Through the Air to the North Pole Part 33

THE ESCAPE

"He's killed!" cried Andy.

"Oh Perfessor! Perfessor!" exclaimed Washington. "I tole yo' not to go out."

"Never mind! Start the machine gun!" yelled Andy. "We must fight off these human fiends!"

"Call up the boys!" shouted Bill. "They'll be killed under the ship!"

"I'm afraid it's too late," said Andy. "Here, Tom, you help Washington work the machine gun!"

The weapon had been covered by canvas, and, fortunately, the snow had not harmed it. The canvas was yanked off, and, while Tom prepared to feed the cartridges down the hopper, Washington worked the crank. In a few seconds there was a fusillade that sounded like a small battery going into action.

From the muzzle of the machine gun poured out a leaden hail. It struck the Esquimaux fairly and though they tried to stand against it they could not. Their arrows and spears dropped from their hands and they staggered back, many badly hurt or killed.

"Why don't those pesky boys come up!" wondered Andy. His gun was again empty. He hastened into the cabin to reload the magazine. As he did so he heard a tapping on the plate gla.s.s window set in the floor of the car.

"Who is there?" he cried.

"It's us; Jack and Mark!" a voice answered. "Let us up! The ship is free!"

Andy flung open the window. It was just large enough for a boy to squeeze through. In a moment Jack and Mark were in the cabin.

In the meanwhile Bill had dropped his gun and carried the professor from the deck inside. The old man was unconscious, but a glance showed that the spear had made only a slight wound on the head, and not one that was likely to be dangerous.

"Is he dead?" cried the boys.

"We hope not," answered Andy. "But we have no time to lose. Can one of you start the ship?"

"I can!" exclaimed Jack.

"Then do it, while I help hold the enemy at bay!"

The Esquimaux, in spite of their losses, were returning to the attack.

Closer and closer they pressed to the ship. The machine gun was making great gaps in their ranks, but they did not seem to mind. They were bent on recapturing their former captives, whose track they had followed from the ice cavern.

Jack ran to the engine room. He saw that everything was in readiness for sending the ship aloft. But little gas more was needed in the bag. He turned on the full supply. The noise of the guns, the shouts and yells of the natives, made the place resound with wild noises. It was a battle such as the arctic regions had never before witnessed.

A tremor shook the _Monarch_. The ship shivered. Jack ran to the conning tower. He grasped the lever that started the propeller. Then came a sudden lurch. The airship tore loose from the ice and rose swiftly in the air. Jack set the screw to working and turned the steering wheel so that the _Monarch's_ nose was pointed due south, away from the land of perpetual ice and snow.

A wild yell of disappointed rage burst from hundreds of throats as the Esquimaux saw their captives escape. They filled the air with arrows and spears, but to no purpose. Andy sent the last shots in his rifle at the savages, and, as the ship rose a hundred feet in the air, the remaining cartridges in the machine gun were exploded.

"Hurrah!" cried the old hunter. "We're off!"

On and on sped the _Monarch_, every second putting the frozen north behind her. Jack had all the engines going at full speed.

"What has happened? Where are we?" asked Professor Henderson, suddenly recovering consciousness.

"We's on de _Monarch_ an' we's done left dem cantankerous conglomerated disputatious Mosquitoes down on de ice!" exclaimed Washington, coming in to see how his master was. "Are yo' much hurted, Perfessor?"

"It's only a scratch," replied the inventor. "I'm all right," and he insisted on getting up and seeing how the engines were running. He was a little weak, but some medicine which Washington fixed at his master's direction soon brought him around.

The airship was working beautifully in spite of being frozen up in the terrible cold. On and up she went until she had left the vicinity of the savages far behind. After about an hour's flight the professor had Jack lower the craft to within half a mile of the surface, as he said he wanted to see what was below.

The boy, who was in charge of the conning tower, set the necessary machinery, while the professor went to the window in the bottom of the ship to watch.

"We're over the sea!" he exclaimed. "There is no land or ice in sight!"

"Come here quick!" cried Washington, from the engine room.

"What's the matter?" exclaimed the professor.

"De gas machine am gone on a rampage ag'in!"

Then, all at once, the airship began to sink. All rushed to the engine room. The gas generator had ceased working and the craft was settling toward the ocean, there being nothing to keep it aloft.

Frantically the professor and Washington worked at the apparatus. It could not be adjusted. Despair was on every face. Faster and faster sunk the _Monarch_.

"Will we sink?" asked Andy. "I can't swim."

"We may float," said the professor. "The bottom part of the ship is water tight. We may float long enough to fix the machinery."

Then, with a splash, the _Monarch_ settled into the ocean, the gas bag falling limply on top of the cabins.

"Get out the life preservers!" shouted the professor. "They are in the forward part. Put them on, while Washington and I try to fix the gas machine!"

The airship had now become a water ship. It rose and fell on the waves, rocking from side to side.

"Get ready to jump!" yelled Jack, running in from the conning tower.

"What now?" asked Professor Henderson, "Haven't we troubles enough?"

"There's a big whale and he's headed right this way!" yelled Jack. "He's coming on like a locomotive, to ram us!"

Andy caught up his gun and hastened to the tower. As Jack had said, a big sperm whale, spouting water high in the air from his nostrils, was headed for the _Monarch_, which, as it lay on the surface, the whale evidently took for a rival.

"I wonder if I can stop him with this rifle," exclaimed Andy.

"No, but you can with the machine gun!" said Jack.

"Not while it's in the stern," replied the old hunter. "I guess we are done for this time. I'll fire a few shots, anyhow, before I die!"

"Wait!" yelled Jack. "I'll turn the ship around!"

"Can you do it?"

"I think I can," was the short reply.