Early in February the voyagers, whose progress had been slow, found themselves in a veritable sea of "Pancake ice." Everywhere in a monotonous waste the vast white field seemed to stretch, with only a few albatrosses and petrels dotting its lonely surface. The thermometer dropped to ten below zero, and the boys found the snug warmth of the steam-heated cabins very desirable. There was a fair wind, and sail had been set on the Southern Cross to aid the work of towing her, and she was driving through the ice with a continuous rushing and crashing sound that at first was alarming, but to which her company soon grew accustomed.
Captain Barrington announced at noon that day that they were then in lat. 60 degrees 28 minutes, and longitude 59 degrees 20 minutes West—bearings which showed that they would be, before many days had past, at the Great Barrier itself. Excitement ran high among the boys at the receipt of this news, and Frank and Harry, who had fitted up a kind of work-room in the warmed hold, worked eagerly at their auto-sledge, which was expected to be of much use in transporting heavy loads to and from the ship to the winter quarters.
Before the two vessels reached the Barrier, however, they were destined to encounter a spell of bad weather.
One evening Ben Stubbs announced to the boys, who had been admiring a sunset of a beauty seldom seen in northern climes, that they were in for a hard blow, and before midnight his prediction was realized. Frank awoke in his bunk, to find himself alternately standing, as it seemed, on his head and his feet. The Southern Cross was evidently laboring heavily and every plank and bolt in her was complaining. Now and again a heavy sea would hit the rudder with a force that threatened to tear it from its pintles, solidly though it was contrived.
Somewhat alarmed, the boy aroused the others, and they hastened out on deck. As they emerged from the cabin the wind seemed to blow their breath back into their bodies and an icy hand seemed to grip them. It was a polar-storm that was raging in all its fury.
As she rose on a wave, far ahead the boys could see the lights of the Brutus. Only for a second, however, for the next minute she would vanish in the trough of a huge comber, and then they could hear the strained towing cable "twang" like an overstretched piano wire.
"Will it hold?" That was the thought in the minds of all.
In order to ease the hawser as much as possible, Captain Barrington, when he had noted the drop of the barometer, had ordered a "bridle," or rope attachment, placed on the end of the cable, so as to give it elasticity and lessen the effect of sudden strains, but the mountainous seas that pounded against the blunt bows of the Southern Cross were proving the stout steel strand to the uttermost.
The boys tried to speak, but their words were torn from their lips by the wind and sent scattering. In the dim light they could see the forms of the sailors hurrying about the decks fastening additional lashings to the deck cargo and making things as snug as possible.
Suddenly there came a shout forward, followed by a loud "bang!" that made itself audible even above the roar of the hurricane.
The cable had parted!
Considering the mountainous seas in which they were laboring and the violence of the storm, this was a terrifying piece of intelligence.
It meant that at any moment they might drift helplessly into some mighty berg and be crushed like an egg-shell on its icy sides. Captain Barrington muffled up in polar clothes and oilskins, rushed past the boys like a ghost and ran forward shouting some order. The first and second officers followed him.
Presently the voice of the rapid-fire gun was heard, and the boys could see its sharp needles of white fire splitting the black night.
A blue glare far away answered the explosions. It was the Brutus signaling her consort. But that was all she could do. In the terrific sea that was running it would have been impossible to rig a fresh cable. The only thing for the two ships to do was to keep burning flare lights, in order that they might keep apart and not crash together in the tempest.
"Shall we go down, do you think?" asked Billy, shivering in spite of himself, as a huge wave towered above them as if it would engulf the polar ship, and then as she rose gallantly to its threatening bulk, went careening away to leeward as if angry at being cheated of its prey.
"We can only hope for the best," said a voice at his elbow. It was Captain Hazzard. "I have implicit confidence in Captain Barrington. He is a sailor of rare mettle."
These remarks were shouted at the top of the two speakers' voices, but they sounded, in the midst of the turbulent uproar that raged about them, like the merest whispers.
Time and again it seemed that one of the great waves that came sweeping out of the darkness must engulf them, but so far the Southern Cross rode them like a race-horse, rising pluckily to them as they rushed at her. Captain Barrington and his officers were trying to get some headsail put on the vessel to keep her head up to the huge waves, but they were unwilling to imperil any one's life by ordering him out on the plunging bowsprit, that was now reared heavenward and again plunged downward as if pointing to the bottom of the sea.
Ben Stubbs it was who finally volunteered to crawl out, and two other American seamen followed him. They succeeded, although in deadly peril half a dozen times, in getting the jib gaskets cast loose, and then crawled back half frozen to receive the warm plaudits of the officers and more substantial rewards later on. With her jib hoisted, the Southern Cross made better weather of it, but the seas were fast becoming more mountainous and threatening. The wind screeched through the rigging like a legion of demons. To add to the turmoil some casks got loose and went rolling and crashing about till they finally went overboard as a great wave toppled aboard.
"We must see how the professor is getting on," said, or rather yelled,Frank suddenly.
He and the boys entered the cabin structure aft, which seemed warm and cosy with its light and warmth after the turmoil of the terrific battle of the elements outside.
But a prolonged search failed to reveal any trace of the man of science.
Where could he be?
A scrutiny of his cabin, even looking under the bunk, failed to reveal him. The boys began to fear he might have been swept overboard, when suddenly Frank exclaimed:
"Perhaps he is in his laboratory."
"Hiding there?" asked Billy.
"No, I don't think so. The professor, whatever his oddities may be, is no coward," rejoined Frank.
"No, his search for the Patagonian dog-flea proved that," agreedHarry.
Frank lost no time in opening the trap-door in the floor of the main cabin, which led into what had formerly been the "valuables room" of the Southern Cross, but which had been fitted up now as a laboratory for the professor.
"There's a light burning in it," announced Frank, as he peered down.
"Oh, professor—Professor Sandburr, are you there?" he shouted the next moment.
"What is it? Is the ship going down?" came back from the depths in the voice of the professor. He seemed as calm as if it was a summer's day.
"No, but she is having a terrible fight with the waves," replied the boy.
"She has broken loose from the towing ship. The cable has snapped!" added Harry.
"Is that so?" asked the professor calmly. "Will you boys come down here for a minute? I want to see you."
Wondering what their eccentric friend could possibly wish in the way of conversation at such a time, the boys, not without some difficulty, clambered down the narrow ladder leading into the professor's den. They found him balancing himself on his long legs and trying to secure his bottles and jars, every one of which held some queer creature preserved in alcohol. The boys aided him in adjusting emergency racks arranged for such a purpose, but not before several bottles had broken and several strange-looking snakes and water animals, emitting a most evil smell, had fallen on the floor. These the professor carefully gathered up, though it was hard work to stand on the plunging floor, and placed in new receptacles. He seemed to place great value on them.
"So," he said finally, "you think the ship may go down?"
"We hope for the best, but anything may happen," rejoined Frank; "we are in a serious position. Practically helpless, we may drift into a berg at any moment."
"In that case we would sink?"
"Almost to a certainty."
"Then I want you to do something for me. Will you?"
The boys, wondering greatly what could be coming next, agreed readily to the old scientist's wish. Thereupon he drew out three slips of paper. He handed one to each of the boys.
"I wrote these out when I first thought there was danger of our sinking," he said.
The boys looked at the writing on their slips. They were all the same, and on each was inscribed:
"The man who told me that the Patagonians were a friendly race is a traitor to science. I, Professor Simeon Sandburr, brand him a teller of untruths. For Professor Thomas Tapper, who told me about the fur-bearing pollywog of the South Polar seas, I have the warmest respect. I leave all my books, bottled fishes and reptiles to the Smithsonian Institute. My servant, James, may have my stuffed Wogoliensuarious. My sister is to have my entire personal and real estate. This is my last will and testament.
"Simeon Sandburr.
"M.A.-F.R.G.S.-M.R.H.S.-Etc., etc."
"What are we to do with these papers?" asked Frank, hardly able, even in the serious situation in which they then were, to keep from laughing.
"One of you boys may escape, even if the ship does go down," said the professor, gravely: "If any of us should get back to civilization I want the world to know that the Patagonians are not a friendly race, and that I died hoping to capture the fur-bearing pollywog of the South Polar seas."
At this moment a sudden shock hurled them headlong against the glass-filled shelves, smashing several bottles and releasing the slimy, finny contents, and sending them all in a heap on the floor.
"We have struck something!" cried Frank.
"Something terrible has happened!" shouted Harry and Billy.
"We are sinking, boys," yelled the professor; "don't forget my last will and testament."
To rush on deck was the work of a few moments. If it was a scene of confusion the boys had left, the sight that now met their eyes was far more turbulent.
"The boats! the boats! We are sinking!"
"We are going down!"
"The iceberg has sunk us!"
These and a hundred other cries of terror filled the air, for the wind seemed to have died down, though the sea still ran high, and sounds were now more audible. Off to the starboard side of the ship the boys perceived a mighty towering form, which they knew must be the iceberg they had encountered. The crew fought madly for the boats.
Suddenly a sharp voice rang out:
"I'll shoot the first man that lays a hand on the boats!"
It was Captain Barrington. He stood on the stern deck steadying himself against the rail. In his hands gleamed two revolvers. Beside him stood Captain Hazzard, a look of stern determination on his face. Ben Stubbs and several other seamen, who had not lost their heads, were grouped behind them prepared to quell any onslaught on the boats.
The members of the crew, who had become panic-stricken when the helpless ship encountered the iceberg, paused and looked shamefaced.
"We've a right to save our lives," they muttered angrily.
"And prove yourselves cowards," exclaimed Captain Barrington. "You ought to be ashamed to bear the names of American seamen! Get forward, all of you, and let me see no more of this."
The stern voice of their commander and his evident command of himself reassured the panic-stricken crew and they withdrew to the forecastle. Their shame was the more keen when it was found that, while the Southern Cross had been severely bumped by the iceberg, her stout timbers had sustained no damage.
By daybreak the sea had calmed down somewhat, and the wind had still further moderated. But the danger was by no means over till they could get in communication with the Brutus. Frank was set to work on the wireless and soon "raised" the towing ship, the captain of which was delighted to hear of his consort's safety. The position of the Southern Cross being ascertained, her bearings were wirelessed to the Brutus, and she then cast anchor to await the arrival of the towing ship.
As the line was once more made fast, having been spliced till it was as strong as new, the professor came up to the boys. He looked rather sheepish.
"Would you mind giving me back those papers I gave you last night," he said.
"You mean the last will and testament?" Frank could not help saying.
"That's it. I have changed my mind. I will show up that Patagonian fellow in a book."
The professor, as he received the little slips of paper, scattered them into tiny bits and threw them overboard.
"You are quite sure you have not been fooled also on the fur-bearing pollywog?" asked Frank.
"Quite," replied the professor, solemnly. "Professor Tapper is one of our greatest savants."
"But so was your friend who told you the Patagonians were a friendly tribe," argued Frank.
"I am quite sure that Professor Tapper could not have been mistaken, however."
"Has Professor Tapper ever been in the South Polar regions?" askedBilly, seriously.
"Why, no," admitted the professor; "but he has proved that there must be a fur-bearing pollywog down here."
"In what manner has he been able to prove it?" asked Harry.
"He has written three volumes about it. They are in the Congressionallibrary. Then he contributed a prize-essay on it to the SmithsonianInstitute, which has bound it up with my report on the Canadian BullFrog. He is a very learned man."
"But the South Polar pollywog is then only a theory?"
"Well, yes—so far," admitted the professor; "but it is reserved for me to gain the honor of positively proving the strange creature's existence."
"And if there should be no such thing in existence?" asked Frank.
"Then I shall write a book denouncing Professor Tapper," said the professor, with an air of finality, and turning away to examine the water through a pair of binoculars.
On moved the ships and at last, early one day, Captain Barrington called the boys on deck and, with a wave of the hand, indicated a huge white cliff, or palisade, which rose abruptly from the green water and seemed to stretch to infinity in either direction.
"The Great Barrier," he said, simply.
"Which will be our home for almost a year," added Captain Hazzard.
The boys gazed in wonder at the mighty wall of snow and ice as it glittered in the sunlight. It was, indeed, a Great Barrier. At the point where they lay it rose to a height of 130 feet or more from the water, which was filled with great detached masses of ice. Further on it seemed to sweep to even greater heights.
This was the barrier at which Lieutenant Wilkes, on his unlucky expedition, had gazed. The mighty wall that Shackleton and Scott, the Englishmen, had scaled and then fought their way to "furthest South" beyond. The names of many other explorers, French, English, Danish, and German, rushed into the boys' minds as they gazed.
Were they destined to penetrate the great mysteries that lay beyond it? Would their airship be successful in wresting forth the secret of the great white silence?
"Well?" said Captain Barrington, breaking the silence at length, with a smile; "pretty big proposition, eh?"
The boys gazed up at him awe-struck.
"We never dreamed it was anything like this," said Frank. "I always pictured the Great Barrier as something more or less imaginary."
"Pretty solid bit of imagination, that ice-wall yonder," laughedCaptain Hazzard.
"How are we ever going to get on the top of it?" asked Billy.
"We must steam along to the westward till we find a spot where it shelves," was the reply.
"Then it is not as high as this all the way round the polar regions?"
"No, in places it shelves down till to make a landing in boats is simple. We must look for one of those spots."
"What is the nature of the country beyond?" asked Frank, deeply interested.
"Ice and snow in great plateaus, with here and there monster glaciers," was the reply of Captain Hazzard. "In places, too, immense rocky cliffs tower up, seeming to bar all further progress into the mystery of the South Pole."
"Mountains?" gasped Billy.
"Yes, and even volcanoes. This has given rise to a supposition that at the pole itself there may be flaming mountains, the warmth of which would have caused an open polar sea to form."
"Nobody knows for certain, then?" asked Frank.
"No, nobody knows for certain," repeated Captain Hazzard, his eyes fixed on the great white wall. "Perhaps we shall find out."
"Perhaps," echoed Frank, quite carried away by the idea.
"What is known about the location of the pole?" asked Billy.
"It is supposed to lie on an immensely high plateau, possibly 20,000 feet above sea level. Shackleton got within a hundred miles of it he believes."
"And then he had to turn back," added Captain Barrington.
"Yes; lack of provisions and the impossibility of traveling quickly after his Manchurian ponies had died compelled him to leave the mystery unsolved. Let us hope it remains for the American flag to be planted at the pole."
"Are there any animals or sea-creatures there, do you know?" inquired the professor, who had been an interested listener.
"If there is an open polar sea there is no doubt that there is life in it," was the answer, with a smile; "but what form such creatures would assume we cannot tell."
"Perhaps hideous monsters?" suggested the imaginative Billy.
"More likely creatures like whales or seals," returned CaptainHazzard.
"If there is such a thing as a creature with a South Polar flea in its fur I would like to catch it," hopefully announced the scientist.
"Seals are covered with them," rejoined the officer.
"Pooh, those are just common seal-fleas," returned the professor. "I would like to find an insect that makes its home at the pole itself."
"Well, perhaps you will," was the rejoinder.
"I hope so," said the professor. "It would be very interesting."
All this time the two vessels were steaming slowly westward along the inhospitable barrier that seemed, as Frank said, to have been erected by nature to keep intruders away from the South Polar regions. As the professor concluded his last remark the lookout gave a sudden hail.
"Shipwrecked sailors!"
"Where away?" shouted Captain Barrington.
"Off to the starboard bow, sir," came back the hail.
Captain Barrington raised his glasses and looked in the direction indicated. The boys, too, brought binoculars to bear. They were greatly excited to see what seemed to be four men standing up and waving their arms on a raft drifting at some distance away.
"Lower a boat," commanded Captain Barrington.
The command was speedily complied with—in a few seconds one of the stanch lifeboats lay alongside.
"Do you boys want to go?" asked Captain Hazzard.
"Do we?" asked Billy. "I should say."
"All right, away with you."
"Can I go, too? I might get some specimens," asked the professor, eagerly.
"Yes, but don't try to catch any more killer whales," was the answer, which brought a general laugh.
"Give way, men!" shouted Ben Stubbs, who was in command of the boat; "them poor fellers must be perishin' of cold and hunger."
The boat fairly flew through the water, skillfully avoiding, under Ben's careful steering, the great floes of ice which were drifting about.
The boys and the professor were in the bow, eagerly scanning the raft with the four black figures upon it. The castaways kept waving their arms in the most pitiable fashion.
Suddenly the professor exclaimed:
"There's something queer about those men!"
"You'd be queer, too, if you was drifting about the polar seas on an old raft," returned Ben Stubbs.
All the men laughed at this and the professor said no more. But he scanned the "castaways" carefully, and so did the boys. As they drew nearer, the latter also began to observe that they were the funniest looking men they had ever seen.
"They've got on long black coats with white waistcoats to their knees," cried Billy.
"So they have," exclaimed Harry. "If it wasn't too ridiculous, you'd say they had on evening clothes."
"They're not men at all," suddenly shouted the professor, with an air of triumph. "I thought I was not mistaken."
"Not men!" roared Ben. "What are the poor critters, then—females?"
"Neither men nor women," was the astonishing reply. "They are penguins."
All the men turned at this, and one of them, who had sailed in the polar regions before, announced, with a shout of laughter:
"The doc is right. Them's Emperor penguins, sure enough—taking a joy-ride through the ice."
The queer birds betrayed not the slightest excitement at the approach of the boat, but stood gazing solemnly at it, waving their little flippers,—somewhat like those of a seal, only feathered,—up and down in a rhythmic way.
"They act like band leaders," was Frank's remark.
"Better go back to the ship," said Ben, much disgusted at the upshoot of the expedition, and somewhat chagrined, too, if the truth must be told, at the professor's triumph over him.
"No, let us catch one," urged the professor. "I would like to see if it is possible to tame one."
"Yes, let's go up to them and see what they look like at close range," cried Frank.
"All right, if we don't waste too much time," agreed Ben. "Give way, men."
They soon drew near the strange South Polar birds who blinked solemnly at them as if to say:
"And who may you be?"
As they bobbed up and down on the piece of drift wood the boys had mistaken for a raft, the sight was so ludicrous that the boys burst into a hearty laugh.
"Hush," warned the professor, holding up his hand; "you may scare them."
They were big birds of their kind, standing fully four feet, and it was not strange that from the ship they had been mistaken for shipwrecked men; indeed, it is not the first time such an incident has occurred in the South Polar climes.
"Steady now, men," said the professor, bowing his lean form over the bow of the boat as they drew near to the penguins.
"Ah! my feathered beauties, if you will only stay there and not move, I will soon have one of you," he whispered to himself, as the boat,—the men rowing as silently as possible,—glided alongside.
The birds made no sign of moving, and evidently had not the slightest fear of the strange beings, such as the newcomers must have seemed to them. Instead, they seemed mildly curious and stretched their necks out inquiringly.
"Here, chick-chick-chicky," called the professor, by an odd inspiration, as if he were calling to the chickens in the barnyard at home.
"Here, chick-chick-chicky. Pretty chick-chick-chicky."
Suddenly he made a grab for the nearest penguin, and at the same instant the boys gave a shout of dismay. As he seized it, the creature—affrighted when it felt the professor's bony arms about it,—had dived and the scientist, losing his balance, had followed it into the water.
This might not have been so serious, but the other penguins, seeing the professor's plight, started to attack him, beating him back into the icy water every time he came to the surface.
"Ouch, you brute—oh, boys, help—o-o-o-h, this water is cold. Get me out, somebody. Scat, get away, you penguins."
These were some of the cries uttered by the luckless professor, as he struggled to get to the inside of the boat.
When they could, for laughing at the ludicrous plight, the men and the boys beat off the big penguins with the oars and hauled the professor into the boat. His nose was pecked badly and was of a ruddy hue from his misadventure. Fortunately, one of the men had some stimulant with him and this was given to the professor to drink and the strong stuff quickly revived him. He sat up in the boat and talked with animation while the boat was being rowed back to the ship.
"Bless my soul, what an adventure," he puffed. "Ouch, my poor nose. I thought the penguins would peck it off. Boys, that penguin was as slippery as a greased pig and as fat as butter. Oh, dear, what a misadventure, and I've ruined a good suit of clothes and broken a bottle of specimens I had in the pockets. Never mind, I can catch some more."
Thus the professor rattled on, from time to time feeling his very prominent nose, apparently in some doubt as to whether he still retained the feature.
"I guess you are cured of penguin hunting?" remarked Frank.
"Who, I?" asked the professor, in mild surprise. "Oh, no, my dear boy.I will get a penguin yet, even if I have to fight a regiment of them.I'll get one, never fear, and tame him to eat out of my hand."
"I hope so, I'm sure," said Frank, with a smile at the odd old man's enthusiasm.
"Hullo, what's that?" cried Billy, suddenly pointing.
"What?" chorused the boys.
"Why that creature off there on the ice flapping about,—it seems to be in distress."
"There is certainly something the matter with it," agreed Frank.
What seemed to be a huge bird was struggling and flapping about on the floes at no great distance from them.
"Other birds are attacking it!" cried Billy.
It was so, indeed. Numerous albatrosses and other large sea birds and gulls were hovering above the struggling creature, from time to time diving and pecking it.
"What in the world can it be?" cried Frank.
"We might go and see, but the professor is wet and should get back to the ship," said Ben.
"Oh, my dear sir, don't mind me," demurred that individual. "If I could have a little more of the stimulant—ah, thank you—as I was saying, I am never in a hurry to go anywhere when there is an interesting question of natural history to be solved."
"Very well, then," said Ben, heading the boat about; "if you catch cold, don't blame me."
"Oh dear, no. I wouldn't think of such a thing," said the professor, his eyes eagerly fixed on the disturbance of the birds.
"It's a big wounded albatross!" suddenly exclaimed Billy, as the boat drew near to the object the other birds were attacking.
"So it is," cried Harry.
"A monster, too," supplemented the professor. "It would be a great find for any collection."
"Perhaps we can catch it and stuff it," cried Billy.
"Perhaps so; but we must hurry or the others will have pecked it to bits."
The boat flew through the water, and soon they were near enough to drive the other birds away. The wounded albatross, however, did not rise, but lay flapping on the ice.
"Why, bless my soul, how very extraordinary!" cried the professor, forgetting his wet clothes and his chill in his excitement.
"What is?" asked Frank.
"Why something seems to be holding the bird down under water," was the answer.
"It's a string!" suddenly cried Ben, standing up in the stern of the boat.
"A string?" echoed the professor.
"Sure enough," was the reply.
And so it proved. The albatross was held down by a bit of string encircling its neck so tightly as to almost choke it, and which had become caked with ice till it was quite heavy.
"I know that bird," shouted the professor, suddenly, as they drew alongside it.
"You know it?" echoed the others, thinking the old man had taken leave of his senses.
"Yes, yes," cried the professor. "It's the one that nearly dragged me overboard. See whether the wire loop is still round its neck."
"It sure is," exclaimed Ben, as, disregarding the pecks of the big bird, he dragged it struggling into the boat and pinioned its wings.
"Well, this is a most extraordinary happening," smiled the professor, as happy as if he had been left a million dollars. "This will be most interesting to scientists and will make my name famous. 'The Sandburr albatross, which flew many scores of miles with my lasso round its neck.' Wonderful. Poor creature. I suppose as it dipped into the waves for its food a thin film of ice formed on the cord till it grew too heavy for it to carry."
"That's right," said Ben, who had cut the lasso and released the creature from its hampering weight. "I'll bet this weighs ten or twelve pounds."
He held out a huge chunk of ice for their inspection.
"That's great weight for a bird to carry so many miles," said Frank.
"It is, indeed," said the professor, patting the bound albatross on the head. "That makes it all the more remarkable."
"What are you going to do with the albatross, now that you have him?" inquired Billy Barnes.
"I must make a cage for him out of packing cases, and perhaps we can tame him," said the professor.
All agreed that this would be an interesting experiment, and the boat pulled back to the ship with one passenger more than she had left it with. As for the professor, he was in the seventh heaven of delight all the way back.
He sat on a stern seat by the albatross, which was looking wildly about, and kept talking to it as if he thought it could understand him.
"Ah, my beauty, I'll astonish Professor Tapper with you when I get home," he said; "you are worthy to be ranked with the fur-bearing South Polar pollywog. I will feed you till your feathers shine and you are the envied of all birds. I am the most fortunate man in the world."
All hands enjoyed a hearty laugh as, on the return to the ship, their adventures were narrated.
"The poor professor never seems to go out but what he gets into some pickle or other," laughed Captain Barrington, who was joined in his merriment by Captain Hazzard. "But, dear me," he went on, "where is the professor?"
They ran out on deck and found the man of science seated in the boat, which had not yet been hauled up, as the vessels were not to weigh anchor till the next day,—the berth where they lay being a snug one.
"Why don't you come on board, professor?" asked Captain Hazzard, indicating the accommodation ladder, which had been lowered.
"I-I'd like to, but I can't," responded the professor.
"You can't? Why, what on earth do you mean? You'll freeze to death down there," roared Captain Barrington.
"I wish you'd send down a small stove," wailed the scientist.
"A small stove; why, what do you want with that?"
"Why the fact is, I'm sozzen to the feet—I mean frozen to the seat, and if you can't send down a stove, send down another pair of trousers!" was the calm reply.
When the perfect tempest of laughter at the poor professor's expense had subsided, he was hauled to the deck in the boat and handed a long coat. Only till then would he consent to get up from the seat, an operation which was attended by a loud sound of ripping and tearing.
"Ha, ha, ha," roared Captain Hazzard. "First the professor nearly loses his life, and then he loses his trousers!"
After steaming for several hours the next day, the Great Barrier opened into a small bight with shelving shores, which seemed to promise an easy landing place. A boat party, including the professor and the boys, was organized and the pull to the shore begun, after the two ships had swung to anchor.
The beach was a shelving one, formed of what seemed broken-off portions of volcanic rock. A short distance back from the shore there were several rocky plateaus, clear of snow, which seemed to offer a good site for pitching camp. From the height, too, the boys could see, at no great distance, stretched out on the snow, several dark forms that looked not unlike garden slugs at that distance.
"What are they?" asked Billy.
"Seals," replied the professor; "though of what variety I do not know, and it is impossible to tell at this distance."
Captain Barrington and Captain Hazzard, after viewing the landing place and its surroundings, decided that a better spot could hardly be found, and the men were set to work at once marking out a site for the portable hut, which was to form the main eating and dwelling place, and the smaller structure in which the officers of the expedition were to make their homes.
The work of setting up the main hut, which had double walls, the space between being filled with cork dust and felt, was soon accomplished, and it was then divided off into small rooms. In the center a big table was set up and at one end a huge stove was placed for heating and cooking. At the other end the acetylene gas-plant, for providing light during the antarctic night, was provided. A big porch provided means of entrance and egress. This porch was fitted with double doors to prevent any cold air or snow being driven into the house when it was opened.
Captain Barrington and Captain Hazzard each had a small hut, another was shared by Doctor Gregg and the first officer, while the boys and the professor occupied still another. The engineer and Ben Stubbs were placed in charge of the main hut, in which the twelve men who were to be left behind after the Brutus sailed north, were to find quarters.
When everything had been fixed in position, a task that took more than a week, the work of unloading the provisions and supplies was begun. The cases which did not hold perishable goods, or ones likely to be affected by cold, were piled about the walls of the main hut as an additional protection against snow and cold. The glass jars of fruit and others of the supplies were stored inside the main hut, where they could be kept from freezing. The various scientific instruments of the expedition were stored in the huts occupied by Captain Barrington and Captain Hazzard. These huts, as well as the one occupied by the boys and Professor Sandburr, were all warmed by a system of hot-air pipes leading from the main stove in the hut. Specially designed oil heaters were also provided. A short distance away the aeroplane shed or "hanger" was set up.
The coal, wood, oil and fuel the expedition would need in its long sojourn were stored in a canvas and wood shelter some distance from the main camp, so as to avoid any danger of fire. When all was completed and big steel stays passed above the roofs of the huts to keep them in position, even in the wildest gale, a tall flag-pole, brought for the purpose, was set up and the Stars and Stripes hoisted.
While all these preparations had been going on, the boys and the professor had made several hunting trips over the ice and snow in the neighborhood of the camp. Some little distance back from the barrier they had been delighted to find two small lakes, connected by a narrow neck of water, which they promptly christened Green Lake. The water in these was warmish, and the professor said he had little doubt it was fed by volcanic springs.
The lakes swarmed with seals, and the boys' first seal hunt was an experience they were not likely to forget. Armed with light rifles, they and the professor set out for the seal grounds one morning on which the thermometer recorded seven degrees below zero. All wore their antarctic suits, however, and none felt the cold, severe as it was.
As they neared the seal grounds the soft-eyed creatures raised their heads and regarded them with mild astonishment. A few of them dived into the waters of Green Lake, but the rest stood their ground.
"There is one with a young one," shouted the professor, suddenly. "I must have it. I will tame it."
He dashed upon the mother seal, who promptly raised herself up and struck the professor a violent blow with her fin.
The professor was caught off his guard and, losing his footing, staggered back several steps. As he did so Frank cried a note of warning. The steep icy bank above Green Lake was below the scientist's heel. Before he had time to heed the boys' warning cry the professor, with a yell of amazement, slid backwards into the green pool, from which he emerged, blowing and puffing as if he had been a seal. Luckily, the water was warm and he suffered no serious consequences, but thereafter he was much more careful.
The boys could not bring themselves to kill the seals that seemed so gentle and helpless, but some of the men acted as butchers later on, for seal meat is a valuable ration in the antarctic.
"Wait till you lads encounter a leopard seal, or a sea elephant," saidCaptain Hazzard, when the boys confided their scruples to him.
"Sea leopards!" exclaimed Frank.
"Sea elephants!" echoed Harry.
"Yes, certainly," laughed the captain. "The creatures are well named, too. The sea leopard is as formidable as his namesake on land. The sea elephant is his big brother in size and ferocity."
"I shall give them a wide berth," said the professor. "That killer whale was enough for me."
"You will be wise, too," was the rejoinder, and the captain turned to busy himself with his books and papers, for this conversation occurred about noon in his hut.
The next day there were good-byes to be said. The polar winter was near at hand, when the sea for miles beyond the barrier would freeze solid and it would have been foolhardy for the Brutus, which had discharged all her coal but that necessary to steam north with, to have remained longer. She sailed early in the morning, bearing with her letters to their friends in the north, which the boys could not help thinking might be the last they would ever write them. Unknown perils and adventures lay before them. How they would emerge from them they did not know.
All experienced a feeling of sadness as the ship that had gallantly towed them into their polar berth lessened on the horizon, and then vanished altogether in the direction of the north. The Southern Cross alone remained now, but she was no longer their floating home, most of her stores and comforts having been removed to the shore. Her boilers were emptied and piping disconnected in preparation for her sojourn in the ice.
With so much to be done, however, the adventurers could not long feel melancholy, even though they knew their letters from home would not reach them till the arrival of the relief ship late in the next autumn.
The first duty tackled by Captain Hazzard was to call all the members of the expedition into the main hut and give them a little talk on the dangers, difficulties and responsibilities that lay before them. The men cheered him to the echo when he had finished, and each set about the duties assigned to him. Ben Stubbs was ordered to set the watches for the nights and adjust any minor details that might occur to him.
"I want to speak to you boys for a minute," said Captain Hazzard, as he left the hut and returned to his own.
Wondering what he could have to say to them the boys followed him.
"As you boys know, we are not alone in our anxiety to reach the pole," he began. "There is another nation anxious to achieve the glory also. How much of our plans they have gained possession of, I do not know. No doubt, not as much as they would have in their possession if the Jap had not been captured. I am pretty confident that they know nothing of the treasure ship, for instance. But it is probable that they will watch us, as they have some suspicion that we are after more than the pole itself, and have an ulterior object."
"Then you think that the Japanese expedition has landed?" asked Frank.
"They must have, if they made any sort of time," replied Captain Hazzard. "Our own progress down the coast was very slow, and they have probably established a camp already."
"Where?"
"That, of course, I have no means of knowing," was the reply. "I suppose that they are somewhere to the west of us, however. What I wanted to impress on you, however, is that some time ago a big dirigible was purchased abroad, and it is believed that it was for the use of the Japanese polar expedition, as it had means provided specially to warm the gas and prevent its condensation in extremely cold climates."
The boys nodded, but did not interrupt.
"It would be an easy matter for them to scout in such a ship and maybe discover our camp," said the captain. "For that reason I want to ask you boys to set an extra night watch of your own. Nobody else need know anything about it. I feel that I can rely on you more than any of the other subordinates of the expedition, excepting Ben Stubbs, and he is too busy to do everything."
The boys willingly agreed to keep out a watch for any airship that might appear, although privately they thought it was a bit of extra caution that was unnecessary.
"I don't see why any one who could keep out of the cold at night, would want to go scooting around in an airship in the dark for," said Billy, when they were all seated in their own hut.
"Captain Hazzard knows best," said Frank, shortly. "You and Harry had better take the first watch tonight, and I and—"
He stopped, puzzled. Who was to take the other watch with him? After some reflection they decided on asking the captain if a colored man, who acted as cook, couldn't be placed on to be Frank's companion. He was the only person they could think of whose duties would permit him to take the job, as his duties were only to cook for the officers, and were consequently light.
Moreover, he was a trustworthy man and not likely to gossip if he saw anything strange. Captain Hazzard readily gave his consent to the colored man, whose name was Rastus Redwing, being Frank's companion on the night watch.
"We can have our breakfast cooked by the other man," he said, "and then all Rastus will have to do will be to prepare lunch and dinner and extra pay."
But Rastus, when the plan was broached to him, was by no means so willing.
"Wha' me tramp, tramp, tramp roun' in dat dar ice and snow all de night time?" he gasped. "Laws a me Massa Frank, wha' kin' of man yo all tink dese yar darky am?"
"It only means a few hours' more work, and you get double pay for it," said Frank.
"Oh-ho, dat alters de circumference ob de question," said Rastus, scratching his head, when this had been explained to him. "All right, Massa Frank, yo' count on me at twelve to-night fo' sho."
"Very well," said Frank. "I shall—and see that you are there."
"Ah'll be dar, don' you nebbe fear fo' dat," chuckled the colored man."Huh-huh double pay and no brakfus' ter git. Dat's what I callsLIVIN'—yas, sah."
As Frank, well pleased at having adjusted the business of the night watches so easily, was striding over the snow-powdered rocks toward the boys' hut, he heard a sudden disturbance behind the main hut and loud cries of:
"Help! help!"
The person who was uttering them seemed to be in great distress and was apparently in dire need of aid.
"It's the professor," shouted Frank, as the cries were repeated."Whatever can have happened to him now."
As he spoke, the professor came dashing toward the camp, his arms were outstretched as if in entreaty, and his long legs going up and down like piston rods, at such speed was he running.
"Whatever is that caught to his coat tails?" exclaimed Frank, as he saw that a large, heavy creature of some kind was clinging fast to the flying professor's garment.
"Take him off,—take him off. If I were not running he'll bite me," shrieked the scientist as he sped along.
"Whatever is it?" shouted Frank, regarding the strange sight with amazement.
"It's a sea-leopard. Ouch!—he bit me then. Shoot him or something," screamed the professor, scooting round in circles like a professional runner; for he knew that if he stopped the creature would surely nip him hard.
Frank hastily ran into the hut for his rifle and returned in a moment followed by the others. Half the occupants of the camp were out by this time to watch the outcome of the professor's quandary.
Frank raised his rifle and took careful aim—or as careful aim as he could with the professor rushing along at such a pace, but even as the rifle cracked the professor tripped on a snow hummock and down he came. The yell he set up echoed back from the naked, rocky crags that towered at the back of the camp.
"Don't holler so, the creature's dead," cried Frank, as he and the boys came running up to where the recumbent professor lay howling in the snow.
"Oh, dear, I do seem to have the worst luck," moaned the scientist. "First, I'm nearly drowned by a killer whale, then I'm almost pollowed by a swenguin—no, I mean swallowed by a penguin, and now a sea leopard attacks me."
As he spoke the professor got to his feet and the dead sea-leopard, as he called it, fell over on the snow. It was a ponderous creature, much like a seal, but with huge tusks and a savage expression, even in death. It was about five feet in length.
"What made it tackle you?" asked Harry.
"I was down by the beach collecting some curious specimens of polar sea-slugs, when I felt a tug at my coat-tails," said the scientist. "I looked round and saw this creature glaring at me."
"Why didn't you shoot at it?" asked Billy, noting the outline of the professor's revolver under his coattail.
"I had placed a specimen of antarctic star-moss in the barrel of my revolver for safe-keeping, and didn't wish to disturb it," explained the professor; "so I thought the best thing to do under the circumstances was to run. I never dreamed the creature would cling on."
"Well it did, and like a bull-dog, too," said Billy.
"We'll have to be careful and not get snarled up with any sea-leopards," said Harry, who had been examining the dead animal. "Look at the monster's tusks."
"Yes, he could make a fine meal off any of you boys," remarked the professor.
Suddenly he fell on his knees beside the sea-leopard and began examining it carefully.
"What in the world are you doing, now?" asked Frank.
"I thought I might find a sea-leopard flea," was the response of the engrossed scientist.
"Ah," he exclaimed, making a sudden dart; "here is one, a beauty, too.Ah, ha, my fine fellow, no use your wriggling, I have you fast."
As he spoke he drew out one of the bottles of which receptacles his pockets seemed to be always full, and popped the sea-leopard flea into it.
"That will be a very valuable addition to science," he said, looking round triumphantly.
A few days after this incident the polar night began to shut down in grim earnest. Sometimes for days the boys and the other adventurers would be confined to the huts. Entertainments were organized and phonograph concerts given, and, when it was possible to venture out, hunting trips in a neighboring seal-ground were attempted. All these things helped to while away the monotony of the long darkness. In the meantime the commanders of the expedition laid their plans for the spring campaign, when the boys' aerial dash was to be made.
On one of the milder nights, when Frank and Rastus were on watch, their first intimation that a strange and mysterious presence shared their lonely vigil was made manifest. It was Rastus who called Frank's attention to what was eventually to prove a perplexing puzzle to the pole hunters.
As the colored man and Frank were pacing outside the huts, keeping their watch, the negro suddenly gripped the boy's arm.
"Fo' de lub ob goodness, man, wha's dat?" he exclaimed, getting as pale as it is possible for a negro to become.
"What?" demanded the boy. "I can't see anything."
He stared about him in the gloom.
"Ain't nuffin ter SEE," rejoined Rastus, in a low, awed tone. "But, hark!"
The negro's ears, sharper than those of the white boy, had caught a sound that later became audible to Frank.
It was a most peculiar sound.
Coming from no one direction that one could indicate with certainty, it seemed to fill the whole air with a buzzing noise that beat almost painfully on the eardrums.
While he gazed about, in perplexity at the phenomenon, Frank suddenly descried something that almost startled him into an outcry.
In the sky far to the westward and, seemingly, high in the air, there hovered a bright light!
The next instant it vanished so suddenly as to leave some doubt in the boy's mind as to whether he had really seen it,—and, if he had, if it might not have been a star or some other heavenly body.
He turned to his companion.
"Rastus, did you see a light in the sky there a second ago?"
The boy pointed in the direction in which the mystery had appeared.
"A light—?" repeated the puzzled negro, still scared at the buzzing sound, which had now ceased. "You done say a light—a reg'lar LIGHT, light?"
"Yes, yes," impatiently; "did you see one?"
"No, sah, no, indeedy," was the indignant response; "ah don' see no lights."
"That's strange," said Frank, half to himself. "You are quite sure?"
Again the negro denied all knowledge of having beheld such a thing.
"Ef ah'd done seed anyfing lak dat," he declared; "ah'd hev bin skedaddlin' fer ther hut lak er chicken wif a hungry coon afta' it,—yas, sah."
Thoroughly convinced that his imagination had played him a trick, Frank did not mention the incident, to his fellow adventurers and soon almost forgot it. It was recalled to his mind in a startling manner a few nights later.
This time it was Rastus that saw the strange light, and the yell that he set up alarmed the entire camp.
"Oh, Lordy—oo-o-o-o-ow, Lawdy!" he shrieked; "ah done see a ghosess way up in dar sky, Massa Frank!"
Frank seized the black by the arm, as he started to run.
"What do you mean, you big black coward," he exclaimed. "What's the matter with you?"
"Oh, dat dar light," wailed Rastus. "Dat ain't no human light dat ain't; dat light's a way up in dar sky. It's a polar ghosess, dat's wha' dat is—de ghos' ob some dead sailor."
"Don't talk nonsense," sharply ordered Frank, as the others, hastily bundled in their furs, came rushing out.
"Whatever is the matter?" demanded Captain Hazzard, gazing sternly at the trembling negro.
"Oh, Massa Hazzard, ah done see a ghos' light in dar sky," he yelled.
"Silence, sir, and stop that abominable noise. Frank, what do you know about this?"
"Only that I really believe he saw such a thing, sir."
"What, a light in the sky!" echoed Captain Barrington. "Did you see it, too?"
"Not to-night, sir."
"Then it has appeared before?"
"Yes, it has," was the reply.
"But you said nothing of it," exclaimed Captain Hazzard.
"No; I thought it might be imagination. It appeared for such a short time that I could not be certain if it was not a trick of the imagination."
"Well, it begins to look as if Rastus is telling the truth," was the officer's comment.
"Yas, sah, yas sah, I'se tellin' de truf, de whole truf, and everything but de truf," eagerly stuttered the negro.
"Where did you first see the light?" demanded Captain Hazzard.
"Right ober de grable (gable) ob de ruuf ob de big hut," was the reply.
"That's about where I saw it," burst out Frank.
"Was it stationary?" asked Captain Hazzard.
"Yas, sah; it's station was airy, dat's a fac'," grinned Rastus. "It was high up in de air."
"That's not what I mean, at all," snapped Captain Hazzard. "Was it moving or standing still?"
"Oh, ah see what yo' mean, Captain Hazzard,—no, sir, der was no circumlocution ob de objec', in fac', sah, it was standin' still."
"For how long did you watch it?"
"Wall, sah, it jes flash lak de wink ob an eye and den it was gone."
"Possibly it was some sort of antarctic lightning-bug," ventured the professor, who had been intently listening to the account of the strange light.
"Hardly likely," smiled Captain Barrington. "Tell us, Rastus, what it looked most like to you—what did it resemble?"
"Wall, sah, it presembled mos'ly dat big laight what yo' see on a snortermobile befo' it runs ober you. Yas, sah, Cap't Barranton, dat's what it looked lak, fo' sho."
"Does that tally with your impression of it, Frank?" asked CaptainHazzard.
"Yes, sir, Rastus has put it very well. It was more like an automobile headlight than anything else."
"Well, nobody could be driving an automobile in the sky," put in the professor, decisively, as if the matter were disposed of in this way without any more argument being wasted.
"No, but there are other vehicles that are capable of rising above the earth," spoke Captain Hazzard, thoughtfully.
"For instance—?" breathed Frank, with a half-formed idea of what he meant.
"For instance, airships," was the quiet reply.
"Airships," exclaimed Captain Barrington. "Then you think—-?"
"That we have some very undesirable neighbors at close quarters," rejoined Captain Hazzard.