Through the Air to the North Pole Part 21

"Sh! Ingliss!" exclaimed a soft voice. "No spik! Me like Ingliss! Me Dirola!"

"Who are you?" asked the old hunter again, but in a whisper.

"Me like Ingliss!" was the reply. "They kill! Me save! You come! All Ingliss!"

Then, into the glare of the big lamp, glided the strange woman who had brought the milk.

CHAPTER XVII

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.