The Boy Aviators' Polar Dash - or Facing Death in the Antarctic by [psued.] Captain Wilbur Lawton
page 43 of 252 (17%)
page 43 of 252 (17%)
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down,--I was all right.
"I had the valve lever in my hand and was just going to open it when I felt everything cave in around me like something had been pulled from under my feet--or as if I had been sitting on a cloud and it had melted. "The dirigible had blown up. "Luckily I kept my wits about me and deliberately made a dive for the sea. It was a good height but I struck it clean. Down and down I went till I thought I'd never come up again. My ear-drums felt like they'd bust and my head seemed to have been hit with an axe. But come up I did eventually as you know, and found poor George Melville there, too. Of the dirigible there was not so much of as a match-stick left. The rest you know." Ben's voice shook a little as he reached the latter part of his narrative. The rugged sailor's face grew soft and he winked back a tear. The others said nothing for a few seconds and then Captain Hazzard looked up. "Since you have become one of us in such a strange way, I presume you would like to know where we are bound for?" "Wall, if it ain't askin' too much I would," rejoined the rugged adventurer. "We are bound for the South Pole." |
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