., undertook to make the
repairs in three weeks. It was now the 23d of February; on the 16th of
March they would be able to resume their voyage, and this time with good
charts.

That would leave three months and a half for them to reach Behring's
Strait by the end of June. It was not impossible to do this, although
the time was very limited. Erik would not hear of abandoning the
enterprise. He feared only one thing, and that was being compelled to do
so. Therefore he refused to send to Stockholm a report of the shipwreck,
and he would not make a formal complaint against the presumed author of
the attempt to shipwreck them for fear of being delayed by legal
proceedings, yet he had his fears that this might encourage Tudor Brown
to throw some new obstacle in the way of the "Alaska." This is what Dr.
Schwaryencrona and Mr. Bredejord asked each other as they were playing
at whist with Mr. Malarius, in the little sitting-room of the hotel to
which they had gone after arriving at L'Orient.

As for Mr. Bredejord, he had no doubts about the matter.

A rascal like Tudor Brown, if he knew of the failure of his scheme--and
how could any one doubt that he was acquainted with this fact?--would
not hesitate to renew the attempt.

To believe that they would ever succeed in reaching Behring's Strait was
therefore more than self-delusion--it was foolishness. Mr. Bredejord did
not know what steps Tudor Brown would take to prevent this, but he felt
certain that he would find some means of doing so. Dr. Schwaryencrona
was inclined to the same opinion, and even Mr. Malarius could not think
of anything very reassuring to say. The games of whist were therefore
not very lively, and the long strolls that the three friends took were
not very gay.

Their principal occupation was to watch the erection of the mausoleum
which they were building for poor Captain Marsilas, whose funeral
obsequies had been attended by the entire population of L'Orient.

The sight of this funeral monument was not calculated to raise the
spirits of the survivors of the "Alaska."

But when they joined Erik again their hopes revived. His resolution was
unshakable, his activity untiring, he was so bent upon overcoming all
obstacles, so certain of success, that it was impossible for them to
express, or even to preserve, less heroic sentiments.

They had a new proof of the malignity of Tudor Brown, and that he still
was pursuing them.

On the 14th of March, Erik sa