re a newspaperman?"

"John Rainey, of the _Times_. I knew nothing of this before I came
aboard."

"And you will understand, of course, what Mr. Lund overlooked in his
natural agitation, that this is not a story for your paper. We should
have a fleet trailing us. We must ask your confidence, Mr. Rainey."

There was a strong personality in the doctor, Rainey realized. Not the
blustering, driving force of Lund, but a will that was persistent,
powerful. He did not like the man from first appearances. He was too
aloof, too sardonic in his attitudes. But his manner was friendly
enough, his voice compelling in its suggestion that Rainey was a man to
be trusted. Captain Simms came back into the cabin, closing the door of
his daughter's room.

"We are going to have a little drink together," said the doctor. "I
have some Scotch in my cabin. If you'll excuse me for a moment? Captain,
will you get some glasses, and a chair for Mr. Lund?"

The captain looked at Rainey a little uncertainly, and then at Lund,
whose aggressiveness seemed to have entirely departed. It was Rainey who
got the chair for the latter and seated himself. He would join in a
friendly drink and then be well shut of the matter, he told himself.

And he would promise not to print the story, or talk of it. That was
rotten newspaper craft, he supposed, but he was not a first-class man,
in that sense. He let his own ethics interfere sometimes with his pen
and what the paper would deem its best interests. And this was a whale
of a yarn.

But it was true that its printing would mean interference with the
_Karluk's_ expedition. And there was the girl. Rainey was not going to
forget the girl. If the _Karluk_ ever came back? But then she would be
an heiress.

Rainey pulled himself up for a fool at the way his thoughts were racing
as the doctor came back with a bottle of Scotch whisky and a siphon. The
captain had set out glasses and a pitcher of plain water from a rack.

"I imagine you'll be the only one who'll take seltzer, Mr. Rainey," said
the doctor pleasantly, passing the bottle. "Captain Simms, I know, uses
plain water. Siphons are scarce at sea. I suppose Mr. Lund does the
same. And I prefer a still drink."

"Plain water for mine," said Lund.

"We're all charged," said the doctor. "Here's to a better
understanding!"

"Glad to see you aboard, Mr. Rainey," said the captain.

Lund merely grunted.

Rainey took a long pull at his glass. The cabin was ho