"It am de boys and Tom and Bill come back to overjoy us," said
Washington.
The shouts grew louder. Andy glanced from a cabin window.
"The Esquimaux! The Esquimaux!" he exclaimed. "Here they are after us again! They'll carry us back to the ice cave and eat us alive this time!"
"These are not the same ones!" cried the professor. "We are hundreds of miles from the ice cave."
"Then these are the ones the mysterious message was about," said Andy, "and we had better be on our guard!"
"Perhaps these are Dirola's friends," ventured Amos Henderson. "If they are I wish we had her here to intercede for us."
There came a rattling against the sides of the airship. It sounded like a storm of hail.
"They are firing arrows at us!" yelled Andy. "That doesn't look very friendly."
"Wait until I go out and speak to them," suggested the professor. "They will respect my gray, hairs."
He went outside. The ship was surrounded by hundreds of little men, all dressed in thick furs. At the sight of the ship's commander they gave a loud yell.