So Captain Jim Hubbell was engaged as sailor to the expedition;
and when he came on to Sardis and looked over the Dipsey he
expressed a general opinion of her construction and capabilities
which indicated a disposition on his part to send her, and all
others fashioned after her plan, to depths a great deal lower
than ever had been contemplated by their inventors. Still, as he
wanted very much to go to the pole if it was possible that he
could get there, and as the wages offered him were exceedingly
liberal, Captain Jim enlisted, in the party. His duties were to
begin when the Dipsey floated on the surface of the sea like a
commonsense craft.

A day or two before the expedition was ready to start, Roland
Clewe was very much surprised one morning by a visit from Sammy's
wife, Mrs. Sarah Block, who lost no time in informing him that
she had made up her mind to accompany her husband on the perilous
voyage he was about to make.

"You!" said Clewe. "You could not go on such an expedition as
that!"

"If Sammy goes, I go," said Mrs. Block. "If it is dangerous for
me, it is dangerous for him. I have been tryin' to get sense
enough in his head to make him stay at home, but I can't do it;
so I have made up my mind that I go with him or he don't go. We
have travelled together on top of the land, and we have travelled
together on top of the water, and if there's to be travellin'
under the water, why then we travel together all the same. If
Sammy goes polin', I go polin'. I think he's a fool to do it;