“Hurrah for the Ice King!” cried Chet, and the cheer was given with a will.
“This ends our troubles here,” added Andy. “Now to get aboard and start for home!”
[CHAPTER XXX—HOME AGAIN]
It was no easy matter for the Ice King to push, her way through the ice and reach the shore, but at last this was accomplished, and a gangplank was put out, so that our friends could go aboard.
“Did you reach the Pole?” were Captain Williamson’s words.
“We did,” answered Barwell Dawson. “But it was a hard journey, I can tell you!”
“Good! I mean, I’m glad to know you got to the Pole,” went on the captain. He looked over the party. “Look well, too.”
“We look better than we did a few weeks ago,” said Andy. “Then you might have taken us for a lot of starved cats.”
“Have you been on a trip?” questioned Chet. He saw that the commander of the Ice King was looking at him rather curiously.
“Yes, I left here eight days ago, after I had heard of a whaler that had gone to pieces in the ice. Some Esquimaux brought the word, and said that a crew of five white men and one negro were on the shore to the northwestward.”