The Voyages and Adventures of Captain Hatteras

    K. Z.,
    Captain of the Forward.
    Monday, April 30, OFF CAPE WALSINGHAM.

"And is that all?" cried the doctor.

"That's all," answered Shandon.

The letter fell from his hands.

"Well," said Wall, "this imaginary captain says nothing about coming on board. I don't believe he ever will."

"But how did this letter get here?" asked Johnson.

Shandon was silent.

"Mr. Wall is right," answered the doctor, who had picked up the letter, and who was turning it over with hands as well as in his mind. "The captain won't come on board, and for an excellent reason."

"What is it?" asked Shandon, quickly.

"Because he's on board now," answered the doctor, simply.

"Now!" exclaimed Shandon, "what do you mean?"

"How else can you explain the arrival of this letter?"

Johnson nodded approvingly.

"Impossible!" said Shandon, warmly. "I know all the men in the crew; can he have smuggled himself into their number since we left? It's impossible, I tell you. For more than two years I've seen every one of them more than a hundred times in Liverpool; so your conjecture, Doctor, is untenable."

"Well, what do you admit, Shandon?"

"Everything, except that. I admit that the captain or some tool of his, for all I know, may have taken advantage of the darkness, the mist, or whatever you please, to slip on board; we are not far from shore; there are the kayaks of the Esquimaux which could get through the ice without our seeing them; so some one may have come on board the ship, left the letter, – the fog was thick enough to make this possible."

"And to prevent them from seeing the brig," answered the doctor; "if we didn't see the intruder slip aboard the Forward, how could he see the Forward in the fog?"

"That's true," said Johnson.

"So I return to my explanation," said the doctor; "what do you think of it, Shandon?"

"Whatever you please," answered Shandon, hotly, "except that the man is on board."

"Perhaps," added Wall, "there is some man in the crew who is acting under his instructions."

"Perhaps," said the doctor.

"But who can it be?" asked Shandon. "I've known all my men for a long time."

"At any rate," resumed Johnson, "if this captain presents himself, whether as man or devil, we shall receive him; but there's something else to be drawn from this letter."

"What is that?" asked Shandon.

"It is that we must go not only into Melville Bay, but also into Smith's Sound."

"You are right," said the doctor.

"Smith's Sound," repeated Shandon, mechanically.

"So it's very plain," continued Johnson, "that the Forward is not intended to seek the Northwest Passage, since we leave to the left, the only way towards it, that is to say, Lancaster Sound. This would seem to promise a difficult journey in unknown seas."

"Yes, Smith's Sound," replied Shandon; "that's the route Kane, the American, took in 1853, and it was full of dangers. For a long time he was given up for lost. Well, if we must go, we'll go. But how far? To the Pole?"

"And why not?" cried the doctor.

The mention of such a foolhardy attempt made the boatswain shrug his shoulders.

"Well," said James Wall, "to come back to the captain, if he exists. I don't see that there are any places on the coast of Greenland except Disco and Upernavik, where he can be waiting for us; in a few days that question will be settled."

"But," asked the doctor of Shandon, "are you not going to tell the crew about this letter?"

"With the commander's permission," answered Johnson, "I should not do so."

"And why not?" asked Shandon.

"Because everything mysterious and extraordinary tends to discourage the men; they are already very much troubled, as it is, about the nature of the journey. Now, if any supernatural circumstances should become known, it might be harmful, and perhaps at a critical moment we should not be able to count on them. What do you think, Commander?"

"And what do you think, Doctor?" asked Shandon.

"Boatswain Johnson seems to me to reason well," answered the doctor.

"And you, James?"

"Having no better opinion, I agree with these gentlemen."

Shandon reflected for a few minutes; he reread the letter attentively.

"Gentlemen," said he, "your opinion is certainly worthy of respect, but I cannot adopt it."

"Why not, Shandon?" asked the doctor.

"Because the instructions in this letter are formal; it tells me to give the captain's thanks to the crew; now, hitherto I have strictly obeyed his orders, in whatever way they have been given to me, and I cannot – "

"Still – " interposed Johnson, who had a warrantable dread of the effect of such communications on the men's spirits.

"My dear Johnson," said Shandon, "I understand your objection; your reasons are very good, but read that: —

"He begs of you to express his thanks to the crew."

"Do as he bids," replied Johnson, who was always a strict disciplinarian. "Shall I assemble the crew on deck?"