observed Andy. "We seem to have
lots of trouble on this trip."

"Why not try to ram your way through," suggested Jack.

"How do you mean?" asked Mr. Henderson.

"I mean to sink the boat say two hundred feet. Then start her up
obliquely and perhaps the sharp prow will cut a hole through the ice."

"Hardly through ice fifteen feet or more thick," said the captain
despondently.

"But it may be thinner now," persisted Jack.

"At any rate it will do no harm to try," the inventor admitted. "We can
not last much longer down here."

Again the tanks were filled, and by the aid of the deflecting rudder the
_Porpoise_ went down into the depths. Then the ballast tanks were
quickly emptied, and the rudder turned so as to force the craft upward
on a slant. The engine was set going at top speed.

"Hold fast everybody!" called the professor. "It is kill or cure this
trip!"

Like an arrow from a bow the _Porpoise_ shot upward. On and on it sped,
gathering momentum with every foot she traveled.

Suddenly there came a terrible crash, a grinding sound and a rending and
tearing. The ship trembled from end to end. Every one was knocked from
his feet. There were bumpings and scrapings all along the sides of the
submarine. Then, with one final spurt of speed, the little ship tore her
way through the ice and emerged, with a splash and shower of foam into
the open sea!

Quickly the man hole was opened and, half dead from lack of fresh air,
the adventurers crawled out on deck. It was night and the stars
glittered in the sky above. They were just beyond the edge of the ice
field, and all about them was a wide open sea.

"I was right after all," said the professor, "but I miscalculated the
distance. Had we gone on a few feet farther it would not have been
necessary to break through the ice."

"I guess it's a lucky thing we didn't try it before either," remarked
Andy. "We never could have bored through fifteen feet of the frozen
stuff. Where we plowed up it is less than two feet," and he pointed to
where the immense floe came to an end.

It was decided to go no farther that night, however, as the professor
wanted to take some observations by daylight and ascertain his position.
So filling their lungs with the air, cold and piercing though it was,
the adventurers descended to their cabin, and lots were drawn to see who
would stand the two night watches. It fell to Mr. Henderson to take the
first, and Washington the second. The capta