“‘Forbidden by the earth!’ was Noskat’s answer. ‘The earth is living as we are living—it cares not how men move upon its vast living body as long as they do not approach this mountain!’
“‘The earth living? What the devil is all this about?’ Travis demanded. Skeel intervened.
“‘It’s an Eskimo belief, Travis,’ he said. ‘I’ve heard of it before—they think earth is a great living thing and that we humans are mere insects or the like living on its body.’
“‘What a crazy belief!’ Travis commented. He turned back to Noskat. ‘Why does your living earth forbid anyone to come near this mountain, then?’
“‘Because this mountain holds earth’s mind—earth’s brain,’ said Noskat solemnly, Shan nodding corroboration. ‘Earth likes us not to come this near its brain, and so it has moved its great body beneath us to warn us away.’
“‘Rot!’ said Travis. ‘That tremor just now wasn’t any warning, but a slight earthquake like any other earthquake.’
“‘All earthquakes are but movements of earth’s great body,’ asserted Noskat stubbornly. ‘Earth can move its body as it wishes.’
“‘That sounds logical enough, Travis,’ I said, grinning.
“He turned toward me. ‘Don’t encourage them, Landon,’ he said sharply. ‘We’ll have trouble enough with them as it is.’
“He swung back on Noskat and Shan. ‘That tremor was just an ordinary tremor and this stuff about a living earth is nonsense,’ he said forcibly. ‘We are going to stay here two days at least and you two are going to camp down here while we explore and examine this mountain.’
“‘But you must not try to explore the mountain!’ Noskat said excitedly. ‘You dare not approach earth’s brain! If you do—’
“‘That’s enough!’ snapped Travis. ‘You and Shan are going to wait here while we do explore the mountain, and there’ll be no more talk about it!’
“When Noskat and Shan had gone to their own tent Travis turned to us with a disgusted expression.
“‘This would be just our luck,’ he said, ‘to have those two, just as we get here, break loose with their superstitions.’
“‘I wonder if they’re only superstitions,’ said Skeel thoughtfully.
“We stared at him. ‘What the devil!’ I exclaimed. ‘Do you believe that stuff about earth being a living and intelligent being?’
“Skeel’s face was serious. ‘I’ve heard of stranger things, Landon. Why couldn’t earth be a living organism instead of just a mass of inanimate matter? It seems an inanimate mass to us, it is true, but so must a human being seem an inanimate mass to the microbes that live on and in that being. Earth might be a living organism, all the planets might be organisms, of scale and nature so different from us that we mites who swarm upon it cannot even comprehend it. And if it is living it could possess consciousness and intelligence, perhaps intelligence operating on planes and for ends entirely alien to us.’
“‘And you think, then, that, as Noskat said, earth’s brain is somewhere in this mountain?’ Travis demanded incredulously.
“Skeel smiled. ‘I don’t say that. Though as a matter of fact if earth were a living and intelligent organism it would have to have the seat of its intelligence somewhere, and as likely up here at earth’s top as anywhere.’
“‘I’ll say you’re a cuckoo geologist!’ I exclaimed. ‘You’re as bad as those two Eskimos!’
“Travis stretched. ‘Well, whether or not earth’s brain is inside that mountain, we’re going to do some climbing on it tomorrow morning.’
“‘And some climb it’s going to be,’ I told him. ‘If we can get up far enough to get a look at that uncovered rock we’ll be lucky.’
“We turned in, huddling in our furs, and though the dogs were still whining in a panicky fashion now and then, we fell almost instantly to sleep.
“We were awakened when our watches told us it was morning by a sensation of someone shaking us, and found that it was another earth-tremor that was rocking the tent, one as strong as or stronger than that of the night before. It was over almost before we were awake, the grinding crackle of ice dying away.
“We struggled rapidly into our outer clothes and heard the dogs, who had yelped with terror when the tremor began, become silent as though cowed by utter fear. The tent still quivered from the tremor’s last vibrations.
“Travis cursed. ‘Another damned tremor! This will make those two swarthy sons of perdition harder than ever to handle, if I’m right.’
“His surmise proved correct, for we had not emerged from the tent into the polar cold and glare when Noskat and Shan were upon us. They were quite evidently in an extreme state of terror.
“According to them, the tremor was another and stronger sign that the earth was uneasy at our presence near its brain, and a warning for us to turn and head southward at all possible speed before earth destroyed us. They even went so far in their panic as to say that if we did not they would start south without us with one of the sledges.
“Travis’s cold voice whipped to them through their terror. ‘You’ll stay here, all right,’ he told them. ‘You know too well what would happen to you if you showed up back down there at the ship without us.’
“‘But if you try to explore the mountain, earth’s brain will be very wroth!’ wailed Shan. ‘All earth will be wroth against you!’
“‘I’ve had enough of this crazy talk about earth and its brain,’ Travis told them impatiently. ‘You two will stay here until we come back, or you’ll go with us.’
“At that alternative both Noskat and Shan became silent out of sheer terror. I told them to see to the dogs, which were still acting strangely, and then with Travis and Skeel prepared for our climb up the icy mountain’s side.
“As we could not hope to bring back any specimens, even if we succeeded in reaching one of the openings in the mountain’s ice-sheath, we took only our ice-axes and a single rock-axe. We wore our automatics in our belts with the idea of impressing the two Eskimos if they still harboured ideas of flight, and we were roped together.
“With a final admonition and warning to Noskat and Shan from Travis, we started up the icy mountainside. A thousand feet above us was the dark circle in the ice we wanted to reach, an opening through the peak’s frozen sheath, we were sure, to its inner rock. If we could make even a cursory examination of the mountain’s rock-strata, we felt our trip would be worthwhile.
“From the first our climb was tremendously difficult. Travis led, cutting steps where needed with his ice-axe, taking advantage of ledges and cracks in the ice, moving tortuously up with Skeel and me close behind. Our heavy fur clothing was a hindrance to us in climbing, though even through it the polar cold penetrated.
“We were forced to rest every few yards, clinging against the icy slope like three strange furry animals. At such halts I looked down and for a time could see Noskat and Shan, down by the tents and sledges, watching our progress. Then an inward slant of the icy slope hid them from view for a time.
“This slant inward made climbing a little easier, and now we could plainly see the round opening in the ice above, and could make out that it opened through the ice to the dark bare rock of the mountain itself. That was a spur to our efforts and we struggled on, Travis’s axe chipping, steadily ahead of us, until at last Travis pulled himself up into the opening in the ice and then jerked us up beside him.
“We were hardly in that opening, lying panting for the moment, when there came another earth-tremor, much more violent.
“It seemed that the whole mountain and the ice-fields around it were swaying and shaking, and there came as though from far beneath a crackling roar. We lay still and in a moment it ceased.
“‘Good Lord!’ exclaimed Travis as we stood up then. ‘If that had happened a moment ago when we were climbing it would have been bad for us.’