d Mr. Henderson.

"Ain't that what you expected at the south pole?" asked Andy. "I thought
it was hot at the south pole and cold at the north."

"That's what lots of people imagine," said the professor, "but except
for the open sea, which I have proved does exist, I guess it's just as
cold at the south as at the north, especially in the winter. We have
struck the summer season."

"And a mighty warm one at that," observed Jack. "Whew! I've got to take
off my coat."

Indeed it was getting uncomfortably warm in the ship, and the
adventurers who had dressed in thick clothing to guard against the
rigors of the icy climate, soon had to lay aside many of their garments.

"No wonder!" exclaimed Mr. Henderson, as he looked at a thermometer. "It
is eighty degrees in here!"

"Worse than workin' in a hay field," observed Bill, as he wiped the
beads of perspiration from his forehead.

"Let us see what sort of water we are traveling through," suggested the
professor, as he again turned off the lights in the cabin so that a view
could be had from the bull's-eyes.

Wondering what would meet their gaze the adventurers peered out of the
small circular windows. At first they could hardly believe their eyes.

There, right before them, the sea was bubbling as if it was an immense
tea kettle. Steam formed on the glass, and big clouds of vapor could be
seen. The atmosphere of the cabin became almost unbearable.

"We are in the midst of a boiling hot ocean!" cried the professor.

"Are we sailing through hot water?" asked Andy.

"I should say so, from the feel of it," answered Mr. Henderson. "Put
your hand on the side of the cabin."

Andy laid his fingers against the steel plates. He drew back.

"I burned myself!" he exclaimed.

"What are we to do?" cried Jack.

"Get out of this by all means!" exclaimed the inventor. "If we stay in
this hot ocean we will be boiled alive like fishes in a pot. Send the
ship up, Washington!"

Indeed it was high time. The thermometer marked one hundred and ten
degrees, and was rising. The interior of the _Porpoise_ was like that of
a steam laundry three times heated. Stripped to their undergarments the
adventurers were obliged to lie down on the floor of the cabin where it
was a little cooler.

It was all Washington could do, used as colored people are to the heat,
to go into the engine room, and start the machinery that emptied the
tanks, so as to allow the ship to mount to the surface.

Th