CHAPTER XXIV
SAVED BY DIROLA
Instantly the ice cavern was a scene of great uproar and confusion. The procession broke up as soon as Dirola cried out and the intruders at the sacrifice were observed. All, save those carrying the victim and those guarding Andy and Washington, rushed with their long bone knives at Jack and Mark and the two helpers from the airship.
"There are the boys!" cried Andy, trying to break away from those who held him.
"An' Tom an' Bill is there likewise!" exclaimed Washington, who had caught a glimpse of the two helpers. "De heathen am goin' to kill 'um!"
"We're here, Jack!" sung out the hunter. "Make the best fight you can, for we are in terrible hands. The poor professor is done for, I guess, and we'll soon be, too!"
His voice rang out high above the shouts and yells of the natives, who were now in a dense circle about the two boys and their companions.
"We haven't anything to fight with!" called back Mark.
"Well, I have!" yelled Andy.
With a quick motion he snatched his arms from the encircling ones of his captors. His fists went back. There were two quick, sharp blows, and two of the Esquimaux who were guarding the old hunter toppled backward.
With suddenness that was startling Andy drew a brace of revolvers from his inner pockets. He leveled them at the mass of white figures in front of him, on whose fierce faces the colored lights gleamed and flickered.
Andy's fingers trembled on the triggers. He was about to fire.
"Lay low, boys!" he called to the Monarch's crew. "I'll get rid of a few of these savages before I go!"
"No shoot! No shoot!" screamed Dirola.
She darted from her place, broke through the circle of natives, and rushed up to where Andy stood with leveled weapons.
"No shoot! Me save!" she cried.
She was all but too late. Andy's fingers had crooked on the triggers, but Dirola pushed his arms upward, and when the two reports rang out the bullets struck the icy roof of the cavern.
In the confined space the shots sounded almost like thunder. A silence that was startling in its suddenness fell as the echoes of the reports died away. Dirola ran toward the altar. She grasped the arms of the two big Esquimaux, who had taken Professor Henderson from the litter with the intention of sacrificing the old inventor.
She cried out one word in a strange tongue.
The men stopped as though she had struck them. Then, with a dramatic gesture, she mounted to the top step of the altar.
A chorus of cries greeted her. She seemed to pay no heed. Silent and straight she stood there on the steps of ice, her figure in dark relief against the background of flickering lights.
The next instant Dirola, with a motion so quick the eye could scarcely follow, slipped off her suit of black fur, and stood revealed in dress of white fur, the exact counterpart of that worn by all the others in the cave.
A low murmur of astonishment ran around the vast cavern. Then, as if by common impulse, every one kneeled down, Dirola alone of all the Esquimaux remaining upright. The cave dwellers were bowing down to one they either feared or loved.
Then Dirola spoke. At first her words were slow. Gradually she talked faster, until she was speaking a very torrent of sounds. She pointed, first to the insensible body of the old inventor at her feet, next to the group of white men and boys, and then to Andy and Washington. She gave some command, evidently, for no sooner had she ceased than those who had attacked Mark, Jack and the two farmers drew back, and left them free.
At the same time, those surrounding Andy and the negro withdrew. Then some warm furs were thrown over the cold body of the professor and he was borne gently away.
Dirola glided to where Andy stood, not knowing what to make of it all.
"No be feared now," she said. "They take ole man way an' warm him an' feed him. He be all right. So you be all right, an' boys an' oder mans. No be feared now. Them do what I tell 'um!" and she motioned to the natives, who had risen to their feet as soon as she left the ice altar.
"How in the world did you do it?" asked the old hunter.
"Me chief one—what you call 'um—queen here. Long time go. Me be take prisoner when you found me. Me come back. Me glad. No let Ingliss mans an' boys be hurt, nor 'um black man too. Me save. Me be queen agin!"
"How does that strike you?" went on Andy, to Mark and Jack, who had joined him. "The luckiest thing we ever did was to pick up Dirola."
"To think we should land right among her own people, too!" spoke up
Jack. "It's just like a fairy story."
"But where in the world did you come from?" asked Andy. "We thought you were all killed by falling from the ship."
"Not a bit," replied Jack, and he told the old hunter what had happened to himself, Mark and the others. In turn Andy related his experiences.
"If only the poor professor comes around all right we'll be in pretty good shape," finished the old man. "But I'm afraid he's frozen. I wonder what they were going to do with him."
"Put him in big hole, where all ice," broke in Dirola. "That what we do when the lights shine. But we no hurt any you now. You all safe. Me save!"
"I guess that was their intention," muttered Andy. "They were going to sacrifice him to the Goddess of Ice, I suppose. Well, well, we certainly are having plenty of experiences."
Many of the natives had now left the cave. Dirola gave an order to one of the big Esquimaux who had remained, and he went off on the run.
"We eat now," the woman remarked. "Me plenty hungry too, Professor come back an' eat wid you."
In a few minutes Professor Henderson, warmly clad, was brought in, leaning on the shoulder of the big man who, a little while before, had been about to sacrifice him. The old inventor was weak, but had suffered no serious harm. His body had been coated with thick oil before the proposed sacrifice, as part of the ceremony, and this had served, in a large measure, to keep the cold out.
He was warmly greeted by his friends, and then they all squatted down on the ice, while in a few minutes a big earthen pot of hot stew was brought in. Dirola ate with them, dipping her fingers in with the others.
"It's the first time I ever ate with a queen," said Jack with a smile.
"Me sure queen," said the woman with a laugh. "Me tell you 'bout it."
Whereupon she related how she was of the royal house, and had, on the death of her father, ascended to the throne. Then came the visit of the white men, including Andre, whose strange message the adventurers had found. He was driven, with his companions, from the land. Then the Esquimaux of Dirola's tribe had been attacked by others living farther south. A great battle had been fought and the queen and others were taken prisoners. Dirola had been held captive until the advent of the Monarch.
She did not know how close she was to her own people and the big sacrificial cave, until she fell into it with the boys and farmers. Then the procession came in and Dirola recognized Professor Henderson as the victim. She at once resolved to declare herself, and did so, showing that beneath the black fur she wore the white robes that none but members of the royal household could don.
The woman also explained how the big cave was used for religious services by her people, who worshiped the northern lights, or magnetic fire that never burned, and she told how they sacrificed to it at times.
"Well, I hope they don't sacrifice any of us," said the professor. "I was as near death as I ever care to go. I wonder what has become of my airship. If we—"
"What's that?" cried Jack, starting up.
"Listen!" came from another.
Far off in the cave sounded a strange, wild, weird chant. Then came the tramp of many feet. A little later a great concourse of people came rushing into the cave, led by a score of the white-robed men.
"They're coming back after us!" cried Andy. "Here, take a revolver,
Professor, and defend yourself!"