AT THE NORTH POLE.
"What does he mean?" asked Marjorie, staring blankly at her brother.
"I don't know," confessed Dick. "I beg your pardon," he went on,
addressing the Walrus, "but I didn't quite hear what you said."
"_Sprechen sie Deutsch?_" inquired the Walrus, with an encouraging
smile.
"I can't tell what the chap is talking about," said Dick, turning to the
others in dismay.
"Dond't you undershtandt German, eh?" said the Walrus. "Ach! dat vos
verry bad," and he shook his head reproachfully.
"I don't know," argued Dick. "I can't see that it matters much. We are
not likely to go there, you know."
"Not?" said the Walrus, lifting his eyebrows. "Vell, dere vos some funny
peoples in der vorld. Perhaps you dond't _vant_ to go dere?"
"Not much," admitted Dick.
The Walrus shrugged his shoulders, and looked commiseratingly at the
dog, who gave a sniff, and shrugged his shoulders too.
"What we want to know," said Dick, in a businesslike way, "is, Where are
we now, and how are we to get back to England?"
"Vell, you vas in Germany now," said the Walrus.
"Germany!" exclaimed the children, in surprise. "Why, we're quite near
to England, then."
"No," said the Walrus, shaking his head.
"But we must be," persisted Dick.
"No," repeated the Walrus. "Dis is not der Germany you mean, but id is
Germany all der same--most of der vorld is Germany."
"What nonsense!" laughed Dick. "I'm sure it isn't. Why, there's heaps of
places besides Germany. There's--er--Africa, for instance----"
"Thadt's Germany!" said the Walrus, nodding violently.
"Africa is?" cried Dick.
"Yah! das is so," said the Walrus. "Africa, und China, und alle der
blaces--dey is all Germany."
"The chap is evidently a little wrong in the head," explained Dick to
the others in a whisper. "Never mind; don't take any notice. Well, to
come to the point, _can_ you direct us home again, that is the
question?" he asked, aloud.
"No," said the Walrus, shaking his head.
"Or to the Equator?" suggested the Dodo, smoothing out his gloves.
The Walrus stared for a moment, and then, pointing to the Dodo with the
stem of his pipe, inquired, "Vat is dat ting?"
The Dodo drew himself up to his full height, and gave him a withering
look. "How dare you?" he cried.
"Vell, vat _is_ id, anyhow?" chuckled the Walrus. "I never saw
somethings like id before, never!"
"Of course not," said the Dodo, with dignity, "Our family have been
extinct for some time."
[Illustration: When the children got into the clumsy fur garments, they
found them exceedingly comfortable.--Page 95. _Dick, Marjorie and
Fidge._]
"Vell, und vy didn't you keep so?" asked the Walrus. "It vas der best
ting vat you could do. Dere is no goot for such tings like you to be
aboudt."
"Come along," said the Dodo, turning to the others; "let's go. I was
never so insulted in all my life."
"Ach! don't ged in a demper," said the Walrus, complacently. "Dat is no
goot also. Come, I show you der vay to der Equador--dat is Germany,
too," he added, in parenthesis. "Bud you must haf some glothes first to
vare," he cried, looking at the children's scanty garments. "Id is so
gold dere."
"Cold at the Equator?" laughed Marjorie. "Why, I always thought that it
was very hot."
"Ach! dat is so," said the Walrus. "But id is der gedding dere dat is so
gold. Come, I gif you some oudtfids," and he led the way into the little
hut, which was hung all around with clumsy-looking fur garments, which,
however, when they had got into them, the children found to be
exceedingly comfortable.
Besides the clothes, there were all kinds of stores piled up around the
inside of the hut, and a quantity of snowshoes of various shapes, and
little sleds, like those which Dick remembered having seen in pictures
of Polar expeditions.
When the children had been accommodated with some garments, the Walrus
turned to the Dodo, and said, "Veil, now, I egspecdt dat you vant some
glothes, too, dond't id?"
"No, thank you," said the Dodo, proudly, settling his necktie and
folding his wings primly. "I have my gloves; they are quite
sufficient."
"Bud you haven't any ting on your body," said the Walrus. "You bedder
haf some glothes, eh?" and he kindly brought forth some very large
leather breeches, which the Dodo, after some hesitation, consented to
put on.
Next the Walrus took down a rough, hairy coat, with mittens attached to
the sleeves.
"Gom, put your arms in dis," he said, "and trow avay dose gloves you got
on."
"What!" cried the Dodo, "take off my gloves? Never!"
And he wouldn't either; but put his wings (such as he had) into the
coat sleeves with the gloves still on the end of them.
[Illustration: "'What' cried the Dodo, 'take off my gloves? Never!'"]
"Now you musdt haf some stores," said the Walrus, going to the cupboard,
and bringing out some tins of sardines, some jam, and other things,
which he carefully tied on to the sled.
"Now ve are ready to stardt," he said, when these preparations were
completed; and after harnessing the little dog to the sled the party
made a move.
"I haven't the least idea where we are going to," said Dick, as they
walked along; "have you?"
"Not the slightest," said the Dodo. "I don't suppose it matters much,
though, as long as we get somewhere or another."
The old Walrus was trudging along in front, leading Fidge (who seemed to
have taken a violent fancy to him) by the hand; presently he stopped in
front of a big round hole, and waited for the others to catch up to him.
"Here ve are," he said, pointing to the enormous hole, which looked like
the crater of an extinct volcano lined with ice.
"Whatever is that?" asked Marjorie, peering over the edge curiously.
"Der North Bole," said the Walrus. "Id vas German, too," he added,
emphatically.
"The North Pole!" exclaimed the children. "Why, there isn't any pole at
all!"
"No," said the Walrus, "das is so, id vas meldted all avay."
[Illustration: "'Well, good-bye,' said Dick."]
"Good gracious!" cried Dick.
"Yah! id vas mit der lightning struck, und meldted all avay, und made a
big hole in der ground all der vay trough der earth to der Equador. Id
vas made in Germany, dat pole," he added.
The children gazed with wondering eyes into the deep, dark hole, and
Marjorie clung to Dick's arm nervously. "How wonderful!" she exclaimed;
"but I'm glad we've seen where it was, aren't you, Dick?"
But Dick was thinking deeply.
"Are you sure it went right through to the Equator?" he asked of the
Walrus.
"Yah!" said that worthy, "for sure."
"Then if we slid through, we should come out at the other end?" said
Dick.
"Yah! das is so," said the Walrus, nodding violently.
"Well, then, I think we'll do it," said Dick, boldly.
"Oh, Dick!" cried Marjorie, in alarm.
"Well, why not?" said Dick, for, really, so many strange things had
happened that nothing seemed impossible to him now. "It would be rather
jolly to see what it's like at the other end, and it's no use stopping
here. Do you know your way from the Equator?" he added, turning to the
Dodo.
"Yes," said the bird, who was quite ready to start on the perilous
voyage, and, grasping Fidge by the hand, he gave a loud whoop, and began
to slide down the steep incline.
"Well, good-by," cried Dick, hurriedly, shaking hands with the Walrus.
"Thanks for all your kindness." And, jumping on the sled behind
Marjorie, he pushed off, and they shot over the edge after the others.
They just caught a glimpse of the little dog throwing up his arms in
surprise, and as they disappeared into space they heard the old Walrus
crying, in an anxious voice--
"Gom back! gom back! I forgot to tell you somedings."