Chapter 3 Chapter 3 The Scholar Who Came Over

Sergeant Long came to the narrow passage leading to the outer gate of the fort and heard the shouting grow louder.People slammed into the side doors that protected the courtyard with tall wooden walls.Sergeant Long pushed open the door.There was a foot of snow on the ground.The sergeant's legs sank to his knees in the white snow, the wind blinded him, and the cold pierced his ears. He slanted across the yard and walked to the side door. "What the hell is this kind of weather!" Sergeant Lang muttered, and he took off the heavy crosspiece on the door in an orderly, or "regular" manner. Only Eskimos would dare to take risks in such cold weather!

"Open the door! Open the door!" cried outside. "It's running," Sergeant Long replied. Finally, the door was pulled back inward, and a sleigh pulled by six dogs passed over the threshold with lightning speed, knocking Sergeant Long half back on the snow. The sergeant was almost crushed, but he got up, Without even murmuring anything, he closed the door and walked towards the main room at his usual pace, that is to say, seventy-five steps per minute. Captain Claventi, Lieutenant Jasper Hobson, and Corporal Jolliffe were already standing at the door, braving the biting cold, looking at the snow-covered sleigh that had just stopped in front of them.

Immediately a man in a fur coat and hat dismounted from the sledge. "Reliancesburg?" the man asked. "Exactly," replied the captain. "Captain Claventi?" "It's me, who are you?" "The company's messenger." "Are you alone?" "No! I have brought a traveler!" "A traveler, what is he doing here?" "He came to see the moon." At this answer, Captain Claventi wondered if he had encountered a madman, as one would think in such a case.But he didn't have time to think about it.The courier had pulled out of the sleigh a lifeless bale, a kind of bale covered with snow, and was about to take it into the house, when the captain asked him:

"What is this bag?" "It is my passenger," replied the messenger. "Who is this passenger?" "Astronomer Thomas Blake!" "He's frozen!" "Then, thaw him again." Thomas Blake was carried into the fort by sergeants, corporals, and couriers.People put him in a bedroom on the second floor, which was warmed by a red stove.They laid him on the bed, and the captain took his hand. The hand was completely frozen.People opened the quilt and cotton coat that wrapped Thomas Blake. He was tied up like a package. Under this package, people saw a man in his 50s, fat, short, and gray hair. The beard is stubble, the eyes are closed, and the mouth is locked tightly, as if the lips are stuck with glue.The man was on the verge of death, and his breathing could not even frost on the glass window.Jollif undressed him, turned him over quickly, and called:

"Wake up! Wake up! Monsieur! You don't want to come back to us?" At this moment, he is like a zombie.Corporal Jolliff thought there was a daring way to slow him down, and that was to throw the sick man into the boiling punch. Fortunately for Thomas Blake, Lieutenant Japper Hobson had another idea. "Use snow!" he ordered, "Sergeant Lang, bring some handfuls of snow! . . . " There is no shortage of this stuff in the fort yards.Joliver undressed the astronomer while the sergeant went to find the snow he needed.The unfortunate body was covered with a white sheet, which indicated that the frostbite had seeped into the flesh.It is extremely urgent to make the injured part white.This is exactly what Jasper Hobson hoped to achieve by rubbing snow hard.This method is known to be used extensively in the arctic regions to recirculate blood blocked by severe cold, as it blocks the water of rivers.

Sergeant Long came back, and Jollif rubbed his body for the newcomer.This is not lightly rubbing oil, or applying hot compresses with oil. It needs to be massaged vigorously all over the body. It is not so much the rubbing of the hands, but rather the vigorous massage of the whole body. During the wipe, the garrulous corporal kept calling the visitor, but he couldn't hear: "Wake up! Sir, wake up! How are you so frozen? Oh! Don't be so stubborn!" Maybe Thomas Blake was stubborn because half an hour passed without any information about his life.People even despaired of waking him, and the masseuses were about to stop their tiring work, when the poor man let out a few groans.

"He's alive! He's awake," cried Jasper Hobson. After warming the skin on the outside with rubbing, don't forget the inside.Corporal Jollif, therefore, hastily brought some punches.The visitor felt really relieved; the color came back to his cheeks, light came to his eyes, his mouth could speak, and the captain could at last hope that Thomas Blake could tell him why he had come to this place so wretchedly. Wrapped tightly in the quilt, Thomas Blake propped himself up on his elbows, and asked in a still weak voice: "Is it Reliancesburg?" he asked. "You are here," replied the captain.

"Captain Claventi?" "It's me, welcome, sir, but may I ask why you came to Reliancesburg?" "To see the moon!" replied the courier, probably interested in the reply, since it was the second time he had said it. However, the answer satisfied Thomas Blake, who nodded his head in agreement.Then, asked again: "Lieutenant Hobson?" "Here I am," replied the lieutenant. "You haven't left yet?" "Not yet, sir." "Then, sir," continued Thomas Blake, "I have only to thank you, and I shall sleep till morning!"

So the captain and his companions withdrew, leaving the strange man to rest quietly.Half an hour later, the party was over, and the guests returned to their residences, either staying overnight in the fort, or returning to several residences outside the city walls. By the next day Thomas Blake had almost recovered.His strong body withstood the severe cold.I'm afraid it wouldn't be warm enough with another person, but he was different from the others. Who is this astronomer?Where is he from?Why travel on company property during a freezing winter?What does the messenger's reply mean?look at the moon!Doesn't the moon shine everywhere, so why do we have to go to the North Pole to find the moon?

These were the questions Captain Claventi wanted to ask.It was all clear the next day when he talked to the new visitor for an hour. Thomas Blake was indeed an astronomer at the Greenwich Observatory headed by Mr. Airy.He is smart and perceptive, not just a theoretician, he has been working for 20 years and has made significant contributions to the science of celestial maps.In his private life he can do nothing, he lives only for astronomy, he lives in the sky, not on the earth, he is a descendant of the scholar who fell into the well in La Fontaine's fable, if people don't talk to him about the stars , then it is impossible to talk.Here's a man who lives inside a telescope.When he observes the sky, he is unparalleled in the world!What he showed was tireless patience!He could observe the emergence of a cosmic phenomenon for whole months.His specialty was the observation of bolides and meteors, and his discoveries in meteorology are also worth mentioning.Therefore, whenever it comes to careful observation, precise measurement, Thomas Blake, whose "eye skills" are excellent, was once turned to.Not all people have the ability to observe.It is not surprising, therefore, that the Greenwich Observatory chose this astronomer to work in the following environment, which would be of the highest interest to lunar science.

People know that during a total solar eclipse, the moon will be covered with a halo, but what is the source of this halo?Is it an entity?Is it the diffraction of sunlight around the moon?This is an unresolved question so far. Astronomers have scientifically described this halo phenomenon since 1706, Rouvel and Halley in 1715 during the total eclipse, Malardi in 1724, Antonio de Urua in 1778, Both Buddick and Ferrer carefully observed the halo in 1806, but no conclusion could be drawn from their conflicting theories.Speaking of the total solar eclipse in 1842, scholars from all over the world: Hery, Aragon, Petar, Rogier, Movey, Otto, Struff, Petitberg, etc. all sought to obtain an explanation about the origin of this phenomenon. However, although the observations are extremely rigorous, the result is as Aragon said: "During the same total eclipse, astronomers have observed different results in different places to make this problem extremely complicated. Now, it is impossible to get any reason for this phenomenon." Reliable conclusions." Since then, another total solar eclipse has been studied, and the observations are still inconclusive. However, this question is of great interest to the lunar research community.Fix it at any cost.A new opportunity has arisen to study the phenomenon of halos, which until now has been debated.A total solar eclipse, visible on the northern border of the Americas, in Spain, and in North Africa, should have occurred on July 18, 1860.It was agreed among astronomers in various countries to set up observation points in the visible area of ​​the total solar eclipse at the same time.It was Thomas Blake who was appointed to observe the aforementioned total solar eclipse in the Arctic regions of America. He was working under almost the same conditions as British astronomers had traveled to Sweden and Norway to observe the total solar eclipse of 1851. People were right, and Thomas Blake immediately jumped at the opportunity presented to him to study the halo.Likewise, he should try to understand as much as possible the nature of the reddish prominences that appear at various points on the lunar profile.If the Greenwich astronomer could solve the problem irrefutably, he would be applauded by intellectuals all over Europe. So Thomas Blake was ready to go.He had some hearty letters of recommendation which recommended him to the principal agents of the Hudson's Bay Company.He received accurate information that an expedition was going to the Arctic to establish a new agency.This is an opportunity that should be exploited.Thomas Blake set off, and he crossed the Atlantic, to New York, across the lake to the forts of the Red Sea, and then, from fort to fort, in a fast sleigh driven by a company courier, in spite of the winter, in spite of the cold , at the risk of all the perils of traveling in the Arctic, arrived at Reliancesburg on March 17, as is known. That's how the astronomers explained it to Captain Claventi.The captain is willing to serve Thomas Blake as best he can. "But, Mr. Black," he said to him, "why are you in such a hurry to come here, when this eclipse is supposed to take place in 1860, which means next year?" "Captain," replied the astronomer, "I heard that the company sent an expedition to the coast of America beyond the 70th latitude. I don't want to miss Lieutenant Hobson's departure time." "Mr. Black," replied the captain, "if the lieutenant has set out, it will be my duty to accompany you personally to the coast of the Arctic Ocean." He then repeated to the astronomer that he could count on him and welcomed him to Reliancesburg.