The Boy Aviators' Polar Dash; or, Facing Death in the Antarctic

the breezes blow; we're off fo

p from some curious-looking frames and apparatus over which he was work

trousers a nautical hitch; "you seem to have forgotte

ing down his wrench and passing his hand thr

st be at the Eric B

l, building a motor s

certainly o

d then we'll get din

ain Hazzar

etting the suppl

w boys get such a chance. The South Pole,-ice

There the Golden Eagle, their big twin-screw aeroplane, had been planned and partially built, and here, too, they

ld on a chill day in late November, yet to the two lads, as they hurried along a narrow string-piece in the direction of a big three-masted steamer, which lay at a small pier projecting in a

imed Harry, the youn

harf, alongside which a south polar ship is fitting up, on ru

e muddle, the numerous cases and crates were hauled aboard the vessel we have noticed and lowered into her capacious holds by a rattling, fussy cargo winch. The shouts of the freight handlers and the sharp shrieks of the whistle of the boss stevedor

rivers on their remarkable trip. They in turn were equally absorbed in what he had to tell them about his hopes of being selected for the post of commander of the expedition to the South Pole, which the government was then considering fitting out for the purpose of obtaining meteorological and geographical data. The actual attainment of the pole was, of course, the main obj

consultations and councils of war had ended in the boys being signed on as the aviators of the expedition. They also had had assign

e boys with learned discourses on the inestimable benefits that would redound to humanity's benefit from the discovery of the South Pole, had overborne even her rather bewildered opposition, and the day before they stood on the wharf in the Erie Ba

re you are, I s

cognizing Captain Hazzard. In grimy overalls, with a battered woolen cap of the Tam o' Shanter variety on his head, and his face liberally smudged with grime and dust,-for o

laugh as they nimbly ascended the narrow gangway and gained the deck

miscellaneous cargo, sir. If we are in t

in response; "in my cabin-its aft there under the break in the poop, you'll find

d examining her at his leisure. It seemed, however, that they were to b

his trousers; "come, Harry, my hearty, tumble aft, we m

as Harry, looking a bit shamefaced at his temporary desir

me of Eben A. Thayer. In fact if there had been any indecision about the matter the strong smell of oil and

quarters aft, that the radiators had been connected with the boilers and had warmed the place up to a comfortable temperature. A Japanese steward showed them into Captain Hazzard's cab

g at the whimsical appearance they made in the clumsy

moke and the lighters are emptied," he announced, "so I m

houts of assent left the young c

cabin, extending beneath the poop deck, with a row of lights in the circular wall formed by the stern, were the four cabins to be occupied by Captain Hazzard, the

ed next to them. Then came the cabin of Captain Pent Barrington, the navigating officer of the ship, and his first mate, a New Englander, as dry as salt cod, named Darius Gr

nough coal to give her a tremendous cruising radius. It was in order to economize on fuel she was rigged for the carrying of sail when she encountered a good slant of wind. Her forecastle, originally the dark, wet hole common to whalers, had been built up till it was a commodious c

of articles. There were sledges, bales of canvas, which on investigation proved to be tents, coils of rope, pick-axes, shovels, five portable houses in knock-down form, a couple

ach of these spaces was labeled in plain letters with the nature of the stores to be placed there so that those in charge of the supplies would have no difficulty in laying their hands at once on what

gged in the holds so that in the antarctic an equable temperature could be maintained. The great water tanks were forward immediately below the forecastle. The inspection of the engines came last. The Southern Cross had been fitted with

hief," who had taken charge of the boys on this part of their expediti

with gasoline motors and all this clumsy arrangement of

engineer looked

ome day we'll all go to sea

t has built a schooner out

im and slowly wiped his

h the boys laughed as they climbed the steel ladders that led from the warm and o

and levers, "the great ice has a wonderfu