Doubtless he was thinking of some undertaking which to quote Jean Jacques, “never had an example, and never will have imitators,” of something destined to leave far behind the attempt made by the Gun Club to open up communication with the Moon. When Evangelina grew somewhat pressing in her inquiries, J. T. Maston had placed his hook on his half-closed lips, and remarked soothingly,— “Have confidence, Mrs. Scorbitt; have confidence!” And if Mrs. Scorbitt had confidence before the sale, what immense joy she must have experienced at the result! Still she could not help asking the eminent mathematician, what he was going to do next. And though she smiled on him bewitchingly, the eminent mathematician only replied, as he cordially shook her hand,— “You will know very soon!” That shake of the hand immediately calmed the impatience of Mrs. Scorbitt. And a few days later there was another shake, for the old and new worlds were considerably shaken—to say nothing of the shake that was coming—when they learnt the project for which the North Polar Practical Association appealed to the public for subscriptions. The company announced that it had “acquired” the territory for the purpose of working—“the Coal Fields at the North Pole”! CHAPTER V. THE POLAR COAL-FIELD. “But are there any coal-fields at the Pole?” Such was the first question that presented itself. “Why should there be coal at the Pole?” said some. “Why should there not be?” said others. Coal-beds are found in many parts of the world. There is coal in Europe; there is coal in America; and in Africa; and in Asia; and in Oceania. As the globe is more and more explored, beds of fossil fuel are revealed in strata of all ages. There is true coal in the primary rocks, and there is lignite in the secondaries and tertiaries. England alone produces a hundred and sixty millions of tons a year; the world consumes four hundred million tons, and with the requirements of industry there is no decrease but an increase in the consumption. The substitution of electricity for steam as a motive power means the expenditure of coal just the same. The industrial stomach cannot live without coal: industry is a carbonivorous animal, and must have its proper food. Carbon is something else than a combustible. It is the telluric substance from which science draws the major part of the products and sub-products used in the arts. With the transformations to which it is subject in the crucibles of the laboratory you can dye, sweeten, perfume, vaporize, purify, heat, light, and you can produce the diamond. But the coal-beds from which our carbon at present chiefly comes are not inexhaustible. And the well-informed people who are in fear for the future are looking about for new supplies wherever there is a probability of their existence. “But why should there be coal at the Pole?”