This plain afforded the isolation we sought, and with a slow and steady movement we descended upon it. We touched the ground so lightly that I was not aware of our landing until Torrence threw out the ladder and stepped over. I followed immediately, and then we sent up a shout of triumph for the success that had so far attended our journey. We walked around the air ship, admiring her from every point of view, and then went away to see how she looked at a distance. She was perfect! The grandest thing ever constructed; the most powerful engine for the advance of man’s material welfare ever executed. Torrence made a careful examination of her working parts. Not a screw or bearing was out of place; and not withstanding the way we had speeded her on occasions, she was none the worse for it. She was carefully oiled, and where necessary lubricated with graphite, and we had the satisfaction of knowing that she was in quite as good condition as on leaving London. "I am willing to trust my life in her across the frozen sea!" said Torrence, observing her with intense admiration. "Now is the time to decide if you’re not," I answered; "though for my part I believe she is safer than dry land!" "That is exactly my idea," said he, "although, if you should feel inclined to change your mind, there is another chance at Spitzbergen, where we shall stop again before the final leap." "I have not the slightest intention of doing so, old boy, in fact I am quite as anxious to get to the pole as you are; and strange as it may seem I feel safer in the air ship than standing here." We were unanimous in our determination to go to the pole, and I will guarantee that no expedition ever started for there with so good a prospect of reaching it, or with greater comforts than we had. We cooked our supper near the edge of the cliff overlooking the Arctic Ocean, and we both felt that it was a solemn occasion, for we should soon be placing an impassable gulf between ourselves and the land of human habitations, and entering the great solitudes of the unexplored North. As there was no wood for fuel, we used an armful of our own kindling, which we had brought for just such occasions, and while drinking hot coffee we discussed the past, and the prospect of the future. "I am absolutely certain of success," said Torrence; "nothing but an air ship can reach the pole, and an air ship has never yet tried to get there. What’s the use of an old water-tank endeavoring to screw her way through a continent of ice. She might as well run her nose against Gibraltar, in the hope of coming out on the other side. The mystery to me is why no one has ever tried this before." "You’re not there yet, old man," I answered; "don’t crow before you’re out of the woods." "Ah!" said Torrence, smiling, "I believe the worst wood we had to get out of was London; and having shot the rapids at Gravesend, I think we can go the rest of the way."