CHAPTER XVII.
THE GREAT BARRIER.
To rush on deck was the work of a few moments. If it was a scene ofconfusion the boys had left, the sight that now met their eyes was farmore turbulent.
"The boats! the boats! We are sinking!"
"We are going down!"
"The iceberg has sunk us!"
These and a hundred other cries of terror filled the air, for the windseemed to have died down, though the sea still ran high, and soundswere now more audible. Off to the starboard side of the ship the boysperceived a mighty towering form, which they knew must be the icebergthey had encountered. The crew fought madly for the boats.
Suddenly a sharp voice rang out:
"I'll shoot the first man that lays a hand on the boats!"
It was Captain Barrington. He stood on the stern deck steadyinghimself against the rail. In his hands gleamed two revolvers. Besidehim stood Captain Hazzard, a look of stern determination on his face.Ben Stubbs and several other seamen, who had not lost their heads,were grouped behind them prepared to quell any onslaught on the boats.
The members of the crew, who had become panic-stricken when thehelpless ship encountered the iceberg, paused and looked shamefaced.
"We've a right to save our lives," they muttered angrily.
"And prove yourselves cowards," exclaimed Captain Barrington. "Youought to be ashamed to bear the names of American seamen! Get forward,all of you, and let me see no more of this."
The stern voice of their commander and his evident command of himselfreassured the panic-stricken crew and they withdrew to the forecastle.Their shame was the more keen when it was found that, while theSouthern Cross had been severely bumped by the iceberg, her stouttimbers had sustained no damage.
By daybreak the sea had calmed down somewhat, and the wind had stillfurther moderated. But the danger was by no means over till they couldget in communication with the Brutus. Frank was set to work on thewireless and soon "raised" the towing ship, the captain of which wasdelighted to hear of his consort's safety. The position of theSouthern Cross being ascertained, her bearings were wirelessed to theBrutus, and she then cast anchor to await the arrival of the towingship.
As the line was once more made fast, having been spliced till it wasas strong as new, the professor came up to the boys. He looked rathersheepish.
"Would you mind giving me back those papers I gave you last night," hesaid.
"You mean the last will and testament?" Frank could not help saying.
"That's it. I have changed my mind. I will show up that Patagonianfellow in a book."
The professor, as he received the little slips of paper, scatteredthem into tiny bits and threw them overboard.
"You are quite sure you have not been fooled also on the fur-bearingpollywog?" asked Frank.
"Quite," replied the professor, solemnly. "Professor Tapper is one ofour greatest savants."
"But so was your friend who told you the Patagonians were a friendlytribe," argued Frank.
"I am quite sure that Professor Tapper could not have been mistaken,however."
"Has Professor Tapper ever been in the South Polar regions?" askedBilly, seriously.
"Why, no," admitted the professor; "but he has proved that there mustbe a fur-bearing pollywog down here."
"In what manner has he been able to prove it?" asked Harry.
"He has written three volumes about it. They are in the Congressionallibrary. Then he contributed a prize-essay on it to the SmithsonianInstitute, which has bound it up with my report on the Canadian BullFrog. He is a very learned man."
"But the South Polar pollywog is then only a theory?"
"Well, yes--so far," admitted the professor; "but it is reserved forme to gain the honor of positively proving the strange creature'sexistence."
"And if there should be no such thing in existence?" asked Frank.
"Then I shall write a book denouncing Professor Tapper," said theprofessor, with an air of finality, and turning away to examine thewater through a pair of binoculars.
On moved the ships and at last, early one day, Captain Barringtoncalled the boys on deck and, with a wave of the hand, indicated a hugewhite cliff, or palisade, which rose abruptly from the green water andseemed to stretch to infinity in either direction.
"The Great Barrier," he said, simply.
"Which will be our home for almost a year," added Captain Hazzard.
The boys gazed in wonder at the mighty wall of snow and ice as itglittered in the sunlight. It was, indeed, a Great Barrier. At thepoint where they lay it rose to a height of 130 feet or more from thewater, which was filled with great detached masses of ice. Further onit seemed to sweep to even greater heights.
This was the barrier at which Lieutenant Wilkes, on his unluckyexpedition, had gazed. The mighty wall that Shackleton and Scott, theEnglishmen, had scaled and then fought their way to "furthest South"beyond. The names of many other explorers, French, English, Danish,and German, rushed into the boys' minds as they gazed.
Were they destined to penetrate the great mysteries that lay beyondit? Would their airship be successful in wresting forth the secret ofthe great white silence?
"Well?" said Captain Barrington, breaking the silence at length, witha smile; "pretty big proposition, eh?"
The boys gazed up at him awe-struck.
"We never dreamed it was anything like this," said Frank. "I alwayspictured the Great Barrier as something more or less imaginary."
"Pretty solid bit of imagination, that ice-wall yonder," laughedCaptain Hazzard.
"How are we ever going to get on the top of it?" asked Billy.
"We must steam along to the westward till we find a spot where itshelves," was the reply.
"Then it is not as high as this all the way round the polar regions?"
"No, in places it shelves down till to make a landing in boats issimple. We must look for one of those spots."
"What is the nature of the country beyond?" asked Frank, deeplyinterested.
"Ice and snow in great plateaus, with here and there monsterglaciers," was the reply of Captain Hazzard. "In places, too, immenserocky cliffs tower up, seeming to bar all further progress into themystery of the South Pole."
"Mountains?" gasped Billy.
"Yes, and even volcanoes. This has given rise to a supposition that atthe pole itself there may be flaming mountains, the warmth of whichwould have caused an open polar sea to form."
"Nobody knows for certain, then?" asked Frank.
"No, nobody knows for certain," repeated Captain Hazzard, his eyesfixed on the great white wall. "Perhaps we shall find out."
"Perhaps," echoed Frank, quite carried away by the idea.
"What is known about the location of the pole?" asked Billy.
"It is supposed to lie on an immensely high plateau, possibly 20,000feet above sea level. Shackleton got within a hundred miles of it hebelieves."
"And then he had to turn back," added Captain Barrington.
"Yes; lack of provisions and the impossibility of traveling quicklyafter his Manchurian ponies had died compelled him to leave themystery unsolved. Let us hope it remains for the American flag to beplanted at the pole."
"Are there any animals or sea-creatures there, do you know?" inquiredthe professor, who had been an interested listener.
"If there is an open polar sea there is no doubt that there is life init," was the answer, with a smile; "but what form such creatures wouldassume we cannot tell."
"Perhaps hideous monsters?" suggested the imaginative Billy.
"More likely creatures like whales or seals," returned CaptainHazzard.
"If there is such a thing as a creature with a South Polar flea in itsfur I would like to catch it," hopefully announced the scientist.
"Seals are covered with them," rejoined the officer.
"Pooh, those are just common seal-fleas," returned the professor. "Iwould like to find an insect that makes its home at the pole itself."
"W
ell, perhaps you will," was the rejoinder.
"I hope so," said the professor. "It would be very interesting."
All this time the two vessels were steaming slowly westward along theinhospitable barrier that seemed, as Frank said, to have been erectedby nature to keep intruders away from the South Polar regions. As theprofessor concluded his last remark the lookout gave a sudden hail.
"Shipwrecked sailors!"
"Where away?" shouted Captain Barrington.
"Off to the starboard bow, sir," came back the hail.
Captain Barrington raised his glasses and looked in the directionindicated. The boys, too, brought binoculars to bear. They weregreatly excited to see what seemed to be four men standing up andwaving their arms on a raft drifting at some distance away.
"Lower a boat," commanded Captain Barrington.
The command was speedily complied with--in a few seconds one of thestanch lifeboats lay alongside.
"Do you boys want to go?" asked Captain Hazzard.
"Do we?" asked Billy. "I should say."
"All right, away with you."
"Can I go, too? I might get some specimens," asked the professor,eagerly.
"Yes, but don't try to catch any more killer whales," was the answer,which brought a general laugh.