CHAPTER XVIII.
THE PROFESSOR TAKES A COLD BATH.
"Give way, men!" shouted Ben Stubbs, who was in command of the boat; "them poor fellers must be perishin' of cold and hunger."
The boat fairly flew through the water, skillfully avoiding, under Ben's careful steering, the great floes of ice which were drifting about.
The boys and the professor were in the bow, eagerly scanning the raft with the four black figures upon it. The castaways kept waving their arms in the most pitiable fashion.
Suddenly the professor exclaimed:
"There's something queer about those men!"
"You'd be queer, too, if you was drifting about the polar seas on an old raft," returned Ben Stubbs.
All the men laughed at this and the professor said no more. But he scanned the "castaways" carefully, and so did the boys. As they drew nearer, the latter also began to observe that they were the funniest looking men they had ever seen.
"They've got on long black coats with white waistcoats to their knees," cried Billy.