“Well, we’re alive,” remarked Jack, after getting his breath.

“We couldn’t have fallen so very far after all,” said Mark.

“It seemed like a mighty long ways when I was a-comin’,” came from Bill.

“We went fast, an’ we stopped pretty suddint!” was Tom’s opinion.  “Lucky we had a sort of feather bed under us.  I’d hate to fall right on the ice.”

“Come down soon!” exclaimed Dirola with a laugh, in which all joined, in spite of their sorry plight.  It was still snowing and terribly cold.  They pulled the hoods of their fur coats close about their faces and scrambled out on the ice.

“I guess the ship was closer to the earth when we fell than we thought,” said Mark.

“I suppose we had better hunt around for the Monarch,” observed Jack.  “It can’t be a great way off, for Professor Henderson was bringing it down and the propeller was not moving.”

“Let’s start right away,” said Mark.  “I’m hungry, and the sooner we find the ship the better off we’ll be.  But this snow is every bit as bad as a fog.”

It was, indeed, and the boys and men could not distinguish each other ten feet distant.  In spite of this, however, Jack started off in the direction he thought the ship might be.

“No go!  No go!” called Dirola.  “Git lost!  Fall in hole!  Die!  Better stay here!  Snow stop!  Me show you!”

“She means we’ll get lost if we wander off,” said Jack.  “I guess we’d better do as she says.”

Dirola seemed in good spirits and not a bit discouraged by the storm.  She walked slowly about, as if looking for something.  Then, with a cry, she began digging at a certain spot.

“What in the world is she doing?” asked Mark.

“I don’t know,” said Jack.

“Maybe she’s after a rabbit,” observed Bill.  “I’d like a good hot rabbit stew myself.”

Dirola’s hands, encased in heavy fur gloves, made the snow fly.  In a little while she held up a, dark mass of what looked like seaweed.

“Eat!  Um good!” she exclaimed.

“I guess it’s some kind of moss that the people up north eat,” remarked Tom.  “I remember reading something about it once.  I suppose we’d better tackle it, for we may not get a meal in some time.”

Jack, who had been fumbling in the big pocket of his fur coat, gave a sudden cry.

“What’s the matter; somethin’ bit ye?” asked Bill.

“Look here!” cried the boy, and he held up a large tin can.

“What is it; soup?” inquired Mark.

“It’s some of those capsule foods from the ship,” said Jack, reading the label.  “I remember I put it in my pocket when I thought the ship was going to be wrecked.  I felt I might need it.  Now it will come in handy.”

“But what is it?” insisted Mark.

“It’s a combination of chocolate, wheat, malt and preserved milk,” replied Jack, looking at the label again, “and it says that one capsule, if chewed and swallowed, is as much as an ordinary meal.  There are two hundred capsules in here, and that will last us for a few days at least.”