imed Mr. Henderson in sorrowful tones.

"What does it mean?" asked Bill, who had come up to where the others
stood.

"It means that we are prisoners in the ice; caught between the upper and
lower parts of a gigantic berg, and held here under the water."

"Can't we ever get out?" asked Jack, a tremor coming into his voice.
"Can't we escape when the ice melts?"

"The ice of the southern polar sea seldom melts in this latitude,"
replied the professor.

An ominous silence followed his words.

CHAPTER XXIV

THE SHIP GRAVEYARD

Truly the adventurers were in a position that might well cause the
stoutest heart to quail. With hundreds of tons of ice above, below, and
on every side of them, their chances of escaping alive from this frozen
tomb were very small.

"Can't we make an attempt to get out of this prison?" asked Jack.

"Indeed we will," said the professor. "We will try all the means at our
command. If they all fail--"

He dared not finish the sentence, but they all knew what he meant. It
was now about one o'clock in the morning. The ship had become stationary
after the uneasy motion caused by the oscillation of the big berg.

"We may as well turn in and get a little sleep," remarked Mr. Henderson.
"We can all work better if we get some rest."

It is doubtful whether any of them slept, for the horror of their
position was too fresh in their minds. Still, lying down in the bunks
rested them.

It was six o'clock when Washington awoke. In spite of the dangers of the
icy grave, he had managed to get a little sleep. He prepared breakfast
and called the others.

"Make a good meal," advised Mr. Henderson. "We have plenty of work ahead
of us."

"Are you going to free the ship?" asked Mark.

"I am going to try," was the answer.

A little later the inventor was busy in one of the small store rooms aft
when Jack came up. The professor was carefully taking out a box
labelled:

DYNAMITE! DANGEROUS!

"What are you going to do?" asked the boy.

"I am going to try the same experiment we attempted on the volcanic
island," was the reply. "Only, this time, I am afraid we shall have to
complete it to the end. There is little likelihood of the ice falling
apart."

"Then you are going to blow it up?" went on Jack.

"That's what I hope to do," the inventor went on. "I see no other way,
and, though there is a risk, it is not so great a one as to wait to be
crushed in the ice as it freezes more sol