a splendid base of military operations. The officers and seamen of the Mercury and Aurora Borealis created quite as great a sensation in the streets of Kioram as did the victorious sailors of the Polar King.

Landing on terra firma, Governor Ladalmir took the opportunity of showing our guests the beauty of his bockhockids, who formed a guard of honor to the fortress, where we were all royally received.

The two captains, together with their officers and sailors, were astonished at the multitude of strange objects shown them. Captain Adams would not remain satisfied until he was accoutred with a dynamo and a pair of magnic wings, with which all the sailors and soldiers of Atvatabar were supplied as part of their uniform. He was shown how the battery of metals gave motion to the dynamo, which in turn acted on the steel levers connected with the ribs of the wings. Although the worthy captain was of considerable weight, yet his astonishment at being able to skim through the air like a swallow was great. No sooner did he touch the button than all his preconceived notions of locomotion were destroyed, and he gasped with fear at his own prodigious motion. The two facts of unfailing movement of wings and exceptional buoyancy of body soon made him a fearless rider of the wind. He alighted on the earth with the greatest enthusiasm over the success of his experiment.

The magnic spear was another surprise for our guests. Sir John Forbes was astonished at my being able to fight the fletyemings so long, armed as they were by so potent a weapon of death. He would certainly recommend its use in the British army and navy on his return to England. Our allies were surprised at everything they saw, particularly at the rapid movements of the fletyemings or wing-jackets of the royal navy. They thought it an extraordinary thing the sailors should fly by magnic wings.

After the banquet Captain Adams, who was a fine type of an American seaman, bold, alert and courageous, gave us an account of how both the United States and England came to send ships into the interior world. It appeared that the story of Boatswain Dunbar first published in the New York papers, that the Polar King had sailed down the Polar Gulf en route to an interior world, had created a tremendous sensation on the outer sphere, and all civilized nations immediately fitted out vessels of discovery to follow up the Polar King and make discoveries for the benefit of their respective governments. So far as any one knew, only two vessels had succeeded in entering the interior sphere.

The recital of Captain Adams was frequently interrupted by Sir John Forbes, the British captain, a courageous officer, who possessed all the stately dignity of his race. He stated that since the discovery of America by Columbus no other event had awakened such unbounded enthusiasm as the discovery of a polar gulf and an interior world.

“I am most of all interested at present,” said I, “in the story of how Dunbar reached civilization again after parting with us. I forgive you, Dunbar,” I continued, addressing him, “for your mutinous conduct, and now let us hear the story of your adventures in the Polar Sea.”

“Admiral,” said Dunbar, “had we known the terrible hardships we would have to endure in making our way home, chiefly on foot and at the same time burdened with the boat, we would never have left the ship. But you must thank me for the presence of the two ships that are here to-day and for the fame you already enjoy in the outer world.”

“It’s something tremendous,” said Captain Adams.

“How did your geographers receive the news of the interior world?” I inquired of Sir John Forbes.

“I need not say that the English geographers, in common with the entire nation, were greatly excited at the news. The Royal Geographical Society have already made you an honorary member, and it was actually proposed at one of the meetings that the government should proclaim a special holiday as a day of rejoicing for so great a discovery. This would certainly have been done but for the fact that the story rested entirely on the testimony of two sailors, and that any public rejoicing should be postponed until the story of the sailors would be verified by a special expedition sent from England. Of course, many people think that Dunbar’s story is a fable or a hallucination that he himself believes in. On the other hand, hundreds of professional and amateur astronomers and geographers are proving by mathematics that the earth must be a hollow sphere, and the story of the open poles an entirely physical possibility.”

“The people of the United States,” said Captain Adams, “are almost unanimous in the belief that the interior world is a veritable reality, and it only requires a return of my ship to convince every one that Dunbar’s story falls very short of the glorious reality.”

“There is no man more famous to-day than Lexington White, Admiral of Atvatabar!” said Sir John Forbes.

“I thank you, gentlemen, for your kind words,” said I; “and now for Dunbar’s story.”

“I think, admiral,” said Captain Adams, “that if I were to read you the article containing Dunbar’s story written by a special commissioner of the New York Western Hemisphere, who was the first to interview Dunbar at Sitka, on learning of his arrival there, it would be perhaps the best narration of his perilous adventures.” As the captain spoke he drew a copy of the Western Hemisphere from his pocket.

“By all means,” I replied, “let us hear what the press said about Dunbar and his adventures.”

Thereupon Captain Adams read the New York Western Hemisphere’s account of Dunbar’s adventures, as follows:

“AN ASTOUNDING DISCOVERY!

“THE NORTH POLE FOUND TO BE AN ENORMOUS CAVERN,

LEADING TO A SUBTERRANEAN WORLD!

“THE EARTH PROVES TO BE A HOLLOW SHELL ONE THOUSAND

MILES IN THICKNESS, LIT BY AN INTERIOR SUN!

“OCEANS AND CONTINENTS, ISLANDS AND CITIES SPREAD UPON

THE ROOF OF THE INTERIOR SPHERE!

“BOATSWAIN DUNBAR AND SEAMAN HENDERSON, OF THE ‘POLAR

KING, ‘ HAVING DESERTED THE SHIP AS SHE WAS ENTERING

PLUTUSIA, HAVE ARRIVED AT SITKA, ALASKA,

IN A DESPERATE CONDITION, AND HAVE

BEEN INTERVIEWED BY A ‘WESTERN

HEMISPHERE’ COMMISSIONER.

“THEY SAY LEXINGTON WHITE, COMMANDER OF THE ‘POLAR

KING, ‘ IS AT PRESENT SAILING UNDERNEATH CANADA

ON AN INTERIOR SEA!

“TREMENDOUS POSSIBILITIES FOR SCIENCE AND COMMERCE!

“THE FABLED REALMS OF PLUTO NO LONGER A MYTH!

“GOLD! GOLD! BEYOND THE DREAMS OF MADNESS!

“The story of the discovery of Plutusia and the Polar Gulf, as told by the two shipwrecked survivors of the mutineers of the Polar King now at Sitka, Alaska, to the Western Hemisphere, will form an epoch in the history of the world. The renown of Columbus and Magellan is overshadowed by the glory of Lexington White, a citizen of the United States, who fitted out a ship for polar discovery, and, taking the command himself, has unravelled the mystery of the North Pole, discovered the Polar Gulf and the interior world.

“Having penetrated the Polar Gulf about three hundred miles, and having discovered the interior sun, a fear seized on a number of the sailors, among whom were Boatswain Dunbar and his companion, Henderson, who are the only survivors of twelve men who left the Polar King in an open boat to return home again, and to whose safe arrival in Sitka the world is indebted for news of the important discoveries that had been made.