"I don't apprehend so," rejoined the professor. "A survey of the sides of the crater convinces me that it is many years since the volcano was active."
"It is a wonderful feeling to think that we are the first human beings who have ever seen it," exclaimed Frank, impulsively.
"It is, indeed," agreed the professor. "This is a great discovery and we must take possession of it in the name of the United States. Let us call it Mount Hazzard in commemoration of this expedition."
And so with a cheer the great antarctic volcano was named in honor of the leader of the expedition.
At the foot of the flaming mountain, originated no doubt by the warmth, were numerous large lakes filled with water of a deep greenish blue hue.
"I wonder if there aren't some fish in those lakes?" wondered the professor, gazing at the bodies of water so far below them. "At any rate there may be some kinds of creatures there that are very uncommon. Conditions such as they must exist under would make them unlike any others on earth, provided the waters are inhabited."
"It's easy enough to see," said Frank.
"How so?"
"We can clamber down the mountain side and get in the aeroplane and fly down to examine the lakes," said the boy.
"Bless my soul, that's so," ejaculated the man of science. "Do you know, for a moment I had quite forgotten how it was possible to get here. That is a wonderful machine that you boys have there."