ic and the 150th degree east
longitude intersect each other. On this spot were Ludlow's islands
placed, though without any name or inscription whatever.

I needed not to be told that this spot had never been explored by any
European voyager, who had published his adventures. What authority had
Ludlow for fixing a habitable land in this spot? and why did he give us
nothing but the courses of shores and rivers, and the scite of towns and
villages, without a name?

As soon as Ludlow had set out upon his proposed journey of a fortnight,
I unlocked his closet, and continued rummaging among these books and
maps till night. By that time I had turned over every book and almost
every leaf in this small collection, and did not open the closet again
till near the end of that period. Meanwhile I had many reflections upon
this remarkable circumstance. Could Ludlow have intended that I should
see this atlas? It was the only book that could be styled a manuscript
on these shelves, and it was placed beneath several others, in a
situation far from being obvious and forward to the eye or the hand. Was
it an oversight in him to leave it in my way, or could he have intended
to lead my curiosity and knowledge a little farther onward by this
accidental disclosure? In either case how was I to regulate my future
deportment toward him? Was I to speak and act as if this atlas had
escaped my attention or not? I had already, after my first examination
of it, placed the volume exactly where I found it. On every supposition
I thought this was the safest way, and unlocked the closet a second
time, to see that all was precisely in the original order..... How was
I dismayed and confounded on inspecting the shelves to perceive that
the atlas was gone. This was a theft, which, from the closet being under
lock and key, and the key always in my own pocket, and which, from the
very nature of the thing stolen, could not be imputed to any of the
domestics. After a few moments a suspicion occurred, which was soon
changed into certainty by applying to the housekeeper, who told me that
Ludlow had returned, apparently in much haste, the evening of the day
on which he had set out upon his journey, and just after I had left the
house, that he had gone into the room where this closet of books was,
and, after a few minutes' stay, came out again and went away. She told
me also, that he had made general enquiries after me, to which she had
answered, that she had not s