"Are you talking of me?" harshly demanded the inventor. "Then speak up distinctly. I may think you are plotting against me--plotting to keep me from reaching the land beyond the ice." "The land beyond the ice?" cried Frank. "That is what I said." "Well, what did you mean? Whither are we bound?" "For the South Pole," was the answer. "Ha! ha! ha! We will pass over the ice floes and reach the land beyond them!" CHAPTER XVII. GONE. All that day and far into the night the mad inventor held control of the flying-machine, refusing to listen to reason or argument, and keeping the boys at bay. Some time in the night he fell asleep, and, when he awoke, he was enraged to find himself bound hands and feet, while the boys were trying to handle the _Eagle_. "Let me go!" howled the mad professor. "You will send us to destruction! You will plunge us to ruin!" "Keep still!" commanded Frank, sternly. "You are no longer master here." "Villain!" screamed the helpless man; "I know your scheme! You mean to steal the _Eagle_! You mean to get rid of me, and then you will steal the work of my brain and hands!" "Don't fool yourself. If I ever get to solid ground again, you may have your old air ship and sail away to the South Pole with it. I am figuring on getting back to Blake." "Te, he!" laughed the madman, suddenly. "Is that all you ask? Why, it is very easy to fix that matter." His voice was full of craft and deception. "How would you fix it?" asked Frank. "Set me at liberty, and I will take you back there." "That sounds all right, but it is plain enough that you cannot be trusted. I prefer to experiment a little myself, before letting you have charge again." "And you will bring us all to destruction!" "Possibly I may. Keep still now, while I study out the working of these levers and wheels." But Scudmore would not keep still. He shouted and talked, urging them to release him, begging and threatening by turns. Meanwhile Frank and Barney were studying over the levers and wheels, and they finally discovered how to send the air ship down toward the earth, which lay asleep in the white moonlight. They were directly over a mountainous region, having been soaring over the loftiest peaks. The boys were somewhat benumbed by the chilly air, but, as they came nearer to the earth, this numbness passed away. "Are yez goin' ter land here, Frankie?" asked Barney, anxiously. "I don't know," was the answer. "If we should happen to see a town----" "Where do yez think we are?" "That is another thing I don't know." Down they went until Frank conceived a notion that they were near enough to the earth; but when he tried to reverse the lever and ascend again, it would not work. "Ha! ha! ha!" laughed the inventor. "It is retribution! We shall be smashed into a thousand pieces when we strike. You will never steal the _Eagle_ from me!" Frank worked with all his energy, for they were sweeping toward the earth at an alarming rate of speed.