midst of isolated portions of the ice-stream, and in
the most compact parts, the icebergs, though welded together, obeyed
the movements of the swell. The next day the man at the masthead
signalled a vessel. It was the _Valkirien_, a Danish corvette, running
alongside the _Forward_, and making for the bank of Newfoundland.
The current of the Strait began to make itself felt, and Shandon had
to put on sail to go up it. At this moment the commander, the doctor,
James Wall, and Johnson were assembled on the poop examining the
direction and strength of the current. The doctor wanted to know if
the current existed also in Baffin's Sea.

"Without the least doubt," answered Shandon, "and the sailing vessels
have much trouble to stem it."

"Besides there," added Wall, "you meet with it on the eastern coast
of America, as well as on the western coast of Greenland."

"There," said the doctor, "that is what gives very singular reason
to the seekers of the North-West passage! That current runs about
five miles an hour, and it is a little difficult to suppose that it
springs from the bottom of a gulf."

"It is so much the more probable, doctor," replied Shandon, "that
if this current runs from north to south we find in Behring's Straits
a contrary current which runs from south to north, and which must
be the origin of this one."

"According to that," replied the doctor, "we must admit that America
is totally unconnected with the Polar lands, and that the waters of
the Pacific run round the coasts of America into the Atlantic. On
the other hand, the greater elevation of the waters of the Pacific
gives reason to the supposition that they fall into the European
seas."

"But," sharply replied Shandon, "there must be facts to establish
that theory, and if there are any," added he with irony, "our
universally well-informed doctor ought to know them."

"Well," replied the above-mentioned, with amiable satisfaction, "if
it interests you, I can tell you that whales, wounded in Davis's
Straits, are caught some time afterwards in the neighbourhood of
Tartary with the European harpoon still in their flanks."

"And unless they have been able to double Cape Horn or the Cape of
Good Hope," replied Shandon, "they must necessarily have rounded the
septentrional coasts of America--that's what I call indisputable,
doctor."

"However, if you were not convinced, my dear fellow," said the doctor,
smiling, "I could still produce other facts, s