in accordingly took up his
position in the conning tower and prepared to pass several hours.

He was busy thinking over the exciting times he and his companions had
passed through, and planning new trips to see more wonders of the world,
when his attention was attracted by slight noise near the man hole
leading to the amidship companionway.

The professor looked up, and was startled to see a tall white object,
with outstretched arms advancing toward him with slow and stealthy
tread.

"The ghost again!" exclaimed the inventor softly. "I must catch it now,
and see what foolishness it is," for the professor did not believe in
spirits.

He got down on his hands and knees the better to escape observation,
should the white thing prove to be a bodily substance, and started to
crawl toward it. He came within ten feet of the thing, and could make
out that it was a man, or at least the semblance of one, all clothed in
white.

Nearer and nearer the inventor crawled to the thing. It turned to face
him now and Mr. Henderson could not help feeling startled as he saw the
object had no head. The neck ended in a white stump.

In spite of a little feeling of qualmishness, which even his boasted
disbelief in ghosts did not save him from, Mr. Henderson was about to
spring upon the thing and solve the mystery.

At that instant, however, Washington, who was coming on deck to take up
his watch, appeared at the head of the companionway, and caught sight of
the terrible object.

The yells of the colored man as he dove downward and back into the
cabin, aroused the ship. Determined to solve the mystery, in spite of
everything, the professor made a leap forward. He slipped, and tumbled
down the iron stairway. At the same time, the ghost, with a blood
curdling yell, leaped over the professor's back, and disappeared down
the stairs of the conning tower.

In an instant the crew were rushing from their bunk rooms, seeking a
meaning for the disturbance.

"It was the ghost again," explained the professor as he picked himself
up, not much the worse for his tumble. "I tried to catch it, but I
didn't. Come, Washington, it is your turn to stand watch."

"Not to-night," said Washington firmly.

It was no use to urge him, so Jack good-naturedly stood Washington's
trick. Nothing further however occurred that night.

In the morning the professor made several observations and found that he
was within one hundred and fifty miles of the south pole