t Wilkes's antarctic continent will some
day be penetrated by ships, which will sail for hundreds of miles
farther south. All that is wanted is a favorable season. But mark the
coincidence between Ross's report and More's manuscript. This must
have been written at least three years ago, and the writer could not
have known anything about Ross's discoveries. Above all, he could not
have thought of those two volcanoes unless he had seen them."

"But these volcanoes mentioned by More are not the Erebus and Terror,
are they?" said Lord Featherstone.

"Of course not; they are on the other side of the world."

"The whole story," said Melick, "may have been written by one of
Ross's men and thrown overboard. If I'd been on that expedition I
should probably have written it to beguile the time."

"Oh yes," said the doctor; "and you would also have manufactured the
papyrus and the copper cylinder on board to beguile the time."

"I dare say the writer picked up that papyrus and the copper cylinder
in China or Japan, and made use of it in this way."

"Where do you make out the position of More's volcanoes?" asked
Featherstone.

"It is difficult to make it out accurately," said the doctor. "More
gives no data. In fact he had none to give. He couldn't take any
observations."

"The fact is," said Melick, "it's not a sailor's yarn at all. No
sailor would ever express himself in that way. That's what struck me
from the first. It has the ring of a confounded sensation-monger all
through."

The doctor elevated his eyebrows, but took no notice of this.

"You see," he continued, addressing himself to the others, "Desolation
Island is in 50 degrees south latitude and 70 degrees east longitude.
As I make out, More's course led him over about ten degrees of
longitude in a southwest course. That course depended altogether upon
the ocean currents. Now there is a great antarctic drift-current,
which flows round the Cape of Good Hope and divides there, one half
flowing past the east coast of Africa and the other setting across
the Indian Ocean. Then it unites with a current which flows round the
south of Van Dieman's Land, which also divides, and the southernmost
current is supposed to cross the Pacific until it strikes Cape Horn,
around which it flows, dividing as before. Now my theory is, that
south of Desolation Island--I don't know how far--there is a great
current setting toward the South Pole, and running southwest through
degrees