<h2 id="sigil_toc_id_33">CHAPTER XVI.</h2>
<h3 id="sigil_toc_id_34">THE COLUMBIAD.</h3>
<p>Had the casting succeeded? They were reduced to mere conjecture.
There was indeed every reason to expect success, since the mould had
absorbed the entire mass of the molten metal; still some considerable
time must elapse before they could arrive at any certainty upon the
matter.</p>
<p>The patience of the members of the Gun Club was sorely tried
during this period of time. But they could do nothing. J. T. Maston
escaped roasting by a miracle. Fifteen days after the casting an
immense column of smoke was still rising in the open sky and the
ground burnt the soles of the feet within a radius of 200 feet round
the summit of Stones Hill. It was impossible to approach nearer. All
they could do was to wait with what patience they might.</p>
<p>"Here we are at the 10th August," exclaimed J. T. Maston one
morning, "only four months to the 1st of December! We shall never be
ready in time!" Barbicane said nothing, but his silence covered
serious irritation.</p>
<p>However, daily observations revealed a certain change going on in
the state of the ground. About the 15th August the vapours ejected
had sensibly diminished in intensity and thickness. Some days
afterwards the earth exhaled only a slight puff of smoke, the last
breath of the monster enclosed within its circle of stone. Little by
little the belt of heat contracted, until on the 22d August
Barbicane, his colleagues, and the engineer were enabled to set foot
on the iron sheet which lay level upon the summit of Stones Hill.</p>
<p>"At last!" exclaimed the President of the Gun Club, with an
immense sigh of relief.</p>
<p>The work was resumed the same day. They proceeded at once to
extract the interior mould, for the purpose of clearing out the
boring of the piece. Pickaxes and boring irons were set to work
without intermission. The clayey and sandy soils had acquired extreme
hardness under the action of the heat; but by the aid of the
machines, the rubbish on being dug out was rapidly carted away on
railway waggons; and such was the ardour of the work, so persuasive
the arguments of Barbicane's dollars, that by the 3rd of September
all traces of the mould had entirely disappeared.</p>
<p>Immediately the operation of boring was commenced; and by the aid
of powerful machines, a few weeks later, the inner surface of the
immense tube had been rendered perfectly cylindrical, and the bore of
the piece had acquired a thorough polish.</p>
<p>At length, on the 22nd of September, less than a twelvemonth after
Barbicane's original proposition, the enormous weapon, accurately
bored, and exactly vertically pointed, was ready for work. There was
only the moon now to wait for; and they were pretty sure that she
would not fail in the rendezvous.</p>
<p>The ecstacy of J. T. Maston knew no bounds, and he narrowly
escaped a frightful fall while staring down the tube. But for the
strong hand of Colonel Blomsberry, the worthy secretary, like a
modern Erostratus, would have found his death in the depths of the
Columbiad.</p>
<p>The cannon was then finished; there was no possible doubt as to
its perfect completion. So, on the 6th of October, Captain Nicholl
opened an account between himself and President Barbicane, in which
he debited himself to the latter in the sum of 2000 dollars. One may
believe that the Captain's wrath was increased to its highest point,
and must have made him seriously ill. However, he had still three
bets of three, four, and five thousand dollars, respectively; and if
he gained two out of these, his position would not be very bad. But
the money question did not enter into his calculations; it was the
success of his rival in casting a cannon against which iron plates
sixty feet thick would have been ineffectual, that dealt him a
terrible blow.</p>
<p>After the 23rd of September the enclosure of Stones Hill was
thrown open to the public; and it will be easily imagined what was
the concourse of visitors to this spot! There was an incessant flow
of people to and from Tampa Town and the place, which resembled a
procession, or rather, in fact, a pilgrimage.</p>
<p>It was already clear to be seen that, on the day of the experiment
itself, the aggregate of spectators would be counted by millions; for
they were already arriving from all parts of the earth upon this
narrow strip of promontory. Europe was emigrating to America.</p>
<p>Up to that time, however, it must be confessed, the curiosity of
the numerous comers was but scantily gratified. Most had counted upon
witnessing the spectacle of the casting, and they were treated to
nothing but smoke. This was sorry food for hungry eyes; but Barbicane
would admit no one to that operation. Then ensued grumbling,
discontent, murmurs; they blamed the President, taxed him with
dictatorial conduct. His proceedings were declared "un-American."
There was very nearly a riot round Stones Hill; but Barbicane
remained inflexible. When, however, the Columbiad was entirely
finished, this state of closed doors could no longer be maintained;
besides it would have been bad taste, and even imprudence, to affront
the public feeling. Barbicane, therefore, opened the enclosure to all
comers; but, true to his practical disposition, he determined to coin
money out of the public curiosity.</p>
<p>It was something, indeed, to be enabled to contemplate this
immense Columbiad; but to descend into its depths, this seemed to the
Americans the <i>ne plus ultra</i> of earthly felicity. Consequently,
there was not one curious spectator who was not willing to give
himself the treat of visiting the interior of this metallic abyss.
Baskets suspended from steam-cranes permitted them to satisfy their
curiosity. There was a perfect mania. Women, children, old men, all
made it a point of duty to penetrate the mysteries of the colossal
gun. The fare for the descent was fixed at five dollars per head; and
despite this high charge, during the two months which preceded the
experiment, the influx of visitors enabled the Gun Club to pocket
nearly 500,000 dollars!</p>
<div class="illus"><ANTIMG alt="Illustration: TAMPA TOWN AFTER THE UNDERTAKING." id="after" src=
"images/after.jpg" /></div>
<div class="caption">TAMPA TOWN AFTER THE UNDERTAKING.</div>
<p>It is needless to say that the first visitors of the Columbiad
were the members of the Gun Club. This privilege was justly reserved
for that illustrious body. The ceremony took place on the 25th
September. A basket of honour took down the President, J. T. Maston,
Major Elphinstone, General Morgan, Colonel Blomsberry, and other
members of the club, to the number of ten in all. How hot it was at
the bottom of that long tube of metal! They were half suffocated. But
what delight! What ecstasy! A table had been laid with six covers on
the massive stone which formed the bottom of the Columbiad, and
lighted by a jet of electric light resembling that of day itself.
Numerous exquisite dishes, which seemed to descend from heaven, were
placed successively before the guests, and the richest wines of
France flowed in profusion during this splendid repast, served nine
hundred feet beneath the surface of the earth!</p>
<p>The festival was animated, not to say somewhat noisy. Toasts flew
backwards and forwards. They drank to the earth and to her satellite,
to the Gun Club, the Union, the moon, Diana, Phœbe, Selene, the
"peaceful courier of the night"! All the hurrahs, carried upwards
upon the sonorous waves of the immense acoustic tube, arrived with
the sound of thunder at its mouth; and the multitude ranged round
Stones Hill heartily united their shouts with those of the ten
revellers hidden from view at the bottom of the gigantic
Columbiad.</p>
<p>J. T. Maston was no longer master of himself. Whether he shouted
or gesticulated, ate or drank most, would be a difficult matter to
determine. At all events, he would not have given his place up for an
empire, "not even if the cannon—loaded, primed, and fired at that
very moment—were to blow him in pieces into the planetary world."</p>
<div class="illus"><ANTIMG alt="Illustration: THE BANQUET IN THE COLUMBIAD." id="banquet" src=
"images/banquet.jpg" /></div>
<div class="caption">THE BANQUET IN THE COLUMBIAD.</div>
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />