twenty horse-power. One would have very easily confounded it with the
other brigs in the harbor. But if it presented no especial difference
to the eye of the public, yet those who were familiar with ships
noticed certain peculiarities which could not escape a sailor's keen
glance.

Thus, on the _Nautilus_, which was lying at anchor near her, a group
of sailors were trying to make out the probable destination of the
_Forward_.

[Illustration]

"What do you say to her masts?" said one; "steamers don't usually
carry so much sail."

"It must be," answered a red-faced quartermaster, "that she relies
more on her sails than on her engine; and if her topsails are of that
size, it's probably because the lower sails are to be laid back. So
I'm sure the _Forward_ is going either to the Arctic or Antarctic
Ocean, where the icebergs stop the wind more than suits a solid ship."

"You must be right, Mr. Cornhill," said a third sailor. "Do you notice
how straight her stem is?"

"Besides," said Mr. Cornhill, "she carries a steel ram forward, as
sharp as a razor; if the _Forward_, going at full speed, should run
into a three-decker, she would cut her in two."

"That's true," answered a Mersey pilot, "for that brig can easily run
fourteen knots under steam. She was a sight to see on her trial trip.
On my word, she's a swift boat."

"And she goes well, too, under sail," continued the quartermaster;
"close to the wind, and she's easily steered. Now that ship is going
to the polar seas, or my name is not Cornhill. And then, see there! Do
you notice that large helm-port over the head of her rudder?"

"That's so," said some of the sailors; "but what does that prove?"

"That proves, my men," replied the quartermaster with a scornful
smile, "that you can neither see nor think; it proves that they wanted
to leave the head of the rudder free, so that it might be unshipped
and shipped again easily. Don't you know that's what they have to do
very often in the ice?"

"You are right," answered the sailors of the _Nautilus_.

"And besides," said one, "the lading of the brig goes to prove what
Mr. Cornhill has said. I heard it from Clifton, who has shipped on
her. The _Forward_ carries provisions for five or six years, and coal
in proportion. Coal and provisions are all she carries, and a quantity
of woollen and sealskin clothing."

"Well," said Mr. Cornhill, "there's no doubt about it. But, my friend,
since you know Clifton, hasn't he