The Purchase of the North Pole / A sequel to "From the earth to the moon"

Chapter 14: CHAPTER XIV. THE GEOGRAPHICAL VALUE OF x.

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About This Book

A visionary industrial consortium purchases the polar territories with the aim of exploiting alleged mineral riches by radically transforming polar conditions through massive engineering. The narrative follows scientific debates and public controversy over a bold proposal to alter the Earth’s orientation by means of gigantic apparatus and explosive operations, weighing technical feasibility against moral and political risks. Detailed plans and large-scale works in distant regions bring engineers, financiers, and skeptics into conflict, and an expeditionary phase leads to tense moments and an unexpected resolution that tests the limits of human ingenuity and responsibility.

CHAPTER XIV.
THE GEOGRAPHICAL VALUE OF x.

Fortunately for J. T. Maston, the Federal Government unexpectedly received the following telegram:—

“To John S. Wright, Washington, U.S.A.

“Zanzibar, 13th September, 5 a.m., local time. Great foundries have been established among the Wamasai to the south of Kilimanjaro. For eight months Impey Barbicane and Nicholl have been there, with hundreds of black workmen under the authority of the Sultan Bali-Bali. Information for Government purposes.—Richard W. Trust, U.S. Consul.”

And that is how the great secret was discovered. And that is why the secretary of the Gun Club was not hanged.

But who can say that he did not live to regret that he was not removed from mankind in all the plenitude of his glory?

Anyhow the fact of the discovery is so important in our history that we shall only be treating it with due respect in giving it this chapter to itself.