The engineer went forward to the men, who were waiting for orders.
"My lads," he said to them, "we cannot knock off yet. We must work
till day comes."

They were all ready to do so. The stern-screw had now to be treated
as the other had been. The damage was the same, a twisting from the
violence of the hurricane during the passage across the southern pole.

But to get the screw on board it seemed best to stop the progress of
the aeronef for a few minutes, and even to drive her backwards. The
engines were reversed. The aeronef began to fall astern, when Tom
Turner was surprised by a peculiar odor.

This was from the gas given off by the match, which had accumulated
in the box, and was now escaping from the cabin. "Hallo!" said the
mate, with a sniff.

"What is the matter?" asked Robur.

"Don't you smell something? Isn't it burning powder?"

"So it is, Tom."

"And it comes from that cabin."

Yes, the very cabin --"

"Have those scoundrels set it on fire?"