er of sleds, while
the yelping of scores of dogs could be heard on every side. In a few
minutes, after a short talk among the natives, the captives were tossed,
none too gently, all on one big sled, a dog team was hitched fast, and a
driver started them off across the field of ice.

"Good-bye to de ole _Monarch_!" cried Washington. "No mo' good meals in
yo'! Landy! Landy! I wisht I had some dynamite to blow dese heathen up!"

"Hush!" cried Andy. "I've got three revolvers in my pockets. I'll slip
you one if I can get my arms free, but don't fire until I give the word.
We'll have to save our shots."

"We seem to be having nothing but bad luck," said Professor Henderson.
"I am afraid it is all up with us this time. Those poor boys, and Bill
and Tom! I wish I knew what had become of them!"

"Same here!" remarked Andy.

Then the captives became silent, filled with their sad thoughts and
worry over their predicament. On and on went the sledge over the ice,
into the unknown. Mile after mile was covered. Then the driver of the
prisoners, as well as the one in charge of three sleds that followed,
halted the dogs. All the natives talked rapidly together, pointing this
way and that.

"They've missed the path!" exclaimed Andy. "We are lost in this land of
snow!"

CHAPTER XXII

MAGNETIC FIRE WORSHIPERS

Jack's only thought, when he felt himself falling from the deck of the
airship to the earth, was that he would strike on a pinnacle of ice and
be killed. Much the same were the feelings of the others, as they
admitted later. Jack was half senseless from fright when, seemingly half
an hour after he tumbled, though in reality it was but a few seconds, he
stuck head first into a big drift of soft snow.

His mouth, ears, eyes and nose were filled with the fluffy flakes, and
he nearly choked before he could struggle to an upright position and
clear a breathing space.

To his astonishment he saw similar struggles going on in several places
in the snow. First Mark stuck his head out of the drift. Then Bill's
face appeared, to be followed by Tom's, and next Dirola bobbed up,
smiling as though it was the biggest joke in the world, and as if
falling from an airship was an every-day occurrence with her.

"Well, we're alive," remarked Jack, after getting his breath.

"We couldn't have fallen so very far after all," said Mark.

"It seemed like a mighty long ways when I was a-comin'," came from Bill.

"We went fast, an'