NORTHWARD ONCE MORE
"Repel boarders!" sung out Andy. "Where are the guns?"
"Here!" shouted Tom, handing out the rifles fully loaded.
The old hunter seized a weapon, as did Bill, Jack, and Mark. Tom also
leveled his gun at the savages.
Bang! Crack! Bang! went the guns. It was like a skirmish in battle. As
Andy directed, each one fired low.
So heavy a fusillade as the adventurers were able to fire had its
effect. Many of the Esquimaux fell, none badly hurt, but disabled so
they could not attack. Still the main body advanced up the slope with
angry cries, determined to capture the airship and regain their
captives.
The ship now began to quiver through its whole length. Larger and larger
distended the gas bag. Then, with a motion as of a great bird arising
from where it had been fastened to the earth, the _Monarch_ arose
slowly in the air. A cry of astonishment burst from the Esquimaux. Some
who had hold of the rail retained their grip until they felt themselves
lifted up. Then they let go suddenly and dropped to the ice.
"We're off!" cried Andy. He aimed a blow at a native who was still
clinging to the ship and endeavoring to spear the old hunter. Andy
missed his blow, just as the native let fly his spear, which pierced the
hunter in the arm.
With a yell of rage, the native let go and fell. Andy sank back on the
deck of the ship sorely wounded. The ship soared aloft. The next instant
the propeller started revolving and the _Monarch_ passed off over the
heads of the savages.
"Is any one hurt?" asked the professor, coming from the engine room.
"Andy was struck by a spear!" exclaimed Jack.
At the inventor's suggestion they carried the old hunter into the cabin,
and laid him on one of the bunks.
"You take the steering wheel," said Amos Henderson to Jack. "Washington
will run the engines for a while and Mark and I will see to Andy. Bill
and Tom, you can get something to eat; and turn on the heating stoves;
it is cold here."
Soon everyone on board was busily engaged. The professor bandaged
Andy's arm, which contained a severe though not fatal wound. In a little
while the hunter awoke from the stupor into which the pain had thrown
him.
"Fire!" he cried.
"There is no need," said the professor soothingly. "We are safe now."
Then Andy grew quiet. In the meanwhile Bill and Tom had started the
gasolene and electric stoves, and a meal, made from the capsule food,
was soon ready. That it tasted good goes without saying.
On and on rushed the ship, for Washington had speeded up all the engines
in order to sooner escape from the natives who had held him and his
friends captives.
As soon as the professor could leave Andy in charge of Mark, he went to
the engine room. There he found everything in good shape. Next he went
to the conning tower, where Jack was steering.
"How is she heading?" asked the old man.
"Straight for the north!" replied the boy.
"Good! Keep her so. Let me see; we are about a mile high now. I guess
that will do," and he turned off the gas generator. "Moving about
twenty miles an hour," he added. "That is fast enough. I wonder how
cold it is?"
He consulted the dial that was connected to a thermometer outside.
"Whew!" he whistled. "Fifty below! I'm glad we are here!"
Jack was too. The old inventor glanced at the direction compass and then
at the deflecting one that indicated how near the north pole they were.
As he did so he uttered a cry.
"What is it?" cried the boy.
For answer Mr. Henderson pointed to the needle. It was almost straight
up and down.
"Well?" asked Jack, who did not understand much about scientific things.
"That means we are almost at the north pole!" cried the professor. "At
the exact north the needle points straight down, because the pole is a
magnet, and being directly underneath pulls the end of the needle down.
See, it is almost down now. I believe we shall really get to the pole,
and my ambition will be realized."
Aside from the wound Andy had received, none of the party was any the
worse for their adventures as prisoners. Now that they were safe back on
the ship they were inclined to laugh at the fears they had felt.
For several hours the _Monarch_ was held to her course at a fairly good
speed. Then, at the professor's order, the engines were turned on at
full power, since the air was still, and there was no sign of a storm.
Straight to the north the craft shot, every one on board now anxious, as
they became aware that they were near to their destination.
The former life was resumed, and the hours of watch were marked out as
they had been. The sun still shone, never setting, but by this time the
adventurers were used to perpetual day. Dirola kept to herself, not
saying a word to anybody.
"I think I'll drop the ship down a bit and see what sort of a country is
beneath us," announced Mr. Henderson about four o'clock, though whether
it was four o'clock in the morning or the afternoon, no one knew.
However, it did not matter much. "If there is an open sea around the
north pole, as some believe," he went on, "we ought to see some signs of
it now."
He let some gas out of the bag, and the _Monarch_ slowly settled toward
the earth. The inventor opened the trap door that covered the plate
glass in the floor of the cabin, and peered down. When within five
hundred feet of the ground he signaled to stop the descent of the ship.
"Nothing but ice, ice, ice!" he announced. "Big hills and mountains of
it. There is no sign of open water. Well, we are not quite at the pole
yet."
Jack's turn at the wheel came to a close, and Mark relieved him.
Washington, who had been on duty pretty steadily in the engine room,
gave his place up to the inventor, and stretched out to sleep. Bill and
Tom were snoring in their bunks, and Andy was resting easily, the pain
from his wound being relieved by some ointment the professor put on.
The boy in the conning tower kept his eye on the two compasses, the one
telling the direction, the other the nearness to the north pole. The
latter gradually kept inclining more and more toward the earth.
"If we can only make it," thought Mark. "It will be something no one has
ever done before. My! What a story the papers would make of it if they
knew!"
"How is she running?" asked the captain, coming into the tower.
"Very well, indeed, sir."
"You might send her up a little," suggested the professor. "Keep her
about half a mile high, and I'll be with you again before long."
The professor went to his bunk, and Mark was pleased enough to be left
alone in charge of the ship. He held the wheel firmly, and did not
deviate half a point from the northern course.
He had been steering for half an hour when he was suddenly aware of a
dense gloom that settled down all about him. Then there came a great
roaring sound. The air craft rocked violently. The wind whistled shrilly
through the cordage and careened the _Monarch_ to one side.
Then the whole atmosphere grew from a dense black to a strange opaque
whiteness: a whiteness that shut out the view from every side, and
enveloped the ship as if it had fallen into a feather bed. Mark started
back in fright and let go his hold on the steering wheel.