“If they eat all the rotten meat,” said Frank, “as there are tons upon tons of it, there will be enough for an army.”
“As the food here is very scarce,” replied the old scientist, “the wild beasts are ravenous, and as there are vast numbers of them, they will soon get away with it.”
“We might try the experiment, anyway.”
“How shall I go about it, Frank?”
“I’ll attend to it. You keep the ship over the marsh.”
Frank went to the storeroom as he spoke, and procured two fifty-pound bombshells, to each of which he fastened a wire.
Taking them out on deck, he let them drop one after the other down into the mud, on each side of the mammoth.
They sunk deeply by their own weight, coming from a height, and the other ends of the electric wires remained in Frank’s hand.
“Raise the ice ship a hundred feet!” he sang out.
Dr. Vaneyke complied, there being plenty slack wire attached to the bombs.