d in whom Mr. Tudor Brown seemed to
take a great interest."

The four visitors exchanged glances.

"Patrick O'Donoghan--was not that the name?" asked Erik.

"Precisely--or at least it is the name which is tattooed on his body,
although he pretends it is not his own, but that of a friend. He calls
himself Johnny Bowles."

"May I ask if this man is still here?"

"He left us ten months ago. We had at first believed that he might
prove useful to us by acting as interpreter between us and the natives
of this coast, on account of his apparent knowledge of their language;
but we soon discovered that his acquaintance with it was very
superficial--confined, in fact, to a few words. Besides, until we came
here, we were unable to hold any communications with the natives. This
Johnny Bowles, or Patrick O'Donoghan, was lazy, drunken, and undisciplined.
His presence on board would only have occasioned trouble for us. We
therefore acceded without regret to his request to be landed on the
large Island of Ljakow, as we were following the southern coast."

"What! did he go there? But this island is uninhabited!" cried Erik.

"Entirely; but what attracted the man appeared to be the fact that its
shores are literally covered by bones, and consequently by fossil ivory.
He had conceived the plan of establishing himself there, and of
collecting, during the summer months, all the ivory that he could find;
then when, in winter, the arm of the sea which connects Ljakow with the
continent should be frozen over, to transport in a sleigh this treasure
to the Siberian coast, in order to sell it to the Russian traders, who
come every year in search of the products of the country."

"Did you tell these facts to Mr. Tudor Brown?" asked Erik.

"Assuredly, he came far enough to seek for them," replied the young
doctor, unaware of the deep personal interest that the commander of the
"Alaska" took in the answers to the questions which he addressed to him.

The conversation then became more general. They spoke of the comparative
facility with which Nordenskiold had carried out his programme. He had
not met with any serious difficulties, and consequently the discovery of
the new route would be an advantage to the commerce of the world. "Not,"
said the officer of the "Vega," "that this path was ever destined to be
much frequented, but the voyage of the 'Vega' would prove to the
maritime nations of the Atlantic and Pacific that it was possible to
ho