“But,” said Barbicane, “the expedition ended in disaster. The _Proteus_ sank. Eighty-four men were left in frightful misery. Doctor Pavy died. Greely was discovered by the _Thetis_ in 1883 with only six companions, and one of these was Lieutenant Lockwood, who soon succumbed, adding another name to the sorrowful martyrology of Arctic exploration.” There was a respectful silence while Barbicane paused. Then in a thrilling voice he resumed,— “And so, in spite of devotion and courage unparalleled, the eighty-fourth degree has never been passed. And we may even assert that it never will be by means of ships or sledges. It is not given to man to face such dangers and support such extremes of temperature. It is by other means we must advance to the conquest of the Pole!” From the subdued murmur of the audience it was evident that therein lay the interest of the communication. What was this secret? “And how are you going to capture it?” asked the Canadian. “Before ten minutes are up you will know, sir,” replied Barbicane, “and in addressing the shareholders generally I say, Have confidence in us, for the promoters of the affair are the same men who embarked in the cylindro-conical—” “The cylindro-conical,” interrupted Todrin— “Dared to venture to the moon.” “And have come back as we see!” added Todrin, not without signs of disapproval. “Yes,” continued Barbicane, “within the next ten minutes you will know what we propose.” A murmur of “Oh!” and “Eh!” and “Ah!” rose in answer to the reply. It seemed as though the orator had said, “Within the ten minutes we shall be at the Pole!” He continued,— “And now, is it a continent at the Pole? Is it not a sea such as Sir George Nares called the Palæocrystic Sea, the sea of ancient ice? To that I say, We do not think so.” “That is not good enough,” said Baldenak. “It is not a question of not thinking so but of being certain.” “Well! I reply to our exuberant interrupter that we are certain. It is solid ground, not a liquid basin, that the North Polar Practical Association has purchased. It is a plateau like the desert of Gobi in Central Asia, two or three miles above sea-level, as can be easily and logically proved from the observations made in the regions of which the polar domain is really a prolongation. Nordenskiold and other observers have all stated that Greenland increases in height as it goes northward. A hundred miles from Disko its altitude is nearly 7000 feet. And if we consider the different products, animal or vegetable, found in the secular ice, such as the carcases of mastodons, the trunks of conifers, you can see that the continent was once a fertile one, inhabited certainly by animals, and probably by men. There lie buried the thick forests of pre-historic times, which have formed the coal-fields we propose to develop. Yes! It is a continent round the Pole, a virgin continent untrodden by human foot.” Great applause.