and full particulars, but had waited. Now, however, he felt he
could wait no longer; he must know something definite before he
saw Margaret. Not to excite suspicion by telegraphing at
untimely hours, he had waited until morning, and as the Dipsey
was in about the same longitude as Sardis, and as they kept
regular hours on board, without regard to the day and night of
the arctic regions, he knew that he would not now be likely to
rouse anybody from his slumbers by "calling up" the pole.

Although the telephone had been brought to such wonderful
perfection in these days, Roland Clewe had never thought of using
it for purposes of communication with the Dipsey. The necessary
wire would have been too heavy, and his messages could not have
been kept secret. In fact, this telegraphic communication
between Sardis and the submarine vessel was almost as primitive
as that in use in the latter part of the nineteenth century.

But Clewe had scarcely entered the office when he was surprised
by the sound of the instrument, and he soon found that Sammy was
calling to him from the polar seas. He sat down instantly and
received this message:

"Could not send more last night. Gibbs came in. Did not want
him to know until I had heard from you. That Pole, Rovinski, is
on board. Never knew it until yesterday. Had shaved off his
beard and had his head cropped. He let it grow, and I spotted
him. There is no mistake. I know him, but he has not found it
out. He is on board to get ahead of you some way or other
--perhaps get up a mutiny and go to the pole himself. He is the
wickedest-looking man I ever saw, and he scared me when I first