Boy Aviators' Polar Dash; or, Facing Death in the Antarctic

by John Henry Goldfrap

  CHAPTER XXIV.

  SWALLOWED BY A CREVASSE.

  The early morning following the discovery of the night trip of thedirigible saw the Golden Eagle rising into the chill air and wingingher way to the camp. The boys, as soon as they descended, hastened toCaptain Hazzard's hut and detailed their adventures. As may besupposed, while both the leader of the expedition and the captain ofthe Southern Cross were deeply interested in the account of theflaming mountain and the prehistoric seal-like creatures, they weremore deeply concerned over the boys' sighting of the airship.

  "It means we have earnest rivals to deal with," was Captain Hazzard'scomment, "we must set about finding the Viking ship at once. Thesearch will not take long, for if she is not somewhere near where Ihave calculated she ought to be it would be waste of time to seek herat all."

  Full of excitement at the prospect of embarking on the search for theship, before long the boys dispersed for breakfast only to gatherlater on in Captain Hazzard's hut. The officer informed them that theywere to fly to the position he indicated the next day and institute athorough search for the lost craft. The Golden Eagle was to carry herwireless and a message was to be flashed to the camp's wirelessreceiving station if important discoveries were made.

  In the event of treasure being found, the boys were to at once"wireless" full details and bearings of the find and a relay of menand apparatus for saving the treasure would be sent from the ship totheir aid on the motor-sledge. In the event of their not discoveringthe Viking ship they were to spend not more than three days on thesearch, wirelessing the camp at the end of the third day for furtherinstructions.

  The rest of that day was spent in putting the Golden Eagle's wirelessin working order and stretching the long "aerials" above her upperplane. The instruments were then tested till they were in tune fortransmitting messages from a long distance. The apparatus, after alittle adjustment, was found to work perfectly.

  Captain Hazzard warned the boys that, in the event of the rivalexpedition discovering them, they were on no account to resort toviolence but to "wireless" the camp at once and he would decide on thebest course to pursue.

  "But if they attack us?" urged Frank.

  "In that case you will have to defend yourselves as effectively aspossible till aid arrives," said the commander.

  Early the next day, with a plentiful supply of cordite bombs anddynamite on board for blasting the Viking ship free of the ice casingwhich it was to be expected surrounded her, the Golden Eagle soaredaway from the camp.

  The boys were off at last on the expedition they had longed for. Theprofessor accompanied them with a formidable collection of nets andbottles and bags. He had had prepared a lot of other miscellaneouslumber which it had been explained to him he could not transport on anaeroplane and which he had therefore reluctantly left behind. Theengine worked perfectly and Frank anticipated no further trouble fromit.

  As they sped along Harry from time to time tested the wireless andsent short messages back to the camp. It worked perfectly and thespark was as strong as if only a few miles separated airship and camp.Nor did there seem to be any weakening as the distance between the twogrew greater.

  They passed high above snow-barrens and seal-rookeries and colonies ofpenguins, the inhabitants of which latter cocked their heads upinquiringly at the big bird flying by far above them. Their coursecarried them to the eastward and as they advanced the character of thescenery changed. What were evidently bays opened up into the land andsome of them seemed to run back for miles, cutting deep into the manyranges that supported the plateau of the interior on which they hadfound the volcano.

  These bays or inlets were ice covered but it was easy to see that withthe advance of summer they would be free of ice. At noon, Frank landedthe aeroplane and made an observation. It showed him they were stillsome distance from the spot near which Captain Hazzard believed theViking ship was imprisoned. After a hasty lunch, cooked on the stove,the aeroplane once more ascended and kept steadily on her course tillnightfall.

  As dark set in, the boys found themselves at a spot in which the waterthat lapped the foot of the great Barrier washed--or would when theice left it--at the very bases of the mountains, which here were nomore than mere hills. They were cut into in all directions by deepgulches into which during the summer it was evident the sea mustpenetrate.

  "We are now not more than one hundred and fifty miles from the spot inwhich Captain Hazzard believes the ship is ice-bound," announced Frankthat night as they turned in inside the snugly curtained chassis.Sleep that night was fitful. The thought of the discovery of whichthey might be even then on the brink precluded all thought of soundsleep. Even the usually calm professor was excited. He hoped to findsome strange creatures amid the mouldering timbers of the Viking shipif they ever found her.

  Dawn found the adventurers up and busily disposing of breakfast. Assoon as possible the Golden Eagle rose once more and penetratedfurther into the unknown on her search. Several wireless messages weresent out that day and the camp managed to "catch" every one of them.The wireless seemed to work better in that dry, cold air than in thehumid atmosphere of the northern climes.

  The character of the country had not changed. Deep gullies stillscarred the white hills that fringed the barrier, but not one of theseyielded the secret the boys had come so far to unravel.

  "I'm beginning to think this is a wild goose chase," began Billy, asat noon Frank landed, took his bearings, and then announced that theywere within a few minutes of the spot in which the ship ought to lie.

  "She seems as elusive as the fur-bearing pollywog," announced theprofessor.

  "You still believe there is such a creature?" asked Harry.

  "Professor Tapper says so," was the reply, "I must believe it. I willsearch everywhere till I can find it."

  "I think he was mistaken," said Billy, "I can't imagine what such acreature could look like."

  "You may think he was mistaken," rejoined the professor, "but I donot. Professor Tapper is never wrong."

  "But suppose you cannot find such an animal?"

  "If I don't find one before we leave the South Polar regions, then,and not till then, will I believe that he was mistaken," returned theman of science with considerable dignity.

  This colloquy took place while they were getting ready to reascendafter a hasty lunch and was interrupted by a sudden cry from Frank,who had been gazing about while the others talked.

  "What's that sticking above the snow hill yonder?" he exclaimed,pointing to a spot where a deep gully "valleyed" the hills at a spotnot very far from where they stood.

  "It looks like the stump of a tree," observed the professor, squintingthrough his spectacles.

  "Or-or-the mast of a ship," quavered Harry, trembling with excitement."It's the Viking ship--hurray!"

  "Don't go so fast," said Frank, though his voice shook, "it may benothing but a plank set up there by some former explorer, but itcertainly does look like the top of a mast."

  "The best way is to go and see," suggested the professor, whose calmalone remained unruffled.

  The distance between the boys and the object that had excited theirattention was not considerable and the snow was smooth and unmarked byimpassable gullies. The professor's suggestion was therefore at onceadopted and the young adventurers were soon on their way across thewhite expanse which luckily was frozen hard and not difficult totraverse.

  The boys all talked in excited tones as they made their way forward.If the object sticking above the gully's edge proved actually to be amast it was in all probability a spar of the ship they sought. Thethought put new life into every one and they hurried forward over thehard snow at their swiftest pace.

  The professor was in the lead, talking away at a great rate, his longlegs opening and shutting like scissor blades.

  "Perhaps I may find a fur-bearing pollywog after all," he cried; "ifyou boys have found your ship surely it is reasonable to suppose thatI can find my pollywog?"

  "Wouldn't you
rather find a Viking ship filled with gold and ivory,and frozen in the ice for hundreds of years, than an old fur-bearingpollywog?" demanded Billy.

  "I would not," rejoined the professor with much dignity; "the one isonly of a passing interest to science and a curious public. The otheris an achievement that will go ringing down the corridors of timemaking famous the name of the man who braved with his life the rigorsof the South Polar regions to bring back alive a specimen of thestrange creature whose existence was surmised by Professor ThomasTapper, A.M., F.R.G.S., M.Z., and F.O.X.I.--Ow! Great Heavens!"

  As the professor uttered this exclamation an amazing thing happened.

  The snow seemed to open under his feet and with a cry of real terrorwhich was echoed by the boys, who a second before had been listeningwith somewhat amused faces to his oratory, he vanished as utterly asif the earth had swallowed him--which it seemed it had indeed.

  "The professor has fallen into a crevasse!" shouted Frank, who was thefirst of the group to realize what had occurred.

  Billy and Harry were darting forward toward the hole in the snowthrough which the scientist had vanished when a sharp cry from theelder boy stopped them.

  "Don't go a step further," he cried.

  "Why not,--the professor is down that hole," cried Harry, "we must dosomething to save him."

  "You can do more by keeping cool-headed than any other way," rejoinedFrank. "A crevasse, into one of which the professor has fallen, is not'a hole' as you call it, but a long rift in the earth above which snowhas drifted. Sometimes they are so covered up that persons can crossin safety, at other times the snow 'bridge' gives way under theirweight and they are precipitated into the crevasse itself,--anice-walled chasm."

  "Then we may never get the professor out," cried Billy in dismay. "Howdeep is that crevasse likely to be?"

  "Perhaps only ten or twenty feet. Perhaps several hundred," was thealarming reply.