Through the Air to the North Pole Part 22

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.

CHAPTER XVIII

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_ pa.s.sed 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 compa.s.s 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 gla.s.s 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.