ole north pole at
last. Now I'll see what sort ob a stick it is!"

"We've landed sure enough," remarked the professor, "but I'm afraid we
are not at the north pole. However, in view of all that has happened, I
suppose we had better stop here for a while. Some of the machinery is
wrecked by the overturning of the ship, but I guess we can fix it. I
only wish I knew where the boys and the two men were."

"Don't forget Dirola," spoke up Andy. "We owe a good deal to her."

It stopped snowing about half an hour after the _Monarch_ had found
lodgement on the edge of a bank of ice. From the deck and windows of the
craft nothing could be seen but a big expanse of white. It was a cold,
lifeless world to which the ship had brought what remained of her crew
and owner.

The engine room of the _Monarch_ was once more a sorry sight, and
Washington and the inventor worked like a dozen men in restoring order.
They soon had things in ship-shape, but one of the motors would require
considerable repairing before it would run again. However, it was not
the most important one, and the craft could run without it, though only
at half speed.

Suddenly, there came from without a chorus of shouts.

"What's that?" cried the professor.

"Sounded like some one calling," ventured Andy.

"It am de boys and Tom and Bill come back to overjoy us," said
Washington.

The shouts grew louder. Andy glanced from a cabin window.

"The Esquimaux! The Esquimaux!" he exclaimed. "Here they are after us
again! They'll carry us back to the ice cave and eat us alive this
time!"

"These are not the same ones!" cried the professor. "We are hundreds of
miles from the ice cave."

"Then these are the ones the mysterious message was about," said Andy,
"and we had better be on our guard!"

"Perhaps these are Dirola's friends," ventured Amos Henderson. "If they
are I wish we had her here to intercede for us."

There came a rattling against the sides of the airship. It sounded like
a storm of hail.

"They are firing arrows at us!" yelled Andy. "That doesn't look very
friendly."

"Wait until I go out and speak to them," suggested the professor. "They
will respect my gray, hairs."

He went outside. The ship was surrounded by hundreds of little men, all
dressed in thick furs. At the sight of the ship's commander they gave a
loud yell.

"I wisht I'd neber done come to de north pole!" groaned Washington. He
grabbed up a rifle and followed Andy outside. At t