m the damp deck was dull to
the last degree. Capt. Mazard was in considerable doubt as to our
latitude. Not a glimpse of the sun had he been able to catch for five
days; and during this time we had been sailing sometimes very fast,
then scarcely making way in the teeth of the strong north-easter. To
the north and north-east the fog banks hung low on the sea. So light
was the wind, that the sails scarcely filled. The schooner seemed
merely to drift.... Toward night we entered among the fog-banks. The
whole face of the sea steamed like a boiling kettle. The mist rose
thin and gauze-like. We could scarcely see the length of the deck. It
was blind work sailing in such obscurity,--possibly dangerous.

"Have you any idea where we are, captain?" Raed asked. We stood
peering ahead from the bow.

"Somewhere off Newfoundland. On the Grand Bank, I think. Fog indicates
that. Always foggy here this time o' year."

"It is here that the gulf stream meets the cold currents and ice from
Baffin's Bay," said Kit. "The warm current meeting the cold one causes
the fog: so they say."

"I have seen the statement," remarked Raed, "that these great banks
are all raised from the ocean-bottom by the _debris_ brought along by
the gulf stream and the current from Davis Straits."

"But I have read that they are raised by the melting of icebergs,"
said Wade. "The iceberg has lots of sand and stones frozen into it:
when it melts, this matter sinks; and, in the course of ages, the
'banks' here have been formed."

"Perhaps both causes have had a hand in it," said Kit.

"That looks most probable," remarked Capt. Mazard. "These scientific
men are very apt to differ on such subjects. One will observe
phenomena, and ascribe it wholly to one cause, when perhaps a
half-dozen causes have been at work. Another man will ascribe it
wholly to another of these causes. And thus they seem to contradict
each other, when they are both, in part, right. I've noticed that very
frequently since I began to read the scientific books on oceanic
matters. They draw their conclusions too hastily, and are too positive
on doubtful subjects."

I have often thought of this remark of Capt. Mazard since, when
reading some of the "strong points" of our worthy scientists.

"How deep is it here, for a guess?" asked Wade.

"Oh! for a guess, a hundred fathoms; about that."

"Too deep for cod-fishing here?" Raed inquired.

"Rather deep. We'll try them, however, in the morning