sailors."

"But in this expedition," said Clewe, "a sailor would be out of
place. One of your old-fashioned mariners would not know what to
do under the water. Submarine voyaging is an entirely different
profession from that of the old-time navigator."

"I know all that," said Sammy. "I know how everything is a
machine nowadays; but I shall never forget what a glorious thing
it was to sail on the sea with the wind blowin' and the water
curlin' beneath your keel. I lived on the coast, and used to go
out whenever I had a chance, but things is mightily changed
nowadays. Just think of that yacht-race in England the other
day--a race between two electric yachts, with a couple of vessels
ploughin' along to windward carryin' between 'em a board fence
thirty feet high to keep the wind off the yachts and give 'em
both smooth water and equal chance. I can't get used to that
sort of thing, and I tell you, sir, that if I am goin' on a
voyage to the pole, I want to have a sailor along. If everything
goes all right, we must come to the top of the water some time,
and then we ought to have at least one man who understands
surface navigation."

"All right," said Clewe; "get your sailor."

"I've got my eye on him; he's a Cape Cod man, and he's not so
very old either. When he was a boy people went about in ships
with sails, and even after he grew up Cap'n Jim was a great
feller to manage a catboat; for things has moved slower on the
Cape than in many parts of the country."