PRISONERS OF THE ESQUIMAUX
The hearts of all were filled with new terror. They had just come safely
through one danger only to fall into another.
The professor limped to the engine room. A glance confirmed his fears.
The gas was escaping from the bag in large quantities.
"I am afraid the patch we put on has come loose," he said. "The tornado
must have unfastened it. Are we over land or sea?" he asked anxiously.
Jack hurried to where the sheet of thick glass was set into the floor of
the cabin. He peered down toward the ground.
"We are over land, or, at least, a big ice field," he said, looking up."
We must have crossed some arm of the sea, or, perhaps, a bay." Then, as
he looked down through the window again, he gave a frightened start.
"There are people below us!" he cried. "I can see hundreds of them! They
are waiting for us to land!"
The ship was fast settling, and, because of that fact, and for the
reason that the propeller was sending it ahead, the _Monarch_ was
approaching the ice at a sharp angle.
"Stop the engines!" commanded the professor. "Our only hope is in coming
down easily. If we strike the ice hard we are lost!"
Lower and lower sank the _Monarch_, like a bird with a broken wing. In a
few minutes there came a sudden jar that told the ship had struck the
ice. Then, with a swish and rustle the silk bag, emptied of gas fell on
the roof of the cabins. The _Monarch_ had come down between two big
hummocks of ice, and rested almost in a level position.
The adventurers peered from the windows. At first they could see nothing
but a vast expanse of frozen whiteness. Then the ship, in an instant,
seemed to be surrounded by men, women and children, all dressed in furs,
only their faces showing.
"Here they come!" cried Andy.
The Esquimaux showed no fear of the airship nor the strange beings that
inhabited it. They advanced boldly, many of them bearing rude weapons,
spears, stone axes, and bows and arrows of bone. They were a fierce
looking crowd.
"I can't have them come inside the ship," spoke the professor, "they
will tear the machinery apart."
"Shall I fire on them?" asked Andy, getting his rifle ready.
"Not for the world!" cried the captain. "They are ten to our one, and
probably this is but a small part of the tribe. Our only safety lies in
peaceful means. Come, we must put on our fur garments and go outside.
That may induce them to let the ship alone."
"They may take us prisoners," objected Jack.
"Better be prisoners with the airship safe than with it all broken so we
can never use it," said the old inventor. "If we lose the ship then we
are lost indeed. If we go out to them, they may be afraid to venture in
alone. Come, we must hurry!"
Obeying the captain's advice, they all donned their fur garments, and
each took a revolver and several rounds of ammunition. These small
weapons could be concealed about them without much trouble.
Then the whole party emerged from the cabins out on the forward deck of
the _Monarch_. It was high time, for several of the Esquimaux, with
their big stone axes, were advancing to batter in the doors. At the
sight of the adventurers, who had only been dimly observed through the
windows, there arose a great shout among the savages.
Rapidly the air-travelers climbed over the ship's rail, down on to the
ice, and walked boldly among the Esquimaux.
"Show a brave front!" exclaimed the captain, in a low voice. "Perhaps
they mean no harm after all."
But this idea was soon dismissed. With a shout the foremost of the
natives rushed on the party of whites, surrounded them, and, before any
one had a chance to draw his revolver, had he desired to do so, each
member of the _Monarch's_ crew was seized and bound with strong thongs
of walrus hide.
"Well, they've got us," groaned old Andy. "I wish I'd taken a few shots
at them first!"
The old inventor watched narrowly every move the Esquimaux made. At
first several of the natives showed a desire to penetrate the interior
of the _Monarch_. But the commands of one big man, evidently the chief,
who was clad entirely in white furs, deterred them. Scores crawled up
the ice hummock and looked the strange craft over with wondering eyes,
but none molested it.
Suddenly the man in the white furs uttered a loud cry. It was answered
from a dozen throats, and then great activity was manifested. Big
sledges, made of bone for a framework, with laced thongs for a body,
were brought up, and dogs were harnessed to the vehicles. While some
natives were attending to this, others scattered in different
directions, returning presently with large supplies of dead fish, seals,
and a large polar bear.
"This is evidently a hunting party," said Mr. Henderson. "They have been
away from their main town or camp for several days, and were on their
way back when they saw our airship. I wonder what they will do with us."
He was not long left in doubt. The chief of the Esquimaux approached
the adventurers, who, bound with thongs, were sitting on the ice. He
addressed Washington in a strange language, but Washington, with a
motion of his head nodded toward Captain Henderson, to indicate that he
was the commander of the party. To the old inventor, therefore, did the
native in the white furs speak next.
He made a motion of a person reclining on a sledge and indicated that
the captives were to be taken away in that fashion. Then the chief
motioned to his mouth and pretended to chew.
"He seems to want us to take a sleigh ride and get something to eat,"
said Mr. Henderson. "I suppose we might as well go along."
He nodded an assent to the Esquimaux chief, thinking the sign for that
would be understood. It was, evidently, for the chief nodded back and
smiled.
The rude sleds were brought close to the party from the _Monarch_. Then
the captives were bundled on the vehicles like so many logs of wood, and
bound to the runners with hide thongs. Next a fur robe was thrown over
each one, a hole being left for them to breathe, and a dog driver took
his position at the front of each sled.
With cracks of the whips and wild shouts the natives started off at a
rapid speed. Then it was the prisoners appreciated the extra fur
coverings, for when the vehicles were in motion the keen wind cut like
a knife on the little portion of the face left exposed.
A sharp pang of regret struck the professor's heart as he realized that
he was being carried away from his beloved airship, which was left in
the hands of the enemy. They might wreck it he realized, to get the
valuable wood and metal in the different parts. If they did, it would
mean that the adventurers would be doomed to remain in the land of
perpetual ice and snow forever.
For several hours the journey was continued. The dogs drawing the sleds
never seemed to slacken their speed, but, urged by voice and whip, sped
on over ice and snow.
Suddenly a loud cry sounded. The sleds, as if in obedience to a command,
came to a halt. The captives raised their heads and saw that the whole
party had come to a stop. Several of the Esquimaux began opening bundles
and took out pieces of frozen fat meat. With this they went from team to
team among the dogs, and fed the brutes that seemed ravenous from
hunger.
The animals provided with a meal, the Esquimaux fed themselves. It was a
primitive feast. The men simply bit off chunks of fat and blubber and
swallowed them almost whole.
"I'm pretty hungry, but I don't believe I could eat that," observed
Jack.
"Wait until you get a chance," advised Mark. "Maybe they are not going
to offer us any. As for me, I am starved enough to tackle most
anything."
Presently the Esquimaux chief approached the captives, who had been
drawn close together on their sleds. The leader of the natives had in
his hands some queer looking stuff. At a sign from him several of the
other Esquimaux loosened the bonds that bound the prisoners.
"Um!" grunted the chief. "Um! Um!" At least his words sounded like that.
"I guess he wants us to eat," said the professor.
He took some of the food the Esquimaux chief held out. The stuff did
not look very inviting, about as much like cold fat as anything. The
professor bit into it.
"It's good!" he exclaimed. "It's chopped up meat and suet, and it's
cooked! Eat it!"
They all did, for they were very hungry and cold. Then the captives were
bound again, the dogs were harnessed, and the journey was resumed. The
sun still shone, though it was getting late, but the prisoners were all
sleepy, for, by the run of hours, it was now night.
On and on went the sleds. Jack had dozed off, when he was aroused by a
shout. He raised his head to look about him, and was filled with terror
at what he saw.
The sled he was on, as well as all the others, was coasting down a great
hill of ice at fearful speed! The dogs were gone, and the fleet of
sleighs, under their own weight, were dashing down the Mountainous side
of a great glacier!