"We are directly over the south pole!" exclaimed the professor. "We have reached the goal! We have come to the spot hundreds of men have tried to reach! It has been left for us to succeed. Look at the deflecting needle!"
They crowded into the conning tower to note it. The slender hand of steel stood straight up and down, indicating that the ship was over the south pole, one of the two chief centres of magnetism of the earth.
"If we only dared stop to make some scientific notes and observations," said the professor, "we could render much valuable aid to the seekers after truth. But it would be sure death to stay in the boiling water!"
"I guess we'd better be getting out of this if we want to reach home alive," spoke Andy.
Indeed they were all suffering very much, for the heat from the water was awful.
"Speed her up, Washington!" called the professor. "We must get out of here!"
"Which way shall I steer?" asked the colored man.
"Straight ahead. We are now bound north!"
"Bound north!" cried Jack.
"Certainly," answered the professor. "We have passed over the exact spot where the south pole is. The deflecting needle is beginning to tilt again. The compass is indicating a northerly direction. You know that after you go as far south as you can, you have to begin to go back north. Well, we have gone as far south as we can. Now we are going north. We have turned the southern end of the globe, and are on our way back."