The Antarcticans. Being the Further and Still More Surprising Adventures of Captain Bjornvik in the Regions Around the South Pole.

Boyd, A. J. [Major William Alexander Jenyns Boyd]

The Antarcticans. Being the Further and Still More Surprising Adventures of Captain Bjornvik in the Regions Around the South Pole.

Item

Title of Story: The Antarcticans. Being the Further and Still More Surprising Adventures of Captain Bjornvik in the Regions Around the South Pole.
Attributed Author: Boyd, A. J. [Major William Alexander Jenyns Boyd]
Year For Sorting: 1922
Future Year Set: Contemporary
Story Summary: Bjornvik and crew are getting ready for another trip when their ship is suddenly captured by a mysterious electric force akin to the kind of electricity described by Nikolai Tesla.
Bjornvik eventually meets his captor, a scientist who has created a vast advanced city with 3.5 million inhabitants. Soon Bjornvik warms to the king and the king takes him and his friends across the vast civilisation beyond the ice where, along with extensive explanations of scientific principles, we get to encounter a wide variety of futuristic inventions, some of which don't appear in our reality until 100 years later.

Trigger warning: The punishment inventions for criminals are quite gruesome.
Critical Introduction: Major William Alexander Jenyns Boyd (A. J. Boyd) spent much of his life as a teacher and wrote extensively for The Queenslander in his spare time. This story is one of Boyd's rare texts where he dabbles in invention opera / vintage science fiction. This randomly satirical / randomly serious take on a journey to the South Pole was published at the time when real expeditions were being launched around the world. It is a sequel to "Captain Bjornvik" which was printed in the same newspaper in the preceding weeks, yet that is more of a travel crime drama with a touch of fantasy. Here Boyd fully embraces near future contemporary science fiction, complete not only with several prophetic extrapolations of science but also a mad scientist with a major novum / sense of wonder through the plan to shift the magnetic poles to be perpendicular, thereby melting the ice, freeing up shipping lanes, and giving a more temperate climate across the globe year round.

Prophetically extrapolated inventions can be later interpreted as automatic sliding doors, communication headsets, mobile network towers, home theatre rooms, solar panels connected to battery storage, meteorology screens, and many others.

While it can't be determined for certain for every story in Infinite Anthologies, The Antarcticans does seem like one that was written by the seats of its pants with randomly short and long chapters, limited foregrounding, sudden appearances of ideas that weren't discussed previously, characters changing character (the King captures the crew, threatens the lives of the protagonists and his friends then suddenly becomes friendly and begins showing them all his inventions), and other slips and minor inconsistencies that indicate that each installment was written just before each week's newspaper went to print. Even though this was published under the banner "A Page for the Boys" there were situations that are quite mature, some inventive yet gruesome punishments for people who dismayed the king, as well as prophetically extrapolated inventions that did appear years after 1922, making this story a worthwhile read. (Scroll down this page in IA to see the extensive list of predicted inventions and science discussed.)

Interestingly, chapters XXIV, XXV and XXVI seem a little different to the rest of the story, as though these two chapters were written with the help of someone else. Then, even though the story almost finishes with chapter XXX, chapter XXXI and XXXII are reminiscences that seems to fit where chapters XXIV to XXVI are. Hmm. My interpretation here is that Boyd was sick and couldn't complete the two chapters needed in time for those newspaper issues, so new chapters with a kidnapping then a fight with enemies in the air using electric guns was needed to fill the gap, all tidied up in a shorter chapter XXVI that followed in the same issue as XXV, then all forgotten in the next chapter. Then the actual chapters that should have been there instead, one featuring an invention that processes sugar cane, became the later chapters.

It is also interesting to note that even though this might be considered a children's story, the 1920s were still the time that children were thought of as small adults and children were working and smoking at a young age, having left school and gone to work by age 14. For some children that never went to school, they started work at age 5. Advertisements around the chapters were for cigarettes, painkillers, training courses, toothpaste and other products that targeted the younger worker.

Note that Harry Prince's story The Antarcticans (1896) a multigenerational fantasy that was serialised in the Renmark Pioneer, is unrelated to Boyd's The Antarcticans (1922)
Science: Discussion of lightning magnetising the anchors and causing the compass to be locked, then the crew finding all the watches had been magnetised.; Discussion of chronometers not being affected as the inventor had made sure they were protected from lightning and magnetism.; Discussion of ways to eliminate carbon dioxide in a sealed tube with no escape pipes. Caustic potash use is explained using the example of the ship's diving suit.; All ships being guided into port by electrical energy akin to force fields. The effect of a ship being electrified is demonstrated subtly with the death of the engineer when he touches an iron stanchion on the pier while still on the ship, completing the circuit.; Discussing that electricity can't be conducted through glass, enabling rescue of a gun that hadn't been affected by the electricity. However, when the narrator attempted to hold it, his hand became paralysed, again as though a current of electricity was passing through him.; A powerful force like an attractor beam, picks two people off the ship and pulls them at high speed towards the city.; Discussion of how a human can receive 20,000 volts without feeling it, and explains how rubber can protect. References Tesla. Uses a galvanic battery to demonstrate.; Pterodactyls from the Jurassic have survived in a small part of the Antarctic, as have Mesozoic plants. Some discussion about habits and habitats. The narrator discusses fears of encountering a Megalosaurus, then encounters an Iguanodon from the Cretaceous.; Discussion on what causes lightning.; Astronomy expressed through a building featuring 5 more planets than known at the time along with the orbits of 300 more comets. Also, a record of planets around sirius i.e. the discovery of exoplanets. Details of Beila's comet's orbit and speed.; Discussion of the Gulf Stream and how it keeps the British islands warm and discussing equatorial currents.; Biology; Oceanography; Insects that can give electric shocks; Discussion of the carboniferous period and the quaternary epoch.; Electrically charged platinum wires used to cut the top off a mountain.
Inventions: A magnetism-proof chonometer; Advanced 100-feet long cylindrical submarine that is completely smooth. No conning tower or anything. Looking more like a torpedo. Described as being more advanced than any other submarine. Speculated to drive either by electricity or compressed liquid air.; Gates that opened and closed on their own (sensing movement?); Minor terraforming. "I gave instructions for the sea to be cleared of ice."; Energy force used instead of handcuffs.; Trucks with moving bands that can transport luggage from a boat into its storage. (Much like the band behind a carousal in an airport); A room-size lift with automatic doors.; A device that converts thoughts into words and can be directed to individuals privately.; A device that spins a criminal into nothingness. Increasing their frequency until they simply fade away forever.; A helmet that removes the memories of criminals, reducing them to barely functioning children.; Automatic food delivery systems with no obvious means of propulsion; the Mega stentorophone is within the electrified walls of any linked buildings enabling almost instant communication along the electrical fluid. Speak aloud and another can hear 60 kilometres away without needing to use a telephone.; A flying car capable of doing 50 miles a minute must be kept at that speed so as to remain aloft over areas with reduced magnetism.; Advanced rifles that shoot electricity to hunt pterodactyls.; An automatic aluminium electric bridge that at the connection of a battery will shoot across, unfurling and stabilising as it went, bridging the gap across a river.; Fishing is conducted through a wire connected to a device like a Leyden Jar that is thrown into the water to electrify fish, then the fish are collected with a net.; A Velocipen is an aerial ship with huge wings capable of a velocity of 110 miles a minute.; A 10 ton telescope that magnifies 240,000 times; Disc shaped solar panels connected to underground batteries for energy storage.; Slow aging through the use of healthy actions combined with electrical adjustments.; A hidden city built to support 3.5 million people.; A device being built to shift the poles so that Earth has a temperate climate across the whole globe all year round.; "The clock showed the seasons, the months, the state of the tides, the phases of the moon, and also indicated the amount of electricity consumed in the city during the previous 24 hours."; A stun battery for subduing animals without killing them.; An electrical wind organ; Wired telephones were already considered obsolete as residences preferred wireless telegraphy with telegraph poles converted to receiving points. (So mobile network towers!); City refuse was automatically collected and instantly vaporised with electricity.; Citizens wore helmets or a headress so that they could receive voice and texts with just a thought.; Shops had automated delivery of items along wires attached to the ceilings.; A room that reproduces the ultimate orchestras and musical compositions from long ago, much better than standard gramaphones.; Magnetic Course Indicator System; A submarine that can travel at 200 miles an hour on electricity; A steel bar with a 3 point long range sensor that detects the exact position of a bird moving at high speed through meridional lines and can kill it with electricity within seconds.; A phonograph that records thoughts.; Directed electrical force able to control a ship remotely from a distance and pull it into port automatically (like a tractor beam!)
Science Future Articles: Coming Soon
Science Past Articles: Coming Soon
Science Extrapolations: A failed extrapolation, going with the understanding of the time, is that the immense telescope showed the observers that Mars had plants that had adapted to the cold, cities, canals, were clearly visible. Also, ignoring eye damage, the observers could see sunspots on the surface of the sun, and moons around Jupiter and could even determine that the rings of Saturn consisted of a 'solid' material and that Saturn also had continents and seas.; Disk shaped solar panels absorb sunlight during the summer and store them in batteries for use in the winter.
Science Fiction Subgenres: invention opera; exploration; lost race; utopia; advanced civilisation
Similar Science Fiction: Ralph 124C 41+ (1911) by Hugo Gernsback; Paris in the Twentieth Century (1863) by Jules Verne; Looking Backward: 2000-1887 (1888) Edward Bellamy
Related Newspaper Fiction: The Star Germs; Skirmish Posts of Earth; The Dark Planet; The World's Last Wonder
Related Paratext: Each chapter was published under the heading A Page for the Boys but the ads surrounding several of the chapters were for men rather than boys. Cigarettes, training courses, virility.
Historical Context: War was over, the roaring 20s had begun and the public were able to get back to more leisurely pursuits. Children still started working at age 14, with some starting work at age 5. Many smoked, hence cigarettes advertised in what we might think of today as children's pages but, at the time, children didn't have childhoods or teenage years and were simply seen as smaller adults.

News that caught the public's attention was Shackleton's expedition planned for later in 1921 with one report debunking the idea they were going to look for the 'lost land of tunaki.'; Antarctica Shackleton Expedition
Additional Information: Cheekily, Boyd describes a 'friend' (Louis Tracey) having written about a mirror invention for a pneumatic rifle in their story "The Final War" (1896) without giving credit to the Antarcticans for the invention (1921).; Not to be confused with multigenerational fantasy The Antarcticans by Harry Prince published in the Renmark Pioneer in 1896.; This is the second book in the Bjornvik saga. The first is "Captain Bjornvik"; "As Related by Himself"
How this Story was Identified: Keyclouds searching an exported copy of the years 1901-1939 from the To Be Continued Australian Newspaper Fiction Database.
KeyClouds: professor experiment electricity science mechanism
11 were determined to be science fiction of the 30 found
Date Details Added to IA: March 2023
Author Gender: Male
Nationality: Australian
Biographical and Other Sources: Austlit notes that Boyd worked at The Queenslander as its agricultural editor between 1876 and 1877. However, advertising for the previous story "Captain Bjornvik" suggests that he wrote for The Queenslander for many years. "The author is Major A. J. Boyd, a veteran writer, whose pen has contributed many stories and sketches to the columns of the "Queenslander."; A. J. Boyd Biography at AustLit; Advertisement for the first story "Captain Bjornvik"; Major William Alexander Jenyns “Alec” Boyd
Single or Serialised: Serialised
First Published Date of Last Installment: 1922-05-06
Date Range: 1921-12-24-1922-05-06
Number of Installments: 34 chapters printed in lots of one or two.
Complete or Supplemented: Complete
Estimated Word Count: 57,000
Length: Novel
Book Release Details: NA
Links in To Be Continued: https://readallaboutit.com.au/#/title/83057
Links to Trove: Chapter I
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/22617649

Chapter II & III
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/22617805

Chapter IV
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/27426653

Chapter V & VI
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/27427033

Chapter VII
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/27427215

Chapter VIII
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/27427652

<To be continued>
...
Chapter XXXII
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/27430869
Newspaper Publisher Citation: The Queenslander
Newspaper Name Location Years: The Queenslander, Brisbane, Qld, 1866-1939
Location Town City: Brisbane
Location State Territory: Queensland
Provincial or Metro: Metropolitan
General Subjects: children's fiction; science fiction; newspaper fiction; australian newspaper fiction; fiction; science communication; young adult fiction
Language: English
Copyright: CC By 4.0
Edition Publisher: InfiniteAnthologies.com
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Content Advisory: These items are historical texts digitised from their original publication, and reflects the social attitudes, cultural values, and language of the time in which they were created. Some content may include depictions or references that are racist, sexist, ableist, colonialist, or otherwise offensive by contemporary standards. This material is presented uncensored for scholarly, archival, and educational purposes. It serves as a record of past cultural attitudes and is preserved here to support critical engagement, historical reflection, and the advancement of inclusive scholarship. Reader discretion is advised.
OCR from TBC and Trove: The Antarcticans. Being the Further and Still More Surprising Adventures of Captain Bjornvik in the Regions Around the South Pole.
A PAGE FOR THE BOYS THE ANTARCTICANS. BEING THE FURTHER AND STILL MORE SURPRISING ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN BJORNVIK IN THE REGIONS AROUND THE SOUTH POLE. CHAPTER I.-UP THE MYSTERIOUS RIVER. AS RELATED BY HIMSELF. By A. J. BOYD. (All Bights Reserved.) "Cast off," cried M'Ilwraith. The springs were let go and hauled aboard, and once more the launch sped on her marvellous course up the "river," as I shall henceforth cai-1 the inlet, although the water was as salt as tfiat of. the ocean Itself. Taking an observation just before leav ing, 1 louud out position to 'be, Int. 82 rieg. S., long. 180. We were therefore tunning directly for the T-oe, which was now only 8 degrees, or 480 geographical miles, to the south. At the rate nt which we were running, and allowing 'i\n' landing and exploration, another week should «oe us at o.ir destination. Little we then knew of what wa3 to befai us ere we reached the wishedJior goal. As we drove along, our conversation natur ally turned on the gold discovery. "I em scarcely astonished at rinding gold to h-3 present .in the Antarctic j-ooks," said the doctor, "for J)iimnnt d'Urville, you imay remenr&er, -in 1839, after discovering Adelia Land, which lies on the Anfoarct c circle, -over 1003 miles east of Cape Adare, landed on a email islet opposite the chore, and found ithat the rocks "were enthely composed 'of gneiss, slate, and quartz. New, the richest gold mines of Aitstraiasia occur in just such ccuatry. Therefore, I say I am not co much •purpr'aed at the occur rence of gold «s I am at the eaiormoua quantity of it, 'and the amazing size of the reef«." "Judging by the vegetation," said ILemble, "it would u"ot surpnre me to find that there is an immense carbonifcTonw area somewhere hereabouts. Now Jook over. there," he added, pointing to<akmg reeky ridge -rising almost perpendicularly from the water. "If that is not sandstone wverlying shale and pipeolay, I «m no judge of the coal measures. Hand me the glasses, M'Fhie, like a gcod fellow." Taking a long look at the a\xfc, he pa*3_vl the glnsscs to ra«. "Just as I thought," Jie siid. "There is -the true csi'boaifei-oua formation, co we may take it for granted that, unless some tremendous denudation has taken place, there is ocal enough in this one soot alone to supply the whole world and its fleets." Hav'aig carefully examined -the forma tion, both the doctor and 1 were convinced «f the truth of Kembte'a assertion. I •ana* the more satisfied on the point, as I knew that the soils of the countries ad jacent to the North lk>lc 'belong, in the piaiii, to the carboniferous period, as, for instance, in Prince Patrk&'s Islands, and in MehiUe Island. In the geoflogl eal age the Arctic regions are know-u to -have baen clothed with a rich antl abundant vegetation, -whose Temains now constitute the carboniferous gtratx, -a fact which clearly iproves that their climate must ir. at least, of something approaching it. formerly have been one of tropical heat, The thermometer naw rarely fell he^<xr i(odeg. F. Cer.ainly it w.is the «eason of t|he Antarctic summer, btvt the prcs^ee 4>f the luxorious vegetotion o:i shore -was I proof that none of the r%*.;iir« of winter were ever experienced iher_*. Towards moon we noticed that the speed of the launch was sensibly decreasing, -whilst >the viver gradually became -brcader, until it at last spread out into a broad lake, studded ;with ■beautiful island?, clad lrom base to summit with tall pine trees, interspersed with palms of various kinds. > It now became neceseiry to gcit up •team, so Blow had our progress become. The fire waa therefore lighted, and our -flood little engine once more be#m to throb, end .tne screw to churn Tip the water nnder the stern. Tihe question now was, shonld we «Learn rtraight across the lake or follow the right hand bank as we had hitherto dbire ? • Eventually • it was decided to cross amidst the islands, but now an xinlooked-foi- circumstance prevented na from carrying out our in tention. For the first t!me en our •veutiul voyage, the little Tcs-iel jrcfueed to answer Jier helm. I could not in tlie least account for this extraordinary oc currence. We were far trom the in tluetwe <C'f the Magnetic Pole; at least,so I should have imagined, S£<e;ug that tlie |K>le was situated in lat 75 f?., and long. 160 E., whilst our last obser\-ation? placed ihe laiiuch in lat. 82- S., long. 180, or aomethmg like 1400 miles in a direct line aouth-east from the point of attraction. Ojuld it i>e pcesJble that there wei« two jaagnetic poies in this inanclloue xeji*n '! It w*s hardly likely. But 3iow, then, was I to aecDunt for the powerful attrac tion whioh so forcibly drew -tlie vessel to tbu eastern shofrp, ih spite o> the helm ? I looked ?t the compass, aod found that the needle waa pe:'feetJy rig.d, andpwint ed -to the *ast, whilst the veweFs head was directed due south. "Tig vara s:n.<fular, w raid "M'Uwraith. "For o'er tweuty years hey I use! the ac«, and during th&t time I have stood at the Northgiro ifagjr?tie Po^c, on Ike pen iaralaf at lat aever old 1 ace the needle act iv siecan a feckless man ner." "I lonce was in a ship," said ihe doctor,** "which encountered a terrible thunder storm off the 'island of Madagascar. One flash of lightning struck the foretcp-gal lant must, shivering it to spliuters. A ball of electric fluid was tlien aoou to run down the topgallant sheets, which were of chain, of cawse. It then entered the reck at the foot of the foivniavt, and must have passed away iv some manner through the medium of the irau hull. Then a singular thing happened. The sh>:p had been kept away io enable the crew to secure the raffle ak>ft, aud as soon as that was done, Ihe captain set the course, but ~l3?e needle refusrd <to act. It persistently pointed in the direction of the bowsprit, qio -matter how the helm was shifted. Fortunately we were in s'glit of land, and the ship -was headed for Tumatave. Arrived in port, the port and starboard anchors were let go. No sooner were they off the bo\vs with forty fathoms of chain caole out, than the compass needle wa3 released. The fact then appeared that the elecrt/m fluid had magnetised the anchors and <-ables." "Yes, that is quite comprehensible," said Keruble. "But then, you know wo have rJot been struck by lightning." "Air ye quite sure aboot yon, iMaister Kcmble?" asked M'lLwraith. "Senca ■hearin' the doctor's story, aw liae ma doots." "And I now have no doiibt at all about the matter," sa:d I decided y. "Do you remember that awful rilcnt lightning storm we j>assod through ?" "Certainly I do," replied the natural ist; "but we were not struck. That I am positive of." "No, not struck in the ordinary sense of the term, •but the whole atmosphere was, «o to speak, saturated with elec tricrty, and our steel huH, anchor?, and chains may all be magnetised without our knowing it." *By Jove ! yes," or"cd the doctor. "That is exacty what has happened to us, and hence the failure of the compass. But •tfhait about the boat keeping «o persistent ly to the westward ?" "Beg par-don, Captain Bjormvk, sir." I turned rointd. It ■was Tickles who! was speaking. "Well, steward, what is it?" I asked. "Lunch tin\e, cii ?" "That* just whit I can't make out, *fr. My watch has gore all wrong. Would you kindly tell me the tim? ?" "Time-? Oh. yea." I said, puflmg out my watch. "It's jnst—;on:oand at. It can't be. My watch says seven o'clock. But the iheight of the mm tells us it can't; be later th-an twelve o'clock. What do your watches say, the rest of you ?" All drew out their watches and discovered to t-hejr astonishment that not one coincided with another. "Magnetised, by the immortal Nine! * fcried Kembte. /•' "Well, if that's the caee, then we are all out in our otoaervatioifs, and "we don't kn'jw where we «re," said M*lVwr*rth. "The chronometers, of course, have a' gane wrang as weel as the wAtches, and ma belief is that we're <vy just ironnin etranght for yon dom'd Magnetic Pole." This view of the case w-?s so alarming that for « few minutes we sat and stared ut each other in absolute silence. If the chronometers were out, *hen we w^Te as suredly lost in the labyrinth of the An tarctic Ocean. At last I .recovered my presence of mind, hiving thought the matter over. I -laughed. The others looked at me In surprise, and 1 heard Kerntele say io the ooctor (Kemble always put on a >broj(ne when he waa excited) : "Rape yer eye on the poor oratur, l>oc, dear. Snre this calamity -has eeut him dane, stark, starji' mad/ I la.ufbed loudiy again. Tiien Tcdleben appro*vned me witu atisious lookn, aud began to sootlie me, but 1 -will not repeat ull tltat the dear old doctor «a>id to me under the impression that I wes bereft of my senses. "Why 'i What's tl?e matter with you all ? Are you all hyqnotised or magne tised as well as the sh.p t" I iksked. "I,'ke observ'atknw are ?H ngfbt, for the simple reason Hbat there is oothiug wrong wiU? the chronometers. And as for the com pass, you wJI recollect that we have'bad no occasion to use at since the storm. Neither did we use the pocket corapsas when we 'landed. Then, as vre liave kept to the right or western shore all through, the river passage, of course, we did not notice anything wrong. ?fow that we want to take a different coarse, the wbol* tronble aiypears." 44But liow do you make out that the chronometers are nmrffected ?" asked Kemble, "when evcr>- 4>it or metal about us w magentised "!" "It is very simply acennnied for, Kemble," I replied. "The doctor iiere will tell yon that I am one of those men who foresee everything, and provide^for the most dmprohtfblfi emergencies. Now, I had heard of two or tiiree authentic ca?es snoli as the doctor lias described, wild I t-eok ray precintiona accordingly. 3o?l oblige me by looking at th? chrotMH jneters—l?erc is the key of the lot-ker— mid then tell me if the two coincide. The time shown by them is, as usual, Green wich tine, acd should be, as i\x? are on. the 180 th roeridiau we*t or east of Green wich —that is immaterial —'between 2 and 3 a.m." Tilo. rlcArroraHtrT .^ex- "wet onorad.' aird tht tints dudiefcbad by: J>;'jh uutimimeocs wa«- fxecity .^h.c.. «art^.«jiaeael3r>.. J.^S A.m. They looked to me for an explanation* Simple enough," I said. "Ula^s jb a non-conductor of electricity. Observe that each chronometer is pciTeetly sur roundied by plate gtefis, wjthin which, tit is preserved from, uny shock by a peculiar syaiem of gimbals and springs which 1 in vented • myself. Tne chronometers, gentlemen, are in perfect order, and our latitude this morning was 82deg. 5 mm. the longitude, 1804 eg. cast car west of Greenwich." "By dove, old man," exclaimed the doctor. "You think of everything." "I do, doctor," I said smply. "Now comes the next .bederation," said Kemble. "Where are we go.'ng to ? And how are we going to deodorje—no, fauc, 1 mane, demagnetise—this poor ould hookor V" To neither of these questions could any Answer be given, so we decided to land for a few hours. But -when M'Phie ipirt the helm np, the launch did not respond, she kept dogged y on her -way. "Dom the bat!" or;ed tne mate. "Dom her, but we'll tow the baste." The eng'ns was at ones stopped, aad the boat was sent to tow 'her head round, but all was in vain. We might as well have tried to tow a battleship at anchor. (To 'be Continued.

A PAGE FOR THE BOYS Our Boys' Story. THE ANTARCTICANS. BEING THE FURTHER AND STILL MORE SURPRISING ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN BJORNVIK IN THE REGIONS AROUND THE SOUTH POLE. AS RELATED BY HIMSELF. By A. J. BOYD. (All Bights Reserved.) CHAPTER II.-UNDER STRANGE CONTROL. We now found ourselves in a very awk- <*> ward predicament, being no longer mas- <*> ters of our own vessel. This being estab- <*> lished beyond all doubt, we got the boat on board again. During this operaftioai, the larger vessel kept •teu-ity moviug iu tbe direction of we.lt 'by .south. We bad bo need of Uhe eogiite, aa she was tmvel- Itng a-t the ralte of quite six kiwta an hour. The heka, a? hm been shown, vn&a quite usel<«9. At one time we were driv ing straight down on a rooky island. W&ftout means of guiding •t'he launch, her destruction appeared inevitable. *We started the eiigrne full speed astern, bi>t me might as well have saved ourselves the trt>uble, as she still went ahead at the same speed. Already -we had given our selves up for lost, nvlhen. apparently, Occntiing the danger, abe suddenly ebcered «ff et right angles to her oourse, and passed tlhe island in safety. This was tw> much for M'Phie. He fell on h:« knee* and piayed loudly to be de tivcrad from "a' dev'iitrics, wjtclica, -war locks, spooks, and a.' the bej!-b:ood and wika x>' &atain, a:id 't'ha warks o' I'he de'il,"" with much more to the eime effect. We left Iwm to ;l?Ls prayers, and cate'lent fly wondering wliat woiJd haippen riecrt. We wvre, howevea-, wot kept much lon-jeir in wwpeivse. - A narrow channel, running inland from tine lake, waia obsctned Km <t'he eastern 8hor«?, nbomt a quailtcir of a -mile ahead of us. Towards 'this the launch ik?w direct ed her course. ?he l«d practic.vlly taken charge of herself, and all we could do was to ait bope'.esaly dwiaiting w'baitever might befall us. I am J'.iot sure Tvhether "fhe feeling of alarm, expectation, enj cmnioaity predami n*ted amengs't oivr Iratle pai'Jy. i\v my self, I can .corv9cien>tiou*ly; affirm I'hit I bad not the siigliTtest foaling of fear. I bad started on the expedh'frn, fully rcn lici nig tlie dangers, and Siaird'^Hi^a it would probably hivolve, and •nus thcrofdrc pre pared to meet calmly anything thrt m:gh't happen to me. Hence my only feti:ng on tihis ocoJcibn was one of intense curiosty. I tl«nk "that it was the tiame with tha doctor and Keroble- M'llwT.iith was not a man to be inVimidated by any d.ingor, , opon or hidden, w'hrlat as f.ir Bicklea, tha steward, h^ wa* ,"cittpa4s:ve, and . devoted hss atiterftion strictly \k> th'o' btw:nc<33 of providing the regular meals •t the refnilatnon hours. But with the . engineer, M'Phie, the cose was very dif ferent. He was, as has been seen, ex ceedingly superstitious, and recognising, in our present difficulty, aottliing but the fell ageiicy of evil eprrfte, he was simply beside himself with terror. I verily be lieve that, if lie could have fert assured cJf mibat would be bia >k>t ri? tbe. next world, he would lhave committed suicide by jumping overboard. He wep-t aud prayed, and called on. the Alnngluty to protect (him. In the next breath he raved aud Ulasphemed so awfully that I bad to tbfeateu *o put him in irons if be did not ceaae lug unmanly lamentations. On ithis 'he crouched dd.vn in the stern of d? boat and ht-UL hm peace. (Meanwhile the launch entered the passage I 'have before mentioned, and moved steadily afaug for several miles. Not knowing what might happen to us when this remarkable voyage should end, we thought it as well to fortify ourselves Tivtih o> good meal. FThu the evwMeady Pickles soon prepared, amd for once we did ntot spare tbe wine, broaching our only case of champagne, as we thought tt would inspirit u« for any ordeal wenrght be called upon to pass through... After the tneal lire began to examine o'usr gur jrouodtnga more carefully, and now ob served, fkx the first time, Uuit we were naming groves of trees "which evidently had not been Altered about promis cuously by Nature. Tbe haud of man -mis plainly to be seen in the regular rows which ran at right angles to each otiber. Whildt we were speculating on tbe mwttcr, and wondering what kind of an Baimai Antarctic maai might be, we sud- THE DAYB OF REAL SPORT. denly <heard <a loud rushing sound, and (tthea what looked like an enormous tor pedo, over ia hundred ifeet long, rcoe to the surface at a d«:ai:ce of about a. hun dred yards from us, and moved aJjivg on a coin's* parallel with <oura. This fabric was apparently entity corjatinicted of gold or aluminium, and a close iiwpec'l'ion with the glasses shared 'that, iiul.ead of being buflt up of 83parate pitted, it con sisted of one iuigle sheet of metal. Hor aides were perxdtly smooth, and ithere was no sign of aoy-tih-Lng which might be called a deck. In fact, she was merely an enormous tube without any visible pro tuberance .in 'her whole length. Yet thi9 singular object had been travelling under water, probably accompanying us for many miles xmsei-n. "By the. sainted p;g ! Doc," exclaimed Kemble, as he lad down the binoculars. "Just imagine that thundering torpedo cruising under our botitom for goodness knows how long. Fatah ! It'a lucky it did not take it into ifcs head to &> off. But wh&t does it mean ? I>id yez ckp eyes on such a fish in the Xor'Jh Polar Seas, Mac ?" "Weel, no, srr," replied the mate «low ly. "I eaniu. jiat I'he iko, oa' to mind •that ever I sailed in company wi' siccan an onoanny aensort. I?f yon's a bor, I'm speerin' whaur's h«r deck ? But there's . nae deck nor lwe hatchway forbye." Dr. Todleben then aud ; "0$ course you have all heard of sub marirte boats, «tnti especially Jatdy, of the' ndivly-ijiivented French submarine tor pedo boats. Well, now, to my m nd, this is a Ucttt of ihat class, but probobly far ahead of anything ye)t invented in Europe. She is undxm'b'teddy driven, either by eleotrkaty or by compressed liquid air. If by the former, dio dynamos or engines to drive them are necessary, as she apparently has stowage room tor a vast n-umber of accumulatore, holding suf ficient of the electric fluid to, poanbly, drive her round .the world. If by liquid air, then I should hes.tate to assign e>ny limiit tfp her enormous power, as we know tJhalt iiquid air i* mo.« powerful in its action tfban any known, explosive." **But wbart about tbe crew, doctor ?" I asked. "How do '?bey renew the supply of oxygeu Avheu submerged ior any length ened period? Ar.d, again, with uo visible escape pipes, how is the carbonic gacs, whidh must necessarily «ccumuki>te withdn her, got rid of ?" "Oh, ft'a mes?l( can insense yez on tlmt point, Bjomvik," tbe fat tittle tmTinrnn imej*jeoted. "Your own <tremeiijus knowledge of chemistry will tell you tlhat carbonftc aecd gaa can be got rid of in tihree or four way*. ' "Caustic potash, do you mean* ?" I asked. "Well, yes, for one thing. The gas 3ku a great affinity for ca<wtic potash, which will absorb it, and ait the same time, re lease whatever oxygen is contaiued in com bination 'With it, wh'ich lias lKrt been used up by animaki in the prooew cf brea-thing. We have a diving apparatus constructed on this praxri'pJe, thus en abling the diver to diapenge wihii the cum brous and oheu dangerous air titbe. Btit tilwre is anothei* way cf ge*ting rid o£ thi* troublesome gaa. Wherever water cau get through an ctatrucUon, tihe ga«^can aiV> i>a«3, no master how line Vhe open ing. Now, it 'is easy to eonoe.ve a cun ning engineer contriving m .uirt? bo'.ej in the huh oi such a vessel as tha;t yonder, wh!<:h will be amply- ?uf f ic-.<. iut to carry off the po'souoiut fcas, and yet xv% admit water. Sueli openings would be quite 'invis.ble, unJe?j a rahrute exaimna tion were made of t:ie hull." "But, how abcot geltin'-anithrr supply o' air when what \ras .Liuiide ox hcii- is iwed up, sir ?" asked "Nothing simpler, Mac," was the dodtor's reply. "You take down a supply of compressed air, and turn it on by means of ti tap, just -a* you would turn on ordinary ga«. Tuia ccun.pro;«?d air has ulso been applied to the d'vor's hel mtlt with perfect success." "In pO'"t of fact," said Kemb'.e, tak ing his firat «t the «<traiiiger, "thait devil iah-lookpng -boat could take in enough electricity and air to rem-iin under iwiUer. if necessary, for two or three month-j. As for her speed, it would nd surprke me to leaxn 'that she eoukl itravel at from axly to even a huudred mile« an hour." 'Whil-st we were discussing her, the stranger tiM'nad tmvard3 iia, and simul taneously with the movement, our launch turned from her, thus keeping ithe former distance and retaining the parallel course.

CHAPTER III.-THE AXTARCTIC CITY. We were .mm heading for tlie^ opposite shore of the passage, dfistant abou-t four hundred yards. A long woodel uil3i:d intervened between us and the ehciv, and as we approached it, the atrauge vessel turned off, amd ran in a direction iiarallel to it, our hunch following the movement of >uae other as if she liaa beeu lan bed to to it. In half aai hour we raaiKkd the we?t«im pojut of tlbe island, auud t'hen a marvellous sighlt burdt upon our eye*. There stood a liaarge city, to judge by the vast number of bouses 'that t'tcodl cm all the lulb aod on tlhe level p.*iu below them. As we -approached, we coiild see tlwf't they ?rteuo all "built of gfst:i*jig whits quartz, tihickly studded IwOtih gold. Many of t>he rocfis were dome-ahaped, awl fceutg apparently of the same material ias the xtmel, they eft>oae like buxnehei gold in the BUii. Above every doma xtiere rose a aleoder staff thuit looked ike a fla.« staiff. We learned the uas of these later on. The -whole of the fore^aare -wak pkinted with beautiful shade trees, whose biuiieliea supported d?fli)iimerable electric lighits. A broad promenade lay between the trees and the «ta, protectted by a giuiviite wall From this wall, numbera of iron pkrs ran out in <ieep vratei- to a d-ista-uce of some four hundred yards. Lying at tlhese, we observed many krge vesaels, several of which I judged "to be ot 20,C03 'tons burthen, birt ;i!l biwlt on the same plan as die one which e«:oi'ted ?m; tlk-ift k to ray, they were nil con structed for subaqueous navigatlion. As we approached one of tlie^e pie: s our attendant boaft fell O9tei*u of the latiucli, and we at once came to n at-and^till. AV-hen trfie former was abaut tl.veu'ty yaixls from us, we again began to move slowly ahead and -sideways a« if some invisible power were at work to place us in our portion at the pier. Thus impelled, we gradu ally get alougside. There we" aemained apparently immovably fixed by the same power which brought us there, for no ropes were passed fiv>m the vessel to the wharf, nor had we seen any sign of bumaai Hie, yet the large ships were being loaded or discharged into light iron trucks, which, it was clear to us, nvere set iu motion by electricity. Seeing no one about, we thought we would leave the launch and take a walk an the pier. Now, it tij liappoived that the engineer, M'Phie, in spite of his terror nt whalt was happening around us, wa>* the first to leave the boat. He epnuug on to the rail, and caught -hold cf an iron stanchion at the edge of itihe pier to «•* Bist ihim iu lauding. The instant fee touched it he was tlhirown violently onto the deck of 'the structure, and there lay, to all appearance, quite dead. We -were all .terribly shocked «t t)hi3 awful event, so sudden and imlooked for, jmjre especi ally as our enem-ics were invisible to us. Needless to eay, that all thought of land* ing was ait once given up. "Ala certie!" oried iM'DwiKiith, "but this is /w\iur than all. Who* kind of folk maim we .hae fa'en amang thato tdbthei visitors w*\nat eeu showing tUiiseWwi wiiatefer ?" Then, raising his voice, and eh&kmg bis fiet at the HfeJea3 wharf, !he sheeted : "Gome awa' beu, ye bluidy-minded lour* duois- Come oot o' yer hoks cf ye'xe men alt a' a<ud gie us a fair chajice to fecht ye. But aw'm aye jealotui?g yelre pu:>? fecldes? deiis that wadui dare iace a ntou t' 'th' opeu, doro ye." • .• . "By the B.upted pig, boy«t n exclaan?d Kem'hle, "it's 'in a mighty badfiix we crft in. I don't know wlie'.iher we «l*a!l find anything to shoot at, but, sbure, it 'ud be no barrum to be prepared, «o I TOto we ji?t asrui ouisclvei with, our rifles^ *e volvors, and kuive3, in cxee trf acckkart." I was quite of K.emble'« opiirion, - and a>t once wen't to tihe arm cheti to get o*it my rifle. Throwing up the Jid, I «eiied the first «uji I came to by the dtock,bot? to my surprise, foivnd I cciJd ivo^ move it. It was so firmly a>ttached to <theotihers thait the six rifles seemed to have been, welded together. I thought tbe matter ovor. <a>nd soon was at no foes tb account for the hitherto inexplicable spell we were under. The mysterious motion of the launch, her arrival and fixture"alt th« wharf, the awfully sudden death of f<*or I'M'Pbie, the invisible agency by whicb the ships were being unloaded, aind now, the uselesjness of oiur rifl<n—all this tras now easily >to be explaraed by two words —electoieity and magnet'ison. But "wnere •was 'the motive power ? Where were the aivha.biltar/a of the beautiful olty be- Pore ns ? It was clear th^t the latter had a<i yet no irrternbion of discovering, themseh-es, so fhot all we could do yna to possess our souls in patience, keep-Up our eoivrage, and fvwait deve&7pmenrt«. (To be Con-tirmed.) A BURGLAR STORY. —By Briggs in the "New York Tribune."

A PAGE FOR THE BOYS. Our Boys' Story. THE ANTARCTICANS. BEING THE FURTHER AND STILL MORE SURPRISING ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN BJORNVIK IN THE REGIONS AROUND THE SOUTH POLE. AS RELATED BY HIMSELF. (All Rights Reserved.) CHAPTER IV.-THE MYSTERIOUS INFLUENCE. By A.J. BOYD. With a view to raising our spirits, which had been much depressed by the death of of the engineer, I went to the champagne case to take out a bottle. On putting my band into it, I touched a revolver which liad probably been ):l;ic«l there h^" Pickle* after cleaning it. 1 did rot try to pick it up at iir&t, as I expected to find it as immovable aa the 'rife.?, but a sudden thorght struck me. The weapon av«s ly ing on glass bott:c3. Now, glass ie a iw.i coaiduoior ole ec'iricity, and" th<*r. fore tho revolver must be ineulated, that is if our misadventures wera rca ly 013 to that iorce and magnetism. 1 placed my hand on the pifitrJ, and found no res stance, so 1 took it up and p'iacci it in ray belt. Pa-k cs brought glats.e, pjn.l whoa he had cte.ied "tie wine, wo enthusiastically criii.k the hcal.'h of her Mo.t Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria (1 slou.d havu stated before tlus that 1 am v natural ieod Britdsh subject, and .in compliment to -ciur absent friend, the little baron, we toasted his Imperial Majesty, the Emperor of Ger many not forgetting tbe King ctf Dcut mark, and finaiy we pJcdg^d all our ab eeut shipmates, from whim, it began to ■*i?i>ear we wei-9 ssjjarated for an indlefinit-j per.od o^ time, terminatxe ony a. tlie will of those mysteriouss beinga oiu- emptors. I call them our captors for we were as surely pr.s. neis as if. we wen*.** in chains iv the Siberian mine 3 and pcsoneiu mo. cover, t,o a^ race oJ people far s-.iperior in the matter of science to any known nrjti'ai and so enormously wealthy tiui^a.l hoi*e tf Cceai>e by br.b*.'ry or by paying a heavy ransom was at once seen to be hopelcjs. We concluded by drinking confusion, to all our enemies,, and more particularly to that of tho inhabitants of Antarctica. Having my revolver, the idea -struck me to fire a solo ieu-de-joie. Drawing the Weapon, I pointed it toyards the sky and tried to pud the trigger. This I found, howover to be impoas b!e for my hand was paralysed, and glued, as it were, to the butt. I suffered no pain, but I could not move a finger. Ho.w long was thi-3 to last ? I could not think of any other way of disarming myself than by going through the motion of laying down the weapon. The instant I did so, my hand leiaxed its gri? and the pistol lay on the companion hatch. It was not quite clear to our minds that we toad to deal with a. people for wlvorn firearms had no terfctrs. We were there fore practica'ly defence!ess, and at the>'r mercy. Whilst we w^re anxiously wait ing to nee what would happen next, we were mirpnsed to see the steward mount the rail and step ou to the wharf, where he s:ood in sa:ety. untt.*^ Heavens ! steward," I cried. \Nhat on earth induced you to run audi on awful risk ?" "I could not help it, Captain Bjomvik, or, replied Pickles, lookuig very lugu br.bus. "1 were jest a settin' a opeum' of a tin o' midligatawney soup, when einhiu' Beems to be a ehovm' ou me be- Jv.nd and makes me stand up. Then it shoves me 'ardcr, and, at last, ma*? I never ky anotiter cloth if it "doesn't lift me cx'aii hup uud hon to the wharf, and 'ere -1 ham." - * *■> Before 1 had time to express doubt, sur prise, or any other abstract idea, Dr. lodleben rose and apparently floated on to the wharf. 1 was dumbfounded, and couid uot articulate a word. The doetv/r called to me ; eseing (!hat neither 1 nor Kemble, nor M'lLvnuth fol lowed him. "Mark my words, Jens- We two, that i 9. Pickles and I, are going to be epirit ed off somewhere. I can feel it coming again, that singular, subtle, irresistible force which placed me here. Tf we should never meet again in this world, food-bye, old fellow, and don't forget that did my duty." He si id farewell to Kemble ard the mate, and poor Pickles, with tears in his eyes, did the .ame. Scarcely had they done speaking when they both turned and appeared to ruu at full speed towards the city. We sat looking at each other in silent Amazement for some ten mi mutes. At la,?: I bmke the painful silence. "When the North American Indians are in any groat perplexity, or when they are preparing for some important expedi tion, their practice is to call the oldest and bravest chiefs together, and hold a "pt-.v-wow." Let us, as friends, tdo Jhe came. The .- faithful . Ppegkiee fhaai .he-anj taken from us, so we m.Ht now help our eelves. We shall nJll he the better for a good meal, as it is now quite six hours since we took oiu* last. Whilst eating, we can consult together, and try to arrive at some means of putting an end to this dreadful suspense." The prospect of doing something better than silting in aiien't expectation of some thing supernatural happening made my companions a little more cheerful, and we all three busied ourselves in getting together the materials for a gcod square meal. M'llwi'uith. made the tea, whilst I opened a tin cf reindeer's tongue. Kemlble laid the table, and tUen declared he would brew a jug of punch. ".Shure, it's a poor heart that never rejoice*," he said, "and who knows whether we shall ever again enjoy the iili gant aroma <€ the materials, properly commingled by one who understands* to perfectioh the sublime art of inakin' a ewate bo\vl of puuch. and that one is meself, aj it is, glory be to God." We larghed and sat down to a substan tial meai, at the conclusion of which we lighted oiu- pipes, filled our glasses with the fragrant punch, and then eet our selves to- d.scuss the unenviable situation in wliich we now f-crlnd our^elvca. . "What ie your idea, M'ilwradth. ?" I asked, by way of opening the debate. . "Awed, Captaiu Hornvik, sir," he de phed atter a pause, "aw'u iro exactly clear on what's to "be done. Ane thing, however, is pairfectly waiir'tain to my nuid, and that is, that we are entirely at the mai-rcy, o' some iuvessible de'ils wha wark a'thegefcber on scientific prin ciples, far beyond ony means o' oors to counteract. As a said, we're aye -at their mairey, and we maun just dree oor weird, as -the Scots folk say." "Troth. I'm just oi Mac's opinion," said Kemble. "We are simpiy beuig piayed wid ac a cat plays wid a m-:>u*:-2, and nothing that we can ever <ib will help us out of the fix. Torture aild death afterwards are all I look forward tK>; so, meanwhile, let's enjoy We. Have some more punch, old man, aud hang care, which, I'm tould, killed the cat." So saying, the • cardesa, lively Irishman filled our glasses, and then lay back in his seat, contentedly blowing clouds of smoke from, his pet briarwood jhpe. This was'cheerful, but not encouraging or helpful m -our present strait, and I must have looked disappointed for he added : •"But maybe ye have an idea yourself, Bjqrnvik, and, if so, you may as well let us have it, if only for variety's sake." "You are right, Kemble," 1 replied, laying aside my pipe-. "1 have formed a very deeded opinion on this matter, but, in order to explain myee/f, 1 miustt ask you both to carry your minde back to the day when we entered the inlet i-rom the sea, and were seized by that strong. current. It ia my firm belief that, from tho mo ment when we left our last camp on the previous day (the Geyser Plain, 1 mean), Aye were accompanied by that eubmar.ne boat. Had we decided to do as you, M"llwraith, proposed and tried to stretch, across westward, I am convinced that the came power which has brought us here would have been exer cised to force us into the inlet; birt, seeing that we took the course desired by our captors, we were -simply hurried aloug by electric power supplied from our un seen consort, and we were permitted to land and exploie the forest and the gold workings, still, however, under the same subtle magnetic influence, for you cannot have forgotten -hew independently of out* own volition, we sped through the forest on our return to the boat "By Uie sainted pig! I've not tor ffcAtew that, you may be ahure," broke in Kemble. "Shure, I was afraid to look round- me for fear I should Bee one of M'Phie's spookies coming along." "•.Vow, 'to-uay, i piojeeu^u, "we have bad auoiuer exiiro.iiuu ot the same pu.ver, cieuiiy expucauie in poor a case, out qu.te oeyoiid our po*«is oi coui preaenn.'v.u in so lar aa regaius tne depar ture of Dr- iodieoeu anu Puikies, .wno eviueutly were powerle*=*? to l&s.st tne impu.ee to leave tne boat and hurry away. Urn- unseen toes did not wish Icr the.r death,' so they either armed them against tne power, or they suspended it to allow them lo land, except, of coarse, in so lar as the impelling ajueucy was con cerned. .Now, it is ciear mat we taauiot aitorti to waste precious time by lemaming here much longer. 1 am deterinmed to reach the pole, in spite of the deviltries of the'natives, and as they will not come to us, we must go to them." "Yon's a' vara wed, , sir," .said ib?: mlate, ""but wi' subfeiiseidn, how 'air *We going to do It ?" . i . • "1 propose to land," I 'said, "imil* to visit that city." • "To land!" exclaimed both my audi tors astonished at my audacity.- "Wfcy, we've seen that it is death to land except by pernilss-on of the enemy." "To land unprepared yes,'"' was ni/ reply; "but I think 1 see a way to cir cumvent our friend, the enemy." "Go on," cried Kemble. I'm ready Tor anything rather than stay here." * ' "Good, Kemblcf I continued. "Your impatience shall soon lie rewarded, or I am much mistaken. I think that we n-fc all, -ity , ftp rf*4;*"; f |is isj operating against us is ckclric-ty r" "Xot much doubt abotit tha.t," they said. "Very well. Now, you are aware that there are means by which the human frame can receive a charge of 20,000 volts without experiencing the slightest elrcek. Tesla, the great electrician, lias proved this by sending jeuoh a territ'ic charge through his own body). We can there fore adopt a plan wliich will enable us to land <iu safety, and to pass unscathed through the city" "1 know what you are driving at," said Kemble- "But, hang it, man, we can't creep into a glas3 bottle, and roll ashore; jior can we dress in glass boots and gloves." ■ " Neither shall wo require lo do so," I answered. "My plan is vovy Bimple, and consists -merely in putting on our rubber sea-boots and gloves. We shall then bo perfectly safe from the most violent shock." "What ?" cried M'Ewraith. "Will jndiarubber glovea carry off an electric shock ? 'Tis the first time 1 ever heard o' si'Ccau a thing." "Mac," eaid 1," have you ever seen men working at an overhead copper -wire through which the electric fluid passes that drives the tramcars ?" . "YeB; often." "WeH, the cars did not «top running while they handled the wire, and yet. tho workmen handled it with impanity, sim ply because theyi wore rubber glovea. Now, Just get oat those gloves we brought dor the use of the diver^who, by the way, would never have used them, as rubber gloves for divers are only a fad of eome inventor." The mate soon "produced the gloves. I made Kemble put on kjs rubber boots and a pair of gloves, and then unpacked a small but very powerful galvanic battery I had brought with me, mere for amuse ment than for use. Giving the two wires for him to hold, 1 gradually turned ou the full force of the battery. "Not a feel do-'I feel," lie exclaimed an reply to my fcok. x*Of course not," I B\id; laughing. "Now, 1 will pass the current through this Buhmkorf coil, which will* greatly in tensify its strength Again you ore not sensible of any1 shock. Does this con vince you ?" . "Come on, ihe cried excitedly. "Let's land at once, .and have the laugh cif these Antarctieans. Come on, Mac., On with the rubbers." In a few minntea we stood prepared for our venture. We armed ourselves witli three Winchester rifles, which, icirtonate ly, were in separate, flannel-lined cases, and which were quite movable. We also took our knives and revolvers, not tuufc we expected- them to be of miwh use after my exrierience with t.lie loaded Re volver I had so ineffectually tried fe> fire a little while before. (To be Continued.)

A PAGE FOR THE BOYS Our Boys' Story. THE ANTARCTICANS. BEING THE FURTHER AND STILL MORE SURPRISING ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN BJORNVIK IN THE REGIONS AROUND THE SOUTH POLE. AS RELATED BY HIMSELF. (All Rights Reserved.) CHAPTER V.-WE GO TO THE CITY. By A.J. BOYD. Leading the way, I stepped on to the pier, [?]wed by my [?] [?] [?] sooner did we begin our walk towards the city than, the ships and the shore sprang tinto life. Numbers of men appeared ou ithe ships deoks, which were now revealed Jto us by the apparent rolling back of the tapper portion of the rounded hull- Boats iput oft from those lying further off, and we could sec that officers in uniform were in command of them. We did not stop, however, but marched steadily on until ye reached the r.oad. Here we found an imposing company awaiting our approach. The authorities had doubtless been warned at once by wire of our landing. Th'i? was only surmise on my part, for, so far,-we had not seen a siugle telegraph wire. We •walked straight up to them without showing any sign of fear, and I held out my hand to him who appeared to be chief amongst them To my astonishment he came forward with a smile, placed one hand on his heart, and taking my out stretched hand with the other, carried it to his lips and kissed it. I presented my two friend-3 to him, and he saluted them in the same manner, in perfect silence. Then he addressed us, and what was our surprise to hear his words of welcome ex pressed in excellent French. "Oh ! me sainted mother ! I'm des-r throyed !" muttered Kemble. " When's ■wonders goin' to cease, tell me ?" Now, ibefore 1 go any farther with this narrative, let me describe this man, who wa? a type of all the rest 01 his country men whom we saw now and afterwards. He wan about sft. lOln. fa height, neither stoat nor thin, yet strongly ku:lt. Hi 3 neck, which was rather short, was sur mounted by a shapely round head, with clcsely croirped blade hair. His moustache was, however, of immense length, stand ing out stiffly on either side of h>s face, and he wore the traditional French Im perial on hia chin. When he smiled, which he constantly d'd, he showed two rows of beautiful, brilliantly white teeth. H;s P080..V is si-^ht v •: i .no singular feature about him was his eye brc.vs. As he spoke, they seemed to keep time to his words, for they constant ly rose and fell, and appeared to have the faculty of moving in every direction. Oc casionally the effect was so ludicfjus that we had diificulty in suppressing a ten dency to laughter. Fortunately, we preserved a 'dignified demeanour. H« feet and hands were small and delicate, and gave no indication of belonging to a whole appearance and manner conveyed the idea that he was a polished gentle man. there was nothing in either to distinguish the wearers from British liaval officers. They wore white drill trousers, white and white canvas sho??!. The nvst pecu liar part of the dress was the head-gear. It resembled the <f :iko worn a hundred years ago by Briti* infantry officers, but instead of the ball in front, a polished steel bar was inserted, and at right angle? to this vrjr a thin fineJy .poiirted sieel wire. This, I presumed, had something to do with magnetism and, in fact, I aftprwnrds found this to be co. It d.d not take me as mmy seconds to note all this m it has taken me .■manatee to write down my observations. .i. .... r • ' '.: Vi .(..'• ii..- -.0 US, tllC chief, if chief he were, turned to his fol lowers. He did not speak, but he evident ly conveyed an order to them which was perfectly understood, for they at once .bowed to us, and left the spot so rapidly that they appeared to vanish rather than walk away. "Suivez-nioi, s'il voub plait, meeaieurs," said he to us as soon as they had left, and he moved- off slowly, evidently in order to allow us to keep up with him. "I gay, old man, whisper," said Kemble to me in a low voice. ;*This is altogether bey ant me. Phwat's he goin' to do wid us. eh V i Before I could reply, our host, or.rather captor, turned Tound, smiled pleasantly, •nd sxrd : "Apres, monsieur." aAw«el, aweel," muttered M'Tlwr?ith in my ear. "I jalouse that loon can guess ac body's thochta. For the quid Lord's sake, sir. stick to the .rubbers or we're a' dead men." Fbllowins; our guide along the beautiful avenue which nkirted the. shore, we Boon arrived at a splendid building whose walls gold. At our approach, the hnge gates *rhich gave entrance io the domain awun« silently oil' tfheif ?binget/ Ucf tnz passed into a opaeious garden, whose ■wealth of beautiful lljwers aud flowering shrubs gave forth a scent more exquisite th;\u any perfume 1 hid ewr inhaled, evan in ■the delicious gardens of my own country 111 I ilc i- >•: i ..a .. . J.^.l .- . ..i. and there were exquisitely chiselled basins filled with clear water, and pro vided with fountains by which it was sent in sparkling jets high into the air, falling back in showers reflecting nil the hue 3 of the rainbow. Every basin we •passed was^etocked with numbers of enor mous gold fish, and the depths were bril liaut with many-coloured sheila and •(juatic plants. A broad flight of marble steps led to a second pair of what seemed to be golden gates, through which \\e passed into an inner garden, forming a vast quadrangle, round thr« ■■''■■'< ■ *>i ■«'nt.? the building rose to a height of three stories. Broad balconies, supported on massive pillars of polished malachite, ran round each story. Birds of a kind I had never seen before made the air melodious with song, which sounded more like beau tiful airs from well-knjwn operas than the song of the nightingale, thrush, or black bird. All this I hurriedly observed as the gates, untouched by human hands, opened and closed behind us at a gesture made by our leader. We were now ushered into a large hall, or rather drawine-room,' lavishly fur nished in the best European style. Our host invited us to be seated, and imme diately refreshments in the shape of ex cellent wines and spirits were served. I was afraid that he would nyxv ask us to remove our gloves, but, ns he said nothing on that point, we were determined to preserve this safeguard againet any treachery on his part, which might take the form of an electrocutional entertain ment in which we might be the principal actors. We felt tV.nt we were safe only 60 long as we could be protected from the electric force by which it appeared that everything in ibis extraordinary country wa* conducted Bp? «•■•« t> <<t ..-i.--.-i without our host, as I shall shortly show. When our entertainer had courteously drunk our healths, .he suddenly addressed us in English, and evinced such perfect knowledge of our movement* from the moment when we left the pack ice, that I feU sure tbat we must have been attend ed <by the submarine cruiser from the very day on which we had captured out whale, if not, indeed, from Port Philip Heads. I plainly asked him if that was not so, and he replied smilingly : ''Certainly. The Erebus was on one of her usual onuses io*vaids me and discovered you making your way through the pack, and she lay off the Cape (submerged, of course) wlwn your vessel, with the curious name, anchored there- lly means only known to ourselves we learned all about you and the object of your voyage. When you left the pack the Erebus accompanied you, and, unknown to you, guided you safely through the barrier of bergs by the only possible channel. That channel has never before been discovered, nor would you have found it had it not been my wish to once more communicate with the so called civilised world. .It was for this reason that the commander of the Erebus removed a berg which usually closea the entrance When you decided to make a voyage in the launch, 1 gave instructions for the sea to be cleared of ice, for I was able to communicate with the cruiser no matter where she might be. You were then practically helpless, for you were, ■without being in the leaat aware of it, quite at the mercy of our vessel. Now, in case you should be inclined to doubt what I tell you, I will give yon a proof which you will say is conclusive. He touched a button on his helmet, and said composedly '• "Brine in the prisoners.

CHAPTER VI.-AN UNEXPECTED MEETING. Up to the present we had seen uo soul about the grounds of the palace nor in the •building iwelf. No one appeared when refreshments were o.fered, for they had already been prepared in anticipation of our arrival. The hall we were on was bo large that it would have been unpes silble to hear anything fcut a load shout at the end furthest from where we were Hitting, yet hardly had the order passed hig lips, tittered in a. low tone, when a doar slowly opened, and Gascarth and his Ta?cally crew entered- They were nn guarded, and to all appearauce were free, but, but we noticed that their hands were clasped in front «s if they were confined by invisible handcuffs. They looked ap pealingly to me, but uttered no sound, and parsed oirt through another door. We were about to express onr astonwh ment when our host requested ng to wait for a second proof. Again he spoke and again the door opened, when a sort of bier glided into the room on which lay the body of our poor friend, Sir Alfred Gawler. Following the bier came the doctor and Pickles. These approached us with expressions of the liveliest satin faction, and we all heartily shook hands with each other. When we looked to the chief for an ex planation, we found he had disappeared bo we all Bat down- and mutual explanations gnd KamECTttufc-tuiraj -were* exzaxqn?ii.. The out whilst we were talking The doctor told us that when he and Piokles left the wharf after 'bidding us what we all thought, would be a final farewell. They were impelled forward by a gentle, in visible force, and going at a rapid pace, .•without, however, feeling any Ja'tigue, they were conveyed to the palace, and piloted into a beautiful room, where everything appeared to have been pre pared beforehand for their comfort, and they had enjoyed a very pleasant few hours, marred only by the uncertainty of their fate and of ours. "They could not leave the apartment, for, although there was no sign of a lock on any door, they had, on trial, found it imposs?ble to open one. "Well, of all the astounding countries in the world," cried Kemlble, "this An tarctica appears to take the palm. I de clare I should not feel astonished if this palace were to rwe in the air, and settle down hundreds of miles away like the en chanted palace in the Arabian Nights."' "For my part, I am burning with im patience to travel through the country," said I. "You may depend upon it that there nre secrets of the most astounding magnitude to be learned here, secrets which, if we can obtain them, will enable us should we ever return home, to re volutionise society." ttl wonder," said the doctor, "how the submarine cruiser managed to pick "up that scoundrel Gascarth and his men, and how poor Sir Alfred's body was recovered," said the doctor. "I hope you will have a chance to punish the deserters." "I shall -moat certainly aek the chief or king or whatever his rank may be, to hand them over to me-to be dealt with according to our European ideas of law and justice," I declared- At this monment our.. ho3t*returned and informed us tha-t rooms had been made ready for us, and, he added with his usual genial smile : "You need not he undor any apprehension, gentlemen, that any danger menaces you whilst you honour my country with your presence. Our guests nre sacred to us, whilst our enemies —but you will have an opportunity by and by of seeing for yotirselves how we deal with them and with traitors." So saying, he looked meaningly at our gloves. Kemble noticed the look, and with his characteristic Irish impetuosity, dragged his rubbers off, saying as he did 60 : "Your Majesty or Your Royal Hjghncss (pardon me if I give you your wrong title), Til trust to your honour to treat ■■ us aa friends, and so, I am sure, will all ' my friends here. 'So long as we are per-' mittod to remain in your'country, we* shall do nothing to forfeit the confidence you place in us, and we will take' it for - granted that when the time conies you will give us safe-conduct, out of your dominion*." U will be observed that Kemble never used his favourite Ifrogue " ~ when he spoke seriously as on this oc casion. M'llwraith and I followed Kemble's ex ample, and discarded-the protecting hand gear, on which the chief courteously as sured us of his friendship, and promised that when we desired to return, he would assist us in every way: and what was more, lie would guarantee us a safe par sage through, aud beyond the northern most ice belt This was very satisfactory and reassur ing, so we determined to place full faith in our ho3t's promises,* and to learn as much of the country and of its people as was poaaibie during our stay. i By this time the day was rather far ad vanced, so we requested permission to re- j turn to the launch and procure a change j of clothing more suitable to our present ' surroundings than tlte working clothes and rubber boots in which we had made our first appearance at the palace. The ' chief or king, as I «hall henceforth desig nate him, ncrw gammoned two or three officers, and ordered them to place them* selves at our disposal, and to see that all we required was sent to our rooms. He invited us to dine with him in an hour's time, and then dismissed us with a dig nified bow. The same mysterious agency which brought us to the king's residence wag now employed to expedite our return to the launch, where we found everything as wo left it, except that our rif!e3 had been released, and were now available for use. We were not long in making the requisite change in our attire, and putting up all we required for ouf daily toilet in our portmanteaux, we intimated to our guides that these, with our arms and am munition were ready to be sent ashore. We now had an opportunity of seeing how goods were Tonoved from r ship without any apparent external aid. A track was run up to the edge of the wharf and from it a kind of endless band passed into the vessel. On this -we placed our belongings, and at once the baggage moved into the truck and was automatically deposited in it- The band ■then resumed its place somewhere under neath the truck, while the latter rolled off to the palace, where, on our arrival, we found everything placed in our respec tive rooms. The launch and its contents were left in charge of the officers of the Erebus, and they assured us that all would be perfectly safe- Returning to the palace in time for a late dinner, we . found the repast served in a small room opening upon the garden. I will not pre tend to describe the banquet for the simple reason that not one of us knew the nature of the exquisite soups, fish, flesh, and game which formed the various courses. All were excellently cooked and daintily served. The wines were good and plentiful, the coffee pun? Mocha of delicious fragrance, whilst the cigars which our entertainer offered us at the close of the meal surpassed in excellence of flavour the very choicest Havanas I hnd ever smoked. After dinner the chief invited us to enter another and smaller room, which immediately began to ascend and carried us to lo the top of the palace. Wo stepped out and found ourselves on a vast level terrace, laid out in much the same manner as the garden below. Fountains, statuary, and aviaries were scattered among the shrubberies and flower beds. Xeither was the electric light wanting, but, of course, no artificial light was needed at this time of the year. Having seated ourselves comfortably on lounges, which liad been brought in from the "lift," as I may call the room in 'which we had made our ascent, our bust opened the conversation. (To be Continued.) .

A PAGE FOR THE BOYS Our Boys' Story. THE ANTARCTICANS. BEING THE FURTHER AND STILL MORE SURPRISING ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN BJORNVIK IN THE REGIONS AROUND THE SOUTH POLE. AS RELATED BY HIMSELF. (All Rights Reserved.) CHAPTER VII-THE KING'S HISTORY. By A. J. BOYD. "Now, gentlemen, that I have an hour or two to spare, I propose to satisfy the curiosity which you must no doubt feel concerning what you have seen and ex- pericnced since you arrived here. In tho first place, you will be surprised to "com that I am not a native of this country. I was born iv Russia, of an English father and a French mother. My parents were enormously wealthy, their ample means being derived from en tensive gold mines, forests, and estates in Siberia, and in the Ural Moumtains. As may be supposed, I received an excellent education, and spent some ot my early years in travel in (Europe, the United States and India. From my earliest youth I have been de voted to scientific pursuits, and 1 -missed no opportunity of gaining experience, es pecially in the sciences of astronomy, chemstry, electricity, and magnetism. I •ought out tlie greatest scientists cf fhe day, and am proud to have been for some time a pupil of Edison, Sir William Thompson—Lord Kelvin, I • mean—and other great scientists of world renown. "About the time when 1 finished my •todies, many expeditious were being sent out to search for Sir John Franklin, and later, to make further attempts to reach the North Pole. I accompanied Dr.. Kane, Sir Leopold M'Clintock, and even Dr. Naneen and Peary, under a feigned name, having reached Europe from this country in perfect, incognito- I would X* wily have accompanied Andree in his lloon voyage had it been possible, at that time to leave my country. In that case you would not have been with mo today. "However, my experience amongst the ice fields of the North, and the experi ments I secretly made with the view of arriving at some simple method of do* •tnoying ice by means of electricity, de termined me to make an attempt to reach the South Pole. By dint of much •ttidy, travel, and exhaustive experiment, I had arrived at a discovery by the help of which I felt convinced I should bo en abled 'to pass through any ice-barrier which might present /itself to -oppose any progress. "Having then dc'termined on tlie adven ture, I made all my arrangements, finan cial and otherwise, and at once set to work to build the model—a working one ■—of a submarine boat to be driven by electricity. For years I bad been ex }>erimenting in submarine navigation, and ailuro after falurc only stimulated me to trials of fre-sh ideas which constantly came into my mind. At last I succeeded and constructed a boat which seemed to answer every requirement. "I don't know whether you hbve seen tho French subinariivc boats, the Narval, Siienc, Triton, and Loubet. I have, and ! can assure you that I should be very •unwilling to trust my. life in thorn when submerged. My boat was absolutely per fect, and, had she been large enough, I would have travelled to this country in her. But I had a great scheme in view which neces-tated ample means of trans port— transport that I would j>ot hesitate _g employ, knowing, as I did, that I could, with absolute certainty, pass through the ice'wliich has, to this day even, defied the efforts of other naviga tors to pass through more than a narrow* fringe of it. "My scheme was this: I determined to , carry out with me a colony of men and ' women, who would be young enough and sufficiently able-bodied to form the nucleus of a nation. No sooner d d this idea of ■nine become known, as I meant it to be, in Londou, Paris, St. Petersburg, and Berlin, tham I was besieged by applicants for a passage, tbe more so as no expense would be incurred by any one except my self. I took grpat care to select from sunongst the applicants such persons as I ■could immediately employ—expert elec tricians, electrical engineers, and mechanics, for instance, for on these would largely depend tlie successful is3iie of the expedition. I also engaged several shipbuilders, shipwrights, platers, car penters, smiths, miners, fouudrymen, and artificers of all sorts, with liberty to bring their wives and families. These would all accompany me to my first ren dezvous. The remainder, who numbered over 1500, were enrolled and told to hold themselves in readiness to embark when ever 1 should give them notice that I was ready for them. "It will naturally strike you that I should require many ships to carry out so many emigrants. To obtain these ships was - ait' eaay- matter for a, man x& nun means, but to navigate -them to tfat South Pole was another matter. In fact, such an attempt, I knew, must end in disaster. But I had already thought out every thing, and was determined that nothing should hold me back. I felt convinced that here would be found secrets which would prove of immense importance and that mine wis the hand destined to.wrest them from Nature. Whether I have done so you shall judge shortly. "You can quXe understand that I had no wish to let the secret of my submarine boat be discovered, and yet it was neces sary -to build -two -Teasels of great size to -transport my colony hither. I must tell you, however, before going further, ihaf _-lip 4 discovered y procesa bs irbbh I could extract aluminium 'ram'ffce *bil' in large quantities at comparatively small expense. lam aware that, lately, some scientists claim to have made a similar discovery in Europe, but, so far, no prac tical advantage lias resulted from their so called discoveries. My process was per fection, as you may judge by merely look- ing a 4 my ships, dm order to carry out the extensive preliminary works which mv scheme involved, it became impera tive for me to find some secluded spot where I could land my people and stores erect the necessary -works, build my ships, and do all ia absolute secrecy.. Was there any spot 6m this earthly sphere where tbe conditions I required could be . obtained jf i j After much earnest thought, -choosing one island at-one moment only to reject it the next in favour of a more promising site, I began to despair oi finding any country, any remote, savage, or desolate island which would answer my purpose. There is, gentlemen, no part of the civilised or uncivilised world from 80 degrees North latitude 'to 60 degrees South, which is i>ot visited more or less frequently by warships of your great country. Hence, secrecy appeared an impossible factor in my scheme. "At last, a brilliant idea flashed into jmy mind. It struck me that many of the islands of Polynesia were either unin habited, or else were peopled by savage races, whom no white man, except _:>ine, who, like myself, were in possession of scientific powers which would bring under subjection the most cruel cannibals or head-hunters, could hope to live. First 1 thought of the Solomon Islands, but on consideration I rejected the idea, because the whole of the group was visited by the Queensland labour vessels iv search of labourers- for the sugar plantations, and by numerous traders -who took their lives in their 'hands, and formed trading stations on many parts of the coasts. Finally I fixed upou the Marianne or Ladrone Islands. They beloug to Spain (or, at least, they were iin her possession •before the Hispauo-Americau war, and were discovered in tlie year 1500 by tne great navigator Magellan. 1 knew that the Spaniards were poor colonists, that their sole aim wm gold and silver, and that they made no use whatever of such of their possessions as Were inhabited only by a few savages and yielded nothing but fish aad coconuts. In selecting this group, therefore, I had no fear of any dis turbance from the visits of any warships Of that nation. There were other reasons which determined my choice of the Marianne group. One was that the islands lie about 1500 miles north of the northernmost settled portion of Australia —Cape York, or, say, Thursday Island. They are 800 miles east of the Philippines, and are quite out of the track of trading vessels between those islands, Honolulu, end California. Again, they are so sur rounded by intricate coral reefs (although they are themselves of volcanic origin) that I felt I could carry on my iworks se cure from any prying eyes on some chance vessel. Should any ship be unhapply wrecked there, which was quite within the bounds of possibility, the crew, if saved, wonld form a valuable addition to my party. Timber. I knew, was there in profusion, and the fertility of the volcanic soil would ensure plenty of vegetable food during .the eighteen months I expected our sojourn there to last. "I must now leave the further narrative of my proceedings till the evening. 'Mean while, I \vill sit in judgment pver the prisoner*, but I assure you that unless any extenwrting circumstances can be brought forward in their favour you will have an excellent opportunity of seeing how I deal with traitors." So saying, he rose and left the room. IWe sat and looked at each othes for a while, and then Kemble, breaking the silence, said : "By the sainted pig! doctor, I've got it. Do you know iwho his Majesty is ?" "No, nor do you either, I should imagine," said I. "Well, it's my firm belief his name ia Jules Verne." " And how d'ye arrive at yon conclusion,. sir ?" asked Mllwraith. "A keu weel that Maister Julees Verny wrote borne rare lees, but they were a' pure feection, and I jaknise that he ue'er clappit hi* een on skats such as hereabout." "Now, that's just where you come a cropper, Mac," said Kemble, "with your 'lees that's a' feection.' I tell ye that Jules Verne was only writing his own ex periences. He was a mighty man of science- It was he, and no other, who in vented the gun and shell in which he tiuvc:led Kwoivlj the mcon. Ale \\<as him self the CaUtain Nemo who made a voy age of 20,000 leagues under the sea. He also was the leader of tne balloon voyage across Africa, and he was also 'the man who travelled to the centre of the earth and returned through a volcaaio." We all laughed at this idea of Kemble's, but he was quite positive that the great French novelist was here in the person of the Kiug of Antarctica, and that, in duo course, a marvellous book on the country and its people and resources would bo placed before a delighted host of readers. "Well, well," I said, "time will show. Let us go and take a look at the lower garden." "Het's a' vara weel, Captain Bjcrnvik, *ir," said M'lhvraith, "to propose gangiu* doon, but we*dinna just keu weel haw i\ve got up here, and am no for speerin' aboot for electric buttons and _;ol_ko deviltries. We micht gie oorsels a hst that wud land us a' in Kingdom Come." This was certainly a poser, but before we bad time to think the situation over, the room quietly glided downwards and stopped gently on the ground i'k.or of the palace. Two doors opened automati cally at the same time, and we stepped off into the garden. It was what would have been, at another season late in the evening, but now it was as bright as day, and not at all uncomfortably warm. The birds iwere snging, gorgeous butter flies were flitting among the sweet-' scented flowers, bees were humming in all direstions, and generally there was an air of restfulness about the place suggest ing the land of the lotus-eaters. We threw oprselves upon the grass and began speculating on the outcome of the trial of Gaskarth and his mates. I determined that they should have a fair trial, but as to taking their punishment into my own hands, that was doubtless out of the ques tion, for I was powerless to demand any thing aa a right from the king—he could only consent to grant my request as a favour. Whilst we wore talking this over, a messenger arrived to say that his Majesty would be glad rf we would at once attend him in the judgment hall. (To be Continued.)'

A PAGE FOR THE BOYS Our Boys' Story. THE ANTARCTICANS. BEING THE FURTHER AND STILL MORE SURPRISING ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN BJORNVIK IN THE REGIONS AROUND THE SOUTH POLE. AS RELATED BY HIMSELF. (All Rights Reserved.) CHAPTER VIII.—THE HALL OF JUSTICE. By A. J. BOYD. Following the man—who, by the way, had addressed us in French—we were ushered into a most extraordinary-looking (room. It was so fashioned as to appear like the inside of an enormous ball, smooth, and polished, without the slight est particle of adornment. There was not any opening to admit light, yet the whole gleaming surface was glowing with brilliant white light. On entering, we were led to seats on the right and left of the king. Seated on a lower tier, •which formed a semicircle in our imme diate front, were 27 gorgeously dressed ffen, who, we concluded, were noblemen, any suoh order were in existence here. All wore the helmet I have before de scribed, with the point of steel projecting from the front. When we arrived we Were received with the king's customary courteous salute, and the attendants re quested each of us to don one of the hel mets. As soon as we had done so 1 noticed that a sort of bell-mounted trum pet adjusted itself to each ear, and I dis tinctly heard every word that was spoken by any person whose steel point was iirected towards me. "Now, this is another of our remarkable experiences," said the doctor. "These helmets are nothing but an improvement on Marconi's instrument employed in his wireless telegraphy." As he spoke he looked Tound at our Lost, who smiled, but did not speak, yet I distinctly heard his voice as he replied : "Not an improvement on Marconi's sys tem, but on my own, which was perfect ed long ago, long before Marconi had given his invention to the world- You observe that you hear my words, yet I am not •peakrng. However, all shall be explain ed in good time. 'We will now proceed to try the prisoners. Let them be placed in the prisoners' seats." At <once, and without guard or attend ant, Gaskarth and his wretched associates rose from some underground chamber, and placed themselves in the chairs before which each of them had risen. I need not describe the trial, which, indeed, was no trial at all- The king dilated upon the neinou?iiess of their crime, which, he •aid, might have led to the destruction of the whole party in the launch. He then asked each one of them if he bad Anything to say. which might mitigate the severity of the sentence he intended to pass upon them, but so overcome were they with nbject terror that no word es caped the'r lips. They threw agonised looks towards me, and I at once rose an* endeavoured to intercede for them, not withstanding their villainous conduct. I even appealed to the king to allow me to pass sentence upon them. Nothing that I could say, however, would move "You do not know our laws, Captain Bjornvik, and remember that there is only one supreme judge in the land, and that is myself. I cannot delegate my functions to any one. Traitors "they are and should die the traitor* death. I will, however, only sentence the ringleader to that death. These tvo ignorant sailors were, I am willing to believe, led away, cither by the threats or by the promises of plunder of the arch-traitor, Gaskarth. I commute their punishment from the actual t-o the living dea£h<" * By what means Gaskarth would be Wot ted out of life we could not even con jecture, but I had an idea that the execu tion would itke some form of eleciruen* t"x)n. We were not left long in doubt. Gaskarth, apparently without volition of hit own, suddenly stood up and walked to a spot between us and the criminals' chairs, on which was a round plate of polished steel which had hitherto es caped my notice. On this he stood, end we could see that his form suddenly be came rigid. Ab I Baid, I now expected to see him suffer the death penalty by electrocut;on, after the fashion adopted in the United States of America, but I was not prepared for the extraordinary event which actually happened. As roan ns it wag seen that the man was perfect ly rigid, resembling a stone statue, the plate on which he stood began to revolve, •lowly at first, but with momentarily in creasing speed. Then the poor wretch gradually became more and more indis tinct, unt'l within the space of a mmute he became invisible. Then the circular motion of the disc stopped, but no more was seen of the victim. He had uttered no sound, no wail of agony, lint he had simply vanished like a spent Catherine wheel, leaving no trace be vkind. We sat appalled at this gruesome performance. What could have become of the man ? However, it was of no use trying to solve the mystery; there -was more to come, so we turned our atten tion to the remaining two prisoners. Two attendants approached them. They were not to die, for had not the king said so ? What was about to happen ? It was an nounced to them that the death penalty had been commuted to ten years' solitary existence. "Well, come," I said, with a sigh of re lief, "that- sentence means at least life for them, and, doubtless, they will he put to live somewhere where they will have no communication with any ou ebut their gaolers." The king smiled as my wireless tele gram reached him. *Let. contact be made," he commanded. The attendants touched the wires on the helmets which had been placed ou the "prisoners' heads, iwith metal buttons at tached to wires coni>ected with powerful little batteries, which I have yet to de scribe. At this time I did not realise the dreadful electric force stored in them. At the instant the wires inert; a wonderful change came over the men. The com plexion of their faces was changed to a greenish hue, -their dark 'hair stood on «nd and became silvery white. Then the tame rigidity which I had -observed in the rase of Gastprth set in, and they became incapable of moving a limb. . Their eyes alone retaned their mobility. This, added to the ghastly colour of their faces, /tave t'Uem a truly horrible appearance. It was an awful transformation. "Remove them," Baid the king, "and let them be placed in the 'Dwelling of the Lost-' " The attendants lifted them ou to a kind of trolly, .and they were con veyed noiselessly from the hall. The k'ng then directed his face towards the 27 nobles, and asked : "Has justice been done ?" They answered: "The sentence was just and the penalty has been righteously in flicted." . Rising from the judgment «eait, the king dismissed the court. I could not help thinking that he and his court had a' peculiar idea of justice. He first condemned the prisoner, then executed the sentence, and when the deed was irrevocably done, he asked the court if he" had done rightly ! If they had said he had done the reverse, I sup pose they would have been at once put in the • prisoners' places. I took care, how ever, only to think this, for had I so much as whispered my thought the king would have heard it, and it might have so displeased him as to lead to an inter ruption of our, sj far, pleasant inter course. It was now, according to our reckoning about 10 a.m., 'but our watches, on be ng consulted, gave no indication of the time. The electricity by wliioh we seemed to be surrounded had magnetised tlie tv'orks and they were consequently useless. We"Vere no** given to understand that our evening meal would be prepared for us in a saloon adjoining our sleeping rooms, and that hig Majesty would see us afterwards; at present he had work to -do, which de manded his immediate attention- He would notify us -when lie would be read? to receive ns and continue his narrative. We ceremoniously bowed ourselves out of the presence and returned to ou? rooms. . Pickles remained with us, as we were glad of his services, and he perform ed all the duties of stewardship with as much regularity-and ceremony as if he had Bt'-U been on board ship Haviivtr remaned our rooms, we naturaftv began to talk over the extraordinary method of putting a man to death that ■we fhad just witnessed. We could, of course, form no idea of what had be come of Gaskarth, nor, as Kemble put it, "of his dungaree breeches and sea boot*." Whether he had been orem&ted or disintegrated by electricity could not be determined by us. One thing, horv #ver, was perfectly clear—he had vanished like a puff of eteara, whilst the two sailors Bad been paralysed much as we hare seen a spider -rendered incapable of inde pendent motion, yet perfectly preserved by the sting of a mason wasp. In due course we sat down to an excel lent supper, at which function Pickles was our only attendant. The different courses were passed into the room and again removed by invisible means. Yet we could clearly understand that there was no juggling or enchantment in these performances. They were simply the result of the evolution cf scientific prin ciples. After dinner we lighted our pipes and discussed the situation a* usual, not forgetting to give a thought to our -absent friends at Cape Adare. We, of course, did not omit trying the effect of conversation by means of our helmets, rwhich had been sent to our rooms, and ye found this means of con versation most enjoyable. There was no need to raise the voice above a very low tone, and by merely directing the wire point towards the person addressed every word was distinctly heard by him. In the midst <of our conversation we were all surprised to hear a voice saying: "Captain Bjornyik and gentlemen, I shall be glad if you will favour me with your company for a day or two at my country house." "Now, I -wrmder where he is at this moment," said Dr. Toddleben. "Shure, he's probably at the bottom of the sea, like he was in the Nautilus whin he invinted the telephone," said Kemble, knocking the ashes out of his pipe "You still think, Kemble," said I. laughing, "that our amiable host is Jules Verne ?" "Faith I do, and I'll shtick to it till he proves to me "the jntrary My fir rum belief is that we shall find him a thousand fathoms uuder the sea, shooting sea-spiders wid his submarine gun, or umusing himself amongst some coral grot toes tying a couple of octopus divils to gether by their tentacles, having a sort of submarine, cockfight." "Well, all right; have ft so. Let us call an attendant and find out how we are to get to his submarine country house, or wherever it may be," suggested the dootor. There was no need to summon the at tendant, for the instant Todleben spoko a man presented himself and told us that the king was at a small palace near the South Pole, whioh be often v:sited when inclined to hunt. It, was only 00 miles from the capital, and -we could reaoh it in a few minutes if we would let him know when we were ready. We need not, he said, take any weapons with us; his Majesty would provide us with all hunting requisites, should we care to in dultre in that pastime. "Hech ! sirs," cried M'llwraith. "A'nl «rr dootin' that we'll aye be fa'ing intil a snare this time. What for no should we tak' orr - aicms wi' us ? To gie yot on canny king, or whatso'er he ca' him self,, a chance to murther us wi' oot oor be:n' able to tfecht for oor lives ? But Ise no gang ane step. Am no- fey what-' efer, so here all bide, an' af ye']\ be said by me, gentleman, ye'U a' aye bidewhaur ye air the no?." As M'llwraith ceased to sneak <we all heard a voice saying in gently reproach' fin terms :— "What cause have yon had, mv friend*, to doubt my good faith ? You h*ve already seen a little of the power I •possess. Has -that power not been used to bring you here in safety ? Has it not been used to punish your enemies; I have given you the word of honour of a gentle man and even of a ruler. Let that be sufficient- ' lam expecting you. Pray do not disa.opomt me." "I say, Mr. Juggius," «aid Kemble to the attendant, "I don't suppose that's your name, me heney, but I must call you something,' you know. How far, Jug jrins, d'd yon say hi 3 Highness was from this place ?" Sixty miles, Monsieur," replied Juggino, •miling. "Sixty mile 3, d'ye say ? And probably Irish mles at that. And Mac. here talk ing almost uuder 'his breath wid no tele phone about, eh ? And yet all he says is heard that far off. eh ? How is H done, tell me ?" cried Kemble. "Monsieur has perhaps never Heard of the mega-stentorophone ? suggested the so-called Juggins, politely. "The mega-stentoro<phone ? No, my friend, Oi may safely affirm that Oi 'have niver been contag/ous to the likes vr sich * baste in me loife. Is there one here at all, at all ? "Yes, Monsieur, there are even four, for each wall of this rotom is so constructed tliat it will convey spoken language to any distant place with which communica tion has been established. The surface of the walls is electrifed, and the electric fluid attracts all sound* as well as bodies. Thus, the sound of your voice tras con veyed to his Majesty, who at once replied as yon nave heard. "Is there, then, no position," I asked. in which a person may be placed so aa to speak withont being overheard ?" "Oh, doubtless, monsieur," he answered earnestly; "otherwise all our people would overhear everything that is «atd in the palace. Consequently the arrange ments are such that the current here does not pass to any one but the king himself, or to the person he is pleased to con verse with. In other cases, the electric current car. be cut off, and then a mes sage can only be sent, without any medium but the air, direct *o the person to whom it is addressed, and even if the latter is surrounded by ]?alf a dozen people he alone will receive it." "By Jove !" I cried. «This beats Mar. com hollow. But, come, let us go. I must confess that I place the utmost non fidence in our kind host, and I shall on no account take a weapon with me." "Nor I," «aid the doctor. "As for nieself," cried little Kemlde, Id ecarn to demane meself by any such action. So come along, Mac". It'll be a rioht, «s ye call it. Never fear." "Am no fearin,' Master KembJe " the latter replied, "but it's dootin' a am. A <loot sair—a doot sahn ——" "Pickles," I broke in, "you will attend ns. w "Very good, sir," replied the ever-Teady steward. We went to the large entrance gate, and there found a beautifully fashioned vehicle, very like a Urge barouche, roomy enough to hold us all. (To be Continued.)
A PAGE FOR THE BOYS Our Boys' Story. THE ANTARCTICANS. BEING THE FURTHER AND STILL MORE SURPRISING ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN BJORNVIK IN THE REGIONS AROUND THE SOUTH POLE. AS RELATED BY HIMSELF. All Rights Reserved.) CHAPTER IX.—WE VISIT THIS KING'S COUNTRY SEAT. By A.J. BOYD. As soon as we were seated, the vehicle was closed overhead and on all sides by a light aluminium hood provided with clear glass windows, through which we could see all that passed outside. When the "lid was on," as Kemble quaintly express ed it, four enormous pairs of wings ex-. panded from each side of the machine. A alight whirring noise outside underneath the vehicle, or car, was all we heard, but through the glass we could see an attend ant seated in a sort of little glass cab in front of us working two or three electric buttons. On his touching one of these the machine rose to a considerable height in the air and pressure on a second knob sent the whole affair flying at a most pro digious rate towards the South. An American once remarked that the speed on the English railways was so great that the telegraph poles seemed to form a continuous fence. Our speed was so tremendous that we seemed to be rushing over a solid green field, for the trees, rivers, mountains, and villages appeared, owing to the frightful speed at which we passed over them, to blend into a single sheet of spotted green herbage. Five minutes after leaving the palace, we alighted at the beautiful country villa where our host was waiting to receive us. Twelve miles a minute!" I exclaimed "Faith, that's purty smart travelling" quoth Kemble. "Seven hundred and twenty miles an hour should satisfy the most impatient of travellers." Not so, however, thought the king. He summoned the coachman, or engine driver, or motorman, whatever his designation was. "Why did you come so slowly !" he asked. "Because I feared to alarm the strangers, your Majesty," replied the terrified driver, trembling with fear. "What is the regulation speed laid down for my velocipens ?" "Fifty miles a minute, your Majesty " replied the driver. The king called up an attendant. Paralyse me this useless fellow, he said. "and then take his place." We were once more unwilling witnesses of the punishment by paralysis. When the poor wretch whose intentions had been so good was removed the king said he regretted that he had been obliged to be severe on the man, but it was absolute ly necessary that the flymg machines should be kept at their highest speed as a rule, for lf at any time a long journey had to be made to some distant point where no appliances existed for drawing out the electricity of the earth some disaster might easily happen. The loss of mag netism was not, he said, diminished or in any way affected by the interposition of any kind of bodies except iron, and the magnets own powers were not diminish ed by communicating its properties to other bodies. This seemed to me to savour of contra diction, but I held my peace, and the king went on to say that as pure iron most easily receives magnetism, so as there were vast deposits of pure iron all over An tarctica the more rapidly these were passed over the less loss of magnetism was suffered by the magnetic receivers of the machine. I accepted this explanation without clearly comprehending it, as it seemed to me that one proposition nullified the next, but without further inquiry we en tered the house which, although small as compared with the palace in the capital, was yet a marvel of architectural beauty, whilst, as we afterwards saw, it was fur nished in the most beautiful modern style. We were soon seated on comfortable lounges with low tablees at the side of each bearing decanters of wine, spirits, and cigars. When we were alone, we always smoked our pipes, but in our host's company, we were quite contented to conform to court etiquette and smoke the fragrant cigars provided. When we had filled our glasses, and the smoke "pow-pow" was in full swing, the king took up the interrupted thread of his story as follows.

CHAPTER X.—THE KING CON TINUES HIS NARRATIVE. "You remember that I interrupted the account of my preliminary work in pre paring to visit these regions at the point, when I had decided to make the Marianne Islands the base of my operations. You may be quite sure that I left no stone unturned in the search for 'accurate in formation concerning these island. One very important thing I learned. It was this : By means of a very intricate chan- nel some twenty and odd miles long, a ship of any draught could be taken to one of the islands which was surrounded by a very broad, deep lagoon, sheltered on all sides from heavy seas and rollers and, to a great extent also, from boisterous winds during the hurricane season in January and February. An old South Sea Island trader whom I met in San Francisco gave me this in formation, which he declared he was con- vinced no other white man knew, for the crew of his trading lugger had consisted wholly of Kanakas, who were every one murdered in the Mariannes, when he him self had managed to escape by slipping : his cable at night- Thanks to a pro vidential fair wind, he was able to sail down the channel and so get out to sea. He had never been there since, but he gave me a chart of the channel, and of the main and smaller islands between ; which the channel wound, on which chart all the soundings were given, together with the bearings of one island to an other. Besides all this, every submarine obstacle in the shape of sunken rocks, shoals, and sand banks was accurately put down on this invaluable though crude ly fashioned chart. With this in my pos session, I felt it was almost impossible to fail in reaching the island safely. "This great point—the one of select ing a site—having been settled, my next business was to buy all the machinery and chemicals required for extracting the aluminium, and working and rolling it into plates for the vessels I contemplated building. I decided to buy all my stores in the United States, and therefore took into my confidence a celebrated ship builder, who, in consideration of a very high salary, engaged to devote himself to my services for two years, or until the ships were launched and fitted out ready for sea. "My next care was to make a selection of the applicants I have mentioned as a nucleus of a population for the new coun try. This was a very troublesome busi ness, the details of which I will not inflict upon you.Suffice it to say that by all sorts of means I succeeded in getting to gether 1500 people of many nationalities, some married, and those who were single were of equal numbers as regards sex. These would gradually get married as the new country became settled. Except the shipwrights, engineers, and artificers, they were not all selected until about twenty months had passed, and the ships were ready. "This troublesome matter having been satisfactorily arranged, I bought and fit ted out two large steamers with accommo dation for 1000 passengers on each, be sides a large number of horses and mules. I took care that the officers, engineers, and crews of' these boats should be bound under agreement to proceed with me to Antarctica. This was, howewer, the latest port.on of the work. "To carry out the first part of my pro gramme I purchased four sailing vessels at San Francisco, and, loading them with machinery and necessaries of every kind, I sailed with them for the Mariannes. I had taken care to carry with me a steam launch with which to explore the pas sage, for I did not like otherwise to ven ture with vessels drawing 14ft. of water into a perplexing, intricate passage, bristling with hidden dangers. We, therefore, on arrival, let go anchor in a sheltered bay near the entrance to the passage, and one of the captains, two of ficers, and I set off in the launch to test the correctness of the chart. "To make a long story short, we found, by sounding, that the old trader's chart was correct in almost every particular, so we hove up anchor, and with the launch ahead and one of the captains as pilot, we entered the channel, and turning, twisting, and wriggling along through its many windings and obstacles, striking a shoal here, and gracing a reef there, we reached a beautiful, broad lagoon, into which we sailed, and finding deep water as we approached the land, we let go anchor within a quarter of a mile of the shore. Here we were perfectly land locked. There was no swift current, nor could any gale possibly affect us.. " Once on shore, I was not long in find- ing an ideal piace on -which tw set up my workshops. There was pienty of good, fresh water, very fine timber in great quantities, and all we had to do to make a start was to erect shelters and land our goods. This was a tedious business, oc cupying fully three months, but much of the work went on ashore at the same time, so that although the ships were so long in being unloaded, the keels and ribs of my two ships were laid, and the alumi nium furnace and the roller mills were in full swing before they had completely dis charged their cargoes. We now moored the vessels securely, unbent the sails, and all hands removed to the shore. "The metal we required we obtained in abundance, and the works soon reduced it to the proper shape. My master builder and his crew of experts and artificers worked well, and soon the finished hulls of the vessels reposed on the ways. They were of great size and beam, and mea sured 8000 tons each. Both of them are here now, and you will see them when you like to inspect my fleet. The engines had been most carefully and secretly made at different workshops in America, Eng land, Germany, and France, yet so accur ately were the separate parts made, ac cording to the plans supplied, that very little work was needed to fit them to gether. The work had occupied nearly two years, but the vessels were well built in consequence, aud after launching and fitting up, they lay above water in readi ness for my emigrants. "I now returned to America with the sailing ships, and, as I have said, pur chased two steamers and conveyed to the islands, not only the original 1500 se lected persons, but also the crews, cap tains, and officers of the sailing vessels which I sold at San Francisco. I have made no secret of my intention to colonise one of the South Sea Islands after the same plan as that conceived by the un lucky Marquis de Ray, who tried to colonise New Britain and New Ireland, with results disastrous to all concerned. No such fa:lure could possibly attend my scheme; the details had been too perfect ly thought out. Thus there was noth ing to occasion surprise on seeing two steamer loads of emigrants clearing for Honolulu, with the avowed intention of making a home on same uninhabited or sparsely peopled island belonging to one or other of the great Powers. "We arrived safely at the Mariannes, and within a week we had put our sub marine boats to several severe tests, several of our emigrants being on board. We practised taking them under water for several days; until all had pretty well overcome any feeling of insecurity in such a novel situation. In fact, they at last preferred moving about in such a calm medium as the lower depths provided to tossing about on the surface. Thus the Erebus and Terror were thoroughly test ed, and proved worthy of our confidence. "What to do with the two steamers puzzled me for a little time, but at last I decided that I must send them to San Francisco for sale. Their arrival there would give rise to much surmise and comment, but, by that time, I should be far beyond any pursuit, as I had not the slightest intention of making any other port where I might be heard, of and have my movements tracked. The two sub marines were now carefully towed through the passage by the launch, and were an chored in the lagoon. The passengers were then brought off by the ordinary steamers, which followed us, and we part ed company as soon as the people had settled down in their new quarters. Dur ing the whole of the time we were work ing on the island,we had seen no strange vessel, not even the lugger of a white trader. Probably, the smoke from our furnaces, if seen, was set down as pro ceeding from a volcano, and so attracted no particular attention. The few natives who came to us we employed according to their ability, and they gave us no trouble. The whole business had thus been carried out so far with admirable success." (To be Continued.)

A PAGE FOR THE BOYS Our Boys' Story. THE ANTARCTICANS. BEING THE FURTHER AND STILL MORE SURPRISING ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN BIORNVIK IN THE REGIONS AROUND THE SOUTH POLE. AS RELATED BY HIMSELF. (All Rights Reserved.) CHAPTER XI.-A HUNTING EXPEDITON. By A.J. BOYD. Here the king stopped. We felt so in-<*> terested in his extraordinary story that we could have listened for hours, but he said he was rather tired, and, as we had all -had a long day, it would t>3 better to retire to rest ana prepare lor the iaugue tof a hunting party, wuh -which he pro posed to divtst us next day. Once eu eoonoed in the *jit eiderdown beds, i.\hich mere provided for us, we made tnc dis covery that we weie icaiiy a.I tired cat., and aa the rooms <nere artificially darken ed, we were not long iv falling asleep. We were up early next day, and. after breakfast, all .airauguaenu 'having been previously made for the shooting expedi tion, we mounted a flying mat-nine, ac companied by four other machines laden with weapons of various kinds, provisions, and attendants. The«e ail sailed at dif ferent hf!.ghtB to the nght, left, -and reir of our machine in order to avoid col # 3i«iou3 Thus we bore away towards a Qarge forest wliich .was visible some 20 anilea away, eoveriug the sidej v,f s.me high hills, and clothing a wde valley. fthis>ugh which, from our altitude, we could perceive a considerable river ran. Oil this ooeasion, the king d d not in* *:st on speed. On the contrary, he caused ■the machines tj pi«oceed slowly, occa ■innally letting them rise or fall, or shoot -down diagonally whilst he expla r.2d *he mechanism to us. These machines were, in fact, carriages borne, aloft by a peculiar arrangement of immense alumi nium kites, arranged in the furra of birds' wings. Of these there were four sets on each side of the carriage- In a receptacle beneath the latter were accumu lators in which sufficient electr city was •stored to carry us several hundred miles at full speed. By a curious arrangement of the sLeering apparatus, we were en abled to sail much closer to the" i.riud than the best equipped modern yacht, •whilst if it were absolutely necessary to •ail against the wind, a system of paddle "wheels driven at enormous speed gave Ihe inachine an impetus which would carry it rapidly ahead in the teeth of a gale. .The king admitted, however, that it was dangerous to be caught in a heavy gale, «s the wings might easily suffer damage, when the vehicle w«ould, of course, be dashed to the ground. Stiil, if the open •ea, or a luke, or a large river were at liund, all serious danger could be avoided iv the event of the wings collapsing, by driving the machine at full speed towards the water, where it would, if it struck fairly, be supported by its groat buoyancy, due Jo the watertight compartments. "But," slid he, reassuringly, "such ucci dents are very rare, and we will trujt that aione may lupiwn to-day." He then drew my attentiou to the weapons •we were to use. The guns and rifiea much resembled our own fowling-pieces «uid magazine rifles, but, unlike the latter, they were fired by a very ingenious pneu . mate arrangement, iwh'eh, 1 confess, I could not well understand, although I «fterward« saw that the effeots of the fire were far m.vre deadly than that of any nile known tj European nations. I was •urprised to ace that the .bullets were tnade of gold. That metal appeared to l>o bo very plentiful in Antarctica that it tvus put to many uses in which we employ lead, tin, or copper. Just before we reached the forest, the King 'ordered an attendant to liand me one of my own rifles and some-cartridges.. I have brought this with me," he end, to show you how useless your rifled would be to you if I «o willed it. Oblige jne by loading that weapon and firing into yonder tree, you see below you." I inserted the cartridge, closed the breech, took aim at the trunk of the tree, and then tried t3 pull the trigger. It was ammovable I €98ave d to open the Jbreech, but that also was impossible Much astonished, I examined the lock, bu nothing seemed wrong about it ' Th^ kang looked amused. "You eee,^he siid, taking the gun from my hands, "that these weapons can txj rendered harmless, even in the ehfJrt •pace of time required to pass them from one hand to the other. The fact >t your rifle is magnetised, and its movable parts are so strongly attracted to each other that it is quite impossible to use iL" "Then this is -what happened tk> our rifles on our arrival here ?" said Kemble. "Precisely so, Mr. Kemble," said his Majesty, who, it will be observed, allow ed us tJ enter freely into familiar cou« , venatton with him- Indeed, he had re quested ua to drop ceremony, ana to c:n« elder him merely as a gentleman of means Jike ourselves. We were now approaching the forest, and itlie king gave orders to bring the aer.al ships to the ground on a pretty grassy knoll, ekping dct*m to a part -of the river, which hei?e opened out iivto something re sembling a long lake. We could see many kinds of waterfowl, bucli an black and •white swans, geese, ducks, and teal, swim miug about in and out of the reeds which lined parts of the -bank, whilst tall ad jutant birds, and even Jabinis (the West African Tan talus), stalked about in the shallows, seek'ng for their favourite food. Hares and rabbits abounded in the wojds, while singing bird* seemed to be present in thousands* ' Whilst w« were admiring this pretty rural scene, we were startled at a roaring sound exactly like that made by a 6in. shell hurtling through the air, and then out from the nearest wood ruahed the mo?t fearful-looking monster 1 had ever seen except in the British Museum. It appeared to be an immense all gator, with huge leather wings and a horny tail. Down he swooped upon a deuse flock o? water birds, its vast jaws gaping wide, and bristling with terrible teeth, uttering ct the same time a kind of groaning, bellow ing cry. The -birds rose and flew in all directions, utteTmg shrll cries of -terror: but the monster had seized two swans in this jaws, and had besides entrapped ? dozen other birds by suddenly clo9\ng hi? -wings. Returning to the land, lie lay at full length, and began his meal. The king looked on with an amused conn-ten ant*. "That is part of our game to-day," he •aid. "Do you recognise the animal ?" "Devil a wan ay me, beg?in' yoirr h'-gh ness's pardon, has ever seen the loikes ny that black baste before. Bejorra !He must be the Great What'sh'snaine, 01 ilie Snark. Phwat is it at aIU at all ?" ■aid Kerable. "It appears to me," «%id the. doctor, "that there are fossil specimens of a t>r« liigtoric—ra«H. I canuot «ay, bird —call it ltat—a prediluvian bait, in the British Museum -wlrch much resemble this crea ture. I allude to the Pterodactyl us." "You have nimed the very an'mal, doc tnr." Paid th« king, with a smi!e wliich betokened pride that nuch an'mafe, known only na fnesil? in Europe and America, should to-diy 'be living in His dominions. "That iB the Pterodictylus of the geo logists, and it exists to-day nowhere but in these realms of m"ne. .But I shall, I lupe, «how you greater won dew yet. At present our husinett is to kill thin use- Wi animal, fcr I yniwt confess t>^ese Pterodactyls are dreadful nests. They carry off many a sheen and calf " "Sheep a«S calf !" I exclaimed. "But I beg your pardon. You are possibly joking." "Indeed, I am only stating a faot, Cap tain Bjorr.vik. You must remember th«t when I came over witb my ships I did not allow them to rust in harbour, bitt sent them to trade with other countries ? "In that coae," said Kemble, raiSer rudely interrupting .onr royal protector, who, however, dd not soem at nil an noyed, "In that case, how in it that we are the first strangers to clip eyes on those two beauties—l mean the ships ?" ""Easily explained)" replied the king. "I never allow them to be seen, because, as you have observed, I have the power to put them out of sight at will When the two ordinary ste&inera went * back to Son Francisco from the Mariannes, I sent instructions to a <trusty agent there to despatch, at regular intervals —every six months, that is—a small schooner to an island which lies v little to the couth east of Cope Horn. Elephant Island it is called. There the captain would find < any orders which 1 might desire to have i executed. In this way I have imported i sheep, cattle, horses, and many other 1 animals and things which the Northern i world can provide us with. The goods and animals are landed on Elephant t Island, where one of my cruisers is con- , etautly hoveling about the spot when the vessel is expected to arrive, and we cal- , culate the time pretty closely. As soon , as the schooner, or sometimes a ship, ap- , .pears, mine disappears. When the other has landed her cargo and taken her de parture, and is quite out of sight, we rise to tlie surface and transfer the goods to ; .our vessel, Irc'hich at once returns here," "But," I objected, "did not any captain try to discover who came to remove the> things, by leaving a spy on the island, or by coming back unexpectedly duv.ng the mght, and catching you at your work ?" "Once, yea," Tepled the king, "a foolish, captain left two men on the island, think ing to surprise my secret. As you may imagine, we take good care to search the island, which is easily done, as it is bleak and treeless, and only contains onesinglp place where a man might remain con cealed —a cave in which were placed all goods likely to be damaged by xam.. Those two meu entered the cave twenty five years ago—they are there still." "Wi' a' due submeeaion," said M'll wraith, "did your Highness's captain put those misguided carles to death. ?" "Oh, dear, no, Mr. M'llwraith." cried the king, laughing. "On the contrary, he gave them a new lease of life. They ore alive and well at thin moment, aud ■have never known a minute's sickness, nor had a care during all tltose years." "Prodecgioua ! as Domin'c Sauipson used to say," cried M'llwraitu. I had an idea that the king did not care to tl.vell oh this topic, so I nudged M'Tlwrarth and looked at him, as much as to tell him to say no more abjut it. "Now, about this Brobdinguagiaa bird or bat, doctor,"- said the king, heartily. "Who will shoot it ?" "I think, bit," the doctor replied, "that our friend Kemble would be disappointed if he were not allowed to go down anct engage in single combat with the Ptero daotylus as he did with the sea-serpent ?c Cape Adare." . "Oh, indeed, then, doctoT," quoth Kemble; "is that your opinion-? Th<?n allow me to just nuke one little remark. Yez may just go and knife tl?e baste yer self, for divil a shtep do I budge from th s knoll till I see it laid low wid a bullet through >t? ugly head." "Then, suppose we use neither bullet uot knife 1" said the king. "Yer Majesty wull be fer lassooing the burrd, then ?" suggested M'llwraith. "Oh, dear, no ! But you shall seo. Rene," and the king called the attendant. "Rene, kill me that heart. n "Rene, eh V muttered Kemble "Why, I christened the beggar Juggins, and by the,great mortal gobs, Juggias he shall be to me." Juggins, or Rene, to give the man his proper name, took from his satchel a small ob'.ong box, about thrca inches loii^ 'by two broad. He placed it upun alow tripod sta-nd, attacheu to it a tiny key board with two buttons on it by a little spiral oil of wire. From the front of the. little instrument there prcW'ided ?■ Bteel wire like th"j«e in the helmets. Rene looked through the eye-piece of the bat tery, directed the wire po.nt towrvrtfcg the • btost, and waited for order* The king nodded, and Rene touched a button. Scarcely had he done go wheu the Ptcro dactylua raised itt«H iiitu the air and fell back lifeless. To say that we were surprised only mildly expresses the astoniahmeirt with which he beheld the performance. 'We were quite 300 yards from ths animal. There *va« no flash, no noise, merely a touch on a button the (Mze''of a pea, and death flew from an instrument whose whole volume was but twelve cubic inches. "What appears to yen gentlemen littlo short of a miracle," said the king, respond ing to our mquirkig k>oks, "is constantly taking place before your eyes during tho summer months m your own country- You have good evidence, if you have not yourselves seen it, that human beings, the tewer animals, tree*, houses, masts, and, indeed, most objects, are often struck, maimed, bunvt, and killed by a stream of electric fluid shot from a thun dercloud, and reaching its objective point without the medium of a wire. Light ning, you will say, is erratic; it may strike any where. .Jnst so; but then no hand direct* the flash towards any particular •pot There is no necessity for any such direction. 'When great heat occurs, elec tricity accumulates, and when th'« is given off, as in the lightning flash, the surrounding oxygen is violently consumed by the enormous heat of the flash. Hence thunder. Now, my little weapon is merely a condensed thunderstorm, with Jightning, hot no thunder. There is, .'however, <thfs important difference be tween the natural and what T may call the artificial flash.' E d'rect mine, therefore. it is deadly. Nature's lightning, not .being .under QootrqJ,. is generally harm- We felt rather ashamed of our want of thought after this explanation, but the good-natured monarch soon relieved us 'elf onr embarrassment by suggesting that we should go down and view the ani mal I confess I was much surprised ?t its «ize and appearance, of which ths fossilis ed part 3, seen ;n museums, give a very poor idea. Whilst we were examining it, •we heard a most peculiar cracking sound on some rocks not far away, and sodii I ■espied a most repulsive looking animal, which crawled to the edge of a precipice quite 40ft.? high, and threw itsolf head first over. It did not even expand the leathery wings it i.v«s f urn .-sited with iv order to 'bre.ik the force of its fall. "Why, that's another of the same!" cried Kemble, "like the psalms of David." "No, indeed, it is quite different formed," said the doctor. . "Look at the scaly rings on the tail I suppose that caused the rattling on the rocks." "Ah!"' said the king. "Thmt poor 1 beast is harmless except to insects. It is the Rainphorynehus, also one 'of those animals \vh eh existed in the Jurassic period. Here they are very numerous, and, perhaps, you would like to have a closer view of this one, so we will bring him djwn. Kene !" Our friend Bd:n adjusted hia weapon* and the R:\inphoryncluis l'ell, struck deid •by the mimic lightning. When we had satisfied our curiosity, our host promised that, before we left, he would have speci mens of all the rare ainnals of the coun try prepared for us, so that we need takd no trouble about them now. We wer<> next to cross the river, but how -we were lo get over ,1 stream as wide as the on& before us, where we could see there wu? neither bridge nor ford, I could not imagine. How it was done will be de tailed in the next chapter of tliis veraci ous history. (To be Continued.)

A PAGE FOR THE BOYS Our Boys' Story. THE ANTARCTICANS. BEING THE FURTHER AND STILL MORE SURPRISING ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN BJORNVIK IN THE REGIONS AROUND THE SOUTH POLE. AS RELATED BY HIMSELF. (All Rights Reserved.) CHAPTER XII.-A WONDERFUL BRIDGE. By A.J. BOYD. We moved down to a convenient spot on the river bank, and [?]at down to dis-<*> cuess a couple of bottles of champagne which our considerate heat had included an the provisions for the day, whilst Rene (who seemed to be a sort of white Me?rour to this Haimin-al-Rasehid, of Antarctica) busied himself rin making preparations for crossing. We were all eager to see how it was to be accom plished, for certainly there appeared to l>e no appliances at hand of any kind for felling treas, and making a raft, iwhich, it eeemed to me,, was the only possible meliiod of gett ng over the "water. First of all, two tubes, which I had noticed lashed to-the car of one of the machines, were brought to the edge of ithe water, and each w«\s carefully placed .ton two trestles on concave rollers. The tubes were about 15 feet long, by 1 foot In diameter, and being of aluminium, were very light. They were laid about, four feet apart. Rene, having satis fied h'mself that the tubes were in th« right position, attached an electric wire to the base of each, and connected them with A h is baby battery. "Now, gentlemen, said the king, UI think I oan show you a method of cross ing a river which would be invaluable to a general in time of war. Of course, we could have crossed in the aerial ships. but I preferred to show you this plan. Now watch !" I should have stated that, resting cress- WJBC on the lower ends of the tubes, and extending some two feet -bey-ohd each on either sxle, was what appeared to be a roll of aluminium. We now witnessed the most extra ordinary and the most rapid piece o£ brdge building that I hid ever seen. A signal bc;ng given, our friend Rene touch ed both buttons of his battery keyboard, iiike a flash the longitudinal tubes flew across the river, opening up like telescopes as they went. With them went the cross tube, unrolling as it 'was carried across, and reading the opposite bank simultaneously with the ends of the tubes. I could scarcely believe my oya e:ght, but there before me was the con nection between both banks, and it was t?ade m less than two minutes. Now we could see that the sidcv were not tubea ,?t all, but only longitudinal sections of tubes winch lay with their convex part * ypwards, g.v:ng, of course, great strength to each part. There appeared to be no earning <bwn towards the centre. The whole thing was rigid. "Gentlemen," exclaimed our 'wonderful . host you see before you a perfectly safo road. lo;i may take my word that it w:ll not collapse under much heavier men than are here. 'Let us proceed. All I ask is that you keep about ten yards be hind each other, and that you do not march m step, for, although the bridge cannot break under our wcgh-t, yet it might yield sufficiently to give you -un comfortably wet feet, for you see it is only about a foot above the water. So saymg h :? Majesty stepped on to the flimsy-looking structure, and walked briskly over towards the other side, sign > mg to us to follow in the order he had suggested. We followed, stepping very g.ngerly; but when we had gained the tm r?'« and. found tliero wa« "0 percent >ble deflection, we walked on boldly. ?nj reached the other «ide in safety, where the king was smilingly waiting for us. v\e were nnspar.ngj in onr admiration of th;« application of electricity to bridge binld.ng and hi* Majesty appeared to be much pleased with our remarks. lie also promised that everything should be ox ■plained to us before we left, so that we rn:ght take home with in some new Ideas for the advancement of the comfort and lighten.n; of the labour of our fellowmen in the Xorth. He then proposed that we should each take a pneum.it: c gun, and w:th an attendant who knew tho forest, we shc.ild proceed to hunt on our own account for a couple of hours, our rendezvous at the end of that time being the br;dge. We glajdly fell in with this idea, and ac cordingly eeparated. For my part, I elected to go down the stream m the hopo of coming across some singular specimens of animal life of pre-Adamite aeons. Strolling along, and trusting rathCr to my attendant than to my o.vn watchfulness, I sb>ppej every now and Mien to pick up and pocket a land or wator shell or some plant which was plainly one belonging to the ancient coil measures. It was to ms a woihlct laiwl, a i>erfect living represen tation of f<wn.i and flora .long.ago buried t>eireat}i enormous heds of lime and sand stone. Here were all our old world fos- Bite, -trees, plants, animals, and shells, all growing vigorously. 1 was thus musing on these things w.hen Kemble came rash ing through the forest, bare-headed, his attendant with him. Kemble was shout' ing, evidently in great -terror at some thing which was in pursuit of him and ■his guide. lat ouoe prepared my rifle for a shot or two, but «t the same time I looked out for a place of safety in case the as yet unseen enemy should prove too stroug for me. But I could sec no way of escape except the river, and to trust myself to swim in water which, for all I knew, might be full of antediluvian teleosauri or crocodiles, such as the Noto saurus, Megalosaurus, and others, or, worse still, some terrible Btrachiopods or octopi was not at all to my mind. .Whilst I was considering what was best to be done, Kemble caught sight qf me and bore down like a footballer trying to make a goal. "Look out, Bjornvik!" he yelled. "There are two brutes a hundred thous and feet long after us. Phwat are we to do at all, at all ? Shure I've dropped me gun, and this other Jugs ns has no battery wid him." As he spoke there emerged from the underwood, a vast ani mal with serrated back, wicked-looking jaws of great size, armed with formidable teeth, and with a great horn on its fore bead. Its length must have been fully sixty feet, and it was makV.g rapid travel ling in pursuit of Kemble, bellowing all" the time like a Queensland alligator. "Great Caesar's G-host!" I thought. "Of what use will my rifle be against a brute like this ?" So, instead of facing it, I turned upstream and, followed by the other three, mada for tne bridge at full speed- Still the awful unicorn was gain ing on us, and we began to feel that we were lost, when suddenly the bellowing ceased, and on looking back to ascertain the reason for tthis, we raw that the ani mal was lying on its back qirte dead. We breathed freely again. It had be-an a stiff run, and I was almost spent. We nvere at no loss to understind -what Siad happened. Rene (or, as Kemp would persist in calling him. "Jug gins") had seen our " predicament as he was p:sted near the bridge, and w tbout delay had adjusted hi« bat tery and sent an electric message to the pursuing animal, which put a speedy end to rt« existence. On approaching it, I easily recognised it from pictures I had seeu- « WflS the Tguanodon or lizard of the Meuse of the Cretaceous period.. We now deeded that we would return turned, laufifbed! heartily over our ad to the rendezvous and await the king's arrival. In about -half-an-hour he re venture, and said he would not allow na to go out again without assistant* pro vided with batteries. The best rifle, ho declared, would be of no avail against the armoured monsters wh:ch were sometimes met with in those swampy parts of the i forest. ■ Meanwhile, the reet of the party aT- • rived with a gajd bag of wild fowl, < •hares, and rabbits. Without delay, we recrossed the river and the bridge was ■ withdrawn and repacked on its car. After a hearty nieai, we witnessed the Antarctic method of cotch'ng fish. Neither the usual lines nor nets were used. A wire with an attachment simi lar to a small Leyden Jar was thrown into the water, and, a current being sent through from the little battery, ecveral fieh, large and small, came stunned to the surface. These were secured by the attendant with a landing net- Amongst the fish were many European kinds, such as salmon, trout, pike, dace, drub, &c; but the most extraordinary and, to us, utterly unknown kinds came to light. Some were perfectly globular, others kroked like square bony case 3, witi a short tail, which worked on the prin ciple of the screw. All had immense eyes, and strong, crushing teeth. They belonged mainly to tlie genera which, :u the coal period, were called ganoid and phtciod fish. • '.There was one, however, which was furnished with very singular means of locomotion. It had nerthor fins nor ta 1, yet it could progress at a very rapid rate. -It had a large, soft mouth, and, a« we saw, on opening one of •them, two throats, or- ratner one throat - leading to the stomach, and a complete passage from end to end. The firth ■was about 4ft. long. Thig passage was lined with six longitudinal tubes much •J?Ke those eeen in the olother.um or Beehe-de-mer. The tubes were provided with valves, for what purpose 1 could not determine. - In order to show us how the f?h moved, an attendant placed one in a clear shallow pool, and we then saw that when it went forward it drew the water • violently into its mouth, the action carry ing the water right through the animal ' and expelling it violently at the rear, at the same time driving the fish forward in a series of jerks as it escaped at the other end- In moving backwards it prob ably made use of the small valved tubes, but tliia we could not be sure of. I brought back three spco:men« of the f.?h, and scientific ichthyologists have no doubt set the question ar reatt by thir? time. I named it the lioloptiehius tubi ferun. I also saw here some' of the largest dragon flies, I sluuld think, in the world. They were similar in shape to the familiar blue dragon flies of Europe They were <>uite a foot in length, with wings 18in. long. Their enormous eyes ffave them quite a terrifying appeaTance, but they were perfectly harmless. Butter flies were very numerous, and vied with ta:«e of India and China in size and gor geoiwness of colour. Sngularly enough, although bees abound, there are neither wasps n-.:r hornet* in Antarctica. Neither are there Any venomous snakes. IndeeJ. I never met with a snake of any kind during my stay in the country, although I was told that a large species of uov constriotar was occasionally to be seen in the woods. In some parts of the country consider able herds of aurochs exist. These ani mals are of great s ze and very ferocious. Amongst the birds., there is on(L which dp servos especial mention. It has the ap pearance of a large ball of golden or silver coloured feathers, and has neither wings, •tail, nor logs. Yet it contrives to soar to great height, and it is « very beauti ful 8 ght to see a number or them darting through the air in chase of the insects which form their fcod. They never •ettle on the ground, and if, by accident, one should fall to the earth, it would die •f hunger, as it has no power to raise it ■elf again. They rest on the tress, where they also lay their eggs, and form their nest*. 'When in flight they first m.\kc a downward swoop, then, inflating their light bodies, they rush diagonally, up wards into the air. In fact, their flight resembles the motion >cf a pendulum, and at each swoop they .rise Ifg'aer ami liigher till they reach an incredible (height. On alighting on a tree they ex pel tho air from their bodies, and are thus enabled to squat flat <en a branch. Their note is a prolonged, thrill whistle, and they keep up th's whistling the whole tim« they are in the air, so that the noise' is deafening when a large flock is soaring ■ about overhead. The natives call it the pendulum bird—a very appropriate name. I observed several uther birds and in* sects in the forests, but w.ll receive a de scription of them for a future chapter. Having finished our lunch, we agniin mounted the velocincns, and the king ordered the attendant ships to return straight to the palace with the game, whilst he proposed that we should pay a • visit to the South P.lc before return'ng ibotne- It was barely a hundred miles from our present position, and we could reach it in a couple of minuted "l wish to give you a pro;f of the great power and speed of my veloeipens," said he. "But first we must make prepara tions for a high rate of speed." The •hood was therefore carefully adjusted over the car in such a way that it pr>; «ented a kind tf cutwater, which would cleave through the air. like tlie sharp how of a steamship cutting through the waves and offering the minimum of re sistance- When the king had satisfied himself that everything was secure, he ordered the driver to get up full speed. and almost' instantly the indicator on the side of 'the carriage showed that we were travelling at the rate ol 110 miles a minute. We could hear the roaring of -the air as it rushed at .this more than hurricane speed past the car, but there was no other indication of this tremend ous velocity. Scarcely had I finished my examination of the velocipcn^metcr when I observed the "indicator •pointing to zero. We were therefore stationary. The hood was opened and the airslnp dropped gently on to the ground in the midst of a vast grassy plain. There was not a tree or shrub visible anywhere within the horizon. The plain can only be compared to a vast'rolling American prairie. Here and there we observed flocks of sheen and herds of cattle feed ing en the rich pasturage, unattended by and shepherd or stockman. (To be Continued-)

A PAGE FOR THE BOYS Our Boys' Story. THE ANTARCTICANS. BEING THE FURTHER AND STILL MORE SURPRISING ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN BJORNVIK IN THE REGIONS AROUND THE SOUTH POLE. AS RELATED BY HIMSELF. (All Rights Reserved.) CHAPTER XIII.—AN ANTARCTIC OBSERVATORY. By A.J. BOYD. Close to where we had reached the ground stood a large stone building quite unornamented, surmounted by an aluminium dome which rose a hundred itfeet ■firom tba ground. Descending from the machine, 'the king led us to a bronze door in the wall, and invited v* to enter. At our approach the door turned silently on its hinges, and we passed into a vast, well-lighted hall, the waits of which were covered with mapa of the heavens drawn to a larger scale than any I had ever seeu. Here I anw planets and stars set down which are unknown to European or any as tronomers other than those of Antarc tica. For instance, tlierei were five planets beyond the twelve we know 'of already. Beyond Neptune, the latent discovery of Leverrier and Adams, tho Antarcticang have foun-a Halek, Shelba, Pretorius, Digma, and Cacoethes, the latter being pro>*ed to be the last of tour •olar system. Other plan«t« belonging to >the system of Sirius and revolving round the cast centres, have been dis covered far beyond Cacoethes. We were especially interested in a chart •bowing the eccentric orbits and periodi city of the comets, and not only of the 139 comets which have been determined 2r British and other astronomers, but so of 300 others quite unknown up to Ahe present by our astronomers, some el which travel at the enormous speed of two million miles an hour. The greatest speed of Biela's comet, which appears to us regularly at intervals of ?ix years and eight months, k 880,003 m les an hour in that part of it? orbit which is nearest to the sun. But space and the scop* of my story forbid my catering (further into these ain&zing particulars. I haw brought horns copies of all these charts, and have pre sented them to the Royal Astronomical Society, by whom, they will shortly be published. Leaving the chart room, we ascended by a lift to the second story. Here were aerolites of all kinds, w-hich had been collected in many parts of Antarctica. The largest, •which must have weighed many tons, were placed outside the building, bat cuuonget those in the room were some very beautiful ones, a."H the analyses of their components which accompanied each exhibit, showed that many of them contained from one ounce to ten thousand ounces of gold per ton, indeed, two of the specmens appeared to Con sist of almost «olid gold. Same wero broken in half and exhibited beautifully radiating zeolites. Leaving this in teresting apartment, we ascended to the upper room and dome. There were all ik'iuU ofl astronomical instrument*, a magnificently equipped chemical labora tory, and the finest telescope the human mind can conceive. The object glass was 16 feet in diameter, and was, we were assured, absolutely without a flaw, whilst the telescope itaelf was 180 feet long. It weighed 10 tons, and magnified 240,000 times. That ib to «ay, that, by means of this wonderful instrument, the moon !« brought iwith in one mile of the observer, and the sun to within less than 4CO miles. All the . secrets of 'Mare are made known to the people o£ Antarctica by this tele scope. Mars being 142 million of miles from the sun, is consequently distant from our earth 40 millions of miles. Now •with our European •tekssoopes, especi ally with the American one in position at the Lick observatory, fleas, conti nent*, and canals have irfcst assuredly been discovered on this planet. But the Antarctica reflector, bringing Mars to wtfhin little over 230 miles of the ob server, ha* laid bare the whole face of the planet as it performs its diurnal ro tation on it« axis in 24 hours 39min. 21 sec. Thus, Mara is shown to be a planet precisely like our Earth, in all but its diameter, and, of coif roe, circum ference, and in the effect of gravity, in consequence of! it« email diameter, wb eh is but little more titan half thai of the earth, that n to say, 4100 miles.. Owing tj the distance from the sun. it does not enjoy so much heat ana light as the Earth, but its fauna ami fiora are all adapted to the reduced temperature. We were shown beautifully drawn durte of the surface of the plaitet, which is represented by three large continents v>f much the same con figuration as that of Africa and the two Americas. The land surface is much greater than that of the oceans, and .oae * 1.1 the con I neuts possesses some j very large deserts ami unwatered plains w'ftxh are rendfered fertile by a system of immense canals which extend, in instances, for 500 miles, and ttre from one to three miles in width. Theae cAn all be clearly d!stiiKjuHhod, and certain moving objects on the coast, and on tiie caiuus have been unin stalsabiy made cut as ships. The absence *v any haze or dimness near these vessels £oca to show that coal is not employed in i«ropelling them by steam, and that probably electricity is the motive power. It is quite possible to locate nome large cit:es on the continents, and these hate been charted and named ac cording tj the wh m of the Antarctic astroiromeTS, who h«vo already made same advance toward* ccinmu?icating with the inhabitants. We were invited to examine the heavens by thi« wonder ful instrument, and, I must confess, that what I hiw made me tremble to think '«rf my own utter insignificance, -to marvellous was the iaaeseriln'blo grandeur of the revelation. The sun spots we could clearly perceive to be vast rifts in an envelope of lurid flames envcloprng the' «an. I believe these flames have since been seen by European astronomers. The rings of Saturn and h.i? seven satellites were plainly to be seen, and there re left no doubt that the ring* are composed of some solid pon der*ns material wjich «Mts a broad nbadow on the planet. Saturn also ha* its continents and seas. Having long gazed on these wonder* with unsatiated desire, we wore invited by the chief astronomer to witness what has always been considered a mlrack of Biblical history. I allude to the stand ing still of the «un at the command of Joshua.. ,- Now, whether Joshua was an advanced scientist, or w lather he was divinely inspired, I do not pretend to discuss. Although, Galileo was -lot tnrod tm he confessed that the sun did not move (recanting afterwards). yet it is established beyond any possible doubt that the sun is stat'onary, and that the earth revolves round it. JToxev«r, I, at the astronomer's re quest, took the sun's altitude by sextant, and also noted the poait'on of the shadow on a sun-dal. After a period of about twenty animate*, to my as tonishment, the shadow on the dial re* . mained at tne point I had noted. Tak ing his sextant attain, I fonnd the alt: , tude pa be .the,.same as before. This -cferth p^sTnet had apparently no* moved towards the east for the last twenty minutes. Anotiher (half hour elapsed", and still the orb of earth appeared im movable, for the sun remained in the same position. But by this time I had thought Hie matter over, and, noticing that the atmosphere had been increuii inj{ in density during the "experiment, 1 at once came to the conclusion that the whole thing was merely the r*«ult of refraction. On my asking the chief as tronomer if 'this were not co, 'he smiled and said that the whole secret lay in increasing while not decreasing the den sity, but the transparency of the atmos phere. "Indeed," he *aid, "you are, ol course, aware that the sun i« nev«r really seen in its actual position except when he is in our zen th, and thus the days are longer thaoi they would be it there were no •refraction." I fancy the king was rather disap pointed with the result of this exhibi tion, but he might easily 'have conjec tured that men tof the scientific attain ments of myaeK and, in a lesser degree, of Dr. Todleben, would, of course, under stand the cau«e of the phenomenon, al though we might not have been prepared for it* long duration. When we left the observatory building, the king drew our attention to & large enclosure in which were a vast number of «teel doses 20 feet in diameter. "Here," he sad, "we collect the sun's rays during tho summer season. • Every disc is connect ed with a huge receiver underground, wherein the sun's light i«* stored up. During the winter, th-> bottled sunlight, as I may call it, is distributed to the various centres of population, ami serves to furnish davlieht. and even much warittth, for *bout «ight hours daily. Now you can see by wnat means we en joy a ol'mate and a «eagan so very unlike the usual AntaVctic winter, and how nisrhrt and. day succeed each ether as re gularly as in the temperate rones." More than this r**B not then explained to us, but I soon formed a theory e«to the method of catching and imprisoning the sun's niye, and reader* of "Out and1 Home" will have seen that I have al ready taken steps to produce artificial daylight.by a process, the idea of wfr'cb came to me like a flash of inspiration whilst on/ the return voyage from Aur tarctca. The ket thing to engage our attention here was a space enclosed around the position of the true South Pole. Here were a number of instru ments of novel resign by means of which the ♦Jectroity of fhe earth was ftxtracted and transmitted to the re ceivers at tiie capital, whence all need ful supplies were obtained for the us* kA ' the shipping, manufactures, mine** and general lighting. . flaviog made this nasty inspection of the South Polar Observatory, we one* more boarded our velocpen, and rising into the air, we wese invited by the king to refresh ourselves whilst the machine moved altowly ivorthward. We were m the midst of discussing a pleasant meal •when the heavens became «uddenly ob scured, and a high wind from the tiortli caJne up. The violence of this wnH rapidly rote to the force of a hurricane, and the day became so dark that *• were enveloped in almost black night. The king promptly gave orders to carry the sfhip to a greater height. Finding that the force of the gale increased as we reached the higher regjoud, the machine was lowered to within a mile of the earth. StJll the hurricane 'howled, and was driving us to the south, cr, rather, to be accurate, as ■we passed the South Pole again, toward* tlve north, only in the wrong direction, for it can be understood that any one standing on the point indicated as tlic South Pole must make any advance in a northerly, easterly, or westerly Erec tion; 'he cannot get further sjuth. Our host now decided on making head against the gale. The hood wae secure- ly fastened, and the wheels -were at once poit dv motion at full speed. "Now. gentlemen," he Baid, M3'ou will be af forded tan opportunity of seeing how these machines can make swift headway against a hurricane." He, at the same time, requested us to ass tit in doubly securing the fastening-! dl the btood, for "this was to be a battle against a force travelling at the rate of 100 miles an hour. • "1 only tru6t," he added, "that our -wings will not fail us, for, if they do, nothing but open water can save us." The ooean is but 200 miles from this «pot, that is, the open part clear of ice, 90 I shall head in tlr.it direction, end by the help of God, reach home by a circuitous route." We ux>w drove along at a frightful speed, and the darkness and roaring of the hurri cane, the noise of which was increased tiy that of -a heavy downpour of hail on the aluminlrnn hood, added to our fears for our safety. We had travelled in this manner <for half an hour, a lapse .of time which showed that something must have gone wrong with a machine which could easily cover fifty mil?s a minute under ordinary adverse circum stances. Suddenly the cause of onr ■want of speed became more apparent. One of our wings had been damaged, and now it utterly collapsed, and we be- Igun to fall -earthwards. The paddle ■wheels were at once set in motion, and •were driven to their utmost capacity, ithe air^hipf driving meanwhile at 11 fearful rate downward* towards the sea.. Fortunately, we reaches! it, and struck the water violently Reboundjn-g, iwe arose to a height of a fcuudrnd i'ect only to fall aga'n with no less force. Had the surface of the sea been smooth aH would have been well, but the gale had raised mountainous waves, and only the extreme buoyancy of the air car saved us from being buried in the waves. ■For my part, I certainly thought that we were lost, for we were in the posi tion of >a small vessel battling with a fierce sea, the only thing in our favouv being that we were able to bound over the billows, thanks to the lifting power of the paddlee. By means of a telephone, the king sent a message to the driver to make for Auk Island. In obedience to the command, the direction of the ship iwaa immediate ly changed, and within five minutes wo were under the lee of a high volcauio island, which completely sheltei'eil 119 from the violence of the wind. The speed was reduced, and the oar wes gently driven into a deep estuary, and 'beached on- Ithe sand.- The hoiojd waa then removed, and we stepped out, thankful to have escaped with our lives. There were «everal houses on the beach, and •we made our way to tone of them, .whence * menage waa to the capital, ordering a couple of velo cipens to come to us as soon as the gale should abate. Meanwhile, ivre made ourselves comfortable, and talked over the singular experiences of the day. The hurricane abated as quickly as it had arisen, and before the airship* to* rived the sun shone .brilliantly, and only a gentle breeze blew. Conditions being bo favourable, the king proposed that we should take a much needed rent, aa we had now been travelling, hunting, and «ight-see:ng far over (twenty hours. •We therefore all sought the grateful •shade of the forest, which liere came down neai'ly to the water's edge, and slept for three hours. R'sing refreshed and ready for further exertions, we 3et off along the beach under the km'j'a guidance for a bold, rocky headland about two miles away. (To be Continued.)

A PAGE FOR THE BOYS Our Boys' Story. THE ANTARCTICANS. BEING THE FURTHER AND STILL MORE SURPRISING ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN BJORNVIK IN THE REGIONS AROUND THE SOUTH POLE. AS RELATED BY HIMSELF. (All Rights Reserved.) CHAPTER XIV. THE HOME OF THE GREAT AUK. By A.J. BOYD. As we went along the King told us that we were now in the last home of the great auk, an immense marine bird, which has for a long time been extinct in the Old World. I believe there are only j three of the enormou? eggs of the Euro- i pean bird in existence in public and pri vate museums. Thus our misfortune 1 proved to be the means of affording us ' a Bight of a bird which had not, until ( now, been ever seen by any living person i in the Northern Hemisphere. ' As we approached the headland we be came aware of some f.gures which we at . first sight took to be pfllars of rock perched on its ledges. " There are several . auks," said the King, " and as they are fairly numerous here, I will consent to one being shot; although I never permit my people to destroy one, or to take the tabooed, and landing on it is only per mitted in case of stress of weather or eggs. Indeed, this island is specially accident to. a vessel or to- a velocipen. '• Now, Captain Bjornvik," he continued, v as from what you have told me of your Arctic hunting expeditions, I pre sume you to be welt acquainted with the habits of such birds as penguins and little anks, I will en <rust to you the task of shooting one. The pneumatic rifle must be- used, aa I have lei't all the batteries at the camp. We will remain under cover here whilst you stalk them." I was much gratified at this proof of the King's confidence in my ability as a hunter, although I knew, of course, that my experience in stalking game and my unerring aim were such as to moke me perfectly confident of bringing down one of the interesting birds. I have not yet described the pneumatic rifle. To all outward appearance it re- Bern bled the Lee-Metford magazine rifle, but the stock, which was of great strength, contained sufficient solidified air to dis charge 150 shots with a force which was equal to driving a bullet through six inches of timber at the distance of two miles. The bullet, which was elongated like that of the Lee-Metford, was soft nosed in order to give it stopping power, for if a bird like the great auk, or such animals as we had seen ia the forest, were struck anywhere except in the head. or heart, it could moke its, escape before giving the ■ sportsman a secoud chance. - , There was another peculiarity about the weapon, and that was a reflecting mirror about the sue of a shilling iin place of the back sight. It performed exactly the same function as the finder in a snap shot camera. As all photographers know, -when the image of the picture to be taken is seen in the finder, the snapshot may be made with the certainty that it will reappear in the centre of the sensitised plate or film. So with fhis mirror, the instant that the image of the game is seen in the glass, at that instant a touch on the trigger will assuredly plant a bullet in the animal's chest or head. The King afterwards explained, to me that ha had offered this ample invention to the British Government, who had, m usual, declined it, but subsequently he had written to a friend of his im. Europe, giv ing him exact instructions how to con struct and plan the mirror,, and further more had shown him how it could be used at night by means of a small electric light which concentrated its rays at a distance of 4006 yards on a space about four inches in diameter on the object aimed at, and pi no matter how the rifle was held, if the m bullet was sped, it must mfalliby Btrike It within the ring of light. The action q of firing also cut off the current and letr p the man who fared in complete darkness, so that lie could not be picked off by the n enemy. This electric arrangement has been fully described by a friend of mine, who wrote that thrilling story, "The Final "War." He omitted to acknowledge, how ever, that he received the plan for its application from the ruler of Antarctica. ~ Armed then with thi'.s formidable u weapon, I approached' the auks, keeping y well under cover until I got within about J1 800 yards of them. Now I was not ' satisfied to obtaiu only one specimen, for * I felt sure that I would not be . given c permission to visit the island again, so « I bethought me of an expedient which c had often served me in good stead in < Greenland, when short of ammunition on i hunting excursion. Taking out my *] landkerchief, I waved it in full view of ( the game. The birds, taking fright, , srowded together, and simultaneously • plunged from the rock on which they : itood into the sea. The height was , ibout 60ft. But this was precisely what ( [ had reckoned _ on. A* they swept lownwards through the air, I coolly waited an instant until I got three of them in line. Then I fired, and the bullet passed through all three before ' they reached the water. It was a | common feat of mine, but it excited neat admiration for my skill, especially in the King, although he seemed to me to be rather chagrined at losing throe of his precious auks. Still, as I aad only fired a single bullet, he could not express any annoyance, and he ordered the bird* to be brought ashore. > They proved to be magnificent specimen*, standing Bft- in height, with enormous flapper wings, and leg* quite four inches in diameter. Their webbed feet covered the space of a large dinner plat. . The dense covering of feathers on their bodies would have acted as a perfect defensive armour had I not taken the precaution to send my bullet through their head*. Having (sufficiently admired the im mense proportions of these interesting specimens, which the King presented to me, we set ourselves to hunt for their eggs. Their neat* were soon found, al though it is a misnomer to call mere de pressions in the rocky ledges, nests. Each huge egg stood on its broad end, exposed to the full blasts from the ocean, yet they were apparently immovable. We found between 2f> and 38, and selected six of the largest, which measured 18in. by 28in., and might, with reason, be described as the roc's egg* noticed by Sinbad the Sailor. Carrying these valuable treasures to the velocipens ourselves for fear of any nntoward accident, we arrived at the camp to find all ready for departure. Tho damaged vessel had already been repaired", so no time was lost in getting on beard. In a few minutes we arrived at the palace, where we at once took leave of the King, and retired' to our room* for a well-earned! rest. Towards- midday a messenger arrived to invite us to lunch with our host. We, of course, obeyed the summons,, and after an excellently served weal, he eon tinned the story of has colonisation, of the country.

CHAPTER XV. THE KING CONCLUDES HIS STOftY. "You will remember," the King aaid, taking up the broken thread of hi* *tory. "that I got all my people on board the submarine boats, and had sent the two stamcrs back to ■ San Francisco. One* we had parted company, we were sooa under weigh and steamed (observe, I use the word Bteamed for convenience sake, for, of course, my boat* were electrically propelled) away southward* well to the east of the Philippines and Slew Guinea, As we crossed the lOtb, parallel of latitude we sighted an American fleet making presumably fot Manila. Aa.it would not have suited my purpose to be overhauled, I at ones gave> instructions to submerge the boat* and whilst the Americans were ngnalliraj - to w? to heave to, we sank beneath th< " Yankee ships, whose- coamanders were I expect, wondering: "whar in thunder* the* two big snips they were Rgnallis* had got to.' In about an hour wa again came to the surface, and could just make out the Beet, hull down o* th* horizon. After this, the only ships we met w'w were, one or two Queensland, and "FkJ labour vessel*, which we did not take tht trouble to avoid. One fellow ran up U u«y and as we wanted to send sorry letters home, we> stopped and signalled to the Government Agent to come oi board. He proved a most amiabl* (tenia! sort of man, and promised faith fully to deliver all fetters entrusted U him. I remember has name well. Hi told me he had been a sugar planter it Queensland, near a place called IWn leiffh. Hia name was Frank Gooding I met him on my return to Queensland and he invited me to his house at Sand gate, and I must say he i« the fathei of one of the prettiest g'iJ* I have evej me't. The whole family wa* most ho* itable, and for a wonder curiosity about Ly trip to Antarctica was absent. The idies of the family asked no indiscreet uestions, mojrely accepting what it lea?ed me to tell them. "I said that we only met the vessels lentioned, but during a gale we nearly an into a British surveying vessel. The ommander ordered us to heave to. As-1 Iways bow to the Navy, I duly slowed ip and lowered the gangway for the oarding officer. He came on board and ntroduced himself as the commander. He ras a man of small stature, but, as is lot usual with little men, he put on no Hide,' and was very gentlemanly, merely isked where we were bound, looked at >ur papers, and then joined in. a pleasant that for half aahhou r disposed, of a >r two in good fellowship, then, stepped >ver the- side, waved us good-bye, and we vere soon oat of Bight o£ H.M. ship Lark. The next vessel we met with was also >ne of HM. ships. I determined to have i bit of. fun with her, so I ran up a Mack flag. That was quite enough to raise the frilL on a British officer. She was a mere toy compared to us, but she came after us like a butt-terrier, firing gun after gun, all after the Fust being shotted. Of course we uoold easily keep out of her range,, so after letting her ■kipper enjoy himself for a wbile, we struck the black flag, and ran up the British ensign, and fired half, a dozen dynamite shells far wide of her, dipped to her three times, and went on one way. I have often wondered" what sort of a rsport that captain sent in about us. 1 dare say if my friend the captain of the Lark had been on- board he would have hung on to us until he ran us to land, but neither he nor anyone else knew that we could travel for a week undei water. Be knows it now though. "Well, gentlemen, on we "went pad Australia, and at laet reached the pad ice through which you passed. We aimpfj went below it and rose again near Cap< Adare. There we stopped for a few dayi to give - our' passengers a run ashore, anc to get everything in readiness for thi submarine journey we now expected ta mate. You will doubtless think it wtu a foolhardy undertaking to risk rmminj beneath the surface when no one ot board knew anything of the sounding nor of sunken rocks or shoals, but it mus be remembered that my ships were enor monsfjr strong, and m addition to that we had very powerful searchlight* whiol made the water brilliantly clear a lorn way ahead of us. Furthermore, flier was no need to keep up great speed- M, main object was to safely pass the vol cauic outbursts of Mt. Erebus, and thei to either run through the ice barric which you found open—thanks to mt. a you will learn later on—or to pass undo ft, as we did, negotiating the wait c bergs obstructing the. approach to Cas Adare. "Well, after getting alt my emigrant aboard again, I waited on till I .got nea the dangerous zone at t&e mountain. The the ships were submerged till they near! touched bottom, before going ahead, bad found, on sounding; that we coul aot pass with our large ships on the wes era side of the volcano owing to tte rei which so nearly- proved fatal to 70a* I I deciered to go to the eastward, wfrci the icebergs were numerous. Stilt, thei was deep water, and that was all I wan ed 'We sank to the depth of ?09 fee This, I judged, would be sufficient 1 enable me to pta? underneath the berg which here only rose to a height of I 1 feet, with an. occasional meaatcr wfeo base was- probably 30WV feet below. The I *?w I could easily avoid. 14 Having then gaimed a aaitabk iept T moved slowly ahead. Lookmg towar ' the surface, I could see the effcet? 1 tbfr terrible oatbtufct* ol ,tbe votcan _ and stones of a large- sue came dbv I upon my- ship, bat as tfhey naturally f ( without violence owing to the great dep k to which we .were submerged, Obey c 1 £ us no barm*, and rolled off our round 3 decks as soon as they reached us. Wh ; we bad travelled soma miles past tl * danger without encountering any obstae t we tosa. to the surface and sped away t full speed towards the South, the 1 I Being fairly clear of ice. I then, enter k the channel through which*, by my. orde you were directed, and finally anchor t off the site of what is now the fine ci t you behold. That is now exactly 47 yet ► ag«. Since then I have made several vis r to the Old Country, and have studied. ' 1 'have- . told you, under differ* ■ scientists, and also joined several Arc1 * exploring expedtthme. But that as, > the way. "Havfmsc selected a suitable site for > settlement. I landed the whole of my ci i grants, placing them under cairvas un 1 the framed 'houses I had brought wi -me could be erected1. The sheep-, cart 1 and borons were turned into the fore , and then all set to work "with a will - clear the land, 'buikl house*, ere t machinery, and sow crops. Id fact, f began' the settlemeot in the usual pros ► faabkm of pioneer farmers. Still/ Ihi loftier ideas in my mind. I believed 'that ■with the scientific knowledge I possessed —a knowledge far in advance of my taachera—l could so control *he element* that the Antarct:c coutinent could bee made habitable all the year round, and not only habitable in the senee that frozen; regione are endurable by human beings,, but in the sense of such a change of clitaiatp as to change its rijccruira into a pevpetual spring, summer, and autumn. (To be continued.)
A PAGE FOR THE BOYS Our Boys' Story. THE ANTARCTICANS. BEING THE FURTHER AND STILL MORE SURPRISING ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN BJORNVIK IN THE REGIONS AROUND THE SOUTH POLE. AS RELATED BY HIMSELF. (All Rights Reserved.) CHAPTER XVI.-PIONEERFING IN ANTARCTICA. By A.J. BOYD. "You can imagine the surprise with Which I encountered the first winter here. The cold I found to be no greater than you feel at present. The splendid forests of th;a region, and the fauna and flora pre pared me for something of this kind, but 3 argued that where sunlight was want ing lor half the. year, there intense cold aiittt be felt. But 1 ltad not reckoned sufficiently on the currents of the ocean, and here I will explain to you' what no student of physcal geography has yet dis covered. No, not even Captain Maury nor Sir Archibald Ge.fcie, nor any other great scientist has been able to enow what •nay be proved by a visit to my. kingdom. "I have told you that the winters here are warm. Your own eyes must tell you so when yooi look at the grand verdure and forest groves everywhere. How does *3m come about ? Let me answer the question by propounding another. How is it that, W'hildt Labrador .« bound in ice and snow for nine months .in the year, yet Scotland, in much the same latitude, pos sesses a climate of surpassing softness dur ing the epring and summer ? The secret lies in this fact. The hoi; stream from the Gulf of Mexico—the Gulf Stream, that river in the ocean—eric roles the British Islands in 'its warm embrace and pro duces a 'heated atmosphere which is want i?ff in Labrador, where no warm current exists (for we have more than one) come from both the Atlantic and Pacific, and tome are offehoota of the Black Stream of Japan, others of the equatorial currents of the two oceans. These flow in va«t volumes to this Tegion, and unit'ng form an immense, area of warm water surround ing the South Pole within the great ice barrier. The consequence is that an al most tropical climate is found 'here all the year round. The only drawback to its perfection waa (I say "was" advisedly) the withdrawal of the sun's rays dur ng five months of the year. Tbie drawback no longer exists. I 'have overcome the natural absence of light by scientific means, and no1*- our winters are as light as our «nn merg. "By the aid of my machinery and «£*££- stive electric appliances, stone was quick ly quarried, wharves and dockyards were built, and n less thau -two years a large portion of the city was built. At the same time, I neglected nothing which could oonduce to the moral, intellectual, and physical welfare of my people. When yon visit 4he city and rural villages, you will notice that churches have been built •t every centre of population. Schools also have been provded in which the French language is iwed as well as Eng lish, for I hold that with these two lan guages my people, should the occasion at any time ar:se. can communicate, witu any of the civilised nations of the earth. Of th's you will have ample proof when you visit the people n their homes. "As you may conclude, electricity,mag netistu, astronomy, and ohenristry form sn *mnor<tant part of the curriculum of the school*, for on an intimate acquaintance with these subjects depends the whole nvcl fare of the population, and, indeed, of the Wtat.e, itseii. Xov lnyaejl, 1 am tuo supieme uead of 'tue coinm unity, and 1 ■iiave appointed a comic i ot 27 ot the a meat meu aniouggt us to superintend the carrying out of all om great worK?. You have known, me under tne (title ot King. It is a title, which i do not claim or desire. I prefer to be con&Klered in the light of a patriarch ov president, accessible to the poorest of the people, although, when 1 gay poorest, 1 must be understood to mean poorest in ability, for there is no such thing a? financial poverty here. All are well to do, yet work is carried on iv the same manner is in other countries. " At the outset, I decided that a system ot barter 'would. eventually prove cum* brous and unworkable, so 1 determined to establish a mint, and to com Yrench money. It thus happens that I can pm* chase all requisite European goods for cash, and on the periodical trips which my vessels make to Elephant Island, they carry with them from £1000 to £50,600 in coin. Many of my people, myself in cluded, remit large sums to the principal European and North America bantu, where the money l:es placed to om1 credit in our names, although no bank official has ever seen any one but myself,' and that only once, when I presented a power of-attorney authorising me to act on be half of all the signatories and signed all necessary books and documents. I have myself accumulated over forty million*, much of which is invested in foreign securi ties, and also in Australian Government debentures. When I have shown you our gold mines, a glimpse of which you had on your journey hither, you will not be as tonished when I tell you that our united investments reach 140 millions. We sub scribe anonymously to all charitable funds. The Indian Famine Fund especially, and Lancashire Collier Famine Fund have been benefited, the former several times to the extent of tens of thousands of our money. Flood and fire relief funds, sailors' home, hospitals, soldiers' widoyv funds, and a host of charities kave.ne.vei* appealed to the public in vain so far as we are concerned,, but our donations arc always anonymous. • Owing to the great extent of this coun try (some 800,000 square miles), it is neces sary to keep up a fleet of trading vessels, not only for coastal communicattotj, but also for export of our commodities by t?c weans I have already told you of. You will scarcely credit the fact, but it is absolutely true that in 1896 we exported to Hamburg alone eggs to the value ot £1,203,200. This has been verified by a despatch to the Foreign Office by H.B.M. Cousul-General at Hamburg. Wo do an immense trade in whale oil, seal skins, sea otter furs, ivory from the vast deposits of mammoth tusks found about 500 miles from here. Whaleboue, and narwhal horns are also amongst our ex ports, as well as ambergris. But' we have never exported gold in any form except for the purpose of purchasing goods. Were we to export gold, we could send it . in such vast quantities that poverty would cease all over the world, but at the same time labour, inveution, and enterprise would cease, for who would work when he possessed means to live without labour ? 'Jho agricultural lands of the .world would cease to be cultivated for want of labourers. Ships would no longer cross the ocean for want of sailors and en gineers. But why continue ? You can Bet- that a plethora of gold by which every one would be enriched, would prove the greatest curse which could be inflicted on mankind. To us in Antarctica gold is really of value only as a convenient means of exchange and provididng an income for any of our people who may wish to return to the old life. Ab jet, none have done so. Most of tlte original settlers arc ether old men and women who have no desire for change, or they are dead. Tht preseut population, which has been greatly added to by new immigrants and by births, is perfectly contented." " May 1 ask what the population num bers ?" I asked. "As we take a census every six months," said the King, " I am in a posi tion to tell you that hurt month we num bered three and a half millions. And this great result has been achieved within the last 47 yean. I was 29 years of age when I landed here, after 17 years spent in study and travel. lam consequently 76 years of age." "76 years of age !" exclaimed Kerablo. " Begorra ! Yer Majesty mu?t have tho secret of the locality of the River of Life, and no doubt ye take frequent pegs of th? Elixir." " Pardon me, Mr. Kemble," said the King, laughing. "I am not one of the philosophers who imagine they can dis cover either the Elixir of Life or tho Phrlosopher's stone. These are pure hal lucinations. But there are means of de laying the natural decay of the. human system and of prolonging life and energy to an extraordinary degree. Those means are within the reach of all. They are electricity and magnetism, combined with frugality and abstinence from over indulgence of any kind. Now thj* is . y«ry natunal an 4 simple, is it not X £n4 in my person you 'have before you an example of what power these means possess. You would doubtless take me tor a man of 40 years of age. In ap pearance, in activity of body and mind, as rnrell as in bodily strength* I am forty, but, as I hare already told you, in actual years I am 76, and 1 have no reason to doubt that with reasonable care I ahull live to see my hundredth year. I hope 1 shall do so, as I wish to complete somo experiments I have made good prom-ess with by which I am convinced it win be jpo6f?:ble to re'.iev? these seas for ever of their icy bondsi" flight I ask, without being indiscreet," said the doctor, "in what direction these experiments tend?" • (To be Continued.)

A PAGE FOR THE BOYS Our Boys' Story. THE ANTARCTICANS. BEING THE FURTHER AND STILL MORE SURPRISING ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN BJORNVIK IN THE REGIONS AROUND THE SOUTH POLE. AS RELATED BY HIMSELF. (All Rights Reserved.) CHAPTER XVII.—A WONDERFUL SCHEME. By A.J. BOYD. "No indiscretion at all, my dear Doctor Todleben. Everything I do here is for the universal benefit of mankind. Noth-<*> ing is secret. The experiments I allude and friends of a simple country gentle man, whose only ambition is to surround himself with true frieud3 and to be # of signal service •to mankind before he joins the great majority amongst whom the king is no greater than the pauper. Therefore, as a Yaukee friend or mine, says, "Let us shake, and be to all intents and purposes friends, each on an equality with the other. "Rene! Quelque chose a boire. Ces jnessieurs me feront I'honneur." Rene brought in the usual variety of liqueurs, and we all stood up and drank to our friend (no longer king to us), and to the full success of his marvellous schemes. 'We all shook hands. Then ha said : "Up to the present, my friends you have not known me by name. It is tims that aU mystery should cease between us. Now be prepared for a rude shock. My name in Europe was Ebenezer Mobsby. Not very euphonistic, is it ? So as this was not exactly a name to conjure by as leader of a people and founder of a kingdom, I tranamogriphied it into Bysom-ben-Ezer, and I am usually styled Ben Ezer, which sounds Oriental. Do me the favour to distinguish me by th* latter name." ";*l Kemble could not restrain his mirth; in deed, we all smiled, but he roar ed, and actually rolled on the floor and kicked up his heels in his merriment. Reue, of course, was not in the room, and the eloctric circuit <was cut off so that the megastentorphonic walls did not convey any sound to the attendants outtids "Well, by the sainted pig and the nag ging of me. mother-in-law ! he exclaimed. "This bangs Banagher, and we aU know ha banged the divil! Mr. Mobsby, I'll have all the pleasure in life in calling you Mr. Ben Eser- I had an idea you had some such ordinary name—all the greatest in vintors have." Ben Ezer, as. I shall hereafter call hhn, having concluded his story, and taken ns thus into his confidence, now took his leave of us, saying that the attendants and all the airships, hunting gear, Ac, were at our aosomte mspossl as long ss we stayed in his dominion. "Well, good-bye, old cock, old Mobsby!" cried Kemble, w_io took care not to speak till Ben Ezer was far away. "You're ths jolliest dog of a king I ever met." "I never knew you before, Kemble," I laughed, "that you numbered kings amongst your intimate friends." "And phwat for wouldn't I!" he asked. "Be the powers! I'd have ye to know, Mr. IVJornvik, that .1 am a lineal descend ant of the ancient kings of Ireland." "Never heard of King Kemble before, did yoa, M'llwraith V asked the doctor. " Weel, sir! A carrtainly ne'er heard the cognomen applied to a king. Yet it's no aae vara remairkable. Look at King Mobsby, sir." "True, true," said the doctor. "So •we'll grant that your "great ancestor be came King- of Ireland after he had finish ed cramming he pouch with nuts aud got his tail untwisted " "By the great toe-nail of—<—" Kemble was 'beginning, when he was interuptsd by a loud roaring sound, apparently close -to the palace. We all got our hats and made our way through the garden Mo a great square- Titer, a most remarkable sight was presented to our eyes.

CHAPTER XVIII—^WONDERS OF "EOOENA." On reaching the square, which we bad not yet visited, we found that three sides of it were occupied by large dens, iron barred, and by number, of g'a.s-fronted cages. We at once came to the con clusion that this was an Antarctic zoo logical garden and animal house. In the centre ware enclosures where many kinds of strange animals wandered in compare to have for their object no less than tne alteration of the inc?iuatiou of the axis «f the earth to the plane of its orbit. At •present that iiichnat.on, as you are aware, It 23_ degrees. iNow, if I succeed m altering it to such an extent that it will bacome perpendicular to tho plauc, what Must inevitably happen !" "Jn that case," 1 said, "you wrll not «nly benefit this pole, but the same effect will be felt at the North Pole. There srill no longer bo any prolonged night at (either. The seasons, or rather tlieic changes, will havo ceased. In each zoue there will be only one season. Perpetual summer at the Equator, eternal spring in the temperate cones, and the Polar regions will enjoy an everlaatuxg aatumn." "Precisely so," cried the king. "Ones Ist this alteration in the position of tha. earth's axis be effected, and perpetual sold, ice, and half-year-lon* nights will ha things of the past. Two new continents wiUoe given to the. world. Ships will pass free.y from Pole to Pole, and no Sanger will vahasble Uvea he lost in vain endeavours to discover a North-West pass age or trying to for«e a way to ths South Pole" "Ma certic!** cried MTlwmith; "but -fan's a magneeftcent idea. But how will it be for the fairmers ? Tbay'll aye be greetm' for want of smur to protect the grain frae the muqkle frosts." -But, you see, my friend," said the km*, ""the grain will not want protection be cause there will be no frost. The farmers srill rejoice in a climate eq.iwl to that af tha most favoured of the South b«a Islands. They will be able to plough, -sow, and gather in their hajveata all the year roundT Europe will be in a position to grow its own cotton, sugar, te*. rice, indigo, and all other products of tbe soil which are now only produced in tropical countries. This will, however, not iutbe least disorganise tho overs.a trade in such commodities. In fact, more ships than ever will be required to convey the pro ducts of one couutr.v to another. Th*. article. I have mentioned will not be pro duced at the ?ioles, which will be thesreat cereal growing regions of the world. "Wheat, barley, an.l oats will not be growa ia the equatorial belt. The polar contt aents will be rapidly colonised by t«*? teeming millious of Europe, Asia, aud America, and consequently a great impetus will be given to the shipping industry. The only thing >we shall not require t> chip to Antarctica (or Victoria Laud, *? 1 would name the South Polar Continent an honour of our beloved queen) will bo the coal, for m both continents there are far more stupendous coal deposits than those of Europe, America, and Australasia nut togother. Thus, you see, the produc ing interest will benefit all over the world. Trade will increase, new indus tries will arise, and generally the history of the world will be one gigantic progress. The duration of human life, will •be lengthened, for no longer will the wintry blasts, with their accompaniments of snow and sleet, produce pneumonia, con sumption, and other deadly ailments in man and beast. The constant equable temperature will -also be favourable to long life, for, as you know, it is the sud den changes of temperature which give Rae to much of the sickness and diseases which now decimate the world." The doctor here jumped up iv a state of the greatest excitement. • Forgetful of all etiquette, he seized, the kings hand and shook it heartily. "Sir," he cried, "this is a most mag nificent conception, aud from all I have seen and heard since I have beeu in this, wonderland of yours, I firmly believe that you will be succes-fuL We may even yet be able to steam across the sea now covered with those fields of ice which stretch beyond this country. Splendid, by Jove!" "Gently, gently, my dear «r." said the king, laughing. "My experiments'" will take at least two years longer before they aro complete, unlets, indeed, something unforeseen should happen to expedite matters. But now, gentlemen, pray let us understand each other. Although I rule over more than three millions of p;ople, and am lord of a section of the jtlobe covering eight million square miles, 800,000 of '.vhiea are fairly populated, I am merely, as 1 think I once tod you, a simple scientist. That is the sals tserat of my power, and I have not the'aHgfctSSt desire to pose as a king. I .**W Itffc j_m aU bow to consider yonr-ehfes tlr l'*gM torial views of events in the lives of the patriarchs, and so, at. every hour until midday, some portion of biblical history was shown by what appeared to be liv ing figures. At midday the whole scene of ihe arrest, trial, scourging, crucifixion, and burial of the Saviour was vividly de picted, and as Christ bejit His head, and at the words "It is finished," gave up the grand, the whole cathedral was wrapped in dense gloom for several minutes. It was a marvellous scene. Besides these grand, impressive movements, the clock showed the seasons, the months, the State of the tides, the phases of the moon, and al.o indicated the amount of electricity consumed in the city during the previous 24 hcu-8. tive freedom -For the present our con cern was with the great noise we had heard. At the upper end of the square stood a wheeled cage of enormous strength and confined in it was a monstrous moan tain lion.. I had seen the mountain lion of North America in Arizona, and had even had a terrible experience in a single handed fight with oue. coming off vic torious, although desperately torn by the animal's teeth and claws, but never had I seen such a monstrous specimen as this. The brute appeared to be of exceptional verocity, and made savage bounds at the sides of the cage, roaring terribly, and tearing at the iron bats in furious endea vours to burst out. We were told that the animal had been captured by Ben Ezer's orders, as it had created great havoc among the cattle and sheep. There would have been- no diffi culty in killing it, for, with the little bat tery I have before mentioned, a young boy might safely have undertaken the task, but Ben Ezer wanted it alive, to send as a present to the Jardin dcs Piantes in Paris. Oue of the herdsmen under took to take, the beast, so this cage was built and sent out to the South Polar Plain. A battery iwas used for the pur pose of capturing it. Employed care fully, this battery does not kill the ob ject aimed at, but the force of the elec tricity can be so regulated as merely to stun or paralyse the victim, tendering it unconscious for so long a time as is neces sary to enable the hunter to safely secure his prey. , Tbe mountain lion will not flee before man. On the contrary, it will rush to attack him at once. This peculiarity enabled the bold herdsman, when he. found the lion, to it with a modified discharge from his battery without the slightest danscer to himself. This done, the esse was brought up to the uncon scious toady, which wss quickly deposited hi it, and then was removed to where it now stood. The lion had been allowed, to recover its senses as soon as it arrived, when it immediately gave vent to the savage cries we had heard. ; The cage was now backed up against the open door of one of the strongest of those built into the wall, and as soon as the. door of the movable cage was opened the lion bounded into the second den, whereat was finally secured and left to brood over its captivity. The doctor now proposed a stroll through tne city, the name of whicli we now heard for tne first time. Ben Ezer had named it "Eocena." worn the circum stance that the building of it and the es tablishment of his immense colony herald ed the dawn o! sn entirely uew poaws in the physical and scient.tic history ot the Earth. I gladly assented to the doc tor's proposal, and we paid our first visit to the great church, or Cathedral. This was a meat magnificent structure, combining all the beauties of the architec ture and statuary of the most celebrated oathedrals of Europe. By a happy m- V-ration, Ben Ezer had caused it to toe entirely built by Freemasons, whom he had invited from Great Britain, Germany, France, and Italy to join his colony, en gaging to return tbem to the.r several countries when the work should have been completed, with ample means to enable them and their dependents to live a life of affluence in future. It so happened that all of my fellow travellers were high up in the craft, but we had as yet made no inquiry as to the existence of Free niasony in Antarctica. That was to come later. Internally, the building was supported by numbers of pillars of polish ed white ma-b-e. The floor also was of tho. sau>e material, inlaid with most ex quisite mosaic work. The altar and reredoa were the most beautiful crea tions of art I had ever seen. Solid golden candlesticks and golden «u?d vea?els of many kinds adorned it. AH the metal portions of the fittings—the crucifix, the font, the reading desk, P"lp?j? . and communion rails—were of solid gold The stone carvings of the Saviour, the Virgin, the angels, and the apostles were beautifully executed, the featares being admirably chiselled into life-like resem blance. But the great glory of the Basilica was a magnificent .crgan which was supplied with wind by an electric en gine. The sacristan gave us a sample of its powers, compass, and sweetness. Such music had surely never been heard before, aad can scarcely be beard again, unless, at some future day, organs of like calibre are built in Europe. We could have lis tened for hours to the tremendous sonor ous bass, the deep baritone, the. life-like vox 'humana. and tbe clear treble, tre molo, and falsetto. When the clarion tones of the. trumpets 'broke forth in ren dering a paean of victory, the effect was marvellous. All too soon tho perform ance came to an end, and then oilr atten tion was drawn to the great clock. Those who have secu the celebrated clock in the Cathedral of Htrassburg can form but a faint idea of the wanders of the clock of the cathedral of Eocena. The inventor still lived, and explained to us the working of the different parts. At one time of the day, after striking th 6 hour on musical bells, a representation of the Creation was given in a rapid pano *(a__a. At the next hour -came, some,pic- J may as well describe the city in this chapter, although, at the time, I had seen very little of it The finest build ings faced the broad embankment which skirted the sea wall. They were nearly all built of the same golden quartz used in the palace walls. The blocks of stone were of very large size, and were grouud or chiselled to a very smooth surface, the joints between the. atones being scarcely visible. Handsome steps led to the mas sive front gates, and, «s I afterwards as certained, numerous lifts took the place of staircases. All the houses were roofed with aluminium, and every public build ing and private dwelling had aerial gar dens running round th. central dome. They were provided with the tall tele graph poles before mentioned. These poles were simply supports for the receiving points of the wireless system of tele graphy. Telephones were rare, as they were considered obsolete; still, there were some in use. In the midst of a vast oval in tne cen tre of the city stood an extensive struc ture which Ben Ezer had erected on the plan of the Capitol at Washington. All the streets converged to this open space, and extended right out into the open country. They were neatly paved, and down the centre of each ran a stream of pure water. Double avenues of large trees added much to the beauty .of their appearance. There were neither horses nor public vehicles for hire to be seen. In their stead a kind of low platform ran the whole length of the streets on both sides. These platforms were nearly on • a level with the roadway, and were con tinually moving in opposite directions. There was thus no necessity for any one to walk, for those whose business took them out of door, simply stepped on to the platform, and were gently and smooth ly carried to their destination, stepping off on arrival without the slightest danger, as the motion was very slow. But speedy traffic was also provided for on the moving roadway. A set of rails ran along the centre of it, and several car riages like electric tramcars ran at great speed in the same direction, stopping at regular intervals to allow passengers to alight. It was the moot complete systeni of street traffic which could be imagined. Collisions were rendered impossible. In stead of the passenger moving to his des tination by hi? own exertions, the whole street moved and so saved him from fati gue. The platform was sheltered by a light aluminium roof, and seats were pro vided on its whole length. For the rest the. city waa beautifully clean, and there was not a single squalid house nor un sightly vacant allotment in it. There were no scavengers nor scavengers' carts. The whole of the city refuse, was auto matically collected botlh from the house and streets, and destroyed instantaneous ly uy electricity. As for the. inhabitants, these call for no special notice. They did not differ in auy way physically from Europeans; neither was their speech, manner, nor dresa such as would render tuem conspicuous in a European city. When many were in the streets they wore the electric head piece, but often they were seen without it. Tlie head-dress was donned for tho sake of carrying a small battery and for supporting the receiving point. Tbexo were two means of communication be tween persons at any distance from each other, or at differeut houses. In one case, the actual voice was conveyed. In the other, the message was delivered in the ordinary method of transmitting a tele gram, except that the words were. wrrtJfe ten in plain letters, and that no wire wair^ used- Only those who gained great pro ficiency iv the science, of electricity could convey their thoughts to their friends without speaking at all. This I cou!d not comprehend at the time, nor do I pretend to underatand it now. Still, the fact re mains that Ben Ezer and his councillors could communicate their thoughts to others by means of the battery in the helmet. The remarkable thing about this telegraphy was that a message would seek out the person for whom it was intended, and although many receiving instruments might be about yet only the intended re cipient became, aware of it. I thus sent a message to Ben Ezer as we were travel ling on the street platform, and almost immediately received an answer which did not reach either of my companions, al though they were close to me. We entered several beautiful shops in which was to be purchased everything that could be got in the best shops in the European capitals. The shop assistants were exceedingly polite, and instead of standing behind a counter, were seated in different parts of the emporium. On re ceiving an order, they did not move, but conveyed the order telegraphically to ths assistant in whose department was to bma found the article inquired for, and forttfll with it came sailing along on an overhead" wire much in the same manner as little money boxes are conveyed from the shop man to the cashier in modern shops. (To be Continued.)

A PAGE FOR THE BOYS Our Boys' Story. THE ANTARCTICANS. BEING THE FURTHER AND STILL MORE SURPRISING ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN BJORNVIK IN THE REGIONS AROUND THE SOUTH POLE. AS RELATED BY HIMSELF. (All Rights Reserved.) CHAPTER XIX.—A REMARKABLE CONCERT. By A. J. BOYD. Whilst we were making a few pur-<*> chases we received a message from Ben E[?]er requesting us to dine with him and afterwards attend a concert, so we step- ged ou to tne moving piatiorm, and soon arrived at tn« paiaoe. Making some •Iteration in our ore**, we weut to the 4frw.ntf nail, where our. host received us i& hw usual geuua manner. During the steal he told us that -lie bad ordered ar rangements to be made tor a grand con cert to wnich most oi the notaule people of the country had beeai invited, some «v«n coming iroui the extreme parts of the kingdom. Distance is, however, an- Kbdated. in Antarctica by the marvellous •peed of the veioc;pens aud of the ships, fanoitly after dinner, we «aw numbers of airships arriving at various houses. They W«re not all ot the same sue or sbap«; some were only large enough to hotd two persons, while others were roomy enough to hold a dozen travellers. These latter •hips, being so much heavier were fur* msned witu as many as eight pairs of gigantic wmgs. At the appointed time we set out for the Capitol, where the concert was to b# held, aod os arrival we ascended in a lift to the Assembly Hall. Tim hall occupied almost the whole of the upper centre of the building, and was six hundred feet long by two hundred feet broad. Jx wag gorgeously decorated with priceless friezes, paintings and statuary, and the windows being all darkened, ekctrio DgutSy seem through maay-coloured media, gave a magx clkuw to the scene. I was infrixiuml to several of the most notable persous m the room, among others to an old Frenchman who was lieutenant-governor of a distant province, and rejoiced in the name of Fazzy. When, I cay that he was old it must nat be sup posed that his personal appearance de noted extreme, old age. Fai- from it. Ho. appeared to be a man in the prime of life, end J should have taken him for a mm of about forty, but Ben Ezer assured me that he was over a hundred years of age. He was not one of the original colonists, but tad been picked up at s«a by the Erebus about thirty years before this time, float ing about on a broken spar. He had been the captain of a French whaler which was lost off Stewart Island, and wna Quito content to remain in Antarctica,ap pearing to have none of a French exile's •H-consumins desite to revUft La Belte France, the boulevards and the Champs £ly«eos. He proved a wonderfully apt student of science, and in course of time was placed in charge of the district of Triaajj, where all the coal mines are situated: of Jiu-aa&i, which is an iron mining rex.'on, and of Plioceoa, containing tho gold-fieids. He wa-3 an apt adminis trator, but Ben Ezer warned me private ly to be careful of this man, who was jealous ol ev-ecy new arrival, and who tried to injure them in every way pos* eiblc. He aspired to succeed ,to the Gov eminent oi Antarctica. For this reason ho hated all who were on intimate terms with. B*>p R:er, and nxr>re especially d:dhe . hate men of science, for he feared the influence of their abilities more than any thing else. This, Mr. Fazzy was how ever, a most useful colonist, and one who, moreover, loyaJly worked to increase th« prosperity of the colony and its people; but he strongly opposed &n4 communica toon -with outside nations, as 'being cal culated 60 lead, some day, to extensive, im tnigration, and to the complete destruc tion of the patriarchal and (socialistic form of government which now existed. MAlthough," continued B«n Eaer, "Fazsqr will not dare to attempt any open act of enmity against you, still he will lose no opportunity of discrediting you with the people, and that i& what 1 should certain ly not wish, for I must tell you that amongst our few law* is one which con fer* upon the governors and on the repre sentatives of every city, town, and village, the right to vote on the sentencing of any person found guilty of an attempt at mud vert ing the p*e?ent order of things* Even my authority haa 'to 'bow to this referendum." This wua rather unpleasant news for us, because it was in the territory ruled over by this very man that were situated the mines of gold, iron, and coal, which we proposed to visit. However, I thanked Ben Ezer for the caution, and determined to be most scrupulously polite to Mr. Fazxy. Meanwhrle. the concert was about to begin, but, so fax, no performers of either instrumental or vocal music were to be seen. I was about to ask something about them when an invisible band struck, up, and played a most beautiful overture. There appeared to be every kind of wind and stringed instrument known to the musi cal world engaged in the production of this piece, which was most harmonious, now rising to a strength and power which thrilled my nerves, anon dying away to a gentle, cadence suggestive of tight zephyrs agitating the wires of Aeolian harps. Immediately on the close of the overture, a soprano voice burst forth with one of the airs of an opera. I forget now what opera it was; all I can remem ber i? the richness of that marvellous voice. Such divine singing had surely never be«n 'heard out of the celestial spheres. There was no applause, for there were none to receive it, and no sooner did the voice cease than a trio was begun. This was followed by a re c'.'tative rendered by an extratirdinary bass voice, which had a compass such as I had never heard before, and in all probar bility shall never hea* again. A most ex cellent violin solo and a reverie with, a flute obligate- followed. There, was not a moment's interlude, between bhe pieces; all was sweetness long drawn out, and we could have listened for houra. However. the end came all too soon. The concert concluded w-ith one of the most incora preliensible performances any one cowld nave imagined. This was a bird con cwt. By some means or other the notes of hundreds of sjnging birds were bleud«d into an harmonious whole, which vrm perfectly celestial in jt?- sweetness. How it was done I never could learn, for only two men in the country possessed the secret of producing, this bird concert. The reader will naturally ask where tne performers were. There was not one; the whole of this charming music was render ed by a novel application of the metas tentorophone. The vast stage with it« vaulted roof and concave walk was the medium which conveyed the volume of sound. But so perfect wa* the render ing, so free was it from any hard metal lic sounds such as are common in loud apeaking gramophones, that it was quite impossible to realise that we were but listening to sounds uttered long ago and only artiiwrial'ly reproduced. "We expressed our great satisTacUpn to Ben Eaer, and he assured us that when ever we felt inclined for a musical evening that boll, ct a smaller one adapted to email audiences, would be at our dspossl, After supper, Ben Ezer suggested, a visit to the shipping next morning, and •we gladly accepted the invitation, being anxious to inspect the wonderful sub marine vessels. We were, early afoot after a comfortable night'u rest, aud the doctor and I strolled out to a wooded part of the garden, where the former obtained some specimens oi iusects entirely new to Euvope-in science. I observed a very beautiful insect re ssmbling a mantis crawling up the stem ol a sigilkiria tree. I never was afraid oi picking up flying insects, even though 1 might expect a sting, so 1 seized this one gently be.tweeu my finger aud thumb, anc at once received a violent electric shock I was unable -to drop the rnsectj yet did not -wish to kill it by crushing it, <is 1 might easily have done. I therefore re ceived several heavy shocks, which, how over, decreased in intensity until the m sect's energy seamed exhausted. Nevei before had I heard of an insect capable of giving- an electric shock, and how such t small, slim creature, only two inches long and a quarter of an inch wide, could be sc violently electric passed my comprehen siou. Since my return to Europe, I hav< heard that insects capable of imparting an electric shock have lately been found ir Hungary. The doctor. was delighted, and. «oolly ll■' M I - ■:•!>• n. i , -■■; ignored my sufferings. After carefully examining my prize, he pronounced it to be a species of the carnivorous mantidee, so, taking the privilege of first discoverer, I named' it "tMantis electrics. Bjornvikii (Todleben). The specimen was kept alive for future examination, as was also aspeci men of the rare sand bee (Andrena). Many curious insects we also found embedded in a transparent resin resembling the Kauri gum of New Zealand aud Queen* land, and the amber of the Baltic.

CHAPTER XX.—WE VISIT A WARSHIP. Returning, to the palace with our trea sures* we found Ben Eaer awaiting us for breakfast, and with him were several offi cer* of the fleet wbo had come to be introduced to us> and be escort u? ovtr the ships. Accordingly, after the meal, we walked down to one of the wharves. Aud now, once more,, we felt ourselves impelled by the same subtle force we had experienced in the forest before our ar rival, and again on leaving the launch. We thus moved ftleiig Wi'bh little exwrtion on our part, and at once went oa board a fine vessel of 4006 tons burthen. The wnmd upper works of the- ship, ■which. I have before- mentioned, had been thrown, open, and we stepped on to a flat alumi nium deck presenting much the flame ap pearance; as the deck of a British ship of war, except that there were no guns visible. There was a tall couuing tower which was telescopic, and which could be lowered tiH its top was flush with th« deck. The latter was unencumbered w^ith skylights and deckhouses, so that nothing impeded progress- or vision from one end of the ship to the. other. Taking us to the-.side, one.of the otficerf touched a button, and immediately a larg« portion of the deck amidships roHed back and disclosed a broad stairway lead ing into th« sa'joon. Descending, on the captain's invitation, we found ourselves in a most luxuriously furnished apartment over eighty feet long, and apparently oc cupying the whole width of the ship, Tltia proved, however, not to be the case, as will 'by-aud-by be shown. Small marble-topped tables were scattered about in no particular order at one end of the saloon. The remainder of the space was occupied by reading and writing taWes, kmuges, and easy chairs. Arranged along, the sides at intervals were several book cases filled witik the usual assortment of modern books of science, travel, and fic tion in various languages. There was no carpet or linoiemn, but costly rugs lay in profusion on the bright metal deck. Thi* saloon was well lighted from above, aa we could see when, on our entrance, the seaitry, by merely touching same electrio button, ra?ed back large sections of tn? deck overhead, and so disclosed flat gsy* lights of frosted glass, through which the light passed freely to the interior. Having expressed our admiration 06 this novel sea drawing-room, we passed through a door at the farther end aud fcund our selves in the captain's cabin. The sole furniture of this, room was a chest of drawers (the top of which formed the captain's bed), a large table, a few chairs, and a chart rack. Nothing could 'be simpler or more apartan-like. The offi cers quarters we found to be furnished in a like economic manner. All the. oiticers took their meals in the saloon with the captain. We next inspected the quarters as signed to the crew. These were commo dious, but also severely simple. The men slept in bedsteads of the same type aa those of their superiors. In fact, there was scarcely any difference, except that each officer had a cabin to himself whilst four of the petty officers were berthed together, and the crei.vs' quarters were divided into two apartments for the port and starboard watch respectively. So far, we had not seen a gun or weapon of any kind, neither was any anchor visible, or any app.iance for heav ing up. We now returned to the upper deck, and the captain said : **I will now show you, gentlemen, how quickly we can clear for action. ' r He turned towards the officers, but we did1 not hear any order given, yet almost instantly we heard a stentorian voice repeating the orders which had 'been conveyed to the officers. The turtle-back closed over our heads, the conning tower rose through it, and at the. same time what to us appeared to be the ship's sides, flew np to the deck overhead, as if on hinges, and now a large number of dynamite guns appeared on either side. These simul taneously rolled round on their traverses, and pointed through open port hole*. The men had already flown to tueir stations, and the whole ship was ready for action within five, miuutes of the order being given. It was a. marvelloua exhibition of the perfection of electric power. The ship was now got under weigh, but we heard no pulsation of any engine. A slight quivering of the whole bulk of the fabric wa9 all that wut perceptible. As soon as we had got well into the channel, the captain asked us if we would like to eujoy the sensation of a tr.p under the water, assuring us that there was not the slightest danger, nor would we experi ence any discomfort. We were only too pleased to have, such a novel experi ence, so we expressed our thanks to him for taking so much trouble on our behalf. Then, gentlemen," he said, "you can either descend to the saloon or remain here, at your pleasure." We elected to stay where we were, so chairs were brought, and Ben E;er, some otticers not engaged in the ship's duties, and our party sat down and smoked while the captain made his preparations. "Prepare to sink ship, Mr. Wyugate," he said to his first lieutenant. **All ready, sir," replied that officer. Down she goes, then," said the captain. The conning tower sank almost to the deck, a water-tight covering rolled over the turtle-back (as we could guess from the noiste overhead), a bubbling sound as of escaping air could be heard outside, and gradually the vessel settled down. The electric lights were turned on, and the interior was brilliantly illuminated. "Now," said the captain, looking at a dial, "we are 47ft. below the surface and that is jnat the right depth to enuible the ship to travel at her best pace." "But how do you steer her so as to avoid rocks and shallows ?" I asked "We go entirely by compass and time between this and Mt^Erelius," was tho reply. "iftit is there not considerable deviation of the compass hereabouts, independent •f the deviation due to the ship herself, •wing to magnetic disturbances about the South Pole ?" I asked- "How do you correct it down here, captain ?" "That has been long ago provided for, Captain Bjornvik, and in such a simple manner, that I really wonder a scientist ?f your world-wide reputation has not dis covered it years ago. The idlea struck me the very first time I nearly came to grief below water, owing to the great deviation, which, as you remarked, is far greater here thau at the Equator. Now, the question I set myself was how to get rid of this deviation entirely, and like a ' flash, the inspiration came upon me. I constructed a very small portable com* pass. This is it," taking from his pocket a compass no larger than a hunting watch. 'Ihis compass I can run up to the top of a whalebone mast, which I will pre* sently show you. The compass is. sent up in a glass box into which passes a fine wire from the deck. The instrument now hangs clear of magnetic influences on the ship and is protected from other sources of deviation by the glass box. Aa soon as the card has settled, a apark from this little battery fixes it—locks it, in point of fact—and when it comes down, the correct reading is obtained. By this mean a we can drive along in the thickest fog, or in the narrowest channel, without the slightest chance of disaster due to compass errors. Now, if you will kindly come this way, I will show you how it works. We are at present travelling at cfnly 10 knots an hour, but if we were travelling 100 miles a minute it wouW make no difference to the working of the compas?." We accompanied the captain to th? after part of the deck, where he showed us two perpendicular tubes, one about six feet in rear of the other. These passed through the turtle-back in such a way that no water could enter at the points of exit. Within each was a hollow tele scopic mast built up of whalebone, accurately fitted together. These were k conuected at the upper end by anarched Jfl tub to enable the masts to withstand th« great pressure when the vessel was travelling at a high speed, either on or beneath the surface. Opening one of the tubes, he put the little compass into a glass box within it after connecting it with the wire. Then, releasing a spring, the box and its con tents went to the top of the most. The aperture was then closed, and by pneu matic force, both masts flew up to a height, I was told, of 60ft. In ten minutes the masts were lowered, and th« compass, on being compared with a deck compass, showed a considerable error in the latter. I was much pleased with this invention, which the captain called his "magnetic course indicator." (To be Continued.)

A PAGE FOR THE BOYS Our Boys' Story. THE ANTARCTICANS. BEING THE FURTHER AND STILL MORE SURPRISING ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN BJORNVIK. IN THE REGIONS AROUND THE SOUTH POLE. AS RELATED BY HIMSELF. (All Rights Reserved.) CHAPTER XXI.-BOTTLED SU LIGHT. By A.J. BOYD. Ben Ezer now suggested another sur-<*> prise for us. He spoke a few words to the captain, who passed a telegraphic order to the chief electrician. Instantly the lights went out, and we were in per fectly Cimmerian darkness. I must say I was rather startfcd. Here we were nearly 50ft. below the surface of the sea, dashing along at we knew not what rate now, and all in black darkness. But I reflected fhat those on board in charge of the ship were not likely to do anything to endanger her safety, so 1 calmly waited for what was to follow. "This," said Ben Eier, "is an excellent opportunity for you to note the result obtained from the sun-catching discs you •aw at the South Pole Observatory. •Captain Debnayne will gire us stsalight instead of electric light. Go en, Cap tain, I presume the receiver* are fully charged." "Yes, sir," replied the captain, "they hold enough to carry us from here to gsssjaporc." Then the etaetmian made a connection, between the receivers, wherever they were, and the batteries, and at once, a soft yet still brilliant light diffused itself throughout the ship. It was as bright as daylight, both on the main deck and in the saloon. This was a scientific triusaph which 1 should have thought impossible of achievement had I not seen it for myself. I believe, however, that a Mr.> Ericsson, many years ago, nearly achieved success in the same direction, having, constructed a ship which eotrld be driven by collecting the solar rays. Nothing came of it, however. We were now to be still further surprised. The light was thrown oat by some means from the ship s a dcs, ■o. that oil lo<>';*n{ ihvurgh the glass ports we coui'l see that the sea was lighted up foe a hundred yards in ev«ary direction. Thus, in such a channel, a navigator could follow a. line of buoys as easily as on the brightest day. By this light we were even able to see that we were flying along at a tremendous pace. I atked the eaptam what the speed was now. Looking at an indicator, he re plied: "Rather slow, but in the channel we fko not care to travel very last, owing to the two or three sudden bends in it. We are only making 100 miles an hour at .present,, but we shall get up speed by and by, after we* rise to the surface" "Good gracious!" cried the doctor, "You talk of crawling at 100 miles an hour, and getting up speed by and by. Why, captain, you know that our swiftest mail trains cannot exceed 80 miles an hour, although I believe that 100 miles an hour has been recorded. As for our mail steamers —our Atlantic greyhounds—they average about 18 knots, and the swiftest torpedo boat destroyer ever built can only attain a speed of 45 miles an hour." "Ah, yes," replied Delmayne, smiling, "I believe your European and American ship builders are still very antiquated in their ideas. They stick to their bulky coal, their filthy smoke, scalding steam, and holds crammed with great masses at machinery. At the best, they burn oil, utterly ignoring an agent—electricity —which would carry your- ships found the world,' over the sea or under it, with the swiftness of th« crrmt tidal wave, if they would only study the' science earnestly. Now, you shall see what we can do directly. Bring her up, Mr. Wyngate." In a few minutes the ship began to rise, and soon shot diagonally up to the surface. The turtle-backs opened, and the keen, fresh sea air blew on us re freshingly, after our having been beneath the wayes for more than two hours. There was the clear, open sea before us, with no ice visible, except a few isolated bergs on the horizon. Now the ship in creased 'her speed. As she raced through, the water, 'she threw up two waves on either side as high, as herself, but no water came on board. We were all quite sheltered, as the bows of the ship and the forward decks Were specially fashioned to afford protection right along the decks- front the rushing wind. "Now we are travelling properly. Cap tain BJornvik," cried the captain, rub bing hi* hands with pleasure. "Ho*? fast now, Captain? enquired Ben Ezer. "Two hundred miles an hour, *rr, n was the answer. "Hech! sirs," exclaimed M'llwraith, "but this is waur than, a. It's no but a tcmptin' o> Providence, trapesin' o'er tie sea* at ibis awfu' oncasny rate. Mon! Happen we were to rm intif anither ship?** "In that case, Mx. M'U wraith," said Ben Eaer, laughing, "I can assure you is the same words as were nsed by your great George Stephenson, when asked in Pariia meat what would happen if hi engine. tke rocket, ran ever a cow. He said it would be 'vara awkward for the eon.' And I say it would be very bad foe the octet sbi* Eh, captain? n M Tery bad indeed, skt. I do not sup pose we should fed the shock if wa did strike a vessel at our rate of speed. We ■hmiM pass cfean ever her and not a vestige would remain of bar. whilst, as to saving any of the crew, we abontd be twenty miles away before one of them cooM rise to the surface." We drove along at thii frightful speed until we came in sight of Mount Erebus. I was now in hopes that Beo. Eacr wmkt proceed further, and reach our station at Cape Adare. Indeed, I broadly hinted to him that I should like him to do *o. but he at once expressed his regret that he could not go there for reasons of bis own. So- the shipta head was- tarnad, and we made the return trip in thai twa hours. Before arriving in tight of the city, we captain ordered one ci the rmnil k dynaratte giins U> be fined at a rock which we could perceive with the glasses about eight inOes distant. The on, which carried a «Mb. projectile fflW with dynamtte > was only 20 feet km*, bat the pressure in the air chamber must have been enormous, judging by the sise of tfie breach. The «*n was laid on to the rock by means of a sight somewhat similar to thai on the rifles, and we could plainly distinguish a ring of bright light on the face of . the rook. As soon at this appeared, the weapon was electrically dfscharjred, and the shell pitched right, into it. The effect was tremendous. We could Gee vast masses of rock driven hith into the air, and scattered over a radios of two or threo hundred yarssk. When the smoke of the dynamito had drifted away, we saw that the reek had dis appeared. This was, in truth, an awful weapon, and it was rendered all the more awful from the fact that there was neither smoke nor heavy report from the gun. I confess.l felt some curiosity ai to the raison d'etre of these terrible engines of warfare. The Antarcticans were a peaceable, socialistic people who had no open communication with any other nation between whoa and them selves war might, arise. The captain ex plained that these weapons were merely invented for the sake of the advance ment of science, in the same way aa many other invention*, As for this gun, he considered It rather oat vl date. Taw Americans had used a weapon very similar to it in the battle of Maaife. Th% antarctic electric battery was a fax more advanced and useful weapon. To prove this to you," he sad "I will show you bow we can direct the elcctcie fluid to- the moat rapidly moving object, With absolute ccrtamty of hitting it. Mr. Wyngate. oblige me with the loan of yojnr pocket battery." The first Beutenant handed it to him, and the captain ordered np a kind •€ qnck-firmg gun, which, on examination, proved to consist of a bar of steel te* nunting in three steel points, diverging nke a fan. "Yo« observe," he eaid. "that the barret of the gm is res Try no barrel at all. It is merely a bar of steel, which conveys the electric Quid to either of the three points at what you would call the muzzle. These points are, in effect t;m terminal points of three wires which pro trude at the breech. Now, if I wish to hit any object at rest in a Kne with tbe line of sight, I attach the battery wire to the breech end of the central point, ohonld tbe objeas move to the left, I im mediately connect the left-hand wire, and so with the right, should the object more to the right. Now, -observe that alba tross/ The bird is about a w?e--fr<mrii?, and is sailing away to the left. I connect this wive to the left-hand point, and am ready to destroy that bird. It is doomed, although you see I am in no hnrry. Look at thi? arc on the gun. It is divided into a scale of meri dians for different velocities. I know the rate at which the albatross is progressing by its position with regard to the meri dional tines on the second arc. Observe it passes the meridional line 12. Now it has reached 13, and now 14. This tell mo that it is-passing away to the left at such a rate that when it reaches the fifteenth line, it will be exactly in line with tho left hand point. There! It has arrived. I touch the button. Where is the albatrosa? Lying dead on the water, is it not?" I was astounded. The possibility of kill ing a bird, which was on!y properly visible^ through a binocular glass, at the distance of a mile, without a bullet, was almost incredible, but to kill it when moving at the rate of something like IS miles an. hour, was the most astounding feat.
CHAPTER XXIi.—THE WOXDER . SHIP. "You ace," continued the captain, after rvtnninx the battery to Mr. Wyngate. "Ben Ezer is a. consummate electrician. He i? constantly at work m Km labora tory, and always evolves something start ling. Oiiy toe other day be invented a phonograph widen will receive aud re cord telephouic messages. In this hsatni ment he u«e?a steel bsiid instead of a wax frim. lie is a moat prolific inventor, and if ever Antarctic should reeUse his hopes, and no longer be enclosed in a sine of impassable kft, the world at large wtfr be benefit to an incalculable degree by aO hi* discoveries and. inventions. Of course he will never patent or sell any of the latter. Hi? ewsemous wealth wilt permit kirn to present all hit iaven-. tioao to tbj^ycrld, and, as a matter of fact, we "are alt rev? wealthy her*; We simply .take the various duties imposed MMI* for" the* sake of the Com iwmweaHS'.'^Mo on* is obliged to work, but we all do it, and submit to authority as much a« if. we were paid for it. I My self am worth a couple oi millions •tcrlatg, but tka^ffcam n?4 prevent me from e«n manding *wie of our ship*. My first liewtenanfis juit as wealthy as I ana, but that circumstance does not twine* him to cmaider hflbseif as my equal on board ship. We love our work, and every man in the shifts although poswsssd o^ wealth wkic^H wo«I«| enabfe .htm to live s in afflneQce m Europe,, peelers to take his duty/ on board here, exactly as wa* done by the ltojal midshipmen wJ>& sailed years ago m the Bacchante. We nVe fltt pr* ti wealth here. All are equal, and all take the share of duty allotted to thena without a murmur." Ben Ezer aftd the captain now conducted us below to inspect the machinery which enabled, the vest! to attain such a pro digious speed. I cannot describe it here, for much of it was unintelligible even to me, notwithstanding my extensive know ledge of-electrie and other engines. I fu?y expected the entire hold to be fall of complicated Bsachniery. What was my surprise, on entering the engine-room, to find that the whole motive power was contained in • space barely 3Mt. square. Three aides were taken up by tccumuhv tors centainkc compressed electricity. Beyond these there was little to be seen except mm motors which set in motion the 120 propellers in the bottom of the ship. Any one of these could be discon nected, hoisted oat, and a fresh one pfoed in position m case of accident. They could be worked separately or together. There was no screw or propeller aft, hence none of the thaaspmc heard in our screw steamers was felt, and as all the propellers were deeply iaMnened, the lift, of the sea nerer exposed them, and there was no racing of the engines. The machinery was, indeed, a triumph, of simplicity and effect iveness- The steering gear was equally simple, and had never been known to fail. Srery movement of the ship couW be controlled from the conntng-tower, «nd Captain Debnayne said he would not have the slightest hesitation in carrying the ship to Europe with the assistance of half a dosen men to steer and take watch and watch. There was absontely nothing to doJor a crew. The accumulators supplied the motive power, and if the supply of electricity was expected to fail, these re ceptacles were easily replenishedl by m«ma? of two powerful generators, which could be instantly set to work. Thus there jnw no stoking to be done; indeed, there were bo furnaces, for they were not required. The means adopted for leaving the ship when submerged were much the same aa those already described by others. We expressed our sincere thanks to Ben Era for the pleasure he had given us by thit visit, and then watched the uoloadinit of come goods, and live stock which had ju?t arrived from Elephant Island. The whole of the cargo came up automatic illy from the hold of the cargo boat on enitfes* band*. The cattle and sheep s'mply walked on to the end placed in the hold, and were swiftly earned to the movable ruad way, and were «oon out- of sight. The ' heavy goods came vp in the same way, and were loaded on to the trucks as already explained, and were sped «wmy to the warehouses by no visible'agency. As we moved towards the jpalace, Mr. Fazsy asked Ben User's permiciiiflit to take W over the gfcWWwsl irorWnji. Tb* latter willingly consented, and Mr. Fuzzy promised to have velocipens ready for the journey on the following day. As it was ■till very early, I proposed that after lunch we should all etroll along the bea?h, and search for any new kinds of shells and fucoitb which were doubtless to ba fotind here. Our host hereupon called an attendant, and gave him some instruction* which we could not hear, but the man saluted and left the room. We lunched iv leisurely fashion, and, after the meal, Btarted on our little ex pedition. We were met at the door toy the attendant, who conducted os to the wharf and invited us to board a small eiec tric launch. We were Dhen carried •wirtly to tbe opposite shore of the channel, dis tant about four miles. Here we entered! another abannel loading to the open tea. Passing through it, we landed on the main bcaeh, and at once scattered to search for new treasures. The sea-weed and shells which we saw scattered about here, were of such variety, rarity, and beauty, that I could scarcely believe my eyea. Shells which all the coacbotogwU of the world have affirmed to 'be oaly found in certain couttiries, and there only in certain localities, were here ia profusion. One of my first precious finds was a splendid Wentletrap, 18in. long. The largest shell of this species ever found wm 4in. long, and was sold foe £IW>. Yet here I had picked up a mon ster which few private collectors coold afford to buy. §000 after this I sajvr the doctor waving to me in an excited manner. I felt sure tie had made some especially valuable dfceovery, and wheu I reached him he exclaimed/: . ■ -^ "Jens, I am a made man scietttifieaUjy for I have .here what no other aurn in the knowm gravid possesses," and of- which, three mnWimu alone possess, fragments. Mfc|e Uin 'perfect, condition. Leok. at this! \fcn, look «t it, and jreep for iorj" X' ' '• '' ".'■■■ ' • Be then ?ko*r«4 me *j?rfect Spondylus regiut. It* seines were.nearly a loot long, and «ot oue was missing or broken; nor had"'the shelf a sinpie flaw* either in .tb* upper or lower valve As the fish in it mM alive, the colours -were perfect. It was, indeed, • wonderful find. If we couTtf get tht Spondyius and tlie Went!e> trap snfely hqnie, conchologUts from all parts vottld -flock to see them, and mu*eum? would, K <s*r en&rmou? shuu for them. A£ter our transports had a little sub aided, w« dtgoaited both fhelis iv a safe spot, and continued bur search. What struck us at peculiar was the enormous site of some of the specimen?, the largest of which tn our museums were mere pig mtts to these. Kentble afterwards sug gested that these might be antedi^urnu akelb -winch had 'become embedded in ice and had been dropped thousands of year* afterwards' on these shores. But this theory was a* one* disproved, for both the Wentletrap and the Spondylus con tained living frsh, and furthermore, the shells of the carboniferous period were of a totally different character from these o£ the Quaternary epoch. Even in the Jurassic times we only find oysters, am* mouites, and Nautili, so Kemlble's theory would not hold water for a moment. We found several other rare shells l.vhich I need not enumerate here, also several species of sea-weeds which the doctor be* lieved to be new. When we rejoined the others, M'Bl •wraith exhibited, with great delight, half a dozen large orange cowries'. Ihese hft had seen in the South Sea Islands, and ha knew their great value, go he. took no heed of any other specimens, the rarity of -which he did not appreciate. Kembk, to my chagrin, had also found a fine. Wentletrap, but it was not quite so per* feet as mine. Having carefully collected our trea* sure*, we were about to make for the. boat ■when M'lilwraith drew my attention to wfcat he called a "muckle whelk." As eoou as I saw it, I recognised that an* other invaluable. «heU was added to nay treasures. .It was the giant Cerithiiim. of which only one specimen exists in th? world. He also casually remarked that he had sefsn a queer-looking skeleton lying; on the beach. As the time was early, Todleben and I decided to go «nd look at it. Kemble declared he. bad had enough of tramping for one day, •? and M'llwraith decided to sit down am^V enjoy a drop of whisky and a smoke whilst we went in the direction indicated by the mate. We got round a rocky point with some difficulty, following in bis. footprint*, and there, on the beach. <we sasar lying a most perfect skeleton at #n fchtbyottturus. Not a bone was miss* •ing. Fully fifty feet in length, it mua* ihave been of great bulk when the bones «were clothed with flesh. The spread of •the huge jaw*, lined with formidable teeth 3ike those of the crocodile, was quite six <feet. The head was }ixard-sha>p«d, and ihe trunk aud tail probably resembled those portion* of a bnllock. It had a> fish's backbone, and the paddle? of' ft k whale. But the most wonderful thing About it was its eye*. These appeared ,to he petrified into clear, diamond-lite iquaxtx. This was a stupendous discovery, and our delight may be imagined when, tnot far off, we found another perfect skeleton, that of the Pleaiosautns. It ?tras over twenty feet long. It bad a^ AoHg, snake-like neck, terrific teeth i|k JV /lizard's jaws, and four paddles like those* of a whale. From marks we noticed about the bones of the heads and neck* of the monsters, we conchided that they must hare engaged in a savage fight, m cwrhicb encounter both were killed. Ws> imade up our mind* that, book or by icrook, these two skeletons should go'hornet •with us, and join the sea-serpent we had left near Cbpe Adare. Thoroughly w«U pleased with our afternoon's work, w* got back to the launch, and quickly ar rived at the palace. (To be Continued.)

A PAGE FOR THE BOYS OUR BOYS' STORY. THE ANTARCTICANS. BEING THE FURTHER AND STILL MORE SURPRISING ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN BJORNVIK IN THE REGIONS AROUND THE SOUTH POLE. AS RELATED BY HIMSELF. (All Rights Reserved.) CHAPTER XXIII.—WE VISIT THE MINES. By A. J. BOYD. At dinner that evening we told Ben Ezer what we had discovered, and he informed us that living specimens of these animals were occasionally to be seen to the south towards the Pole, and that our coneeture about the fight was probably correct, as be. had himself witnessed a struggle between two of them, and the Plesiosaurus, Although rather leas m bulk, was able, toy means of its long Beck, to seize, its antagonist from a dis tance, whilst the latter could only re taliate by lashing at its enemy with ita long, ipowerful tail. The Plesiosaurus had succeeded in killing the Ichthyosaurus in this battle. At our request, Ben Ezer assured us that the two skeletons should be duly brought in, packed up, and sent with us on our departure. After dinner, we all separated,, and I went to ike library to write up my notes. We were all ready next day when Fauy arrived with two velocipens, and bo time was lost in getting away. Our (host did not accompany us, pleading that he had business to attend to. In deed, I may as well say here that we had now become ao intimate that we came and went as we pleased, sometimes in his company, but usualiy by ourselves. We had made acquaintance with several very nice people, and gained a great deal of valuable information from our conver sation with them. Taking our seats in the largest car, we rose into the air, and were swiftly ear ned towards the north-east. In half an-hour we were over 200 mile from the capital, and then alighted in the central quaxe of a considerable town, the house* of which were, without exception, built of auriferous quartz. The bird's-eyo view we had of the place showed us that it wm built exactly on the same plan as the principal city, Eocena, with the ex ception that the central space in that city was oval, whilst in aH the other towns they were square. The streets also were laid out on the same plan,- the avenues of trees, water conduits, and tra.veJling roadways being identical witb those at the capital. There was no indication of quarts-crushing machinery, or of tall poppet-heads, suggesting deep ■hafts. In fact, we should certainly not feavt taken it for a mm ng town. Alighting si the house of the principal magistrate, who might be called the mayor the town, we were invited to take seats on the rolling- roadway, and were soon travelling smoothly towards a large forest. Passing over this, we suddenly came upon one of the strangest and most beautiful sights I can recall to memory. In front of us was the glittering face of a mountain, cut down perpendicularly to a height of quite 500 ft. The face of this precipice was of pure white quartz, cross ed and recrossed with heavy, bands of solid gold. There were, numbers of work men about, but there was no sound of gad or hammer, nor any explosive* of blasts to loosen the rock. Yet work of some description was evidently going- on. "You have, arrived just at the right moment, gentlemen," said the major. "The top of the mountain has just been cut through, and a large fall of stone will take place directly." Almost as he opokey we saw the whole length of the top of the rock lean forward, and then fall with a deafening roar to the bot tom. By this disk?gment, a level ter race, whose length could not be less than sixty feet, as seen from below, ran right along the whole face of the hill. We were now to see how the cutting was effected. A wire was stretched across the face of the wa? at tn« height to which.it was intended to cut it down. Another wire ran along the in< side of he terrace. These wires were of platinum, and on th* application oi a ponverful battery they became white hot. So intense was the heat that it dissolved both quartz and gold, going through it as easily as a hot knife would pass through butter. X assert this as an. absolute fact, although', of course, there will be many, as usual, who, on reading thi?, will cry out. "Travellers' tale !" I am, as I said at the outset of this story, t truthful man, averse to any thing like exaggeration, therefore, what I etate here can be accepted as fact with out hesitation. The cuts were completed in five minutes, and agan an enormous mass of ore fell. Now we could account for the •yen surfaces of.rtfce i«rr?cti* we *ad •een-in the old gold workings on landing from our launch. The ore. as it fell was quickly transferred, always automatically, to carriers much like the cane carriers at a sugar mill. These delivered it into , large pits, where it was f.ually dealt with, so far as disintegration of the stone and its separation from the gold are con cerned. These pits are all electric fur nace*. The electric energy suppled per ton of ore was, I was told, equal to 30,000 horse power. The ore was sub mitted to th:B enormous heat for two hours, and thea the resulting metal lay in the furnace completely free from all admixture of fore.gu matter. Six crmi lar furnaces in the iron d strict, of 10,000 .horse power, are each capable of yielding 20,000 tons of pig iron annually. Here, the goid lay on the bottom of the furnace, neatly divided into bars of twenty pounds weight each, the bottom of the furnace beiug so constructed as to form a Be-rics of moulds which each exactly filled, the powdered quartz being blown away by a strong blast, entering at one side, into & receptacle at the farther end, whence it was conveyed on a carrier to the valley belotiv. These bare of gold wexe not stored in strong rooms as - with us, but were piled up under an open shed, like so many com mon bricks. No one had any incentive to steal where the whpie "was common property. Here also we saiw the mint, which, I mu«t say, was bo improvement on the London mint. It therefore needs no de scription. From the gold mines we went in the velocjpens to the coal m.nea. These vrere worked for the soie purpose of producing gas for cooking and warming purposes. The. method of winning the coal w?a unique, and would certainly not pay in ?ny country dependent on pick, shovel, powder, and steam, for getting at the mineral. The main seam lay.at an average depth otf 60ft., and overlying it was the usual shale roof, and above that, voicauic red soil. The whole of this super.ncutnbent earth and shale was removed by electric ally -worked scoops, and carried away to some distant ravine. The coal having been thus laid bare, is cut out by rapidly revolving cylinders, having the bottom edges sajw-toothed. These cut their way down into the coal to a - depth of some three feet, and the cylinders of fuel were then lilt ed out by velocipens, which at once bore them away to the stacking place. The gas was made on the spot, and was con veyed by glass p.pes to the various cities and towns. Iron pipes were never used here for any purpose, as they soon cor rode, and suffer much from electrolysis; so glass is very happily subvaUtuted. Here we obtained some very beaut ful fossils, but, as may be supposed, they were in all respects similar to those found in all the coai measures of the world. Having seen ail that there was to be. seen in these interesting dstr.ct*. wepaid a flying v.ait to the iron miuev. I foano that it onas quite a misnomer to call these workings mines; at least, in the sense'of working by shafts, drives,.jrad levels. The place the ore is taken from is a moon tain, 800 ft. high, and 30 miles long, com posed entirely of iron ore containing 80 per cent, of pure iron. The only other country I have beard of possessing such a treasure is Mexico. The iron ore ? cat out of the moun tain in the same manner as the quarU on the gold-fields, aud is reduced, as I have already explained, in the same kind of electric furnace, the only difference being-in the bottom, which is divided into large sections of the shape, sise,and weight of ordinary pig-iron. Here, also, the iron is converted into steel by a Becret process wh.ch Mr. Fazzy deckned to divulge. "There is an enormous for tune for somdwdy in it," he said mean ingly. sBut, surely, M*. Fatty," I said, "a fortune to be made out of turniug iron into steel could have no attractions for any Antarctican who can become, as rich as he pleases by simply t&k.ng all the bar gold he likes." Farzy looked at me sideways out oihis cunning little bJK& eyes, and -winked. This was quite sufficient to bring to my recollections Ben Escr? warn.ng. * The fellow actually winked, and I feit sure he was a traitor to our host, and cherished some evil design in his mind, wh:ch 1 determined to find out and to frustrate. "I do not quite see your meaning, Mr. Faszy," I said. "Do you; perhaps, mean that it might be a fortune to —well, say, myself, for instance, if I were to obtain the secret ? Is that what you would imply ? n • "Captain Bjornvik," he said impns ; siveiy, "go home with me in the small velocipen, and I will explain to you some things you are still in the dark about. We will go alone. I will guide the machine, so you need not fear aa acci dent."

CHAPTER XXIV.—KIDNAPPED. "Ho! ho!" thought I, "is that the Tray the land lies, Mr. Fazzy? You think you have got hold of either a knave or a fool, but you will find that I am jneilb4et.;ao4_,Rehap? U shall, be able to •flcwr fan*that I know «• mnefc a# y« do, and a great dea. more. Forewarned ia forearmed, so now far the overture. Aba! We shall see, friend Faxzy; we shall, see." UI shall foe very happy to accompany you, Mr. .Fazzy, n I said aloud. "I will ju9t let my frieud« know of the arrange ment before we start." "Very good," he replied, and the fel low'b eyes seemed to me to express malici ous satisfaction at my consenting so in nocently to put myself in his power. He migilit pot?ibly not be inteut on dbing me a anischief, but I felt certain he wanted to get the aid • and advice of a pei?on who he knew would soon be returning to Europe, and with whom possibly, he wish ed to depart from Antarctica. However, that .might be, I took an opportunity of explaining to Todleben and Kembie tbjrt I wlaa about to enjoy a tete-a-tete with Mr. Fazzy, and requested them to keep the ve.ocipen so near as to be ready for an instant swoop upon us if I should signal for help "I hope," I added, "the. fellow has not got a aporting 'battery. It he has h* could kill or paralyse me without my hav ing any ohance of giving unyeeX. "By Jove! happy thought!" cried KcmibLe." Doctor, you go and put the comether on that baste., and kalpe bin away 'from us for a few minute*. Now, come on, me boy, quick. O.'ve got ?• young friend iv this place. While ye* were *ll lookin' at the nishty iron, ' I was makin' love to a purty gnrri. I saw half a dozen batteries in her house. Come on. man, and lose no time." We hurried away co a street clone by, and sure enough, there was the girl smil ing at Kenible and inviting ■"■ iato a house. He explained to hex that iwe were going into he forest, and wanted the Loan of a battery, ivrh'ch would <be returned as coon as we got back to Eocena. "Certainly," she sad. "Take one each. You can return them when you like, or take them back with you wbea you go home." .He thanked her warmly, and hurried back to Fazzy, who seemed rather put out at my long tete-a-tete with Kernble. I then entered the yeloclpen after tak ing leave otf a), the siine officials Fazzy worked the machinery, and we soared into the air. To my great an noyance, he at once put on great speed, and I soon caw that the. heavier machine, with its lange car and heavy .oad, was no match for our Jigh'tly laden ship. &o we presently dropped them, despite my repeated request that we should a*low my friends to come up. To these request* my companion only replied by a grin, and a wicked Leer, and still kept tht machine racing until we had quite lost eight of the other one. Then ne alter ed his count and stood due north for at least 100 milt*. Looking down, I saw thart we .had ar rived at some ouilding looking l:ke a fortified place or* goal. Faszy now Let the machine descend into a large court yard, in which stood the stone hoasa 1 had observed. This yard was surrounded with a double wall, and in the space be tween the towo ran a numfber of wirar, which I knew must fee -electric, and I much suspect that they were cbargedwith electricity unrecorded at any observa tory. However, this was no business of mine; I had far weightier things to trouble me. Faczy was, without doubt, a traitor of Ben Ezer, jealous of his power, and he was also a traitor to me, and, so far, I was in his power. Here was I alone with the fellow in a yard from, which escape, was impossible. We descended from the car, sad enter ed the building. I did not doubt that Fatty had brought me here to propose some scheme, either for the dethronement of Ben Ezer, or to further ha own schema for leaving the colony and carrying away with him -the secrets which he had learn ed at the mines. Still, I couud not imagine. what advantage he hoped to gam by taking them to Europe. He could take as mtfch gold as he liked, I thought, and therefore the necessity for making money could not be his incentive. He invited me to sit down, and then rang a bell, on which summons a table, ready laid for a meaL, rolled into the room. A second touch of the bell brought in two rather repulsive-looking women. They were evidently French, and, although not old, were very coarse and atout. These females he introduced to me as his wife and s *ter-:n-!*w. On my expressing my surprise that be aboo-d'ke«t> these ladies in a place so for distant from his regular place of abode, he said, bluntly, that women must be kept in their places. This Was his home, and, therefore, it was perforce theirs. He then ordered them to wait on us as if they had been slaves, s«nd they meekly obeyed Dpr>ng the meal, be talked on ordinary' subjects, and let no hint drop of his pur pose in bringing me hither. As soon' however, as the •women Left the room, 1 determined to get out of him his inten tions with regard to myself. "Now, Mr. Fatty," I began, "yon are possibly under the impression that yoc have to deal with what Americans caU a I wish to diaribusejour mind of that idea. Ton hare urouasa me here against ray will, and it strikes me you wish to hold me a prisoner for some nefarious .purpose of your own. But I give you a fair warning, if you attempt to take my life, or even to deprive <me of my liberty. I sha.l frustrate, you by spins means. You have, of course, never be fore heard the name df Bjornvik If you had, you would also have heard that I am not a man to 'be intimidated by any one or by any danger. Therefore, if you have any design on my life or on my per sonal liberty, as I said .before, I warn you. Be careful, for if one of us goes down, it will not be Jena Bjornvik." Fozzy glared at me as I said this, with his mean little eyes. "Glare awtaiy, Mr. Fazzy," I said to my self. "If lam not a match for you, then I have lived to very little purpose." Suddenly he broke into a smile, and •aid : "My dear Captain Bjornvik, I am at a loaj to comprehend how you cau have conceived such a wrong impression of. my intentions. • I have aitnpiy brought you here away from your companions to heu> you to make your fortune. I have preferred you to any off the others, and 1 designedly took you atway from them that I might .enable you to become a wealthy man without your being in honour bound to share that wealth, as doabtleas' you wou'd do, with your com rade*." "Bunkum !" I thought. "Much you care about me and my comrades," 'but I said nothing, and smoked on placidly. Fazzy tnen continued : "Let iw olear.y understand each other, Captain Bjornvik. I wish to leave this country and settle in France. That is my sole a-m, whatever you my think. You will leave also, but you will not be —pardon me—« wealthy man in your own country. I have been told that if you return to Europe, having located the South Magnetic, and the true South Poles, you will receive £10,000 from the Geo graphical Societies. What is £10,000 ? A paltry £300 a year *t the present rate of interest in Europe. You tee, ■we. are not ignorant df European Ibus.neas, al though we never cross the seas. Just oblige me by- looking into this next room." He rose and led roe into an adjoining apartment. To say that I was astonish ed at what I there saw would but feebly express my feel.ngs. There, piled tier upon tier, were stacked bars of go.d in numerable. If I wore to say that bullion was worth, many scores of millions I should be within the mark. He noticed my surprise, and said : "This is a revelation to you, Captain Bjornvik, but I have an equal amount stowed, away in my house at Triactea, a* much at Jurassa, and double the quan tity at Pleocena. The value of the whole runs up to a billion sterling." "Then, I my dear *-r," I exclaimed, "in the name of all tint's lovely, what can and man dea.re more in the world?" With wea.th and strength each as you possets. and all this wealth, you could live a life in Europe sach as the greatest. American billionaire cannot enjoy. Now, in plain English, what is your little game ? And how can your kidnapping of me—for that is what thj outrage amounts -to—help you to any more of this world's bless ings ?" "That is precisely where you are in error, Cteptain, owing to your natural ignorance of the laws of this country," he replied. "You have doubtless been told that any man in Antarctica can tak< as much go.d as be likes, and send it fo> investment to the Northern world. True so he may, aud thousands have done *x (although the king tells you that noon h*? yet expressed a wish to leave); bo you hare not been told that there i*> ai. irresponsible trustee in whose same tht money is invested, although the .names oi the actual investors are reg.stered at thi banks. Not one of us can touch a penny on arrivoL in the old country without this trustee's consent, and that consent, we know full we.l, woo.d certainly be with held, for he does not w.sh any co!oq«t to leave Antarctica. The name of that honourab.e- tnutee is Ben Eser. He will tell you that any colonist is at liberty to leave when he likes. He will place toe Erebus or Terror at his d" Sposal, and convey him to Elephant Island, whener he can reach Europe by one of tbt agent's ships. But he can tuke nothing with him of value. He can receive non> of his invested wealth on arrival unler he is provided with an order signed b, Ben Ezer, and that signature is inrvari ably withheld. Now, do you see why J wish to leave and carry away w.th me the great secrets wh.ch would make the for tunes of iron masteife in the o;d country ■ Why do I want your help ? Because you will take wealth from this country. Because you will have the means when you reach home of helping me to bnild up an enormous fortune. - But Ben .Eser woiLd put obstacles in the way of my leaving which I can only defeat by destroying his power. He mart be ren dered powerless, and I have aiready pre pared the way for putting myself in hia place. So long as you are here, and en j?y his confidence, I can do nothing. Either you must consent to aid me, in seizing him, and in declaring what South Amerioaaie call a "ipronunciameuto," o* I ohaLl take such measures -with you a# shall prevent you from divulging what I have told you if you refuse." "And ifM do refuse ?" He shrugged his shoulders, indicated the room 'by a wave of hia baud, and simply remarked : "Alore, vous void a jamaia, monsieur le capitaine." (Here you remain for ever.) **You infernal acoundrel !" I said to myself. ""But 'monsieur le ■capitaine,' as you caH him, is going to be a lnatek for you." I stood up and said : "Mr. Fazzy, I have all my life associated with honourable men —no. pardon me, not associated. God forbiu that I should faA so low. I«m in the power. <of an un gmttifuL scoundrel, of a traitor -to his ex cellent maater. I positively refus? to «■ -srst you in your villainy, and you may do your worst 'by way of revenge. But? mark me, if I get the better o€ you, a? assuredly I shall—how, I dd not j«t know—but wh«n J do, you will havecuiat to rue. the d!fty when you tried (to bribe a. Bjornvik to forfeit his honour end be tray his friend. n At this he sprang to his f«fet, and eo^ claiming: "You fool, you have settledT your own fate; you are a prisoner l?er« for life," he went out and closed the door uoi«eleas!y behind him. rjM (To 'be Continued.) I i 1 i i

A PAGE FOR THE BOYS OUR BOYS' STORY. THE ANTARCTICANS. BEING THE FURTHER AND STILL MORE SURPRISING ADVENTURS OF CAPTAINS BJORNVIK IN THE REGIONS AROUND THE SOUTH POLE. AS RELATED BY HIMSELF. (All Rights Reserved.) CHAPTER XXV.—THE ESCAPE. By A.J. BOYD. I now found myself in a very unplea-<*> sant predicament. I went to one of the barred windows—well, I call them barred, but they were only defended by a few wired, and well I knew what an attempt to break through those wires would mean. I should be a dead man as aoon as I touched them. Looking out, I s&w the fellow enter his velocipen and •ail away southward. 1 was left in a prison hundreds of miles from Eocena, and had no means of communicating with Ben Ezer. My telegraphic helmet was hanging on a peg in my room at the paiace. How I cursed my folly in not bringing it with me ! Of course, Kemble and the others would tell Ben Ezer that I had gone away with Fazzy, but who could tell what story theiatter would invent to account for hii returning alone ? One thing was certain—as least, so I concluded—s was not left here to starve. The women would surely see that 1 was supplied at least with the necessaries of life. So I determined not to be cast down, and, lighting my pipe, I took a good nip of whisky, there being plenty of wines and spirits on the table, aud walk ed up and down, cogitating on my unfor tunate predicament. By-and-bye, it struck me to try and and get the -women back, so I looked about for the usual means of communica tion, and found an wlectnc button in the wall. I pressed it, and in a couple of minutes Fazty's wife appeared. I rose •nd bowed politely to her, but the fat creature merely gazed stolidly at me, and signalled to some one to roll the table out. As I objected strongly to see my provisions and other creature comforts removed,. I propped myself against the table and began to explain that I wished to know my position in the house. The ugly old French fish wife only scowled and told me that I would be fed like any othex wild beast. So saying, she de parted. This was not at all to my liking, so I ventured to touch the bell again, and this time the other woman came in. She was not so repulsive as hex s'fttcr, and I tried a little diplomacy—hypocrisy, I had bet ter call it —with her. Wbeu she appear* cd. I struck an attitude of admiration, and murmured loudly enough for hex to Bear : "Quelle jolie fille !" (What a pretty girl !) That .fetched her. She smirked and smiled, and was at once willing to enter into conversation. I soon made out that she had. uot long Wen in the colony, and was only too anxious to leave it. Then she leered at me. and appeared about to gush, but, as the Irishman said, I smelt a rat, and nipped it in the bud. I had now got a glenm of hope. She might be judiciously worked upon to as sist me in my escape. I told her that I was an intimate friend of Ben .Ezer, and that I was shortly about to return to Europe. This sudden rmpijsonnaent, however, had put my return out of the question on lees she. could help me to get away. The woman looked at me wist fully for a moment or two and then sa:d : "If yon can get away, will you take me with you ?" This rather took me aback. Still, I was anxious to get away that 1 would have taken Jezebel or Delilah, or Boa* dicea, or Cleopatra, or any other phady daouel, any old hag under the mm, if she could only affect my release; so I swore that the most earnest w«h of my hrart was to restore a most charmiug French lady to her beloved country. At this* she smirked again, and leered lovingly in a most terrible manner. I edged round to the other side of the table, as she seemed to be inclined to come to close quarters. Then she told me that she had come out with her sister, expecting to live in luxury in Eocena.. but found that Fnzzy bad married again in the colony, and to avoid any trouble, had built this isolated house, and had kept her* and his legitimate wife practically close prisoners. For seven years they had not eeen a strange face until I was brought there. She would be only too delighted to get away, but her sister was contented, and it was probable she would prevent my escape if she became aware of any attempt on my part to break prison. "There i«, w she said, "a fine, velocipen in the shed in the courtyard, and if yon know how to manage one, it would be easy to seize it and effect our escape. Un fortunately, I do not understand how to raise them, or to bring tkem to the ground again, but if you can do it, you may leave all the rest to me. But first swear that you will not go -without me." I was, of course, willing to promise any thing, but I honestly told her I would steer straight for Ben. Ezer's palace. She appeared quite pleased at thig, and said she wag sure of protection there. Now, I knew as much about managing a velocipen as the woman did, but my ignorance did not for a> moment stand in the. way of my acceptance of her pro posal. I did not know how to raise the thing, but I should have to trust to luck to learn how to steer it aud br.ng it to the 'earth again. There has, however, noth ing yet been invented by man that I have not been able eventualjy to understand, and, after all, I reflected, there could be only three or four electric buttons used iv working these machines. So 1 declared to the etout damsel that I was intimately acquainted with the management of the moat complicated air-motor ever invented, and she then suggested that at a certain hour on the next evening I should walk in the courtyard, and she would take care to be near at hand to point out the posi tion of the machine. There was no one about the place besides the women and myself, except a halfwitted sort of lad, who did the few odd jobs required, bo that I could not be interrupted in my investigations unless it were by Fazzy's wife. Luckily, this lady was fond of taking a very long afternoon siesta, ren dered necessary by her fondness for absiuthe, and as her slumbers usually lasted, her sister told me, until well into the evening, I was practically free to curry out the necessary operations. Next day I amused myself by looking over the walls at the distant monotonous landscape, and after a really luxurious lunch, I strolled about the yard. All was perfectly still, and I was soon joined by Mademoiselle Etoile, as she -was named, who directed me to the resting place of the velocipen. As a preliminary I examined it very carefully, and soon dis covered two buttons, one of which, I knew, -would send the ship into the air. The second wag probabjy the propelling power. Any others that were needed I fondly hoped to rind as we went along. The speed of these machines I have al ready stated to be very high. There was therefore no need to lay in a stock of pro visions for our voyage to the capital, which could be performed in four or five hours. I therefore asked Miss Etoile if she was ready to start. With woman's readiness she had brought a travelling bag with her, and answered me by gel ting into the car with her belongings. I moved the machine out of the shed, and stepped in. We were just seated when' Madame Fuzzy—who, we thought, wan fast asleep —came running to us uttering shrill screams and threats. The half-witted lad auto ran up, but tumbled down right in frout of his mistress, who fell over him. I at once' touched the elevating button, and avc rose rapidly into the air. How high we went I cannot say, but I was so confused at our sudden start that 1 for got all about the second button, and it was only brought to my recollection by seeing my companion lying unconscious at the bottom of the car, and by feeling my self suffocating in a 'highly rarefied at mosphere. The barometer which is at tached to every velocipen car showed that we bad reached a height of 27 miles. This may appear incredible to scieotista in the old world, who believe that the atmosphere only extends to a height of 45 miles, and that an elevation of even six miles only is attended with dire con sequences. But I hud now attained nearly five times that height, and uuly ex perienced a great difficulty in breathing. I now noticed a button marked "Diagonal -Down," and touching this very gingerly for fear of a swift fall, we •began to shoot downwards and at the same time to go ahead at a ewift rate. When I saw by the barometer that we were about two miles from the earth's surface, 1 stopped the downward course, and by dmt of careful search, found the button when, on being pressed, sent us quickly sailing at a uniform elevation towards Eoccna. Suddenly we were met by a large velo cipen containing three men. They called out, and ordered me to stop and come alongside. lat once came to the con clusion that these were emissaries of Fazzy, probably on tbeir way to the loueiy house to make my incarceration more secure. I therefore quickly drew out my fighting battery, and I noticed that the woman—Who, by the way, had quite re covered—had provided herself with a similar weapon. However, before, tak ing any decided hostile action, I asked them by what right they ordered me to stop. The reply was that they were sent by Mr. Faszy. and that, if 1 refused to stop, they .were to take me back para lysed to the house I had just left. On hearing this I took instant action, a* did also my companion. The enemy never dreamed that we were armed with the Antarctica weapons, and consequently were taking their measures in Icinirelj fashion. Two darts of electric fluid sped from our batteries, followed instant ly by two more. All three of our enemies were l?id low, and we sped awAy tqwaxda tbe South, and arrived safely at the palace. Ben Ezer himself met me on my ar rivel, and expressed the utmost astonish ment at seeing me. Fazzy, he said, had come to him in great concern, and told him that 1 had, in some manner, fallen from the cat of his velocipen, and before he had time to -put the negative electricity in action, which would have kept me sus pended in mid-air until he. rescued me, I had fallen into the sea, and when he de scended to look for my body, it was no where to be seen. Fazzy was at this moment in the palace, and Ben Ezer at once ordered him, to come to him. On his arrival, rue first to confront him were Miss Etoile and my self. The man attempted no defence, he d/d not try tp invent a fresh story, he told no lie; he knew his fate wag sealed, so he made a frauk confession ot bis vil lany. Pitying the man in his abject terror, I tried to intercede for him, but Ben Ezer sternly said : "Fuzzy is a traitor, a double traitor. He would sup piant me and imprison my friend.- He must suffer. Take him to the Hall ot .Justice, and notify the Council of Twenty-Seven to present themselves there in half an hour." Miss Etoile, casting languishing glance* and fat, greasy smiles at me, was removed to the women's quarters, and I retired to my own room to take a bath and make a change in my dress.

CHAPTER XXVI-THE TRAITOR'S DOOM. At the appointed time, I and the other members of my expedition repaired to the Hall of Justice. This hall and the disposition of the members of the conn- eil have already been described. Fazzy was seated in one of the. fatal chains. I was then called on to detail aJ the circumstances which bad oecurjred since parting with my friends, and then Ben Ezer pronounced judgment, asking, a* on tbe previous occasion, when Gaskarth was electrocuted, or otherwise dsposed of, whether the council ratified his de cision. They replied as before: "It is we?." The sentence was that the wretched traitor wm first to be paralysed, and dealt with subsequently after being relegatttt to the place w'bere all condemned prisoners were imprisoned. I have ahready explained how this ter rible paralysis was produced. After the operation, Fazzy was removed, and Ben Ezer requested us to accompany him to witness his final punishment. I was anxious to ccc what worse could fofall a man in this country, and we all went to tbe Hall of Forgctfulness. Such a sgbt as there met my eyes I shall never forget. The hall was circular, and, as 1 judged, about 1600 ft, in diameter. The con demned men stood in concentric circles. They numbered about €00. All were per fectly rigid with tbe exception of their eyeballs. Tbeae all rolled incessantly, and their expression of hopeless agony was terrible to witness. We were, however, to be spectators of an additional horror. Twc nicu, of whom Fazay was one, wexe to undergo (joefinal ordeal of death. They were stripped of their clothing, aud placed on « c?rcular steel slab, such as I have before deHciibcd. But, in this instance, instead of revolv ing rapidly and disappearing, tbey re mained stationary. At a sign from Ben Kzer. two line steel points attached t«? a wire sprartg from t rae discs. Tbtwe po??U? touched the fact of the doomed men, and and moved slowly round their limbs. As the points mover upwards, the wiri? coited round the naked limb* and trunks, and every shred of flesh a.itf *imsw was slow ly burnt away. No aouud, however, was tattered by site sufferers. Their tongues were paralysed, and only that awful agonised look in the restless eyeballs told what horrible, torture* tbey were endur ing. It was fully <au hour before this fright ful execution was completed. I am a pretty tough subject, but I must confess that t£ae sight of those men's sufferings turned me completely faint, and I was glad when all was over, and the bare'skeletons stood as if they had be«*i "cleaned, articulated, aud set up by an expert in* ostcotogy. We then walked round and looked at the prisoner*. Ga«karlh's two fellow suf ferers were there, but -whom 1 asked Ben Ezcr wbat bad become of tbe former, he told me - that be bad simply passed away, the whole of his body having re solved itself into its original •constituent*. I was glad to leave thfis den of horrors and return to the palace. That night I told Ben Ezcr that I should now like to return .to mv own country. He seemed disappointed at this request, but *at coce consented to send us away with befitting honour. "You will, however, miss the comple tion of my grand experiment, for I have fortunately, by a mere accident, dis covered how to perpcndicularise the earth's axis, and a few days will now see it an accomplished fact* This announcement, 8f coarse* made me determine to remain and see the result of Ben Ezer's experiments, and he promised that within three days we should see the consummation of tbe efforts of years. I a&d mjp «o<aradbMhen retired to oar quarters, and we talked over any adven ture* uutil it was quite time to turn in. During the next three days, we made several excursions of the. various strange sheveral excursions for the purpose of col lecting specimens of the various strange insects and plant* to be found in this wonderful country, and on the fourth day Ben Ezer took us on board a ship, which he had loaded with all kinds of specimens of natural history and geology, inciuding our two famous skeletons. The ship was also literally ballasted with god, both in the natural state in the quartz and in bars. Thus we were all wealthy men, for there could not have been leas than £250,000 worth of gold on board. We expressed our deep obligation to hkn for his great liberality, and now, at laat, obtained a favour which -we had longed for in vain. X earnestly des.red tihat our friends at Cape Adare should be participators with us in tfhe discovery I had made of thai beautiful counury, and more especially tfo?t they ebou.d be present at the ce noueraent of the great experiment for altering the inclination of the earth's axis. To my «urprje, Ben Ezer consent ed .to my proposal. He even anticipated my desire for an early vi«.t to the North, and at once ordered mx large veloctpens to be ready to start for Cape Adare on the forlowing morning, and promised not only to bring our companions there to Eocena, but to send us «ll back in the Erebus, and then to escort the Gerry ouuder through the pack ice. "Yon will thus," he said, arnave no trouble with ice, for I will open a clear passage for you, and put your ship well into the warm sea beyond the ice." This wa« joyful news for jug, and on the fotUwrin* day we bed early made all our preparations for the voyage to the Gape. We were soon on "board the aerial ships, and sailed away swiftly tonrards the Korth.

CHAPTER XXVII.—WE MEET OUR FELLOW VOYAGERS ONCE MORE. The 1650 miles separating us from our own ship were covered in eight hours, and just before we reached the vessel we saw a man groping about some pools be- tween the rocks. I asked Ben Ezer to descend dose to him, and when we touched the ground, alighted, and went np to linn, he. proved tp be the professor, the Baron Yon Geroldwau. True to his phegmatic disposition, he did not express the least astonishment at seeing six aerial «utps about him. He merely exclaimed several times: *Ach so ! Ach so ! Und do I vonce again beuold mem friend, nein leader, ze KapiUn Bjurnvik ? K? ist wnnderbar. I to* dink you vac dead, und nefer come pack no more. Ach! Ye vnll go to de vhrep. Eferybody i« came pack mit der •letches. Dey couldn't get Sout' pecause dey vas find d*t all vas vater, und dot sletche* couldn't vas drafel ofer do yater." Ben Ezer Imuglicd, and said the profes sor would soon see why there was so much water to the ttouthjward. There would be more yet next day. We took the philosopher into our vclocipcn, and then made straight for rbc ship at slow speed. Arrived there, I found every thing, in perfect order. Captain Larsen had remained with her, and expedition* had gone out in every direction, unfor tunately with very little result. Professor David, Joues, the Baron, and the Rev. Reid, the four Esquimaux and four seamen had started South, it will be remembered, with 80 dog 3, five large sledges, and two hand sledges. We had, *9 I have already recounted, seen them fairly started, and we expected to meet them al the depot near Mount Erebus On our arrival there they had left, leav ing a letter in a cairn to say that they were pushing on South. That was the last news we had of them until the event ful morning when' we saiw their camp re flected in the heavens by a miragn. They bad then not reached the extremitay of tbe ice-belt, so that shortly afterwards, a? it now appeared, they had passed the ice, and were really on the borders of the Antarctic colony without knowing it. Having no boats, they were com pelled to return and await the time fixed for the arrival of my party in the launch. It may well be imagined what as tonishment was expressed by those at the ship on our arrival in such a singular manner. Ac for Professor David, be was in ecstasies over the airships. "It reminds me," be said, "of theaern motor invented long ago by my nnck the Archbishop of Patagonia. He con structed several which were failures, bu*. at la«t he succeeded in bu.lding a perfe one. - Its ordinary speed was 200 ml an hour, but it could, if necessary, i?t driven at twice that speed. He offered tbe patent to tbe British Government for £100,000, but Mr. Joe Chamberlain a« tuatiy declined the offer. It is most a? tonishing that statesmen fail to perceivn fat enormous value of my uncle's inven tions. He once invented s> helme*. which obviated to* necessity of carrying ft cooking range, or soldier's cooking, kit in Tvar time. BThi« helmet combined all that is necessary for preparing a soldier* meals. It also carried its own fuel, for it was double, and the spacct between the two skins, as I may call thorn, wa9 filled with petroleum. Certainly on a trial of the contrivance before Hla Royal High near the Duke of Cambridge, a helmeb blew up and set Sir Garnet Wolseley'a tunic on fire, but surely that was no reason for the rejection of a moat valu able invention by a parsimonious Govern ment." We now thought that David 'natf mean dered long enough about his fictitious Uncle, so I invited Ben Ezer and hia friends to enter the ship, and during the course of a good meal we listened to the narratives of the expeditions which 'olad gone out in different directions. As might have been expected, there waa nothing of importance disclosed. Mine. wa* thfe great driscovery, and the onUr - one which has thrilled the wortd. The sea-eerpent had been nicely clean ed, and the skeleton deposited in barrels. - This was really the on'.y work done by, my scientific companions. We spent a very merry afternoon and evening, and then it was decided that: M'ltwraith should tike charge of the Gerrymander, and that the captain should join me, and the rest of my scieutifio staff, in a journey to Eoeena. M Accordingly, the next morning we setW out on the return journey, which was performed in even quicker time than was occupied in getting to th« ship. Quarter* had already been arranged for the new comers at the palace, and aiter the u«ual. refreshments had been served we retired for a much needed rest. The following day at noon wm decided: on for the momentous experiment of ele vating the earth's axis. The demagnetis ation of the Magnetic Pole had been pro< eeeding, «*. our host told us, for many months, and he believed that the moment had now arrived to deprive it <tf its at traction to the plane and so to release the axis, and allow the orb of earth to regain its perpend.cutarity. We were not initiated into the secret of the work. All we cou'.d do was to watch revolts, and thesa could not be' known in their entirety for some days, bat what we did observe was th s - The sun'a ray* became gradually brighter as. that planet apparently moved further^ South. The ice 'beyond the pole, which" we went out to dbservc, gradually re ceded until a (Trent stretch of open coean was seen where formerly ice fields held the water bound in icy fetters. We made a trip en a vetocipen towards the north, and found a great disruption m the vast fee barrier tafatch blocked all entrance to Antarctic*. Ben Ezer was perfectly calm nobwitfc standing his marvellous achievement, one which was destined within a few weeks to throw open the great continent of the South Pole and the Polar oceans of tint uorth to the Tin trammelled traific of the world.. The way to China by the north,*, west pasaga, and by the north-east at well, would be as dear as the Indiane Ocean. The Antarctic colouy "would be peopled by thousands from the otfhergrett continents, and icebound aeas woula . ue things of the past. (To be Continued.)

A PAGE FOR THE BOYS OUR BOYS' STORY. THE ANTARCTICANS. BEING THE FURTHER AND STILL MORE SURPRISSING ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN BJORNVIK IN THE REGIONS ABOUND THE SOUTH POLE. AS RELATED BY HIMSELF. (All Rights Reserved.) CHAPTER XXVIII.—THE GREAT EXPERIMENT IS SUCCESFUL. By A.J. BOYD. Next day was fixed for the final act of the great experiment. If it should prove successful a tremendous revolution in physical and mathematical geographical •Cience would take place, and the whole world would become alive to & change m ike seasons, which "would be tet down, aven by the greatest scientists, to super natural agency. On tbs eventful morning, ire alt set out far tha Ssut'n Polar Observatory, wbare «r«rjr preparation bad been saade for the saeeption at oor party. The chief as tronomer wore a look of irtuavph. atari Bier's bnv was eaSm and bis fwtores an •wlfled. On our part, we were burmne ■with eagerness to -wknea* thsf.rawilt ol kis labours. When 'we were «11 assembled in the great laboratory, he naked o* fro stand round * table on which «tood two sea? at very •fcnple-toohtng instrumenta. i- e&a only describe flh*m by saying that tftey looked Hu a doable set of fate* ffeetnsai ■Mchinss, namely, s dynaaso, a Romkhnsfr •ail, and a sheet of plat* glass standing a* g}aa? ba3«. From thr* apparatus four wire* war* carried to- tb« exact position of the true pole, and there eonaected with. a> galvanic battery of enormous power, which in turn, was connected by two wires.-wirn sane apparatus «t in* mag- WKticpsJe. Ben Ezer requested the ehieC aatrewomer . is> captain the prioc^e of 4ae operin—it «o us. The latter thereupon dehvsred ? most learned ditfeoince, «o?t of Viaichv. was quite incomprehenaflbie to vm vrbo had bad no .pceriiOMi opportunity of ex ««ining into the busuMas. 1 d."d, how •ver, underatand the ma.* firin^ile,-which <w«s this : The -astronomtr pnt the qncav tioo, "XI throw • larger quantity of deo tricity than its natural share on to one side of a ibeet of ghss, such as thu," m dioatinaxthe fflam on the takiie r "-what mint happen to the other side ?" i The answer to this «ra* Ttry abrtoos to any one acquainted with elaetnetty. so I •add: In that case, the other side will be «ome negatively electrified. That is to «ay, it wiQ have as much teas than t«s natural «kare mm the other aide baa more tton its natural sfesic. 1* "Ah, precisely so, Captain Bjornvik," ■aid the old astronomer, gratifiedl to find be had so inteUigeirt an interlocutor." I see yon have studied the subject. Now, is go a step fnrlber, wiA the electricity. communicated to the flan spread, over tt* whole surface 1 " -Ortainly not," I replied; "bocanaa your fdaa? is am eseeftent non-ucadmtor? and the ■lattiicity will be eoafined to that part on wnich it ? tluown.* "Rifnt again," cried the philosopher. "Now, you doubtless kuw Uukt if two aharp^pointed twiras arc iieat with tke four ends at right angles, as yon see here, but pointing in diSere?t divectaons, tksy nay %c made to «ar? opoa a. prrot fixed to that point of the ogadactor wni«k touches the aiectric pomt of tke g >«ot. Tka - result is that tbe wires will twra rooad a the direction opposite to thai to wnaek the points are jar—d, and the motion wift beooiae raatd or slow aocoraxag to the ra* aiataaca offered. IXtm, oar ptroc ? fa* . axis of the ettth, <and tbc vesista?ee im, of coarse, tbe attraction of that axis to the plane of tbe otbit.* This wa# getting utterly beyond me, a? I agreed with Idas, and, than* ag him tut bis rtrj lneid explaaation, trasted be would ?ot riax aaytniag by sWay owiag to my aitwral thent of knowledge. Eitber be took the bint, or be was an xious to act -rhing* in motion, as he con cluded by asking us to watch the shadow of the sun^ and to .maintain strict eikace. I theMfors marked tbe shadow on tine dial. The opera tins; ascstaat then con nected ibe Jbro batteries, if I aaay so call the duplicate arrangement on tbe table, and in breathless ooapento we wmtched. Now, as truly as I aai writing ibis, the sun, which was as naar the amitn as it ever reaches at «he poles at jnidsomnier, began to recede! Slowly tbe shadow moved on the son-dial, natii ? degreeaof retrogression were recorded. Tbe earth's axis was therefore practically peipendi suiar! In the days of Fharoan and Moses this would have been recorded as a mirad* wrought by the wise men by divine or Satanic agency. In the time of Ignatius Loyola, of Torquemada, or James the , First, it would have been called tfhework of a professor of tie ttfsck art, aided by \ bis master, the devil. James would ■ have «tyled it "One o' the 'wiles o' < Satan, *ndtbe wsrka o'the iDeil." In ■the I other ewes, the SaouKars of the Imguisitioa i would have ba!*d the necromancer to torture and death at the *take. In our blasted enlightened age, we amrely credit the performer dt sash an apparent miracle with a deeper knowledge of science than that possessed by other men. Galileo was in advance of his fellow* in scientific knowledge, and he was tortured by tha Church, and compelled to deny the truth of bis discovery that the world moved. Edison, Marconi, and M'erca are in ad* vance of othere in electric*! science, and t&eir names are revered, and Jjheir achiera . ments emulated by all .devotees of science. Ste tempo**, sic sores ! We gazed silently on the lengthened anadow. .None spoke. Ben lEmt stood calm aud yet triumphant. There was dead silence. It was at last ibroks fay the jovial Irishman whose spirits nothing could quell. *My me arealngrand-mothgr-in-law'g sainted pig* Tins is, «f. all the martial joaa I iver ?aw, the very mortialist,* ha exclaimed in defiance of accent aad grammar. "PN.Tat next would yes be after tetlin* me * Majbe well be after takia' a tittle trip to the noon from this ottld earth of our*, as I wtmst read of somebody dom'.* * Nothing, beKere me? Mr. K«mtie, ' is ampler than the phenomenon yen now beheld," said Ben Eser. MWhca yon know how to da it, «h !*? said Professor Jones. '•Exactly on, ear," end our heat calm ly.' It is the en of Cshnsbos orer again. 1 otifht hand yoa~these instruments now and you might reverse ths experiment and repast it.* Somehow or another, we ail felt depressed. Why, I cannot for tfhe life df me say. Ben Eser aun ssK was inclined to he silent. So we bade farewell to the aateeaemcr and hi« aides, and descending to ths courtyard, mounted our machinrs, and mode for home, as, we had now got into the habit of osHiag th« palace. We drned alone and, in the evening,-took our companions to a conert such as has already *x«a a*. asrmed. I aJao arranged lor a visit to all the places of interest <o£ -which men tion has been mads. There was one new discovery- fskiefi I had failed to make, and the hoaoar of this fell to the Baron. There is a re cord of a bird, extinct in Europe, hut known to Marco Polo as toe -neck." Such birds, in his day, 'had only been foaad in Madagascar, iwt they ao longer exist there or anywhere else on the known continent* of the world. The bird is scientifically known as the "Acpiorai* maxima*. * The egg only is known in Earope, and i? eqoal to six sanrJeh egss in capacity. There are only ahont 90 specimens of these flgas in existence. Toe egg aeasnres over a foot in length, and is nearly three feet in cireuasference. It is fsr rarer thsn the egg of the Cheat Aok or of the Dodo.. By the way, I omitft fofgot to mention that the Dodo is as common in Antarctica aa the pengnin at Case Horn. We all brought sevsral stuffed dpeeimens wits as, and a ease of their eggs. An «gg of the Acpiomis wa? not long ago sold in London for £J& ajhaA waa rmwaairnd chsaa tat ao care a The dear old Baron seeaaed to be, ahnost oat «f Iris mmd iwith delight at havimr faaad so great a ttaasnrr, sad the atore so aa it *«as a astfsatly fraah, newly mid ajg, a siicsmstasta which «sve h-avgasai hope of eaptnring the %srd itastf. Waa Ben Beer was made arassinlurf with ths Barea'e jianiMj, aad with Mi earnest desire to obtain a apwrmen of taa living bird, he told the aaaitad flu mis that ho had already taken care to arovide a npeci men far saesi -of am, -Ach. co! Aeh, so!? granted ihe . Baron. lam higaarfly obliged. Ac*! Van I shell to mine aakisd ea-irign-mat ; nenee sittjag tsstU hade arnfed have, as bird and se egg a fine blace in mine pig , nsnaaan i?ve shall, mad I vill hare one . underwriting dat ac ttrd vaa brcaented to , me by se king of Antarctica. Js>! Bei . Oott! I vilL Tot mit mine blants. ' uad mine insects, and mine bird*, nnd miae egga, I vill be de envy from all de Natnr fortcber, vat yon call de natural ; history seeketa in de vorid. Ach, ja !"
CHAPTER XXIX.—THE LAST EX ; OUBBJON IN ANTABCrTKU. At laat the day arrived wnich Stad been ' fixed for oar departure. Ben Seer had long ago given instructions to tiavs a. vast number of specimens of natural his ■ tory, inclnding narsa?atativw of geology* > aoology, botany, ornithology, coochslogy, . mineralogy, 4c, oarrfully packed and ; stowed in the hold of the Terror. ; There was, however, one more trip he ? wished us to take, and it was arranged * to come oil on the morning of the day on wfo'ch we iwere to bid goooPbye to Eoc*na \ and its kindly inhabitants. The spot > which he wished us to visit lay at a dis r tance of 800 nines from the observa > tory. > Now, here occur* a difficulty.. I cannot : lay that it bora 4e> say ybint of the com pass, taking the bearing from the clbsw ratory, because that building ia erected on the exact site of the South Pole, and, therefore, any single step taken on from it must be in a northerly direction, I can therefore, only say that it lay 800 miles tfnat direction was all open, and Ben Ezer had therefore decided that pur trip should be taken, in a submarine boat. Ac cordingly, on that morning, we went on board thft Terror, and set off southwards. We did not travel at great speed, for there was no hurry. iWe passed in sight of the Observatory, and thence our course was naturally, as I have said, a norther' ty one. Before iwe reached onr destine? tion, the eaptara asked Ben User -if be would like to show us the peerlsheS beds. Our 'nost made the iprapoeal to us, and we were, ot coarse, ooiy too delighted to visit then. The order mas thereupon given to sink the ship, aad we descended to a depth of 2Kft.? end came to rest on the eeean floor. Never haa pearTehell been won from sack a tremendous depth, •Itker in Torres Strait* or ofi Western Australia. No diver could exist wader the enormous pressure he wowd her* ex perience. The electric lighta shed afanf usncy far rooad the ship. -Now. gsnthssia,? said Ben. Ewf, -joe shaH gather your own sbeD." So saying, lie ordered diving hdmetsand dresses to be provided for each of as. The dhnna; dresses were specially contrived to enable a nan to walk eonfortdbly, even at a depth of a thousand feet, whilst tb* hctmet contained air sufficient to mst for several hour?, and waa also provided with a battery telephone, by means of which we could cssJy eusamuakate wit'n each ether. Having donned our dresses and helmets, we entered a large cabin at the Ship'" stem, and the door was heimetita?y dosed behind n« Water was then ad mitted aa the air rasbed oat Then n targe stem part iwes opened, and we went down a short-ladder t« the bed of the etc. I wa? certainly sunrised at the eaa* with which we. moved, breathed, an* spoke at tfcia depthr. Aanmtomcd as 1 had been to working beneath the water. I tspe«tc4 to find ali the diffteumen at tending the work of oar northern differs, bnt there was here absolutely ne differ ence front walking on dry lane. We found ourselves sUmKag on a van bed of the most enormou* cbttt I had «Mr seen. Ac we moved ak«f, I eeoapnted that there mm* have been many tben aaada of tons of this sptasiid ahelL We had no difficulty in aefeet^ng mne verr large «|iecimens^ eoch aa hnd never be* fore been acsen in the world One pair I secured meaaared IS incbm in diasneter, and the lower valve waa lia«d on a most symmetrical stand of white coraL A? we wandered along, we eatw many won derfftl specinwna of macine IH, many oi which we caught in nets witii which we were provided, rjuddrnty the captain called to i? to hasten back to the ship. "Xmke no (Way," he cried, "or you are loat-" Without waiting to ask .what the danger was. we hurried buck, and 'nad just t jne to get up the tedder, eater the aaia& and close the port, when three enormous eea serpeuts easae swimming up. I, of eouoe, and no means of aaeerraininc tiieir actual sice, but Ben fiser said they were not leca than 30Oit. long. Had there been only one. he said, he would have kitted and saved it for us, bat it was den gerone to fight three such reiitUf*. Djb : wetion, in this case, wiaa the better part of valour. We therefore mtebad the i brutes from the port hoks, waahft the , water waa tiecaynjt from the cabin. They > now ky qnite metionksa, ne donbt, hop i ing they night yet ssiseonecf na. Icewd , disthwt^r see the great soaks on their > hacks* and the sasjwmMike mane whic<# y ran down their whole length, and, jodging . hy the huge jaws and terratie teeth, I ennld well tmsgine that a man wonld be , a mem moathfal lor one of them. How ever, w« were bow quite sale, and, divest ing ourselves of onr diving dresses, we toot ' a fresh-water bath, and changed to onr everyday clothing, after srhkh Jwe as [ ctmblsi on deck to examine our treasure*. • Toe sheUs were all opened, and in several ' of wm we Cound some very fine pearls, 1 although these are not the same daserip ; tion of sheM whxh produoss the nearls ' of Ceylon. [ Meanwhile the ship rose to the sur face, and we returned at full speed to the wharf, the original object of ts? trip having merely been to show na the vast open sea that now existed, wncre former ly eD wag ice. By midday we had readied onr quarters. Nothing no)r remained - but to bid farewell to our generous and kindly host, bat he intimated his inten tion of keeping ne company aa far* at least ** Cape Adarc. I should have mentioned that our bunch had been nrrii cared for, efed was i new stowed on board the Terror. , At about 4 o'clock in the afternoon we started on the homeward voyage, and made rapid progress as far as Mount Ere bus. Ths volcano iwai in full, violent action, but we. easily kept out of, danger ' by steering welt to the eastward, and by going beneath the surface as we reached ; the, dangerous zone. Thus we very soon •' reacted.'our own ship,' and 'the ' Terrof berthed alongside the Gerrymander. The captain of the. Antarctic ship gave every facility to our officer* and crew to inspect her, and even took the whole of them for a. short submarine cruise to 'Mount Ere* bus, when he came to the surface and gave them an opportunity of ototerving the magnificent spectacle of the eruption. . On their return, no time was loat in getting oar stores on board the Gerry-' mander. All our precious treasures were transferred to her from the bold of the- Terror, and after en evening spent in jdHitjr and talking over our adventure*, we hove up anchor and afceamed away, to wards the North. The Terror led the way, «nd I remained on board of her. As we neared the great wall of ke through which we had come, and Where we so narrowly escaped destruction, Ben Sanr gave us another proof of the triumph of science—of mind over matter. The demagnetising of the earth's axis had naturally not n yet materially affeoted this enormous maaa of ice; indeed, tke northward route sti? appeared to be com pletely 'blocked by the huge, perpendicu lar, table-topped bergs. -cm? we approach ed them Ben Eier ssid : I "Now, observe. There is absolutely no passage We through which even a boat could pats.* We needed no giaws to show ua that this was so. "Vety good. Now watch,'* he con tinaed, making at the same tJrae a sign to the fiiet lieutenant. The vessel baa been brought to s standstill, and a* we gased at the blue wall of ice we say two enormoaa btrgi separate, one going to wards the , east, the other to ■wards the west. Witnin half an .hour, * loug open passage ap peared quite a mile in width. Through this -we ran, and Boon found ourselves ia an open sea. How this apparent miracle wan performed rare could not understand* nor were .we informed, so I merely record! the fact, for fact it was, as can be cub* . etantiated by the whole ship's company o! the Gerrymander. We now went oa till the pack ice waa pastfed, and then Ben Ezer told us th? time bad come to say farewell. "I •hall not," be mid, "accompany you farther, at least, above water, for reasone whibh. you can quite understand* Ye* are now safely beyond the ice, but & any mishap should Wai yotr before you arrive at lieJboorn«? you may "be sure I shall not be far away. FarenreU. We> shall,, it all probability, meet again when, the great tide of emigration shall nave> set in from the Otd Country to the Poles,, whose seas will fee open to ocean traffics as soon as the last remnants of ice have disappeared. 1- have cujoyed very much, pleasant mtcrcoorsc, and sfamod to* •loth to think that thj it * final fare* well." We i'o«n descended to the saloon, and alter a parting gfc** of champagne wit^Mk our estimable friend, kort, and kino, w^gW •tapped into a boat, au<t retuT?ed to the- Genymsnder. Both ve*aei« dipped their ensitgns, the Terror disappeared bencatk the waves, and the Gerrymander made* with a fair wind tor Hdbeoa's Bay, but. we felt «ire that oar invlxfte conosrt . ««• not iar from us. (To be Continued.)

A PAGE FOR THE BOYS OUR BOYS' STORY. THE ANTARCTICANS. BEING THE FURTHER AND STILL MORE SURPRISING ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN BJORNVIK. IN THE REGIONS AROUND THE SOUTH POLE. AS RELATED BY HIMSELF. (All Rights Reserved.) CHAPTER XXX.—WE RETURN TO AUSTRALIA. By A.J. BOYD. The weather was perfect, and we made a, quick and pleasant run to Melbourne. Just as Port Philip Heads showed on the horizon, the Terror rose once more to the •urf ace close, to us. Again fareweVte were exchanged, and Ben Ezer said that we might expect to see him in London 'before the end of the year. 1 This was pleasant nema for us, so I re minded him that 'he could always hear of my whereabouts at the Royal Geographi cal Soc.ety's roome. Champagne was brought up on both vessels, aud paa •engers, otiicera, and crew pledged each other heartily. Aga;n the flags were dip ped, the Terror turned in her own length, and, without going down, shot away at a •peed which corried her in a few minutes beyond the vis-ible •horizon. A few hour* later, we let go anchor •t Qoeenscliffe, and taking a pilot, cross ed the Bay and came alongside the pier at Williamstown. There we took the train 4or Melbourne, and shortly found our •elves comfortably installed at the Port Philip Club Hotel. As soon as it was known that the Gerrymander had returned, we wew literally bes.egea by interviewers from the daily papers Having once been a Pres* man myseii, 1 sympathised with the anxiety of the reporter* to get bo me in formation of our doing* in the Southern 6e*a. so 1 entertained them all in right royal fashion, and requested my com pan:on* to give them all the particulars of our voyage out and back, merely sup pressing the fact that we had discovered a civilised race of people. I also did not think it well to say anything about the fold mine*. In fact, w-hat d.d get into too papeva next day was a most exaggerated account of our (passage through the ice, my ride on the whale, the defect.on of Gaskarth, and the. exciting passage of Mount iurcibus. As to Ben Ezer, Fany, and tha. perpendiculariaing of the earth* asi*,. the tons of gold lying in the hoW of the Gerrymander, our collection of ani mals and shells, the veloc.pens, and the submarine veweii—ail t'ui* wag studiously withheld, and to make sore that none of the crow should give any information, I had already made them inclined to hold their tongues by promising £100 to each man and boy if nothing became known until 1 gave them permission to speak. Th.a had the desired effect, and account* for nothing appearing in the colonial papers beyond what I told tne reporter*. The reader will remember tnat, beyond a doubt, the earth* axis had been raised practically to the perpendicular, (with tre mendous result* immediately apparent at the Pole, but Australia, and especially Queensland and the Northern Territory «t South Australia, would scarcely appre ciate the change a* yet. No doubt the veteorvlogioal observers of the various colonies, more especially Mr. Russell, late «C the Sydney Observatory, and Mr. Wragge, l?te of the Queensland (Meteo rological Bureau, would quickly have noted some extraordinary changes, but they would, for some thne, be far from at tributing them to the right cause. I therefore, reserved, and enjoined on my ""companion* the necessity for reserving, all mention of the Antarctic colony, and more especially of the .wonderful experi ment which had already resit.ted in the commencement of the freeing of the polea from their icy barrier*. The public was, however, satisfied with the. information imparted, not dreaming of that which was withheld, and we were feted by toe Royal Society, and the Royal Geographical Society, whose ener getic secretary, a.scientst second to none in Australia, did all he coold to make our reception toy the latter society a brilliant success. And his efforts were certainly weil seconded. We <««re invited to fee present at a conversasione at the Exhibi tion Building, and the enormous 'ball was packed to it* utmost capacity. I was introduced to the audience in a most flattering manner, and I delivered what I have reason to believe was a lec ture on Antarctica, such as- had never yet been heard. When I sat down, I was ap plauded to the echo. How would they u£ve applauded if I Had told all ? I in troduced my companion*, who each ad dressed a few word* to the audience, whtelr were well received. W« were al?o entertained by the Gov ernor, and a monster picnic was got np by file Premier in our honour, whilst both Houses of Parliament entertained us at touch/ and dinner, at did also the mem bers of the United Service Club. In short for the whole "week we were the lions o£ Melbourne. Invitations were sent to us from the Royal Geographical and Royal Societies of Sydney, Adelaide, and (Brig bane, to visit those citiea. but I deter mined to eet sail for England, and, ac cordingly, taking a day to 'bid farosvJl to our hospitable colonial friends, I invited •bout two hundred guests to partake of our hospitability at the hotel. This -was the least return I could make for the lavish kindness of the Melbournites. On that eventful night there were at least a dozen speeches made, all eulogia mg the courage and enterprise of the mem bers of t>he expedition. At last the Gov ernor, who had done me the. honour of being present, stood up and said hewiah «d to propose the toaat of the evening. As well as I can recollect, his speech ran as follows:— "Gentlemen, charge your glasses. I have a toast to propose which ,1 am sure, you will all join with; me in drinking -with hearty good will. VVe are to-night the gueate of Captain Bjornvik, and hrs in trepid comrades. Captain Bjornvik, gentlemen, 'has Achieved what no other man has yet teen able to achieve. He has not only accurately located the Southern [Magnetic Pole, but he .has set his foot on that southern-most point of our earth —the 6out'a Pole. He and the scientific gentlemen on any right and left have dis proved the statements which haive been made by several explorers in bhe Antarc tic sea«, that there exists in those, region* no continent, and that vegetation is con spicuous by its utter absence. Yon your selves saw, the oth«r night, at the meet ing of the i?oyel Geographical Society, specimens of the fauna and flora brought from those region* by my distinguished friend and host, Captain Bjornvik. The** prove beyond a doubt that- if a continuous waterway could "be found to the Antarctic land—if once the ?way of the ice king could be destroyed—a magnificent continent,, teeming doubtless with animals as well «s vegetable and mineral treasures, would b* added to the other bright gems of the British Empire. Unfortunately this cannot tow, <o long as the axis of the earth retains its present position with re gard to the plane of its orbit. If th* position of tfce eart'n's axis could be al tered—if, in point of fact, it could ba raised to the perpendicular—then I need not tell you, gentlemen, who have made a study of the sciences of mathematical and physical geography, tliat the pol«f ice would be a thing of the past. But, gentlemen that is impossible to the finite wisdom ot man, so all we can do is to honour the justly celebrated explorer, who has so royally entertained v* to-nig'nrt, Captain Jens Bjomvik, by drinking hi* health with musical honour." All my guests -stood up and gave, me an ovation, which I can never forget. The Mayor then proposed the health of my comrades, who each suitably responded. Doctor Todleben doing so at length, and Kemble making a speech which sent every body into roars of laughter. I fancy all my companions felt that they had been awarded too little "kudos" for their share in the expedition. But, after all, what had been achieved .had been achieved by me. I was at the head. With out me nothing could have been done, and, therefore, I considered it but right that the whole credit of the result* aoould be given to the man who had carried out the expedition to such a successful issue, namely, to myself. Next morning the Gerrymander, having coaled and taken a svpply of provision* and water on board, was headed for the open sea and the Cape of Good Hope. We had more room in the ship now than we had on the outwara voyage, for we left all our dogs, exrept a pah- w'nich I intend as to keep at bone, at Elephant Ismnd, in charge of the Esquimaux, who did not wish to return with us, as they had decided to wait there for some kayaks I promised to- send them,, and then, to re turn to Eocema, wheat Ben Exer had pro mised to settle them comfortably. On the homeward voyage we amused ourseive* by setting our numerous speci mens in order, classifying them, and ar ranging them according to their several natural orders and families. At tfts work Baron yon Geroldsau was quite in his element. ?He worked from morning till night with his microscope at the Algae, Focoids, Madrepores, and insect* we had collected. The insects and butterflies he placed carefully in camphor-wood cawe, cork-lined, which I had orderea the car penter to make for him. The reptiles, which, as I have already stated, did not include snakes, he placed in bottles of spirit, and the fis ra in formalin, of both of which articles I had taken care to bring, a large supply for this very purpose. 60 indefatigable was he at this work that he heeded not the passing of time, and bad to be literally dragged to his <meals, and sent to bed like a naughty boy. The .others all arranged their own specimens. CHAPTER XXXI—AN ANTARCTIC SUGAR MILL. One or two matters of interest, which I find I omitted to set down.in mynqte*. I will record here from iriepvry; as -1 ifaould like a trial of a sugar-making pro cess 'which I saw in operation in Antarc tica to be made in Queensland. Ben Ezer on one occasion took me to a sugar plantation. The cane grown-was of the old Bourbon variety, which I once sa>w growing in Queensland, but -which I have since heard has 'been quite discard ed, owing to its liability to disease. The sugar-making season had begun, and I was pleased to be able to witness the Ant arctic method of extracting the juice and crystallising the sugar. On my entrance to the sugar house. I looked round for the usual eugine, "boilers, rollers, clari fiers, vacuum pans, and triple effets. To my aston-ishment, nothing was to 'be. seen but a long row of huge cane shredders, and a large stone Toom, quite a thousand feet long by a hundred feet wide., with a depth of some sixty feet, into which th? cane -was being dropped "by meana of an electrically driven carrier. The cane was not "topped" as is done in old sugar-grow ing countries, but was conveyed from the fileld as fast as it was cut. The cutting was performed by a machine, or rather by two machines connected by a wire 20ft. long. Both move rapidly across1 a tfiald, and the wire passed through the stools of cane near the root, severing the canes more cleanly than if a can? Knife were uaed. At one place I saw 26 machine* all connected, and all moving dfriftly over a field together, and the cane -went down before them like grass before a mowing machine. 'When I state that the cane I saw grew to a height of 25 feet, I Relieve I am within the mark. On being delivered into, the room above mentioned, and m soon as the latter was filled to foe top, streams of electricity were driven through the mats. During a full hour the huge mass of cane was ■ob jected to this treatment. Clouds of •team issued from the top of- the build* ing, but thh> steam was at on/* c6ndensed and the -water conveyed- outside. An soon as every particle oL moiatore was evapo rated, the <sane was passed with extraordi nary rapidity through the TflpssWjP** **- neath which were iwfoat I snay calrjreyes. Now, this "was absolutely tne, whole of the machinery used, and 1 set it down as a {act that the sugar, after ■>% cane had passed through the steaming.'^recess, lay in perfectly formed fcubica-l grains inside the cane. On the latter being torn up by the shredder, both cane and sugar fell on to toe huge sieve*, which were violently osssllating, and the pure white sugar fed into receiving stores beiow, iwhitot the ba gasse waa .picked up by revolving rakes and carried to another building, whence it issued in the form of paper. I hppe some wealthy, enterprising mill owner w£B *c induced to try this method of sugar and* paper making before long. There <was another matter I forgot to mention, and that is; the disposition of the dead in Antarctica. Am a natter of fact, there are no dead; or, let one put it in thus way : When people have lived out their allotted time, they simply dissolve ill to their original elements. ' Certainly, they live to an extreme old age, and re tain their full faculties to feae last ?o nent before &a*l dissolution Very few. Ben Brer told me, had departed from earth life since he had first settled there, and those were only wen ?? had some dis ease which they had been successful in conesahag from the medical .man who wai appointed to examine every would-be e*l omst. There was, however, no local distases, and sickness was quite nnknowm except in toe cases mentioned. My thire onssion was not having yet mentioned that we all took a large number of photo graphs- during our stay on the continent None of these had a* yet been developed lo the dark room on the ship was oceypiet day and night. It was quite exciting t< see pictures coming up on the plates, o scenes aad of animals which had noaten tarity passed oat of our recollection. Th v:«r oi the three great sea-serpenti which I road hurriedly taken through i glass porthole by. the J«ftp: of a powerfu ftasUlight, came out splendidly. I wa also fortunate enough to get several cmi matograph. films of scenes of active life w?peciaHy of one of a battfe between plesiosaurus and an ichthyosourus, wuid I omitted to say that I witnessed whei out on a second shell-hunting expedition I <had in addition obtained some splendi photographs of most of tits animals know: to the cdoniats. Thus the time passed pleasantly wit us, and in three weeks from our leavin Melbourne we arrived at Capetown. Th war; between the British and the Boei was, we "heard, in its final stages, so suggested to my comrades that, as we ha no occasion for hastening home, weshoul visit some of the places of interest b tween Ktmberley, Maieking, Bloenrfoi tein, and Pretoria. They eagerly fell i with my proposal, and we accordingly too train from Kimberley, where we stays a couple of days, proceeding thence t Mafeking. . These places have been i often described in .connection with the gallant defence by Sir George Whil (Ladysmith) and Major-General Bade Powell that there is no need to go ov< the same ground. From Mafeking v rede to Bjoemfonteiifc knowing that Loi IfoTerfswasfcilf -W?y.***rtan **t ton and Pretoria, awaiting the arrival of supplies before continuing hia onward vic torious march. I felt that there could be no danger in following in the track o£ the army to get a glance at the grand old general and strategist. So -we left Bloem- fontein one fine morning, and travelled quickly for a couple of days. We reckon* ed that we were now about 100 miles from Lord Roberta's camp, and. we decided t« reach it in two days more. (To be Concluded).'

A PAGE FOR THE BOYS OUR BOYS' STORY. THE ANTARCTICANS. BEING THE FURTHER AND STILL MORE SURPRISING ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN BJORNVIK IN THE REGIONS AROUND THE SOUTH POLE. AS RELATED BY HIMSELF. (All Rights Reserved.) CHAPTER XXXII.-HOW I SAVED THE BRITISH ARMY. By A. J. BOYD. By noon next day we had reached a donga, as they call a creek in South Africa, passing between a succession of low hills or kopjes. We were half-way through tfhe pass, if 1 may bo style the track, when 1 heard a sound a 6 of many thousands of horses' hoofs. I bad heard the trampling of vast herds of buffalo on tbe American prair.es, -and had fciTt the ground shake under their thunderous gallop; so I could not be mistaken as to the cause of the sound I vow heard. We were, in front of a vast host. Instantly my old bush instincts came to me like an inspiration. I called to my companions to gallop after me, and turned sharp off between two biils, where a second deep donga afforded good shelter, and was out of the line of march of the advancing troops. Aa soon as we had got into fairly secure ambush, I asked the others to remain whilst I went out on scout. If 1 did not return, they were not to risk anytking by look ing for me, but to go straight back to Bloemfontein, thence vi to Capetown, and keep the Gerrymander there, for a month, •sr until they obtained .certain news of me. I felt pretty sore that I had a grand piece of work cut out for mc, which 1 waa not willing to share with any one else. It should be death or glory for mc, always Erovkltsg that the advancing force, was a ocr army. Bidding them all good-bye. I crept up to the top of a hill, aud from there saw an army of quite 7000 Boers, with fifteen or twenty b.g guns dragged by hundreds of bullocks, and a vast train of ammunition and cuiuHiissariat waggons. They were evidently o%tneii* way to take Roberts in the rear, and this %.'-* probably the artny wb.oh bad re treated before General Bullcr, at Jjamg'a Hek. This was what I had guessed, and now had come my opportunity. The enemy was quite three miles away, and 1 was so situated that I could get many miles ahead of them without being seen by their Scouts. Tightening up my girths. I righted my pipe, and started at 8 smart pace to warn the British general. I rode along, covering about six inibw un hour for two or three hours, to spurc my hotse. and then'did a good gatiop for several miles. Stopping then to give my hurau a rest, and to allow, him to snatch a few mouthfu-ls from the grass-carpeted veldt, I set off again al an easy canter. By midnight I had ridden quite 70 miles. and it became absolutely necessary togtr* my gallant horse a good long spell if h? was to reach the army without breaking down. As for myaeli, 1 kmg ago know that I was not intended by Natnre to knock up, for I -was still as fresh as when I started. I had a little food in my haversack, so 1 refreshed the inner man, took a good nip of whisky from my flask, and lay down far s few hours' rest. I slept soundly for a couple of ksurs, and then rose quite refreshed, (but, as I eraulcd my burse to cover the next 30 miles, or perhaps 40, in a harry, I -allow ed him to graze, drink, and rrst until nearly daylight, when I casnmted and ' pushed on, riding as rapidly as po&siiile, but sparing the good little horse as much as I dared. Before evening I had come vj> with tho rearguard of Lord Roberts' transport. I wns immediately challenged, and request ed that I might be taken to tha officer in command. By him I -was informed that the general was in turnip five miles away, and as I declined to give any in formation as to my errand, 1 wa? fin-ward ed at once under guard to bcadquartaers. On my arrival at the frout. Lord Roberts ordered me to be immediately (brought to his tent, where he wits dining with some Of his staff at a rude table which he al ways carried in a light mess cart. He re ceived me most kindly, invited me to refresh myself, and then asked what liad brought me in such hot haste. I told him what I had seen from the kopje. "Ha!" he exclaimed. "sutebcaer, we are m a trap; At least we wonld have been had it ntrt been fur the prompt action of Captain—er— "Bjornvik, my lord," I suggested. "Ah, yes. Thank you. Captain Bjorn vik. Send French and Macdunald out, French to the east, Macdu-u&td to the west. Lei them take loot) mounlrds each, and lei the majority be colonials, Australians, Canadians, and New Zealundcrs. Seven thmis.uid about, you thnk. Captain Iljoriu-ik ? General Hunter, take 3000 men Here," he udded, writing rap dly. "those will be the rogitnwts. -With b«H a dozen Mutiuia aud leu field guns, you can entrench yourself on the veldt, say, ten miles from this. Hold the enemy in check till you hear that French and Qdacdonald have swung round and out flanked them, and then deliver a frontal attack. I will see to reinforcements, and now by—gentlemen, we wiill bag tbe whole lot, guns and all, by 8 a.m. to-morrow."" And so, to make a long story short, he did. At 7.30 next day the whole Boer army, •which had been inarching so confidently •to take the British in the rear, was march- ing, disarmed, as prisoners, to the rail way line. Their general, commandants, and field cornets were all prisoners, and the British had captured tweuty-four of their big guns. It was a tremendous Jaa.nl. I beard afterward* that over 2000 Boers were killed .or wounded, and the British loss, all told, amounted to 150. When all was over, Lord Roberts sent fox me, and publicly thanked me for hav ing, as he was not ashamed to say, saved the British army from poesjble disaster, caused a loss of an enormous number of men, guns, horses, and supplies to the Beers, and practically put Pretoria into th.c hands of the British. I was naturally made a great deal of by Lord Kitchener and tbe other British generals, but wishing vow to return as soon as possible to Capetown, I departed after a hearty good-bye from England's greatest aud most beloved general -"Bobs." The line was c/nite clear of the enemy, and Lord Roberts had given me an escort of 50 men, so I safely reached Biocmfon ■tem, where I found my. companions, who had elected to wait a week in this now British cty for my return. We all travelled to Capetown together, and found the Gerrymander fully coaled and ready for the run to Madeira. So we hove up anchor and bade good-bye to South Africa.
CHAPTER XXXIII.-HOME AT LAST. Jji due course we reached Madeira, Fwheqa we went ashore for a day, and then sailed for London direct. On oar ar rival, I safely disposed our caTgo in .a dock warehouse, and sent the bulhun to the cellars of tlie Bank of England.- We then heid a final meeting to settle up all our affa:rs, and dined together, for the last time on board* the Gerrymander. Of course, there would be many meetings of scientific societies at which we would be expected to speak. The. unique speed mens we \i—i brought home woird have to be e&hfoited, • and many functions would have to be. performed. But all Hi a could be dose without the Gerry mander, or her ship's company, so on the day following our arrival I called all the latter together, and, ia a short speech, thuoked theui for the manner in whoch they had carried oat their duties, and tlicn paid them off. Every man, in addition to h*t liberal pay, received the £100 I -had promised if they held tbsir ttragucs id ■Melbourne- Now they might tell what they pleased. The captain and M'lfWiuith needed no pay. Through .the generosity oi Ben Eaer, they were rich beyond their wildest aswbitiou. They tmsscssad about XrO^SO each, a eery ttiec little fortune for peer seamen. By tho instruction of the committee, Ike Gerrymander was sold, aud the presses*, some £35,GU0, wwe presented to the In dian Famine Relief Fund. For ourselves, we were -enormously wealthy, aad could afford to be generess. There was still the £10/80* to which I was legally entitled if I brought the ship home safely. This awn 1 chnued, aad duly received, but, net to be 'eehNrdhaad in generosity, 1 presented the eal Societies of London, Manchester, and Aberdeen with most of my valuable col lection. The sea-serpents, the plesiosau rus and ichthyosaurus, together with the auks eggs aad collection of shells, I frrcscntcd to (he British Museum. I «e -icve that thousands have been offered by the trustees of foreign museums for these - treasures,. I?at uo offer has been accepted. No less than .£17,000 was offered by Da.roum far the two autediluriau ani mals and the sea-serpent*, but tbe ofier ■vwas declmod. Now i have to record ta>e meet astonish isg behaviour of 4sm sVrkish public, and the German, French, and Russian Press. A meeting of my committee had becu beW, all aooousts were, adjusted. I bad received my promised £10,008, and the •warm thanks of the members for the sec ccssfttl maimer in which I had carried out the task committed te me. I and my comrades, as well as Captain Larsee and M'llwraith, had been entertained at a dinner and conversazione, end had, amidst loud applause, given a fair account of the expedition from start to finish. When a report of that meeting and my pamphlet appeared, - wave of indignant scepticism passed throssjasut the scientific and lay world. I wan duiteuoced as An impsstor. This was nothing new to me, as 1 told my readers is tbe first part of this veracious story. By tbe president of owe weU-known British society I was '-plainly called a bombasticHwedsb fear. From aH quarters come dramwjetery letters to the papers over the signatures of men distinguished for their jjreat scien tific attainments. It was preposterous, they said, for any man to say that he had reached the South Pole. No continent exacted, or could, for scientific reasons, exist south of the 7*th (parallel. My story of the forests of Lepidodfemlrons, Sigil laria, Ac., was set down to a fertile imagi nation. The pre-diluvian animals and shells I had so generously given to the nation were declared to be frauds manu factured in Australia by a clever imitator of the forms and colours of fish—a worker in plaster of Paris, who resided in Brisbane, the. capital of Queensland. Even tbe gold deposited in the Bank of .Eng land was declared to be merely iron py rites. As for the alteration, in the inclination of tlie carth 1* axis, this was set down to the hallucination of an enthusiastic scien tific lunatic. A German paper declared that I was "em vortrefflicher kluger !?ug ner" Another called me "Kin unvers chamter wissenschaftlicher Betruger." Aa for the French Press, it waa simply scurrilous, as could only be expected Irem a Press which would viliiy her most gracious -Majesty Queen* Victoria. These 1 merely looked upon with utter contempt. In short, I was condemned on all sines. _Sy book ww received with derision in ail parts of Europe, -and I and my oompanions were set down as a pack of importors wno had deliberately rebbed the public of SWfiM, and the "Times" and "Jiaily News," as wedl as several other metro politan and provincial journals, actually proposed that I should be prosecuted criminally for obtaining money under false pretences. In the face of this storm, I called my comrades together, and eoasuUed with them as to the proper steps to be taken to make our position good. As far as I was concerned, I was perfectly oaim and self-possessed. I think 1 foare -clearly shown that I am a truthful man, ebhsr ring even exaggeration. I knew well £h*t all I had stated was correct, <md with a "niena conscia recti" I awaited the mo ment when my as?ertions would be proved beyond dispute by actual and meteorolo gical changes. Whilst we were talking the matter-over, Dr. Todleben, who had- noi come with the rest, entered the room. He held in Hub hand a copy of -a telegram just received by the editor of the "Times." He handed it to me to read. It w-asdated, I -saw, from Petiopaulcvski, and stated, as an extra ordinary occurrence, that the ice, which, for seven months out of the year locks -qp that harbour in iron bands, had this win ter disappeared iv a most remarkable and unexpected manner, and that the port and sea were everywhere navigable. News had also been received from Baffin's Bay, for a steam whaler had passed up Dtaris Straits, steamed through tbe open sea in Baffin's May, and had met eritl nut trivial obstructions from ice, on tbe North west Passage to Point Barrow. She pass ed through Behring Straits, aus arrived without mabap at Petropauknreki, whence she continued her voyage to Dundee, being the first ship which had actually made the North-west passage during the winter without being frozen m. The telegram farther stated that so far from experienoiag the horrors of a ftarar night, tho sun bad appeared high above the hori son. News had also been received .from the «b*erv*iery at Uperaavik, in Greenland, that the sen was at that moweat 33 de grees above the barmen, and, eenseqitexrt- Jy the fohvr night ne taoger -existed. Here was the news I had been con ftdently expecting. The newspapers dis seminated tbe wonderful iiiterfigenee that same night, and new their denoncwtkmi were changed to congratulations and apo logies. I was feted and belauded in Europe as much as in Melbourne, I- was made a life member of sereml hundred scientific sooietisa in the few old jsntinents. Tha University of 'Ox ford conferred the degree of LL.D. on me and her Most Gracious Majesty honoured ane by commanding my presence, at Bal moral, where I had the dutinguishec honour of dining wit* her, the Bonce anc Princess of Wales, the Dukes of Tori and Connaught, the Marquis of Lome and other members of the Royal Family feeing present. Her Majesty was graciously pleased to accept the emaranona paarlaheU on its care] stand, which 1 had picked up «t the bottom of tne Antarctic Ocean, and at the same- time, her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales boa steed me by accepting half a sksen of my moat mag nificent pearls. lay companions were rarsossly hsnenred fey many notables of foreign countries, and received due-bmrarr from the meet itmpsrtaatt eeients?e socie ties «f the -srsrM. Thus was icy story confirmed, nod any stenour -oempletorr/ visuLica*Ved. Steps were at once taken by the socie ties, by the ■Government, and %ry mer chants sed speenlators all over Europe and America to send out expeditions to exploit the new territory both at the South and North poles, and whilst the excrtestent-wss -at, its height 1 received • visit from Ben Exeik I was overjoyed at seeing him, but remarked that after our first greetings he appeared preoeoupied and rather taci turn. I invited him to be seated, and he accepted my invitation to dinner that evening. He said he had run over in the Erebus, and had landed at Plymouth dur ing the night in a boat from the. ship, which 'had entered the port below the surface, and had therefore been unseen. He did not intend to make a, long stay, but, after transacting seme necessary business with his agent, would leave by night in the same manner and pick up the Erebus near tbe Eddystone light house. On my pressing him for new? of the colony, he said he would defer .every thing until after dinner, when my curio sity would be amply satisfied. He then rose and left me. I could not understand this mood, which was so foreign to any thing I had ever observed in him. Some thing must have gone wrong m Antarc tica, I thought. However, I would knew all before 1 slept that night.
CHAPTER XXXIV.—THE GREAT EX PERIMENT PROVES A FAILURE. At B p.m. Ben Eser returned according to our appointment, and we sat down to an excellent dinner, in the course of which we talked orer our adventures together, and of the opprobrium which my account of them "'had brought upon me. Then I mentioned the telegram from Petxopau lovski. "Ah I" he said, "that telegram was correct, and It is very fortunate for you that it was received. In another month each news will be impossible." "Good Heavens t* I exclaimed. "What hat happened ? Is the earth's axis xe maguet:sed f" "It n*w appears thai it was never per fectly demagnetised,'' he answered gloom ily. "It is not yet remagnetised entirely, hut its perpendicularity is already affect ed. An error in my calculations or in tkoM <af my -chief astronomer has been made which, in a very short time, will render aH that has been done <urt* use less." "But can the error not be rectified t" I asked, feeling -sincerely for his evident sorrow over the failure of his great scheme, "Yes, it .can," he replied, only after the earth has returned its original position. Meanwhile, the.ice will assert its old dominion. Eoeena will be closed against European ships, and only my own submarine vessels will be able to pass the icy barrier. Then I shall once more set to work en my calculations, correct the error, which is a vers* serious one, and after two yearn, I shall hope te invrU you to visit me and sec the'final success ful experiment made. The next time there will be no failure." I sat dumbfounded. Several expedi tions had already sailed for the South, notably one equipped by several societies combined wirfcb everything necessary for the trip in the steamer Advance. If ihat expedition were blocked by the ice, 1 then my reputation for truth and honour ? -would .be irretrievably gone. The mem -1 "bera would return empty-handed, end with ' the same old tale brought by all South Sea explorers except myself—impenetrable ice. How should I stand up against such convincing evidence ? '"Ben Ezer," I said, taking his hand ; ""you have been a kind friend te me and any companions. Will yeu give me one more mark of your friendship ?" "You have but to name your wish, Cap tain Bjomvik, and it shall be done. 1 sriH give jrsu sny reasouslbls proof of my friendship for you." -"Then kadttap at Cape Adaiw the. en tire ship's company of the .Advance, which has ay this tine already reached Hobart, and carry them in the Erebus to Eocena. tiuve. them ocular proof of what 1 have told Uheni, and return them, «on rawed, to their own ship." "Is that all. my dear friend ?" . said. Ben fixer. I will do so with pleasure. _:__> oa> after to-mermw I start for home, and three days nfterwards, the members of that expedition will be my guests on board the Erebus. I itbitpfeed him heartily for his prompt consent, and then arranged to accompany him to Plymouth on the day he had named for his departure. We parted with mutual exxveasion* of esteem, and 1 sat till lata musing over what he had told sne, and vainly endeavouring to account for the nriscarriage of the great scheme. Tibc latter urucess struck me at Jest as being so absurd that I went to 4wd to dream that I was in the palace at Eocena with a harrier of ice (between that place nnd Hie "Pacific Ocean, which hopelessly precluded all eammu?rieation between the two sens. On the dity wpptnn+ed I met Ben Esrer at tbe r*addmgtmi -railway station, aad we were soon frying south into ?tfuushrre. Arrived st Plymouth, -we dmed ax the •Captara Cook Hotel, and afterwassn saun tered abotft talking about Eocena, Trias sia, Pliocena, Jurease, and other places I -well knew. When the evening wss Trail advanced, we went to the breakwater where he had moored his boat. Bidding me farewell, and promising to see me once more 'before dong, he cast looae the painter, hoisted a lug sail, and was soon lost to view in the gloom of the night. Now I will pass over an interval of six mouths. During that period all sorts of conflicting accounts appeared in tbe papers about the Arctic winter. After a brief month of warmth, l:.ght, and free dom from ice in the depth of the cold season, the Polar winter nad again set in in all its wonted severity. The sun sank lower and lower every day, till it once more disappeared entirely. Hundreds of ships, whalers, sealer 3, pleasure. yaaht9, men-of-war, tramp steamers, and mail boats, availing themselves of the North west passage to China, were, suddenly frozen in, and owing to the neglect to pro vide any extraordinary means to protect themselves from the frightful cold, the whole of their crews and passengers perish ed miserably, and the whole vast fleet . was wrecked, being e^er crushed in the ice-floes ot driven ashore. After this 1 found it would be well for me to leave England, until the popular fury and grief over these terrible, disas ters were allayed, as I knew it must be when the explorers in the Advance return ed. I verily believe that, had I remain ed in England, I should have been lynched. Id the course of six months the scient ist! returned in the Advance to London. Tlhere the greatest excitement prevailed, as was the case, indeed, ail over Europe when their arrival was notified. I, el course, took care to be in London when a monster meeting was to be held to hear the account of the voyage. I need not say anything about it beyond this : The scientists most emphatically bore out my statements. Ben Eser had fulfilled hie promise to the letter. He had carried the whole ship's company off (first secur ing the Advance in my old berth near Cape Adare) to Eocena. There they had been hospitably entertained, and were shown everything that I had described in > my hook. At the meeting they oorco torated my whole story in every particu ! lar, with the exception that they had sees an enormous ice barrier where all was{ clear, open sea wihen the Gerrymander , came through. The error in the caleula* ! tions of Ben Ezer had, singularly enough, ' 'been discovered by .a Scotch astronomer who was one. of the party, and to whom Ben Eser had shown his formula. Two years must now elapse before ihs [ axis of the earth will return to *the per ,' pendicular, and until that time no ship under sail or steam will be able to reach Eocena, for the bergs, I was told, 'had now ' formed a double ring round the South Pole, and had almost joined the pack. Such is my story, and I live in hopes of a visit from Ben Ezer, wfho, of course, ! can pass in his submarine ships beneath , those barriers, or over them by means of • his velochpens. When the time comes, as surely it will come, for emigration to thfi ; poles, I shall most certainly return and ' spend a summer in this most delightful cf countries, where all the labour of life -is 1 lessened and. sweetened by tbe commUs* ' sense use of scientific appliances. i (The End.)

Item sets: Vintage Science Fiction from Australian Newspapers 1901-1939 (Australian)