t the last
resting spot of the big ships.

"They have probably drifted here with the ocean currents, become caught
in the ice and have remained here hundreds of years," said Mr.
Henderson. "Some of the ships are very old, and, by their build must
have sailed the waters centuries ago."

"Maybe some of them are treasure ships," suggested Jack.

"They might be," admitted the professor.

"Then we'll go aboard and get the gold," spoke Mark.

"I'm afraid you'll be disappointed," went on the inventor. "In the first
place most treasure ships are looted before they sink. And it would be
very dangerous for any of us to venture to explore those hulks."

"Why?" asked Jack.

"Because they are rotten, and liable to fall to pieces any minute. If
you happened to be in one at the time you would be caught in the
wreckage and eventually drowned even though you had on a diving suit.
Then, again, the ice here is constantly shifting about, and a sudden
motion of the under-water floe might carry you hundreds of miles away.
So we will not try to hunt for any fortunes on the sunken ships."

With this the boys were forced to be content. They stood at the small
windows looking at the skeletons of ships that lay on every side of the
_Porpoise_. Some of the craft were big steamers, and others were small
sailing vessels. A few had jagged holes in the hulls, showing how they
had been damaged. A few stood upright, with sails all set, as if
disaster had suddenly come upon them.

"Well, what is the next move?" asked Andy after a pause. "Are we going
to stay here?"

"We are going to find the South Pole," spoke Mr. Henderson suddenly.
"That is what I set out to do, and I am going to accomplish it if
possible. We have had many accidents and a harder time in some respects
than when we made our trip to the north in the air ship. But I am sure
we shall succeed. Start the ship to the south, Washington."

"But we may run into an iceberg," objected the old hunter, who was
inclined to be cautious.

"I think not," answered Mr. Henderson. "I believe we are on a sort of
level plane between two vast upper and lower fields of ice. We can go
freely in any direction excepting up or down."

"How is that?" asked Mark. "I don't quite understand."

"Because there is, I believe, a big sheet of ice above us, one, say
several hundred feet thick. The same thing is below us, between us and
the real bed of the ocean."

"But suppose we have to go up to renew our