" Rebecca exclaimed. "How'd they know about it? The'
ain't anythin' in the Bible 'bout it, is the'?"

Droop looked more cheerful at this and answered briskly:

"Oh, they don't know 'bout it. Ye see, that pole there ain't a nat'ral
product of the soil at all. Et's the future man done that--the man who
invented this Panchronicon and brought me up here before. He told me how
that he stuck that post in there to help him run this machine 'round and
'round fer cuttin' meridians."

"Oh!" exclaimed both sisters together.

"Yes," Droop continued. "D'ye see thet big iron ring 'round the pole,
lyin' on the ground?"

"I don't see any ground," said Rebecca, ruefully.

"Well, on the ice, then. Don't ye see it lyin' black there against the
snow?"

"Yes--yes, I see it," said Phoebe.

"Well, that's what I'm goin' to hitch the holdin' rope on to. You'll see
how it's done presently."

He glanced at the clock.

"Seven o'clock," he said. "I guessed mighty close when I said 'twould
take us twenty hours. We left Peltonville at ten-thirty last night."

"Seven o'clock!" cried Rebecca. "So 'tis. Why, what's the matter with
the sun. Ain't it goin' to set at all?"

"Not much!" said Droop, chuckling. "Sun don't set up here, Cousin
Rebecca. Not until winter-time, an' then et stays set till summer
again."

"Well!" was the breathless reply. "An' where in creation does it go when
it stays set?"

"Why, Rebecca," exclaimed Phoebe, "the sun is south of the equator in
winter, you know."

"Shinin' on the South Pole then," Droop added, nodding.

For a moment Rebecca looked from one to the other of her companions, and
then, realizing the necessity of keeping her mind within its accustomed
sphere, she changed the subject.

"Come now--the' ain't any wind to blow us away now, I hope. Let's open
our windows an' air out those state-rooms."

She started toward her door.

"Hold on!" cried Droop, extending his arm to stop her. "You don't want
to fall down dead o' cold, do ye?"

"What!"

"Don't you know what a North Pole is like fer weather an' sich?" Droop
continued. "Why, Cousin Rebecca, it's mos' any 'mount below zero
outside. Don't you open a window--not a tiny crack--if ye don't want to
freeze solid in a second."

"There!" Rebecca exclaimed. "You do provoke me beyond anythin',
Copernicus Droop! Ef I'd a-knowed the kind o' way we'd had to live--why,
there! It's wuss'n pigs!"

She marched indignantly into her room and closed the door