Then, almost as suddenly as the ship had started to fall, it ceased, and rode on an even keel, righting and floating easily in the air.  The wind no longer blew with the circular motion, the whirling having come to an end.  But the blinding snow continued.

Jack staggered from the conning tower, where he had gone to look at the deflecting compass.

“What has happened?” he cried.

“No one knows,” answered Professor Henderson.  “We are in dire straits.  Did you look at the needle, Jack?”

“I did.”

“What did it show?”

“The needle was straight up and down!”

“I knew it!” cried the old inventor.  “I said we would reach the pole, and we have!”

“It ain’t goin’ to do us a heab sight ob good,” said Washington.  “I’d rather hab a good barber pole any day!  No north poles fo’ me!”

“Hush, Washington!” exclaimed Mr. Henderson.  “This is no time to joke.  You are sure you made no mistake, Jack?”

“I am sure, sir.”

“I thought we were at the pole when I saw that the gas engine had stopped,” went on the professor.  “The attraction of the earth-magnets at the pole exerted such a strong influence on the iron and steel that the gas machine could not work.  At last I have reached the goal of my ambitions!”

The ship remained stationary for several minutes.  Those aboard began to have hopes.  The snow storm was still as fierce as ever, but that was all the manifestation of the elements.

“I want to take a look at the needle,” said the professor.  “I feel all right now; I was only a little faint from my fall.  How are you, Andy?”

“I feel much better,” replied the hunter, whose delirium had somewhat left him.  “My arm is sore, that’s all.  But why have you all got your furs on?”

“We had to turn off the stoves,” explained Amos Henderson.  “You had better put your’s on, too, Andy.  You’ll need them.  We could only cover you over when you were in the bunk.”

The hunter soon began to realize that it was chilly in the ship, and he donned his heavy garments.  The professor started for the conning tower.  He gave one glance at the needle of the deflecting compass, and a look of disappointment came over his face.

“It is not pointing down,” he said to Jack, who had followed him.

“But I am sure it did when I noticed it,” replied the boy.

“Then we have come past the pole,” was Amos Henderson’s opinion.  “There is only a small spot that is exactly north, and we have passed over it during the storm.  We must return.  I want to descend exactly there and make some experiments.  Tell Washington to start the engines.  We will turn the ship around and go back!”

“We may run into the whirlwind again,” objected Jack.

“That is so, I did not think of that.  However, tell Washington to get everything in readiness.”

It was no small task to get the engine room into shape after the upsetting it had been subjected to, but with the help of the boys and the two men Washington succeeded.  In about an hour the Monarch was ready to be sent up or down, forward or back.  Since she had ceased falling she had remain at a stationary height, about half a mile above the earth.