"Me go now an' come back," spoke Dirola. "Me try find ship. You keep quiet!"
She glided away, almost like a ghost in the semi-darkness, through which her white furs showed plainly. Left to themselves, the captives were in no easy frame of mind. They did not know what would happen next, whether they could depend on Dirola or whether the mob would come after them to offer all of them up as sacrifices to the Goddess of Ice.
"What puzzles me," said Andy, "is how we both happened to fetch up in the same cave. You boys, with Bill, Tom and Dirola, land in one place on the ice and fall into this cave. We in the ship continue on for some distance, are brought a good ways on sleds and yet here we are with you."
"The ship might have been blown backward instead of forward after the boys fell off," suggested the professor. "That would explain it. The Esquimaux were traveling to this cave with us, and simply brought us from where the ship had been blown, up to where the boys landed."
"I guess that must be it," admitted Andy; "but listen! some one is coming."
Footsteps were heard approaching. In a few seconds Dirola entered the ice chamber.
"I fix it!" she exclaimed. "You must all go 'way quick. The people want kill you, but me save. Listen. You climb up the slide me an' boys come down. Me bring sharp bones," and she brought out from under her jacket several sharp bone picks. "Make um steps in ice; climb up. Go in little cave, where boys know. There man wait for you wid sled an' dogs. He take you to airship. But hurry, hurry! People be after you soon when find you gone. Me keep 'um back long what I can, but not for very long, so you go fast."
"We must lose no time," said the professor. "This may be our last chance. How can we thank you, Dirola?"
"Never mind talk, go!" exclaimed the Esquimaux queen. "Must hurry!"
The captives were anxious enough to escape. Led by Dirola they went out into the main cavern. It was quite dark, as the sun had moved around so it no longer shone in the opening, and the mysterious lights had died away. They were soon at the bottom of the slope by means of which the boys and the helpers had fallen into the ice cave.