"You may think he was mistaken," rejoined the professor, "but I do not. Professor Tapper is never wrong."
"But suppose you cannot find such an animal?"
"If I don't find one before we leave the South Polar regions, then, and not till then, will I believe that he was mistaken," returned the man of science with considerable dignity.
This colloquy took place while they were getting ready to reascend after a hasty lunch and was interrupted by a sudden cry from Frank, who had been gazing about while the others talked.
"What's that sticking above the snow hill yonder?" he exclaimed, pointing to a spot where a deep gully "valleyed" the hills at a spot not very far from where they stood.
"It looks like the stump of a tree," observed the professor, squinting through his spectacles.
"Or-or-the mast of a ship," quavered Harry, trembling with excitement.
"It's the Viking ship—hurray!"
"Don't go so fast," said Frank, though his voice shook, "it may be nothing but a plank set up there by some former explorer, but it certainly does look like the top of a mast."
"The best way is to go and see," suggested the professor, whose calm alone remained unruffled.
The distance between the boys and the object that had excited their attention was not considerable and the snow was smooth and unmarked by impassable gullies. The professor's suggestion was therefore at once adopted and the young adventurers were soon on their way across the white expanse which luckily was frozen hard and not difficult to traverse.