from another world. Motionless, without a sound or a gesture, they
waited for the terrible moment when the furnace would wrap them in
its fires.

But the storm that bore the "Albatross" saved them from such a
fearful fate. The flames of Erebus were blown down by the hurricane
as it passed, and the "Albatross" flew over unhurt. She swept through
a hail of ejected material, which was fortunately kept at bay by the
centrifugal action of the suspensory screws. And she harmlessly
passed over the crater while it was in full eruption.

An hour afterwards the horizon hid from their view the two colossal
torches which light the confines of the world during the long polar
night.

At two o'clock in the morning Balleny Island was sighted on the coast
of Discovery Land, though it could not be recognized owing to its
being bound to the mainland by a cement of ice.

And the "Albatross" emerged from the polar circle on the hundred and
seventy-fifth meridian. The hurricane had carried her over the
icebergs and icefloes, against which she was in danger of being
dashed a hundred times or more. She was not in the hands of the
helmsman, but in the hand of God--and God is a good pilot.

The aeronef sped along to the north, and at the sixtieth parallel the
storm showed signs of dying away. Its violence sensibly diminished.
The "Albatross" began to come under control again. And, what was a
great comfort, had again entered the lighted regions of the globe;
and the day reappeared about eight o'clock in the morning.