ADRIFT ABOVE THE SNOWS.
"Whatever are they?" gasped Billy, as they ran for the aeroplane.
"Prehistoric monsters," rejoined the professor, who was almost out of
breath.
The next minute he stumbled on a bit of basalt and fell headlong. Had
it not been for this accident they could have gained the aeroplane in
time, but, as it was, the brief space it took to aid the scientist to
his feet gave the creatures of the cliff a chance to intercept the
little party.
As the creatures drew themselves out of the green warm water of the
lake with hideous snarls the boys saw that the animals were great
creatures that must have weighed several hundred pounds each and were
coated with shaggy hair. Their heads and bodies were shaped not unlike
seals except that they had huge tusks; but each monster had two short
legs in front and a pair of large flippers behind. Their appearance
was sufficiently hideous to alarm the most callous venturer into the
Antarctic.
"We've got to make the aeroplane," exclaimed Frank, "come on, get your
guns out and fire when I give the word. If we can only kill a few of
them perhaps the rest will take fright."
"A good idea," assented the professor producing his revolver, a weapon
that might have proved fatal to a butterfly, but certainly would not
be of any effect against the shaggy foes they now faced.
"Fire!" cried Frank, when the others had their heavy magazine weapons
ready.
A volley of lead poured into the ranks of the monsters and several of
them, with horribly human shrieks, fled wounded toward the lake. A
strong sickening odor of musk filled the air as the creatures bled.
But far from alarming the rest of the monsters the attack seemed to
render them ten times more savage than before. With roars of rage they
advanced toward the boys, making wonderful speed on their legs and
flippers.
"Let 'em have it again," shouted Frank as he noted with anxiety that
the first fusillade had been a failure, the rough coats and thick hide
of the monsters deflecting the bullets.
Once more the adventurers emptied their pistols, but the shaggy coats
of the great creatures still seemed to prevent the bullets doing any
serious injury.
The boys' position was ominous indeed. An order from Frank to reload
resulted in the discovery that he alone of any of the party had a belt
full of cartridges; the others had all used up the few they had
carried.
"We're goners sure," gasped Billy as the creatures hesitated before
another scattering discharge of bullets, but still advanced, despite
the fact that this time two were killed. Suddenly, however, their
leader with a strange cry threw his head upward and seemed to sniff at
the air as if in apprehension.
At the same instant a slight trembling of the ground on which the
adventurers stood was perceptible.
"It's an earthquake," cried Billy, recollecting his experience in
Nicaragua.
With wild cries the monsters all plunged into the lake. They seemed to
be in terror. Behind them they left several of their wounded, the
latter making pitiful efforts to reach the water.
"Whatever is going to happen?" cried Billy in dismay, at the animals'
evident terror of some mysterious event that was about to transpire,
and the now marked disturbance of the earth.
As he spoke, the earth shook violently once more and a rumbling sound
like subterranean thunder filled the air.
"It's the mountain!" shouted the professor, who had been gazing about,
"it's going to erupt."
From the crater they had explored there were now rolling up great
masses of bright, yellow smoke in sharp contrast to the dark vapors
that had hitherto poured from it. A mighty rumbling and roaring
proceeded from its throat as the smoke poured out, and vivid, blue
flames shot through the sulphurous smother from time to time.
"We've no time to lose," cried Frank, "come on, we must get to the
aeroplane in a hurry."
They all took to their heels over the trembling ground, not stopping
to gaze behind them. The monsters had all disappeared, and as they had
not been seen to re-enter their holes they were assumed to be hiding
at the bottom of the lake.
As the boys gained the aeroplane and clambered in, Frank uttered an
exclamation:
"Where's the professor?"
In a few seconds they espied him carefully bending over the dead body
of one of the slain monsters several yards away.
"Come on, professor," they shouted, "there's no time to lose."
"One second and I have him," the scientist called back.
At the same instant he made a dart at the dead creature's shaggy fur
and appeared to grasp something. He hastily drew out a bottle and
dropped whatever he had seized into it and then started leaping and
bounding toward the aeroplane, his long legs looking like stilts as he
advanced over the uneven ground.
He was just in time.
As the aeroplane left the ground the water in the lakes became
violently agitated and steam arose from fissures in the mountain side.
Flames shot up to a considerable height above the crater and a torrent
of black lava began to flow toward the lakes, falling into them with a
loud hissing sound that was audible to the boys, even after they had
put many miles between themselves and the burning mountain.
"That will be the last of those monsters, I expect," remarked Harry as
they flew steadily northward.
"I don't know," observed the professor, "they may have caves under
water where they can keep cool. They evidently knew what to expect
when they felt the first rumblings and shaking of the earth and must
have had previous experience. I guess I was mistaken in thinking the
volcano inactive."
"It was a piece of great good luck for us that the eruption came when
it did," said Frank.
"It was a terrific one," commented Billy.
The professor laughed.
"Terrific," he echoed, "why, my boy, you ought to see a real eruption.
This was nothing. See, the smoke is already dying down. It is over."
"Well, it may not have been a big one, but you were in a mighty hurry
to get to the aeroplane," said Billy with a grin.
"That was so that I could get my volcano monster's flea back safe and
sound," exclaimed the man of science. "See here."
He took from his pocket and held up a small bottle.
"Look there," he exclaimed in triumph.
"Well," said the others, who, all but Frank, who was steering, were
regarding the naturalist.
"Well," he repeated somewhat querulously, "don't you see it?"
"See what?" asked Billy, after a prolonged scrutiny of the bottle.
"Why, the flea, the little insect I caught in the shaggy fur of the
volcano monster?"
"No," cried both boys simultaneously.
The professor gazed at the bottle in a puzzled way.
"Bless my soul, you are right," he exclaimed, angrily, "the little
creature eluded me. Oh, dear, this is a bitter day for science. I was
in such a hurry to pop my specimen into the bottle that I held him
carelessly and he evidently hopped away. Oh, this is a terrible, an
irreparable, loss."
Although the boys tried to comfort him they could not. He seemed
overcome by grief.
"Cheer up," said Billy at length, "remember there is always the
fur-bearing pollywog to be captured."
"Ah, yes," agreed the professor, "but a bug in the hand is worth two
in the air."
As they talked, there suddenly came a loud explosion from the engine
and two of the cylinders went out of commission. The speed of the
aeroplane at once decreased and she began to drop.
The dismay of the boys may be imagined. They were several miles from
the camp and below them was nothing but the desolate expanse of the
snow wastes that lay at the foot of the barrier range.
"Shall we have to go down?" asked Billy.
"Nothing else to do," said Frank with a grave face, "there's something
wrong with the engine and we can't repair it up here. If we were not
in this rarified atmosphere we could fly on the cylinders that are
firing all right, but this atmosphere would not support us."
"Do you think it is anything serious?" asked the professor.
"I can't tell yet," was the grave reply, "that explosion sounded like
a back-fire and that may be all that's the matter. In such a case we
can drain the crank case and put in fresh oil; for if it was really a
back-fire it was most likely caused by 'flooding.'"
Ten minutes later they landed on the firm, hard snow and lost no time
in getting things in shape to spend the night where they were; for it
was unlikely that repairs could be effected in time for them to fly
back to the camp before dark. The canvas curtains at the sides of the
aeroplane's body were drawn up, forming a snug tent. The stove was set
going and soup and canned meats and vegetables warmed and eaten by the
light of a lantern.
In the meantime Frank had discovered that the breakdown had been
caused by a defect in the ignition apparatus which it would take some
time to repair. Both he and Harry went to work on it after supper,
however, and by midnight they had it adjusted.
They were just preparing to turn in, the professor and Billy having
wrapped themselves in their blankets some time before, when a sudden
sound, breaking on the stillness of the Antarctic night, made them
pause. Both boys strained their ears intently and the sound came once
more.
This time there was no mistaking it.
It was the same sound to which Rastus had called Frank's attention the
night they were on watch outside the hut.
Pulling the curtain open, the boys gazed out, determined to unravel
the mystery once and for all. The night was perfectly still except for
the buzzing noise, and a bright moon showed them the snow lying white
and undisturbed about them.
The sound did not proceed from the ground, that was evident, but from
the air. The atmosphere seemed filled with it.
"What can it be?" exclaimed Harry.
"Look--look there!" shouted Frank, at the same instant clutching his
brother's arm in his excitement.
Both boys gazed upward and as they did so a dark, shadowy form passed
above them far overhead. For an instant a brilliant light gleamed from
it and then it vanished, going steadily eastward with the strange
thrumming sound growing fainter as it receded.
The boys looked at each other in amazement and the words of Captain
Hazzard flashed across Frank's mind.
"WE HAVE SOME VERY UNDESIRABLE NEIGHBORS AT CLOSE QUARTERS," the
captain had said. Undoubtedly he was right.
"What did you make it out for?" asked Harry at length.
"A dirigible and no small one," was the reply, "and you?"
"Same here. You can't mistake the sound of an airship's engine. The
question is what is the explanation of it all?"
"Simple."
"Simple, well I--"
"That aeroplane is the one which was bought in Europe. It is specially
provided with radiators which electrically heat its gas, allowing it
to navigate in these regions without fear of the gas condensing and
causing the ship to descend."
"Yes, but whose is it? What are they doing in it?"
"The first question is easy to answer. That ship is the ship of the
rival expedition."
"The Japanese one, you mean?"
"That's it. It must have been the light of it that I saw during the
winter. I suppose they were experimenting with it then."
"Experimenting--what for?"
"For the work they are using it on to-night."
"And that is?"
"To forestall us in the discovery of the Viking ship and the South
Pole."