e of smoke upon the horizon.

All turned out as he desired. The water remained calm and peaceful.
Toward noon the boat arrived.

Erik, with his staff, received the mariners with due honors.

"But explain to me," said the captain of the tow-boat, "how you came to
cast your vessel on these rocks after leaving Brest?"

"This chart will explain it," said Erik. "It does not point out any such
danger."

The French officer examined the chart with curiosity at first, and then
he looked stupefied.

"In fact the Basse-Froide is not marked down, nor the point of Sein," he
cried. "What unparalleled negligence. Why, even the position of the
light-house is not correctly marked. I am more and more surprised. This
is a chart of the British Admiralty. I should say that some one has
taken pleasure in making it as deceitful and perfidious as possible.
Navigators of olden times frequently played such tricks upon their
rivals. I should never have believed such traditions would be imitated
in England."

"Are you sure that this is an English chart?" asked Mr. Bredejord. "For
myself I suspect that the chart is the work of a rascal, and has been
placed with criminal intentions among the charts of the 'Alaska.'"

"By Tudor Brown!" cried Erik, impetuously. "That evening when we dined
with the authorities at Brest he entered the captain's room upon the
pretense of examining the charts. Oh, the infamous wretch! This then is
the reason that he did not come on board again!"

"It appears to be only too evident that he is the culprit," said Dr.
Schwaryencrona. "But such a dastardly action betrays such an abyss of
iniquity. What motive could he have for committing such a crime?"

"What was his motive in coming to Stockholm, expressly to tell you that
Patrick O'Donoghan was dead?" answered Mr. Bredejord. "For what purpose
did he subscribe twenty thousand kroners for the voyage of the 'Alaska,'
when it was doubtful if she would ever make the journey? Why did he
embark with us to leave us at Brest? I think we must be blind indeed if
we do not see in these facts a chain of evidence as logical as it is
frightful. What interest has Tudor Brown in all this? I do not know. But
this interest must be very strong, very powerful, to induce him to have
recourse to such means to prevent our journey; for I am convinced now
that it was he who caused the accident which detained us at Brest, and
it was he who led us upon these rocks, where he expected we would