CHAPTER XXII
MAGNETIC FIRE WORSHIPERS
Jack's only thought, when he felt himself falling from the deck of the airship to the earth, was that he would strike on a pinnacle of ice and be killed. Much the same were the feelings of the others, as they admitted later. Jack was half senseless from fright when, seemingly half an hour after he tumbled, though in reality it was but a few seconds, he stuck head first into a big drift of soft snow.
His mouth, ears, eyes and nose were filled with the fluffy flakes, and he nearly choked before he could struggle to an upright position and clear a breathing space.
To his astonishment he saw similar struggles going on in several places in the snow. First Mark stuck his head out of the drift. Then Bill's face appeared, to be followed by Tom's, and next Dirola bobbed up, smiling as though it was the biggest joke in the world, and as if falling from an airship was an every-day occurrence with her.
"Well, we're alive," remarked Jack, after getting his breath.
"We couldn't have fallen so very far after all," said Mark.
"It seemed like a mighty long ways when I was a-comin'," came from Bill.
"We went fast, an' we stopped pretty suddint!" was Tom's opinion. "Lucky we had a sort of feather bed under us. I'd hate to fall right on the ice."
"Come down soon!" exclaimed Dirola with a laugh, in which all joined, in spite of their sorry plight. It was still snowing and terribly cold. They pulled the hoods of their fur coats close about their faces and scrambled out on the ice.
"I guess the ship was closer to the earth when we fell than we thought," said Mark.
"I suppose we had better hunt around for the Monarch," observed Jack. "It can't be a great way off, for Professor Henderson was bringing it down and the propeller was not moving."
"Let's start right away," said Mark. "I'm hungry, and the sooner we find the ship the better off we'll be. But this snow is every bit as bad as a fog."
It was, indeed, and the boys and men could not distinguish each other ten feet distant. In spite of this, however, Jack started off in the direction he thought the ship might be.
"No go! No go!" called Dirola. "Git lost! Fall in hole! Die! Better stay here! Snow stop! Me show you!"
"She means we'll get lost if we wander off," said Jack. "I guess we'd better do as she says."
Dirola seemed in good spirits and not a bit discouraged by the storm. She walked slowly about, as if looking for something. Then, with a cry, she began digging at a certain spot.
"What in the world is she doing?" asked Mark.
"I don't know," said Jack.
"Maybe she's after a rabbit," observed Bill. "I'd like a good hot rabbit stew myself."
Dirola's hands, encased in heavy fur gloves, made the snow fly. In a little while she held up a, dark mass of what looked like seaweed.
"Eat! Um good!" she exclaimed.
"I guess it's some kind of moss that the people up north eat," remarked Tom. "I remember reading something about it once. I suppose we'd better tackle it, for we may not get a meal in some time."
Jack, who had been fumbling in the big pocket of his fur coat, gave a sudden cry.
"What's the matter; somethin' bit ye?" asked Bill.
"Look here!" cried the boy, and he held up a large tin can.
"What is it; soup?" inquired Mark.
"It's some of those capsule foods from the ship," said Jack, reading the label. "I remember I put it in my pocket when I thought the ship was going to be wrecked. I felt I might need it. Now it will come in handy."
"But what is it?" insisted Mark.
"It's a combination of chocolate, wheat, malt and preserved milk," replied Jack, looking at the label again, "and it says that one capsule, if chewed and swallowed, is as much as an ordinary meal. There are two hundred capsules in here, and that will last us for a few days at least."
"Not very hearty eatin', 'cordin' to my way of thinkin'," said Bill; "but I guess with that and the moss Dirola can dig up we'll get along."
The Esquimaux woman had finished her simple meal. She dug up quite a quantity of the moss and laid it on top of a big pile of ice, where she could find it again.
"Must build house now," she announced. "Make place for sleep. I show you!"
In a little while a large space was scooped out of the snow drift. Many hands soon enlarged the cave until it was large enough for all to move about inside with comfort.
"Now for dinner!" exclaimed Jack, as he opened the tin.
The meal, though simple, was satisfying, and soon the lost ones felt more comfortable.
"It's stopped snowing!" announced Mark, going to the entrance of the cave, "and it's much colder. I guess we'll stay here a while."
He returned to his companions. They all went as far to the rear of the cave as they could, for the wind came in the wide entrance.
"We must make a winding passage, and then the breeze can't find it's way in," suggested Jack. "I think—"
But what he thought he never told, for at that instant the floor of the snow cave gave way right under where they were all standing, and the whole five of them went slipping, sliding and tumbling down, they knew not to where.
For an instant all were so surprised and frightened that they could not even cry out. They were plunged into dense blackness.
"What has happened?" Jack cried.
Before any one could answer him, the blackness gave way to a glare of light, and the two boys, with Dirola and the men, brought up suddenly with a jolt on the floor of a big ice cavern.
It was several hundred feet long, and as many wide, with a roof fifty feet above their heads.
The sides were of pure ice, but, strangest of all, was the rosy, golden glow that filled the whole place. With wonder in their eyes the adventurers gazed at the source of the illumination.
At one end of the cavern was a rude altar. Behind it, and on both sides, there arose great streamers of fire, tongues of flame, red, green, blue, purple, yellow and glaring white.
Yet the fire did not burn, for there was ice on every side, and the ice did not melt. In wonder the crew of the Monarch gazed.
Presently from the other end of the cave there sounded a wild, weird song. It was like a chant. Then, before the adventurers could get to there feet, there filed into the cavern two score of men, all dressed in white fur. At the head of the procession marched two men who were veritable giants, compared to those about them. They bore between them, on a rude litter, a man, wearing only a fur cloth about his middle.
"What is it?" whispered Jack in awed accents.
"They are fire-worshipers!" exclaimed Mark. "If they see us they'll kill us!"
"They must be going to sacrifice that poor man on the altar," spoke
Jack. "Come, let's see if we can't crawl out of the way."
The head of the procession was now close to the altar, and had passed the adventurers, who were off to one side, in about the middle of the cavern. Up some ice steps the two giants in white went, bearing their victim. The poor fellow gave one loud shriek as he was brought nearer to the colored flames.
"Oh! Oh! Oh!" screamed Dirola, sinking down on the floor of the cavern.