uropean harpoon
in their side."

"And unless they doubled Cape Horn, or the Cape of Good Hope,"
answered Shandon, "they must have gone around the northern coast of
America. There can be no doubt of that, Doctor."

"And if you were not convinced, my dear Shandon," said the doctor,
smiling, "I could produce still other evidence, such as the floating
wood with which Davis Strait is filled, larch, aspen, and other
southern kinds. Now we know that the Gulf Stream could not carry them
into the strait; and if they come out from it they must have got in
through Behring Strait."

"I am perfectly convinced, Doctor, and I must say it would be hard to
maintain the other side against you."

"See there," said Johnson, "there's something that will throw light on
this discussion. It's a large piece of wood floating on the water; if
the commander will give us leave, we can put a rope about it, hoist it
on board, and ask it the name of its country."

"That's the way!" said the doctor; "after the rule we have the
example."

Shandon gave the necessary orders; the brig was turned towards the
piece of wood, and soon the crew were hoisting it aboard, although not
without considerable trouble.

[Illustration]

It was the trunk of a mahogany-tree, eaten to its centre by worms,
which fact alone made it light enough to float.

"This is a real triumph," exclaimed the doctor, enthusiastically,
"for, since the Atlantic currents could not have brought it into Davis
Strait, since it could not have reached the polar waters from the
rivers of North America, as the tree grows under the equator, it is
evident that it must have come direct from Behring Strait. And
besides, see those sea-worms which have eaten it; they belong to warm
latitudes."

"It certainly gives the lie to those who deny the existence of a
Northwest Passage."

"It fairly kills them," answered the doctor. "See here, I'll give you
the route of this mahogany-tree: it was carried to the Pacific Ocean
by some river of the Isthmus of Panama or of Guatemala; thence the
current carried it along the coast of America as far as Behring
Strait, and so it was forced into the polar waters; it is neither so
old nor so completely water-logged that we cannot set its departure at
some recent date; it escaped all the obstacles of the many straits
coming into Baffin's Bay, and being quickly seized by the arctic
current it came through Davis Strait to be hoisted on board the
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