ses, sextants, charts, drawings, phials, powder, and
medicine-bottles, all were classified in a way which would have done
honor to the British Museum. This space of six feet square contained
incalculable wealth; the doctor needed only to stretch out his hand
without rising, to become at once a physician, a mathematician, an
astronomer, a geographer, a botanist, or a conchologist.

[Illustration: "This space of six feet square contained incalculable
wealth."]

To tell the truth, he was proud of his arrangements, and very
contented in his floating sanctum, which three of his thinnest friends
would have completely filled. They used to crowd there in great
numbers, so that even so good-natured a man as the doctor was
occasionally put out; and, like Socrates, he came at last to say,--

"My house is small, but may Heaven grant that it never be filled with
friends!"

To complete our account of the _Forward_, it is only necessary to add
that a kennel for the huge Danish dog was built just beneath the
window of the closed cabin; but he preferred to keep himself between
decks and in the hold; it seemed impossible to tame him; no one ever
conquered his shyness; he could be heard, at night especially, howling
dismally in the ship's hold.

Was it because he missed his master? Had he an instinctive dread of
the dangers of the voyage? Had he a presentiment of the coming perils?
The sailors were sure that he had, and more than one said the same in
jest, who in his heart regarded the dog as a sort of diabolic animal.

Pen, a very brutal man, one day, while trying to kick him, slipped,
and fell on the corner of the capstan in such a way that he cut his
head badly. It is easy to see how the sailors put all the blame upon
the dog.

[Illustration: PEN.]

Clifton, who was the most superstitious man in the crew, made, one
day, the strange observation that the dog, when on the poop, would
always walk on the windward side; and afterwards, when the brig was at
sea and under sail, this singular animal would shift his position to
the other side after every tack, so as to be windward, as the captain
of the _Forward_ would have done.

[Illustration: CLIFTON.]

Dr. Clawbonny, who by his gentleness and caresses would have almost
tamed the heart of a tiger, tried in vain to make friends with the
dog; he met with no success.

The dog, too, did not answer to any of the usual names of his kind. So
the men used to call him "Captain," for he