iscovery--in that event he intended to stay
until he had a full cargo."

Here our entertainer gave out, and had to rest; and while resting he
went to sleep, so that he did not take up his story until the next day.

In the morning our guest expressed a desire to be taken on deck; and,
dressed in warm sailor clothes, he rested his hand on my shoulder, and
slowly crawled on deck and to a sheltered corner beside the captain's
cabin. Here he was bundled up; and again Enoch and I sat down to listen
to the strange story of the wanderer.

"I hope it won't annoy you, gentlemen," said he, "but I can't settle
down without my pack; I find myself thinking of its safety. Would you
mind sending down for it?"

It was brought up, and set down beside him; he looked at it lovingly,
slipped the rude strap-loop over his arm, and seemed ready to take up
his story where he left off. He began:

"I don't remember whether I told you or not, but one of the objects of
Captain Burrows's trip was to settle something definite about the
location of the magnetic pole, and other magnetic problems, and
determine the cause of some of the well-known distortions of the
magnetic needle. He had some odd, perhaps crude, instruments, of his own
design, which he had caused to be constructed for this purpose, and we
found them very efficient devices in the end. Late in July, we found
much open water, and steamed steadily in a northwesterly course. We
would find a great field of icebergs, then miles of floe, and then again
open water. The aurora was seen every evening, but it seemed pale and
white.

"Captain Burrows brought the 'Duncan McDonald's' head around to the west
in open water, one fine day in early August, and cruised slowly; taking
a great many observations, and hunting, as he told me, for floating
ice--he was hunting for a current. For several days we kept in the open
water, but close to the ice, until one morning the captain ordered the
ship to stand due north across the open sea.

"He called me into his cabin, and with a large map of the polar regions
on his table, to which he often referred, he said: 'Son, I've been
hunting for a current; there's plenty of 'em in the Arctic ocean, but
the one I want ain't loafing around here. You see, son, it's currents
that carries these icebergs and floes south; I didn't tell you, but some
days when we were in those floes, we lost as much as we gained. We
worked our way north through the floe, but not on th