FIGHTING FOR THE SHIP
"Professor Henderson! Wake up!" called Andy. "Hey, boys, Bill, Tom,
Washington! This may mean something!"
In an instant the prisoners were sitting up, and blinking in the
direction of the big lamp.
"What is it all about?" asked Amos Henderson.
"As near as I can make out this lady is going to save us," replied the
hunter. "She says the natives want to kill us, and that she likes the
English, though how she can talk United States is more than I can
understand."
Dirola, as the Esquimaux woman had called herself, approached the old
inventor, and, kneeling down in front of him, spoke rapidly in her
broken tongue.
"Me save you!" she repeated. "Me Dirola! Me from way, way off," and she
pointed to the north. "Me been prisoner here long time. Me see white
Ingliss man once. He come my country. He go way. My people want kill
him, no like. He be take away. His name Andre!"
"Great Scott!" exclaimed the professor. "I believe this woman was
acquainted with the poor fellow whose bones we found! Can it be
possible!"
"You come; me save!" went on the strange woman. "Me no like it here;
want go to my people. Me learn spik Ingliss from Andre. Me young girl
then!"
"Well, of all the strange happenings!" exclaimed the inventor. "I
believe she is telling the truth. Probably poor Andre Christiansen got
among her people and she learned a little English from him."
"You come?" questioned Dirola. "Me show you where ship hid."
"I wonder if it's safe to trust her," said the old hunter. "According to
the message we found, the people Andre fell among were not very kind."
The woman seemed to understand that some objection was being raised. She
spoke rapidly and earnestly.
"My people no harm," she said. "Me tell 'um you save me, they no kill
you. You come. Much hurry now. You be killed here!"
"I think we might as well chance it," was Professor Henderson's
opinion. "Perhaps she does know where the ship is from hearing talk
among members of the fishing party that captured us. What do you say?
Shall we go?"
Every one agreed that it would be better than to stay in the cave and
face an unknown danger. So, wrapping their furs closely about them, the
captives rose silently and prepared to follow the woman, who seemed
pleased that they were going. She did not lead them out the way they had
been brought in, but by a smaller entrance.
"Go easy!" she cautioned. "No want bad mans to hear! They kill Dirola!"
Walking like cats in their soft boots of fur, the prisoners followed the
strange woman who had so opportunely come to their rescue. Though they
were very apprehensive, they met with no one. Leaving the glare of the
big lamp behind, they were soon in semi-darkness, but in a little while
they emerged into the bright sunlight.
"They all sleep!" muttered Dirola, motioning toward the camp of
Esquimaux which she indicated was behind the ice cavern they had just
left. "We walk; den we git dogs an' sleds. Den we ride so no can catch!"
At a sign from Dirola the seven prisoners stepped out briskly. It seemed
queer to see the sun shining after having been in the dark cave, where
it looked like night, and to get used to the appearance of Old Sol
shining steadily all night long, was something the adventurers had not
quite accomplished. They walked perhaps a mile before they came to where
the dog teams were, behind a hill of ice.
There were two big sleds, with room enough for all, and ten dogs to each
vehicle. The animals, which were securely tied to pinnacles of ice, were
snapping and snarling among themselves.
"Quick, git on!" commanded Dirola. "Maybe they chase us!"
The captives needed no second bidding. They piled on the sledges, the
professor, Andy and Washington on one and the two boys and the two
helpers on the other. Dirola took her seat in front of Professor
Henderson.
"Who's going to drive our dogs?" asked Jack.
"No drive. They follow me," said the woman, and then Jack saw that the
foremost animal of his team was tied by a long thong to the rear of the
first sleigh.
The Esquimaux woman snapped her whip, having first untied the dogs, and
away the teams went over the snow at a great pace.
The spirits of all arose as they went on, making mile after mile on
their journey, away from the ice cave and back to the _Monarch_. Dirola
seemed to know just where she was going, and never hesitated. With voice
and whip she guided the dog teams on, urging them to top speed, for she
was escaping as well as the adventurers.
For several hours the captives rode, becoming thoroughly chilled, for a
cold, cutting wind sprang up and blew in their faces.
"We most there," said the woman at length.
"I'm glad to hear it," remarked Andy. "I will be glad to get back to a
civilized place, even if it is an airship."
Suddenly Dirola turned her head and glanced behind. As she did so she
uttered an exclamation and called shrilly to the dogs, at the same time
snapping her long whip viciously.
"What's the matter?" asked Andy.
"They come after us."
Looking back, Andy was startled to see, about a mile in the rear, more
than a score of sleds, laden with fur-robed Esquimaux, in full pursuit.
"Now we're in for it!" he cried. "It will be a race to see who gets to
the ship first! Get out your revolvers! I'm not going to be captured
again!"
Each one of the adventurers brought out his weapon. The pursuing
Esquimaux seemed aware that their former captives had observed them, and
urged their dog teams to greater speed. It was indeed a race.
Dirola's animals had been urged almost to their limit, and were now
lagging. Voice and whip no longer served to send them forward. Several
of the beasts were limping.
"There ship!" cried the woman suddenly. The crew and owner of the
_Monarch_ glanced ahead. They saw, about a quarter of a mile in advance,
their airship, resting on an icy ledge.
"If we can only get there first!" cried the professor.
"You forget the leak in the gas bag," spoke up Andy. "That will have to
be mended before we can escape."
"With quick work we can do it!" exclaimed the inventor. "Hurry on,
Dirola!"
Dirola needed no urging. With fierce words she hurried on the dogs, her
whip sounding like a revolver as it snapped and cracked.
But fast as the escaping ones went, the pursuers seemed to come faster.
Now they were so close that they could be seen brandishing their spears,
bows and arrows. Their shouts, too, were borne forward on the cold wind.
At last the adventurers were at the side of the airship. Hastily they
dismounted from their sleds turning the dogs loose. The Esquimaux in
pursuit were about half a mile to the rear and would soon be upon them.
"Quick, Dirola! Into the ship with you!" called Andy. "We'll take you
with us if we go at all!"
"We must mend the tear first!" exclaimed the professor, scrambling up
the icy slope toward the cabin of the _Monarch_ in a fashion that would
have done credit to a much younger man. "Andy, you and the boys, with
Tom and Bill, hold the enemy at bay until Washington and I get the ship
in readiness for a start!"
"All right!" cried Andy, now in his element. "I'll make those Esquimaux
wish they had let us alone!"
Dirola had disappeared inside the cabin. In a few minutes the professor
and Washington were hard at work setting the machinery in motion.
First, after having seen that none of the apparatus was disarranged,
Amos Henderson started the gas generating machine. Next, leaving
Washington in charge of this and the engine room, the inventor prepared
a big patch with some cement on it. This he gave to Mark, who quickly
found the place where the old patch had come off the silk bag, and
covered the opening. Already the bag was beginning to swell with the
gas.
But now with loud yells the Esquimaux came rushing up. Leaping off their
sleds, they began throwing their spears and shooting their arrows.