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22 with fury, coolly calculated the chances of success in a physical struggle. Had there been a stick or weapon, of any description at hand, I might not have hesitated. As it was, however, prudence came to my counsel. I submitted, though my heart rankled, and my spirit burned within me for revenge;—and I had it—years afterwards I had it—a deep, a dreadful revenge. For the time, however, I contented myself with one more congenial with the little spirit of a bad and brutal boy. In school-boy phrase, he kept me in—he took from me my freedom, locking me up safely in the little study, into which I had been conducted.

While in that room shut up, what were my emotions! The spirit of a demon was working within me, and the passions acting upon


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 "Good-bye," said Viner. He hurried away into the hall, snatched up a hat, and letting himself out of the house, ran to the nearest cab-stand and beckoned to a chauffeur who often took him about. "I want to get along to Mirrapore Street, Whitechapel Road," he said, as he sprang into the car. "Do you know whereabouts it is?"

The chauffeur knitted his brows and shook his head.

"There's a sight of small streets running off Whitechapel Road, both sides, sir," he answered. "It'll be one of them—I'll find it. Mirrapore Street? Right, sir."

"Get there as quickly as possible," said Viner. "The quicker the better."

It was not until he had gone a good half of his journey that Viner began to wonder whatever it was that had taken Miss Wickham and her chaperon down to the far boundaries of the City—or, indeed, farther. Mrs. Killenhall had said the City, but Viner knew his London well enough to know that Whitechapel Road lies without the City confines. She had said, too, that a man who knew Mr. Ashton was there with her and Miss Wickham—what man, wondered Viner, and what doing in a district like that toward which he was speeding?

The chauffeur did the run to Whitechapel Road in unusually good time; it was little more than two o'clock when the car passed the parish church. But the man had gone from one end of the road to the other, from the end of High Street to the beginning of Mile End Road, without success, when he stopped and looked in at his passenger.

"Can't see no street of that name on either side,

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


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 Mr. Viner," he said. "Have you got it right, sir?"

"That's the name given me," answered Viner. He pointed to a policeman slowly patrolling the side walk. "Ask him," he said. "He'll know."

The policeman, duly questioned, seemed surprised at first; then recollection evidently awoke in him.

"Mirrypoor Street?" he said. "Oh, yes! Second to your left, third to the right—nice sort o' street for a car like yours to go into, too!"

Viner overheard this and put his head out of the window.

"Why?" he demanded.

The policeman, quick to recognize a superior person, touched his helmet and stepped off the curb toward his questioner.

"Pretty low quarter down there, sir," he said, with a significant glance in the direction concerned. "If you've business that way, I should advise you to look after yourself—some queer places down those streets, sir."

"Thanks," responded Viner with a grim smile. "Go on, driver, as quick as you can, and stop at the corner of the street."

The car swung out of Whitechapel Road into a long, dismal street, the shabbiness of which increased the further the main thoroughfare was left behind; and Viner, looking right and left, saw that the small streets running off that which he was traversing were still more dismal, still more shabby. Suddenly the car twisted to the right and stopped, and Viner was aware of a long, narrow street, more gloomy than the rest, wherein various doubtful-looking individuals


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 moved about, and groups of poorly clad children played in the gutters.

"All right," he said as he got down from the car, and the chauffeur made a grimace at the unlovely vista. "Look here—I don't want you to wait here. Go back to Whitechapel Road and hang about the end of the street we've just come down. I'll come back there to you."

"Not afraid of going down here alone, then, sir?" asked the chauffeur. "It's a bit as that policeman said."

"I'm all right," repeated Viner. "You go back and wait. I may be some time. I mayn't be long."

He turned away down the street—and in spite of his declaration, he felt that this was certainly the most doubtful place he had ever been in. There were evil and sinister faces on the sidewalks; evil and sinister eyes looking out of dirty windows; here and there a silent-footed figure went by him in the gloom of the December day with the soft step of a wild animal; here and there, men leaning against the wall, glared suspiciously at him or fixed rapacious eyes on his good clothes. There were shops in this street such as Viner had never seen the like of—shops wherein coarse, dreadful looking food was exposed for sale; and there were public-houses from which came the odour of cheap gin and bad beer and rank tobacco; an atmosphere of fried fish and something far worse hung heavily above the dirty pavements, and at every step he took Viner asked himself the same question—what on earth could Miss Wickham and Mrs. Killenhall be doing in this wretched neighbourhood?


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 Suddenly he came to the house he wanted—Number 23. It was just like all the other houses, of sombre grey brick, except for the fact that it looked somewhat cleaner than the rest, was furnished with blinds and curtains, and in the front downstairs window had a lower wire blind, on which was worked in tarnished gilt letters, the word Surgery. On the door was a brass plate, also tarnished, across which ran three lines in black:

Before Viner took the bell in hand, he glanced at the houses which flanked this East-end surgery. One was a poor-looking, meanly equipped chemist's shop; the other a second-hand clothing establishment. And comforting himself with the thought that if need arose the apparently fairly respectable proprietors of these places might reasonably be called upon for assistance, he rang the bell of Number 23 and awaited the opening of the door with considerable curiosity.

The door was opened by Mrs. Killenhall herself, and Viner's quick eye failed to notice anything in her air or manner that denoted uneasiness. She smiled and motioned him to enter, shutting the door after him as he stepped into the narrow entrance hall.

"So very good of you to come, Mr. Viner, and so quickly," she said. "You found your way all right?"

"Yes, but I'm a good deal surprised to find you and Miss Wickham in this neighbourhood," answered


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 Viner. "This is a queer place, Mrs. Killenhall. I hope—"

"Oh, we're all right!" said Mrs. Killenhall, with a reassuring smile. "It is certainly a queer neighbourhood, but Dr. Martincole is an old friend of mine, and we're safe enough under his roof. He'll be here in a few minutes, and then—"

"This man who knew Mr. Ashton?" interrupted Viner. "Where is he?"

"Dr. Martincole will bring him in," said Mrs. Killenhall, "Come upstairs, Mr. Viner."

Viner noticed that the house through which he was led was very quiet, and larger than he should have guessed at from the street frontage. From what he could see, it was well furnished, but dark and gloomy; gloomy, too, was a back room, high up the stairs, into which Mrs. Killenhall presently showed him. There, looking somewhat anxious, sat Miss Wickham, alone.

"Here's Mr. Viner," said Mrs. Killenhall. "I'll tell Dr. Martincole he's come."

She motioned Viner to a chair and went out. But the next instant Viner swung quickly round. As the door closed, he had heard the unmistakable click of a patent lock.


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'''126 he will be forgiven for anything he may have done to incur guilt.”

The Burnt Offering (Leviticus 1:1–17)

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Command Aaron and his sons that this is the law of the burnt offering: The burnt offering is to remain on the hearth of the altar all night, until morning, and the fire must be kept burning on the altar.

And the priest shall put on his linen robe and linen undergarments, and he shall remove from the altar the ashes of the burnt offering that the fire has consumed and place them beside it. Then he must take off his garments, put on other clothes, and carry the ashes outside the camp to a ceremonially clean place.

The fire on the altar shall be kept burning; it must not be extinguished. Every morning the priest is to add wood to the fire, arrange the burnt offering on it, and burn the fat portions of the peace offerings on it. The fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually; it must not be extinguished.

The Grain Offering (Leviticus 2:1–16)

Now this is the law of the grain offering: Aaron’s sons shall present it before the LORD in front of the altar. The priest is to remove a handful of fine flour and olive oil, together with all the frankincense from the grain offering, and burn the memorial portion on the altar as a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

Aaron and his sons are to eat the remainder. It must be eaten without leaven in a holy place; they are to eat it in the courtyard of the Tent of Meeting. It must not be baked with leaven; I have assigned it as their portion of My offerings made by fire. It is most holy, like the sin offering and the guilt offering. Any male among the sons of Aaron may eat it. This is a permanent portion from the offerings made by fire to the LORD for the generations to come. Anything that touches them will become holy.”

Then the LORD said to Moses, “This is the offering that Aaron and his sons must present to the LORD on the day he is anointed: a tenth of an ephah of fine flour as a regular grain offering, half of it in the morning and half in the evening. It shall be prepared with oil on a griddle; you are to bring it well-kneaded and present it as a grain offering broken in pieces, a pleasing aroma to the LORD. The priest, who is one of Aaron’s sons and will be anointed to take his place, is to prepare it. As a permanent portion for the LORD, it must be burned completely. Every grain offering for a priest shall be burned completely; it is not to be eaten.”

The Sin Offering (Leviticus 4:1–35; Leviticus 5:1–13)

And the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron and his sons that this is the law of the sin offering: In the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered, the sin offering shall be slaughtered before the LORD; it is most holy. The priest who offers it shall eat it; it must be eaten in a holy place, in the courtyard of the Tent of Meeting. Anything that touches its flesh will become holy, and if any of the blood is spattered on a garment, you must wash it in a holy place.

The clay pot in which the sin offering is boiled must be broken; if it is boiled in a bronze pot, the pot must be scoured and rinsed with water. Any male among the


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Unknown to those who had taken part in the conference at Viner's house, unknown even to Carless, who in the multiplicity of his engagements, had forgotten the instructions which he had given on the previous afternoon to Portlethwaite, a strict watch was being kept on the man around whom all the events of that morning had centred. Portlethwaite, after Methley and his client had left Carless and Driver's office, had given certain instructions to one of his fellow-clerks, a man named Millwaters, in whose prowess as a spy he had unlimited belief. Millwaters was a fellow of experience. He possessed all the qualities of a sleuth-hound and was not easily baffled in difficult adventures. In his time he had watched erring husbands and doubtful wives; he had followed more than one high-placed wrong-doer running away from the consequences of forgery or embezzlement; he had conducted secret investigations into the behaviour of persons about whom his employers wanted to know something. In person and appearance he was eminently fitted for his job—a little, inconspicuous, plain-featured man who contrived to look as if he never saw anything. And to him, knowing that he was to be thoroughly depended upon, Portlethwaite had given precise orders.


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'''Leviticus 7:24 priests may eat it; it is most holy. But no sin offering may be eaten if its blood has been brought into the Tent of Meeting to make atonement in the Holy Place; it must be burned. The Guilt Offering (Leviticus 5:14–19; Leviticus 6:1–7)

“Now this is the law of the guilt offering, which is most holy: The guilt offering must be slaughtered in the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered, and the priest shall sprinkle its blood on all sides of the altar. And all the fat from it shall be offered: the fat tail, the fat that covers the entrails, both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which is to be removed with the kidneys. The priest shall burn them on the altar as an offering made by fire to the LORD; it is a guilt offering. Every male among the priests may eat of it. It must be eaten in a holy place; it is most holy.

The guilt offering is like the sin offering; the same law applies to both. It belongs to the priest who makes atonement with it. As for the priest who presents a burnt offering for anyone, the hide of that offering belongs to him. Likewise, every grain offering that is baked in an oven or cooked in a pan or on a griddle belongs to the priest who presents it, and every grain offering, whether dry or mixed with oil, belongs equally to all the sons of Aaron.

The Peace Offering (Leviticus 3:1–17)

Now this is the law of the peace offering that one may present to the LORD: If he offers it in thanksgiving, then along with the sacrifice of thanksgiving he shall offer unleavened cakes mixed with olive oil, unleavened wafers coated with oil, and well-kneaded cakes of fine flour mixed with oil.

Along with his peace offering of thanksgiving he is to present an offering with cakes of leavened bread. From the cakes he must present one portion of each offering as a contribution to the LORD. It belongs to the priest who sprinkles the blood of the peace offering. The meat of the sacrifice of his peace offering of thanksgiving must be eaten on the day he offers it; none of it may be left until morning.

If, however, the sacrifice he offers is a vow or a freewill offering, it shall be eaten on the day he presents his sacrifice, but the remainder may be eaten on the next day. But any meat of the sacrifice remaining until the third day must be burned up. If any of the meat from his peace offering is eaten on the third day, it will not be accepted. It will not be credited to the one who presented it; it shall be an abomination, and the one who eats of it shall bear his iniquity.

Meat that touches anything unclean must not be eaten; it is to be burned up. As for any other meat, anyone who is ceremonially clean may eat it. But if anyone who is unclean eats meat from the peace offering that belongs to the LORD, that person must be cut off from his people. If one touches anything unclean, whether human uncleanness, an unclean animal, or any unclean, detestable thing, and then eats any of the meat of the peace offering that belongs to the LORD, that person must be cut off from his people.”

Fat and Blood Forbidden

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say, ‘You are not to eat any of the fat of an ox, a sheep, or a goat. The fat


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 the metal melting and glittering. The wind was, however, still blowing with fury, and the rain falling heavily; so, to protect himself, Cellini had some tables with pieces of tapestry and old clothes brought to him, behind which he went on hurling the wood into the furnace. A mass of pewter was thrown in upon the other metal, and by stirring, sometimes with iron and sometimes with long poles, the whole soon became completely melted At this juncture, when the trying moment was close at hand, a terrible noise as of a thunderbolt was heard, and a glittering of fire flashed before Cellini's eyes. The cover of the furnace had burst, and the metal began to flow! Finding that it did not run with the proper velocity, Cellini rushed into the kitchen, bore away every piece of copper and pewter that it contained—some two hundred porringers, dishes, and kettles of different kinds—and threw them into the furnace. Then at length the metal flowed freely, and thus the splendid statue of Perseus was cast.

The divine fury of genius in which Cellini rushed to his kitchen and stripped it of its utensils for the purposes of his furnace will remind the reader of the like act of Palissy in breaking up his furniture for the purpose of baking his earthenware. Excepting, however, in their enthusiasm, no two men could be less alike in character. Cellini was an Ishmael against whom, according to his own account, every man's hand was turned. But about his extraordinary skill as a workman, and his genius as an artist, there cannot be two opinions.

Much less turbulent was the career of Nicolas Poussin, a man as pure and elevated in his ideas


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 "You'll go up to Lancaster Gate tonight, Millwaters, and get a good look at that chap," Portlethwaite had told him. "Take plenty of money—I'll speak to the cashier about that—and be prepared for anything, even to following, if he bolts. Once you've seen him, you're not to lose sight of him; make sure of him last thing today and first thing tomorrow. Follow him wherever he goes, make a note of wherever he goes, and particularly of whoever he meets. And if there's need, ring me up here, and let's know what's happening, or if you want assistance."

There was no need for Millwaters to promise faithful compliance; Portlethwaite knew well enough that to put him on a trail was equivalent to putting a hound on the scent of a fox or a terrier to the run of a rat. And that evening, Millwaters, who had clever ways of his own, made himself well acquainted with the so-called Mr. Cave's appearance, and assured himself that his man had gone peacefully to rest at his hotel, and he had seen him again before breakfast next morning and had been in quiet and unobtrusive attendance upon him when, later, he visited Methley's office and subsequently walked away with Methley to the police-court. And Millwaters was in the police-court, meditatively sucking peppermint lozenges in a corner, when Mr. Cave was unexpectedly asked to give evidence; he was there, too, until Mr. Cave left the court.

Cave's remarkable story ran off Millwaters' mentality like raindrops off a steep roof. It mattered nothing to him. He did not care the value of a brass button if Cave was Earl of Ellingham or Duke of Ditchmoor; his job was to keep his eye on him,


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 whoever he was. And so when Viner and his party went round to Markendale Square, Millwaters slunk along in their rear, and at a corner of the Square he remained, lounging about, until his quarry reappeared. Two or three of the other men came out with Cave, but Millwaters noticed that Cave immediately separated from them. He was evidently impressing upon them that he was in a great hurry about something or other, and sped away from them, Millwaters's cold eye upon him. And within a minute Millwaters had observed what seemed to him highly suspicious circumstance—Cave, on leaving the others, had shot off down a side-street in the direction of Lancaster Gate, but as soon as he was out of sight of Markendale Square, had doubled in his tracks, hurried down another turning and sped away as fast as he could walk towards Paddington Station.

Millwaters, shorter in the leg than the tall man in front, had to hurry to keep him in sight, but he was never far behind as Cave hastened along Craven Road and made for the terminus. Once or twice in this chase the quarry lifted a hand to an approaching taxicab, only to find each was engaged; it was not until he and his pursuer were in front of the Great Western Hotel that Cave found an empty cab, hailed it, and sprang in. Millwaters grinned quietly at that; he was used to this sort of chase, and he had memorized car and number before Cave had been driven off. It was a mere detail to charter the next, and to give a quiet word and wink to its chauffeur, who was opening its door for Millwaters when a third person came gently alongside and tapped the clerk's shoulder.


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 Millwaters turned sharply and encountered Mr. Perkwite's shrewd eyes.

"All right, Millwaters!" said the barrister. "I know what you're after! I'm after the same bird. We'll go together."

Millwaters knew Mr. Perkwite very well as a promising young barrister whom Carless and Driver sometimes favoured with briefs. Mr. Perkwite's presence did not disturb him; he moved into the farther corner, and Mr. Perkwite slipped inside. The car moved off in pursuit of the one in front.

"So you're on that game, Mr. Perkwite?" remarked Millwaters. "Ah! And who might have got you on to it, if one may ask?"

"You know that I was at your people's office yesterday?" said Perkwite.

"Saw you there," replied Millwaters.

"It was about this business," said the barrister. "Did you see me in the police-court this morning?"

"I did—listening for all you were worth," answered the clerk.

"And I dare say you saw me go with the rest of them to Mr. Viner's, in Markendale Square?" said Perkwite.

"Right again, sir," assented Millwaters. "I did."

"This fellow in front," observed Perkwite, "made some statements at Viner's, in answer to your principal, Mr. Carless, which incline me to the opinion that he's an impostor in spite of his carefully concocted stories."

"Shouldn't wonder, Mr. Perkwite." said Millwaters. "But that's not my business. My job is to keep him under observation."


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 "That's what I set out to do when I came out of Viner's," said the barrister. "He's up to something. He assured us as we left the house that he'd a most pressing engagement at his hotel in Lancaster Gate; the next minute, happening to glance down a side-street, I saw him cutting off in the direction of Paddington. And now he's evidently making for the City."

"Well, I'm after him," remarked Millwaters. He leaned out of his window, called the chauffeur, and gave him some further instructions. "Intelligent chap, this, Mr. Perkwite," he said as he sat down again. "He understands—some of 'em are poor hands at this sort of game."

"You're a pretty good hand yourself, I think?" suggested the barrister, with a smile.

"Ought to be," said Millwaters. "Had plenty of experience, anyway."

It seemed to Perkwite that his companion kept no particular observation on the car in front as it sped along to and through the northern edge of the City and beyond. But Millwaters woke to action as their own car progressed up Whitechapel Road, and suddenly he gave a warning word to the barrister and a smart tap on the window behind their driver. The car came to a halt by the curb; and Millwaters, slipping out, pushed some money into the man's hand and drew Perkwite amongst the people who were crowding the sidewalk. The barrister looked in front and around and seemed at a loss.

"Where is he?" he asked. "Hang it, I've lost him!"


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 "I haven't!" said Millwaters. "He left his car before we left ours. Our man knew what he was after—he slowed up and passed him until I saw where he went." He twisted Perkwite round and pointed to the mouth of a street which they had just passed.

"He's gone down there," he said. "Nice neighbourhood, too! I know something of it. Now, Mr. Perkwite, if you please, we'll separate. You take the right of that street—I'll take the left. Keep a look out for my gentleman's Homburg hat—grey, with a black band—and keep the tail of your eye on me, too."

Cave's headgear was easily followed down the squalid street. Its owner went swiftly ahead, with Millwaters in pursuit on one pavement, and the barrister on the other, until he finally turned into a narrower and shabbier thoroughfare. Then the clerk hurried across the road, attracted Perkwite's attention, winked at him as he passed without checking his pace, and whispered two or three words.

"Wait—by the street-corner!"

Perkwite pulled up, and Millwaters went down the dismal street in pursuit of the Homburg hat. This excellent indication of its owner's presence suddenly vanished from Perkwite's sight, and presently Millwaters came back.

"Ran him to earth—for the time being, anyway," he said. "He's gone into a surgery down there—a Dr. Martincole's. Number 23—brass plate on door—next to a drug-shop. Suspicious sort of spot, altogether."


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 "Well?" demanded Perkwite. "What next? You know best, Millwaters."

The clerk jerked a thumb down the side of the dismal street on which they were standing.

"There's a public-house down there," he said, "almost opposite this surgery. Fairly decent place for this neighbourhood—bar-parlour looking out on the street. Better slip in there and look quietly out. But remember, Mr. Perkwite—don't seem to be watching anything. We're just going in for a bottle of ale, and talking business together.

"Whatever you recommend," said Perkwite.

He followed his companion down the street to the tavern, a joyless and shabby place, the bar-parlour of which, a dark and smoke-stained room was just then empty, and looked over its torn half-blind across the way.

"Certainly a queer place for a man who professes to be a peer of the realm to visit!" he muttered. "Well, now, what do you propose to do, Millwaters?"

"Hang about here and watch," whispered the clerk. "Look out!"

A face, heavy and bloated, appeared at a hatch-window at the back of the room, and a gruff voice made itself heard.

"Any orders, gents?"

"Two bottles o' Bass, gov'nor," responded Millwaters promptly, dropping into colloquial Cockney speech. He turned to Perkwite and winked. "Well, an' wot abaht this 'ere bit o' business as I've come rahnd abaht, Mister?" he went on, nudging his companion, in free-and-easy style.


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 "Yer see, it's this ere wy wiv us—if yer can let us have that there stuff reasonable, d'yer see—" He drew Perkwite over to the window and began to whisper, "That'll satisfy him," he said with a sharp glance at the little room behind the hatch where the landlord was drawing corks. "He'll think we're doing a bit of trade, so we've nothing to do but stand in this window and keep an eye on the street. Out of this I'm not going till I see whether that fellow comes out or stops in!"

Some time had passed, and Millwaters had been obliged to repeat his order for bottled Bass before anything took place in the street outside. Suddenly he touched his companion's elbow.

"Here's a taxicab coming along and slowing up for somewhere about here," he whispered. "And—Lord, if there aren't two ladies in it—in a spot like this! And—whew!" he went on excitedly. "Do you see 'em, Mr. Perkwite? The young un's Miss Wickham, who came to our office about this Ashton affair. I don't know who the old un is—but she evidently knows her way."

The berry-faced landlord had now shut down the hatch, and his two bar-parlour customers were alone and unobserved. Perkwite drew away from the window, pulling Millwaters by the sleeve.

"Careful!" he said. "There's something seriously wrong here, Millwaters! What's Miss Wickham being brought down here for? See, they've gone into that surgery, and the car's going off. Look here—we've got to do something, and at once!"

But Millwaters shook his head.

"Not my job, Mr. Perkwite!" he answered.


text: The Mystery of the Blue Train/Chapter 22


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 "My business is with the man—Cave! I've nothing to do with Miss Wickham, sir, nor with the old lady that's taken her in there. Cave's my mark! Queer that the young lady's gone there, no doubt, but—no affair of mine."

"It's going to be an affair of mine, then," said Perkwite. "I'm going off to the police!"

Millwaters put out a detaining hand.

"Don't, Mr. Perkwite!" he said. "To get police into a quarter like this is as bad as putting a light to dry straw. I'll tell you a better plan than that, sir—find the nearest telephone-box and call up our people—call Mr. Carless, tell him what you've seen and get him to come down and bring somebody with him. That'll be far better than calling the police in."

"Give me your telephone-number, then," said Perkwite, "and keep a strict watch while I'm away."

Millwaters repeated some figures and a letter, and Perkwite ran off up the street and toward the Whitechapel Road, anxiously seeking for a telephone booth. It was not until he had got into the main thoroughfare that he found one; he then had some slight delay in getting in communication with Carless and Driver's office; twenty minutes had elapsed by the time he got back to the dismal street. At its corner he encountered Millwaters, lounging about hands in pockets. Millwaters wagged his head.

"Here's another queer go!" he said. "There's been another arrival at Number 23—not five minutes since. Another of our little lot!"

"Who?" demanded Perkwite.

"Viner!" replied Millwaters. "Came peeping and


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was exactly eleven o'clock when Poirot presented himself at Van Aldin's hotel. He found the millionaire alone.

"You are punctual, M. Poirot," he said, with a smile, as he rose to greet the detective.

"I am always punctual," said Poirot. “The exactitudealways do I observe it. Without order and method"

He broke off. "Ah, but it is possible that I have said these things to you before. Let us come at once to the object of my visit."

"Your little idea?"

"Yes, my little idea." Poirot smiled.

"First of all, Monsieur. I should like to interview once more the maid, Ada Mason. She is here?"

"Yes, she's here."

"Ah!"

Van Aldin looked at him curiously. He rang the bell, and a messenger was dispatched to find Mason.

Poirot greeted her with his usual politeness, which was never without effect on that particular class.

"Good afternoon. Mademoiselle," he said cheerfully Be seated, will you not, if Monsieur permits."

"Yes, yes, sit down, my girl," said Van Aldin.

"Thank you, sir," said Mason primly, and she sat


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 perking along the street, took a glimpse of the premises and the adjacent purlieus, rang at Number 23, and was let in by—the party that came with Miss Wickham! Now, whatever can he be doing there, Mr. Perkwite?"

"Whatever can any of them be doing there!" muttered Perkwite. "Viner! What business can he have in this place? It seems—by George, Millwaters," he suddenly exclaimed, "what if this is some infernal plant—trap—something of that sort? Do you know, in spite of what you say, I really think we ought to get hold of the nearest police and tell them—"

"Wait, Mr. Perkwite!" counselled Millwaters. "Our governor is a pretty cute and smart sort, and he's vastly interested in this Miss Wickham; so Portlethwaite and he'll be on their way down here now, hot foot; and with help, too, if he thinks she's in any danger. Now, he can go straight to that door and demand to see her, and—"

"Why can't we?" interrupted Perkwite. "I'd do it! Lord, man, she may be in real peril—"

"Not while Viner's in there," said Millwaters quietly. "I might possibly have gone and rung the bell myself, but for that. But Viner's in there—wait!"

And Perkwite waited, chafing, at the corner of the dismal street, until a quarter of an hour had passed. Then a car came hurrying along and pulled up as Millwaters and his companion were reached, and from it sprang Mr. Carless, Lord Ellingham and two men in plain-clothes, at the sight of whom Perkwite heaved a huge sigh of intense relief.


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 down on the extreme edge of a chair. She looked bonier and more acid than ever.

"I have come to ask you yet more questions," said Poirot. "We must get to the bottom of this affair. Always I return to the question of the man in the train. You have been shown the Comte de la Roche. You say that it is possible he was the man, but you are not sure."

"As I told you, sir, I never saw the gentleman's face. That is what makes it so difficult."

Poirot beamed and nodded.

"Precisely, exactly. I comprehend well the difficulty. Now, Mademoiselle, you have been in the service of Madame Kettering two months, you say. During that time, how often did you see your master?"

Mason reflected a minute or two, and then said:

"Only twice, sir."

"And was that near to, or far away?"

"Well once, sir, he came to Curzon Street. I was upstairs, and I looked over the banisters and saw him in the hall below. I was a bit curious like, you understand, knowing the way thingserwere." Mason finished up with her discreet cough.

"And the other time?"

"I was in the Park, sir, with Annieone of the housemaids, sir, and she pointed out the master to me walking with a foreign lady."

Again Poirot nodded.

"Now listen. Mason, this man whom you saw in the carriage talking to your mistress at the Gare de Lyon, how do you know it was not your master?"

"The master, sir? Oh, I don't think it could have been."


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 "But you are not sure," Poirot persisted.

"WellI never thought of it, sir."

Mason was clearly upset at the idea.

"You have heard that your master was also on the tram. What more natural than that it should be he who came along the corridor."

"But the gentleman who was talking to the mistress must have come from outside, sir. He was dressed for the street. In an overcoat and soft hat."

"Just so, Mademoiselle, but reflect a minute. The train has just arrived at the Gare de Lyon. Many of the passengers promenade themselves upon the quay. Your mistress was about to do so, and for that purpose had doubtless put on her fur coat, eh?"

"Yes, sir," agreed Mason.

"Your master, then, does the same. The train is heated, but outside in the station it is cold. He puts on his overcoat and his hat and he walks along beside the train, and looking up at the lighted windows he suddenly sees Madame Kettering. Until then he has had no idea that she was on the train. Naturally, he mounts the carriage and goes to her compartment. She gives an exclamation of surprise at seeing him and quickly shuts the door between the two compartments since it is possible that their conversation may be of a private nature."

He leaned back in his chair and watched the suggestion slowly take effect. No one knew better than Hercule Poirot that the class to which Mason belongs cannot be hurried. He must give her time to get rid of her own preconceived ideas. At the end of three minutes she spoke:


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184 within the pale of the Brahman caste, except to a limited extent in favor of Vaidyas, and beyond those limits none of the humanizing influences of learning are seen in the improved moral and intellectual character or physical condition of the surrounding humbler classes of society. It seems never to have entered into the conceptions of the learned that it was their duty to do something for the instruction of those classes who are as ignorant and degraded where learning abounds as where it does not exist; nor has learning any practical influence upon the physical comforts even of its possessors, for their houses are as rude, confined, and inconvenient as those of the more ignorant, and the pathways of Brahman-villages are as narrow, dirty, and irregular as those inhabited by the humblest and most despised Chasas and Chandals.

In the report of 1st July, 1835, mention is made of an English school at Bauleah, the capital of this district, but no information was then possessed respecting it. That school was in operation when I entered the district, but for want of funds was suspended about the beginning of November last. Although the school does not now exist, its revival may be hoped for, and with that anticipation it may be desirable to record the following particulars of its origin and management.

The school was established in July, 1833, and placed under the care of an English teacher receiving eighty rupees per month, with an assistant receiving twenty rupees and a Bengali teacher receiving eight rupees. The English teacher, in addition to his salary, had a bungalow built for him at a cost of eight hundred rupees which he occupied rent-free; and a school-house was built at an expense of one thousand and two hundred rupees. With economical repairs and proper care, both the houses might last fifteen years. The expense of books, pens, paper, ink, and sweeper, to keep the school-house clean, was estimated on an average at twelve rupees per month. The current monthly expenditure thus amounted to one hundred and twenty rupees.


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Viner was so sure that the sound which he had heard on Mrs. Killenhall's retirement was that caused by the turning of a key or slipping of a lock in the door by which he had entered, that before speaking to Miss Wickham he instantly stepped back and tried it. To his astonishment it opened readily, but the anteroom outside was empty; Mrs. Killenhall had evidently walked straight through it and disappeared.

"That's odd!" he said, turning to Miss Wickham. "I distinctly thought I heard something like the snap of a lock, or a bolt or something. Didn't you?"

"I certainly heard a sound of that sort," admitted Miss Wickham. "But—the door's open, isn't it?"

"Yes—that is so," answered Viner, who was distinctly puzzled. "Yet—but then, all this seems very odd. When did you come down here?"

"About an hour ago," replied Miss Wickham, "in a hurry."

"Do you know why?" asked Viner.

"To see a Dr. Martincole, who is to tell us something about Mr. Ashton," replied his fellow-sharer in these strange quarters. "Didn't Mrs. Killenhall ask you to come down for the same purpose, Mr. Viner?"


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 "Well, of course, sir, it might be so. I never thought of it that way. The master is tall and dark, and just about that build. It was seeing the hat and coat that made me say it was a gentleman from outside. Yes, it might have been the master. I would not like to say either way, I am sure."

"Thank you very much. Mademoiselle. I shall not require you any further. Ah, just one thing more." He took from his pocket the cigarette case he had already shown to Katherine. "Is that your mistress's case?" he said to Mason.

"No, sir, it is not the mistress'sat least"

She looked suddenly startled. An idea was clearly working its way to the forefront of her mind.

"Yes," said Poirot encouragingly.

"I think, sirI can't be sure, but I thinkit is a case that the mistress bought to give to the master."

"Ah," said Poirot in a non-committal manner.

"But whether she ever did give it to him or not, I can't say, of course."

"Precisely," said Poirot, "precisely. That is all, I think. Mademoiselle. I wish you good afternoon."

Ada Mason retired discreetly, closing the door noiselessly behind her.

Poirot looked across at Van Aldin, a faint smile upon his face. The millionaire looked thunderstruck.

"You thinkyou think it was Derek?" he queried, "buteverything points the other way. Why, the Count has actually been caught redhanded with the jewels on him."

"No."

"But you told me"


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 "What did I tell you?"

"That story about the jewels. You showed them to me."

"No."

Van Aldin stared at him.

"You mean to say you didn't show them to me?"

"No."

"Yesterday—at the tennis?"

"No."

"Are you crazy, M. Poirot, or am I?"

"Neither of us is crazy," said the detective. "You ask me a question; I answer it. You say have I not shown you the jewels yesterday? I reply—no. What I showed you, M. Van Aldin, was a first-class imitation, hardly to be distinguished except by an expert from the real ones."


text: The Mystery of the Blue Train/Chapter 23


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 Viner, before he replied, looked round the room. Considering the extreme shabbiness and squalour [sic] of the surrounding district, he was greatly surprised to find that the apartment in which he and Miss Wickham waited was extremely well furnished, if in an old-fashioned and rather heavy way. The walls were panelled in dark, age-stained oak, to the height of several feet; above the panelling were arranged good oil pictures, which Viner would have liked to examine at his leisure; here and there, in cabinets, were many promising curiosities; there were old silver and brass things, and a shelf or two of well-bound books—altogether the place and its effects were certainly not what Viner had expected to find in such a quarter.

"Yes," he said at last, turning to his companion, "that's what I was brought here for. Well—have you seen this doctor?"

"No," answered Miss Wickham. "Not yet."

"Know anything about him?" suggested Viner.

"Nothing whatever! I have heard of him," said Miss Wickham with a glance of surprise. "I suppose he—somehow—got into touch with Miss Killenhall."

"Queer!" remarked Viner. "And why doesn't he come in?"

Then, resolved to know more, he walked into the anteroom, and after a look round it, tried the door by which Mrs. Killenhall had admitted him after coming up the stairs from the street; a second later he went back to Miss Wickham and shook his head.

"It's just as I supposed," he remarked quietly. "We're trapped! Anyway, the door of that ante-


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 room is locked—and it's a strong lock. There's something wrong."

The girl started, and paled a little, but Viner saw at once that she was not likely to be seriously frightened, and presently she laughed.

"How very queer!" she said. "But—perhaps Mrs. Killenhall turned the key in the outer lock so that no—patients, or other callers, perhaps—should come in?"

"Sorry, but that doesn't strike me as a good suggestion," replied Viner. "I'm going to have a look at that window!"

The one window of the room, a long, low one, was set high in the wall, above the panelling; Viner had to climb on a bookcase to get at it. And when he had reached it, he found it to be securely fastened, and to have in front of it, at a distance of no more than a yard, a blank whitewashed wall which evidently rose from a passage between that and the next house.

"I don't like the look of this at all!" he said as he got down from the bookcase. "It seems to me that we might be kept here for a long time."

Miss Wickham showed more astonishment than fear.

"But why should any one want to keep us here for any time?" she asked. "What's it mean?"

"I wish I knew!" exclaimed Viner. He pulled out his watch and made a mental note of the time. "We're being kept much longer than we should be in any ordinary case," he remarked.

"Of course!" admitted Miss Wickham. "Well past three o'clock, isn't it? If we're delayed much


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Rh The teachers’ house and the school-house were built by subscription and the current expenses were defrayed by the same means. The subscriptions never amounted to more than one hundred and thirty-eight rupees per month, and at the time the school was suspended they had fallen to eighty-six rupees per month, in consequence of several friends to the institution having left the station. Even the latter amount could not be regularly realized from the nominal subscribers, the unpaid arrears amounting to 663 rupees, and a balance being due to the school-establishment of 274 rupees. The subscribers were public functionaries, indigo-planters, zemindars, and native otheers of the courts; Christians and non-Christians in nearly equal proportions.

When the school was suspended, the number of scholars was 134, of whom about two-thirds were in regular attendance. Eighty-five were learning English and forty-nine Bengali. The age of the Bengali scholars varied from five to fourteen; and that of the English scholars from eight to twenty-four. All the Bengali scholars were from Bauleah and its neighbourhood. A majority of the English scholars were not natives of Bauleah, but had relations attached to the courts there; and a few who had no relations at Bauleah had come from Pubna, Commercolly, Nattore and Moorshedabad.

The Bengali scholars were taught writing, reading, and accounts in the native way. The writing materials were at first supplied at the expense of the institution, and afterwards the scholars were required to bring them at their own expense, in consequence of which twenty-five of them discontinued their attendance. If this requisition had been made from the first, it is probable that no objection would have been made to it.

The English scholars were first taught to read and spell, and afterwards to write and to translate from English into Bengali. They were next carried on to the simplest rules of grammar and arithmetic and still further to Murray’s abridgement and the rule of three; and they were afterwards introduced by verbal instruction to some knowledge of geography and astronomy. The highest class read English History and Ancient History and an Introduction to Natural Philosophy.

I examined this school in the middle of July last, and found it in a very inefficient state, the obvious cause of which 15—1326B


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 longer, Mrs. Killenhall will be too late for the bank."

"What bank?" asked Viner.

"My bank. I always give Mrs. Killenhall a check for the weekly bills every Friday, and as we were coming through the City to get here, she said, just before we left home, that I might as well give her the check and she could call and cash it as we drove back. And," concluded Miss Wickham, "the bank closes at four."

Viner began to be suspicious.

"Look here!" he said suddenly. "Don't think me inquisitive, but what was the amount of the check you gave her?"

"There was no amount stated," replied Miss Wickham. "I always give her a blank check—signed, of course—and she fills in the amount herself. It varies according to what she wants."

Without expressing any opinion on the wisdom of handing checks to other people on this plan, Viner turned to Miss Wickham with a further question.

"Do you know anything about Mrs. Killenhall's movements this morning?" he asked. "Did she go out anywhere?"

"Yes," replied Miss Wickham. "She went to the police-court, to hear the proceedings against Mr. Hyde. She wanted me to go, but I wouldn't—I dislike that sort of thing. She was there all the morning."

"So was I," said Viner. "I didn't see her. But the place was crowded."

"And she was veiled," remarked Miss Wickham. "Naturally, she didn't want people to see her in a place like that."


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 "Do you know whether she went to the previous sitting? I mean when Hyde was brought up the first time?" inquired Viner. "I remember there were some veiled ladies there—and at the coroner's inquest, too."

"She was at the coroner's inquest, I know," replied Miss Wickham. "I don't know about the other time."

Viner made no remark, and Miss Wickham suddenly lowered her voice and bent nearer to him.

"Why?" she asked. "Are you—suspecting Mrs. Killenhall of anything, Mr. Viner?"

Viner gave her a quick glance.

"Are you?" he said in low tones.

Miss Wickham waved a hand towards the anteroom.

"Well!" she whispered. "What's it look like? She brings me down here in a hurry, on a message which I myself never heard nor saw delivered in any way; after I get here, you are fetched—and here we are! And—where is she?"

"And—possibly a much more pertinent question," said Viner, "where is this Dr. Martincole? Look here: this is a well-furnished room; those pictures are good; there are many valuable things here; yet the man who practises here is only in attendance for an hour or two in an afternoon, and once a week for rather longer in the evening. He can't earn much here; certainly an East End doctor could not afford to buy things like this or that. Do you know what I think? I think this man is some West End man, who for purposes of his own has this place down here—a man who probably lives a double life, and may


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 possibly be mixed up in some nefarious practices. And so I propose, as we've waited long enough, to get out of it, and I'm going to smash that window and yell as loud as I can—somebody will hear it!"

Miss Wickham pointed to a door in the oak panelling, a door set in a corner of the room, across which hung a heavy curtain of red plush, only halfdrawn.

"There's a door there," she remarked, "but I suppose it's only a cupboard."

"Sure to be," said Viner. "However, we'll see." He went across, drew the curtain aside, tried the door, looked within, and uttered an exclamation. "I say!" he called back. "Stairs!"

Miss Wickham came across and looked past his shoulder. There was certainly the head of a staircase before him, and a few stairs to be seen before darkness swallowed up the rest—but the darkness was deep and the atmosphere that came up from below decidedly musty.

"Are you going down there?" she asked. "I don't like it!"

"It seems our only chance," answered Viner. He looked back into the room, and seeing some wax candles standing on a writing-table, seized one and lighted it. "Come along!" he said. "Let's get out of this altogether."

Miss Wickham gathered up her skirts and followed down the stairs, Viner going cautiously in front, with the light held before him in such a fashion that he could see every step. At a turn in the stairway he came across a door, and opening it, saw that it stood at the end of a narrow passage running through the house; at the farther end of the passage he recognized


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186 was the want of superintendence. If it had been continued, it was essential to its usefulness that there should be some effectual supervision over the teachers and over the system of instruction; and with that view an attempt was made to form a committee of superintendence amongst the gentlemen resident at Bauleah; but it was found impracticable.

Some account of the means and amount of female instruction is indispensable, but on this subject I have been able to collect very little information.


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 an oak cabinet which he had noticed when Mrs. Killenhall first admitted him.

"I see how these people, whoever they are, manage matters," he remarked over his shoulder as he led his companion forward. "This place has a front and a back entrance. If you don't want to be seen, you know, well, it's convenient. We're approaching the back—and here it is."

The stairs came to an end deep down in the house, terminating in a door which Viner, after leaving his silver-sticked candle, only blown out, on the last step, carefully opened. There before him lay a narrow whitewashed yard, at the end of which they could see a street, evidently pretty much like the rest of the streets in that district. But in the yard a pale-cheeked, sharp-eyed urchin was feeding a couple of rabbits in a wire-faced soap-box, and him Viner immediately hailed.

"You're a smart-looking lad," he said. "Would you like five shillings? Well, have you seen Dr. Martincole this afternoon? You know, the doctor who comes to the house behind us?"

"See him go out abaht an hour ago, guv'nor—wiv anuvver gent," said the lad eagerly, his bright eyes wavering between Viner's face and the hand which he had thrust in his pocket. He pointed to the distant entrance of the yard. "Went aht that way, they did."

"Ah! And what was the other gentleman like?" asked Viner.

"Swell!" answered the informant. "Proper swell, he was!"

"And Dr. Martincole?" Viner continued. "You've


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 seen him many a time, of course. Now what's he like!"

"He's a tall gentleman," said the boy, after some evidently painful thought.

"Yes, but what else—has he got a beard?" asked Viner.

"Couldn't tell you that, guv'nor, d'yer see," said the lad, "'cause he's one o' them gents what allus wears a white silk handkercher abaht his face—up to his eyes. But he's a big man—wears black clothes."

Viner gave the boy his promised reward, and was passing on when Miss Wickham touched his arm.

"Ask if he's seen a lady go out this way," she said. "That's equally important."

The boy, duly questioned nodded his head.

"I see Mrs. Killerby go out not so long since," he answered. "Her what used to live here one time. Know her well enough."

"Come along!" muttered Viner. "We've hit it! Mrs. Killerby—who is Mrs. Killenhall—used to live here at one time! Good—which means very bad, considering that without doubt the doctor who wears a white silk handkerchief about his face is the muffled man of Lonsdale Passage. Miss Wickham, something has alarmed these birds and they've flown."

"But why were we brought here?" asked Miss Wickham.

"I've an idea as to why you were," said Viner, "and I propose to find out at once if I'm right. Let's get away, find a taxicab, and go to your—but, good heavens!" he went on, breaking off as two men came into the yard. "Here's one of Carless' clerks, and Perkwite the barrister.—What are you doing here?"


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 he demanded, as Millwaters and Perkwite hurried up. "Are you after anybody along there—in that house—the one at the end?"

"We're after a good many things and people in Dr. Martincole's place, Mr. Viner," answered Millwaters. "Mr. Perkwite and I traced Mr. Cave here early in the afternoon; he went in, but he's never come out; we saw you enter—here you are. We saw Miss Wickham and Mrs. Killenhall—there's Miss Wickham, but where's the other lady? And where—"

Viner stopped the clerk's questions with a glance, and he laughed a little as he gave him his answer.

"My dear fellow," he said, "you should have posted somebody at the back here. Why, we don't quite know yet, but Miss Wickham and myself were trapped in there. As for Cave, he must be the man who went away with Martincole. As for Mrs. Killenhall, she too has gone. That boy down there saw all three go, some time ago, while we were locked up. But—what made you watch these people?"

"We followed Cave," said Perkwite, "because Millwaters had been ordered to do so, and because I considered his conduct mysterious. Then, when we saw what was going on here,—your arrival following on that of Miss Wickham and Mrs. Killenhall,—we telephoned for Mr. Carless and more help. Carless and Lord Ellingham, and a couple of detectives, are at the front now. Millwaters and I heard from a denizen of these unlovely parts that there was a back entrance. We'd tried in vain for admittance at the front—"

"But they've got in now, Mr. Perkwite!" exclaimed Millwaters suddenly. "See, there's Mr. Car-


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 less at a back window, waving to us to come in. I suppose we can get in by the back, Mr. Viner?"

"Yes—if you like to take the risk of entering people's houses without permission!" said Viner sardonically. "I don't think you'll find anybody or anything there. As for Miss Wickham and myself, we've an engagement elsewhere."

He hurried his companion away, through the street on which they emerged from the whitewashed yard, and out into the Whitechapel Road; he hurried her, too, into the first taxicab which came along empty.

"Now," he said, as they stepped in, "tell this man the name of your bank, and let him go there, quick!"


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 Notes


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Rh I do not find any account on record of any private institutions for the promotion of Mahomedan learning either in Calcutta or in the surrounding district. Hamilton states that in 1801 there was one, and but one, madrasa or college for instruction in Mahomedan law, but he does not mention its particular locality, and it is not improbable that he refers to the institution endowed by, and now under the superintendence of the General Committee of Public Instruction. There can be no doubt, however, that in this as well as in other districts of Bengal in which we have no authentic account of the state of Mahomedan learning, that loose system of private tuition already described prevails to a greater or less extent.

English Colleges and Schools.—Under this description it is intended to include all those institutions, both of a higher and a lower grade, one of whose principal objects is to teach the English language, and through that medium European science and literature. These institutions may be distributed into five classes:

1. The first class of English institutions consists of those which have originated exclusively or chiefly with Europeans, and whose avowed object is the improvement of the Native population.

Among institutions of this class, first attracts attention, so called after the first Indian bishop of the church of England, Dr., in consequence of whose urgent representations the Incorporated Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts in 1819 agreed to found it. The declared objects of this institution are to instruct Native and other youth in the doctrine and discipline of Christ’s church, in order to their becoming preachers, catechists, and school-masters; to extend the benefits of education generally; to translate the scriptures, liturgy, and other religious works; and to form a residence for European missionaries on their arrival in India—objects so extensive and philanthropic, independent of the general salutary influence of every institution of education whether conducted on religious principles or only for moral, scientific and literary purposes, as to bring it directly within the scope of this report. Bishop’s college, as declared by the statutes, was primarily founded for the maintenance of a principal and two subordinate professors, and for as many students and


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24 probationers as may be required for the service of the missions and can be maintained by the funds of the institution. The College-property and the ultimate authority in the government and control of the college are vested in the Incorporated Society. The Bishop of Calcutta for the time being is the visitor of the college, with various powers of supervision and direction subject to confirmation by the Society. The ordinary government of the college is in the college-council, consisting of the principal and the two other professors who always reside within the College. Ail the professorships are in the appointment of the Incorporated Society. The principal is chiefly charged with the superintendence of the morals and conduct of the students; the second professor acts as the secretary to the college-council and librarian of the college-library; and the third professor undertakes the duties of the college-bursar and reports on the state of the college-buildings and grounds. The second and third professors may interchange the duties respectively assigned to them. The studies prosecuted within the college are theology with the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin languages as subsidiary to it; history, both ancient and modern, ecclesiastical and civil; the elements of philosophical and mathematical knowledge; and divers oriental languages, together with the English language to be taught to all the native students. The Incorporated Society has founded and endowed twenty theological scholarships; and scholarships may be founded and endowed on a benefaction of sicca rupee not less than 8,000 with a reserved right to the founder of nominating the first scholar on every such foundation; and on a benefaction of not less than 15,000 sicca rupees, with a perpetual right reserved of nominating to such scholarships. Non-foundation students are also admitted, provision being made for their education by those who send them. The students, whether on the foundation or not, are required by the statutes to be Christian youths, who have been well-grounded and instructed in the principles of the united church of England and Ireland, and they may be either of European, or of mixed, or of wholly Native race. The ordinary age of admission to the college is fourteen, and the residence of the students in college is closed at the completion of their nineteenth year. In addition to various certificates and statements regarding the age, health, dispositions, and abilities of the candidate, it was originally


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Rh required that his father, nearest relative, or guardian should pledge him to become a missionary or school-master in the Society’s service, but by an arrangement authorized in 1829, non-foundation students may now be admitted without the declaration. The non-foundation or general students are required to pay each for diet, room-rent, and tuition sixty-four sicca rupees monthly in advance. The admission of general students was recommended by Bishop, and with that view the Society was induced to enlarge the college-buildings. When the buildings were completed, some mortification was at first experienced in finding that the expectations entertained by Bishop Heber and others were not realized; but after the expiration of a year or two it would appear that several non-foundation students had been admitted for the purposes of general education. The circumstances of the country, however, do not supply a constant succession of such students, although it is believed by the friends of the college that it will be otherwise as colonization advances. A further and more important step in opening the college, one which, though announced in Bishop Middleton’s first letter on the subject as the second object proposed in the foundation, has never yet been taken, is the admission of aboriginal natives of India who are not Christians to literary and scientific instruction in the college under the same rules as other students, with the exception of those respecting hall and chapel. The principal of the college, in a minute recorded in the proceedings of the college-council under date 27th August, 1882, expressed the opinion that the time for taking this step was not far distant. An annual examination In the college hall takes place on the 14th day of December in every year, and an annual commemoration of founders and benefactors in the college-chapel on the 21st day of January. Scholars after having completed the term of their education are employed as catechists at missionary stations, and the catechists of the Incorporated Society on having attained the age of twenty-two years and six months and having forwarded the requisite testimonials are re-admitted into the college under the name of probationers. They remain until ordained deacons, and being so ordained they continue in the college until they are licensed by the bishop, and repair to the stations respectively assigned to them in the character and with the salary of missionaries. European missionaries of the Incorporated Society 4—1326B


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26 intended to be employed within the diocese of Calcutta, if required by the Society, on their first arrival in India proceed to the college and there remain in the study of the Native languages. There is a press at the college, the superintendence of which is until especially appointed by the visitor to a missionary station, in the college-council, and the selection of works to be printed is confined to the ordinary and extraordinary syndicate. The ordinary syndicate is composed of the visitor, the Archdeacon of Calcutta, the college-council, and three persons to be nominated by the visitor for the year; the syndicate extraordinary is composed of the ordinary syndicate with the addition of such other persons as the visitor may from time to time nominate, being deeply skilled in some one at least of the Native languages professed in the college, and known to be solicitous to promote the objects for which the college-press is established. Such persons are called associate syndics, and are designated by the language or languages in which their aid may be solicited.

The following is a view of the resources of the institution. When the attention of the Incorporated Society was first drawn to the subject, they procured from His Majesty a royal letter recommending the subscriptions of his subjects to aid the object of the Society, and of the fund thus collected the Society immediately devoted £5,000 to the building and erection of the college. The Society for promoting Christian Knowledge agreed shortly after to add another sum of £5,000 in aid of the building, and the Church Missionary Society added another £5,000. The Marquis of Hastings, Governor-General of India, at the request of Bishop Middleton, presented sixty-two beeghas of ground from the eastern extremity of the Company’s botanical garden for the building and demesnes of the College, of which the first stone was accordingly laid in December, 1820. The demesnes were further increased at their eastern boundary by the free gift of a piece of ground on the banks of the Hooghly by Sir. The British and Foreign Bible Society agreed to aid the purposes of the foundation in the department of scriptural translation by assigning a sum of £5,000 to the college for that special purpose. The Church Missionary Society also agreed to assist the Incorporated Society in defraying the current expenses of the institution by an annual sum of £1,000. Bishop Middleton presented a sum of £500 for the fitting up


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Rh and embellishment of the college-chapel, and bequeathed 500 volumes to the college-library; and his widow added the gift of communion-plate for the sacramental service of the college and a tablet to the memory of the deceased founder with an inscription written by himself. The Incorporated Society in first sending out books for the library were aided by a gift from the University of Oxford of all the works printed at the Clarendon press; and the same gift was increased by donations of some thousand books, printed and manuscript, from Principal Mill and other individuals in India as well as England. In June, 1826, the District Committee of the Incorporated Society formed in Bombay by Bishop Heber, at the special instance and persuasion of archdeacon Barnes, agreed to devote their whole first year’s receipt to the support of Bishop’s college. The same appropriation was likewise voted by the Diocesan Committee of Calcutta formed at the end of the same year, and also by the Madras District Committee in 1826. Lord, Governor-General of India, at the special request of Bishop Heber in 1826, assigned a further space of forty-eight beeghas on the western side of the road and on the bank of the Hooghly, to be separated from the botanical garden for the further demesnes and out-offices of the college. The University of Cambridge, by a vote of the senate in 1826, agreed that copies of all works printed at their presses should be presented to the library of Bishop’s college, and the same gift was increased by several contributions made at the instance chiefly of the Revd. W. Mandell, fellow of Queen’s college, among the residents of the university. In 1830, Bishop Turner erected at his own expense a tablet to the memory of Bishop Heber, similar to the opposite monument of Bishop Middleton. James Young, Esq., in 1832, presented an organ to the college-chapel. In the foundation of scholarships, the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge took the lead by funding a sum of £6,000 in India Government stock, for the support of six scholars to be denominated Bishop Middleton’s scholars. The same Society also, after hearing of the death of Bishop Middleton’s successor, funded £2,000 in the same stock for two foreign ecclesiastical scholarships to bear the name of Heber’s foreign theological scholarships, to be filled as occasion offers from the ancient episcopal churches of Asia not acknowledging the supremacy of the see of Rome. The Church


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28 Missionary Society also funded a sum of £3,000 in the same stock for the endowment of two scholarships in the college, with the right of perpetual nomination to them. The Incorporated Society has also received, by the will of the late Lord Powers-court, a sum of nearly £1,000 for the endowment of a theological scholarsripscholarship [sic]. The surplus of the subscription at Bombay for the erection of a monument to Bishop Heber, has been funded as an endowment for a theological scholarship from that presidency, of which the perpetual nomination resides in the Committee of the Incorporated Society in the archdeaconry of Bombay. The Incorporated Society with its own funds also supports four separate scholarships, the expenses of which are remitted to India. Lastly and principally, the late James Tillard, Esq. of Street End, Patham, in the county of Kent, bequeathed a sum of £30,000 for the support of Bishop’s college.

None of the subscriptions received in India are employed to defray the expences of the college: all are devoted to the missions and schools under the direction of the Calcutta Diocesan Committee of the Incorporated Society, the college supplying catechists and missionaries to the several missionary stations both in Bengal and at the Madras presidency. The college-council does not publish reports of its proceedings in India; but it reports periodically to the Incorporated Society in England, and part of the communications thus made appear in the annual reports of the Society. A full and detailed account of Bishop’s college does not appear to have been hitherto published by the Incorporated Society which possesses the materials for such a statement, probably because that Society does not solicit subscriptions for Bishop’s college separately, but for its India missions generally as distinguished from its operations in British America. The preceding details have been chiefly drawn from the college-statutes, the commemoration of benefactors, and the reports and proceedings of the Incorporated Society. The system of instruction appears to be in the main that of English collegiate education; with such modifications (especially, as I am informed, in the classical part) as may best suit the circumstances of those who are to teach Christianity in a country not Christian, and to whom, therefore, poets and orators, though not useless, are deemed a less important object of concern than those writings which exhibit the chief moral and intellectual features of Greek


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Rh and Roman literature. When all three professors are present, the principal gives none but strictly theological lectures, i.e., on divinity, the critical study of the scriptures, with Hebrew and ecclesiastical history for the more advanced students. But in circumstances such as now exist when the junior professor is under the necessity of proceeding to England on account of his health, the principal further shares with the remaining professor the duty of giving classical and mathematical lectures. A maulavi and a munshi are employed to teach Hindustani; and sometimes, but more rarely, Persian and Arabic, viz., in those cases in which the future intercourse with Mahomedans may unite with the importance of the latter language to the critical knowledge of the Old Testament, to make that study desirable for any particular student. Three pundits are employed to teach Bengalee to the students destined for Bengal and the catechists and missionaries of the stations in the vicinity, as well as to teach Sanscrit to those whose advancement in other knowledge makes it important that they should possess this means of exploring Hindooism in its sources, which is the case with all the aboriginal Native students and also with those destined for the south of India. Means do not exist in the college of teaching the vernacular languages of the hitter classes of students, except by the occasional aid of some older students from Madras. The services of the native teachers are also available by the European professors for the other purposes for which the college was founded. On the subject of the instruction given to the students, the Native teachers report daily to the principal what they have done. The results form equally with the subjects of the European professors’ lectures matter for occasional examination in the college hall at which the visitor often presides.

The scholarships are sixteen in all, viz., four supported by the Incorporated Society, six Middleton scholarships, two Heber foreign theological scholarships, two Church Missionary Society scholarships, one Powers-court scholarship, and one Bombay Heber scholarship. Of the ten first mentioned, eight are now filled, and two are expected to be filled from Ceylon. The six Middleton scholarships are mostly filled by students destined for the south of India. Of the remaining scholarships, four are filled and two are vacant, viz., the Bombay Heber scholarship, the Nominee to which though expected is not yet arrived, and one


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30 of the Heber theological scholarships. The other Heber scholarship is filled by an Armenian youth. Thus of the sixteen scholarships, twelve are filled, and of the four now vacant, three are expected to be soon filled.

I have recorded these details respecting Bishop’s college at some length, partly because the information thus collected is not generally possessed; partly because one of the declared objects of the institution is to train schoolmasters and to extend the benefits of education generally; and partly in the anticipation that, apart from its primary religious objects, it will, both by the indirect operation of its example and influence and by the actual admission of non-Christian students, produce very beneficial effects on the morals and intellect, the science and learning, of the country.

In connection with the Calcutta Diocesan Committee of the Incorporated Society, on the premises of the Tollygunge or Russapughlah mission there is an English school which appears to have been at one time in prosperous condition, containing fifty-two scholars, but a dreadful mortality swept many of them away. No less than sixteen died, while the parents of many of the others kept back their children through fear, as they had to come from a considerable distance. The school having been re-organized, twenty-five boys were in attendance, and at the date of the last report (1834) additions were daily made. It is also mentioned in the report of this committee that two grandsons of a zemindar at Barripore had received instruction in English from one of the missionaries.

The Calcutta Corresponding Committee of the Church Missionary Society has an English school on the mission-premises in Calcutta containing about 200 boys. It is carried on by Native teachers under the superintendence of a Native convert, who was educated at the Hindoo college, has become a catechist of the Society, and is an admitted candidate for holy orders. Reading, writing, grammar, geography, history, and astronomy are taught. Prominence is given to religious instruction and occasion is taken to include sentiments intended to serve as an antidote to the poison of political enthusiasm alleged by the head-teacher to be prevalent in this country. This is the only instance with which I am acquainted of a Native school being made the theatre of instruction in political partisanship. Lately


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 known celestial body with the exception of the moon, exhibits a rapid variation in the brilliancy of its light. It is thought that this may be due to a rough, uneven surface with unequal reflecting power, for Eros is no more than a huge rock only 20 miles across. It has also been suggested that perhaps Eros consists of two bodies revolving close together so that one body eclipses the other in certain parts of its orbit, or again, it may be an angular body, not round at all! Many of the planetoids are smaller than Eros, some being only a few miles across.

Thus a thousand mysterious little worlds of assorted shapes and sizes roll along on their individual pathways in the great space between the orbit of Mars and the orbit of the earth. The bright light of Vesta, the dull glow of Ceres and the variable brilliancy of Eros lightly suggest the interest with which further observations and study may invest each tiny planet, as larger and more powerful telescopes are constructed.

A comet, in olden times, was an object of terror and dread and was regarded as an omen of pestilence and war. Searching through ancient records, incidents without number could be narrated to show that the malicious influence of some comet had caused—

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 To Face Supplementary Plate No. 366.

magnificent Walnut tree here represented was unknown to us when Vol. II. was published in 1907. We are indebted to Mr. F.R.S. Balfour for its discovery, and to Mr. G. Cromar for the following particulars:—The tree stands in Cam-yr-Alyn Park, Denbighshire, the property of Wilson Sweetenham, Esq., and in 1910, when the photograph was taken by Mr. W. P. Wilkes, was about 70 ft. high, and 32½ ft. in girth. It has five main branches, which measure as follows: 9 ft. 4 in., 10 ft. 3 in., 12½ ft., 9 ft., and 11½ ft. respectively, and cover an area of 88 ft. by 80 ft. The tree is healthy, and grows on a light loam and gravelly soil, at an elevation of about 100 feet above sea-level. The water in this district is full of lime, and there is a stream about 15 yards from the tree.


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 Josephus tells us that the destruction of Jerusalem in 69 was caused by no less than the sword shaped comet which pierced the heavens above the city!

A story is sometimes told of the great consternation caused in Europe in 1456 at the appearance of Halley's comet. This great shaft of light moving across the sky so disturbed the equanimity of Pope Calixtus that he instituted a form of prayer ("Lord, deliver us from the devil, the Turk and the comet") as a protection against its baleful influence. But the comet remained, and, with his people mightily afraid, the pope himself was forced "to interfere, exorcise and expell" the malignant one from the skies.

has always been a most interesting comet. The last time that it appeared, in 1910, the earth rolled right through its beautiful, highly diffused tail, and although the experience was of interest to astronomers, it affected not a whit the affairs of the populace; indeed, but few people knew about it.

In 1680, Halley, an English astronomer and mathematician, while on a passage to France, was the first to observe this great comet, and later made observations with Cassini at Paris, where he observed its appearance with great care and painstakingly computed the elements of its orbit. From the nature of its orbit, he predicted that it would return at regular intervals of 75 years. He even traced this comet back on his historical table of comets, and found that the comets of 1607, 1531 and 1456 had the same orbit as the one which had appeared in 1680. Seventy-five years after, true to his prediction, the comet returned, thus proving that comets may travel in elongated orbits and appear periodically. Halley has the honor of being the first to predict the return of a comet.

It is now known that some comets require hundreds and even thousands of years to perform a revolution around the sun; Donati's comet, one of the most famous comets, which appeared

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 Suddenly a loud, commanding, impressive voice thundered out the words:

"Every man to his postpost! [sic] Stop the ship!"

Johnson instinctively obeyed, and it was high time, for the Forward was steaming along at such a rate, that, before another minute, it must have dashed against the rocky walls.

But Johnson was the only man that obeyed. Shandon, Clawbonny, and the entire crew, even the stoker and the cook, assembled on deck, and they all saw a man coming out of the captain's cabin, the mysterious cabin, so closely locked hitherto, the key of which was in the captain's sole possession. This man was none other than the sailor Garry.

"Sir," said Shandon, turning pale. "Garry, you—what right have you to command?"

"Duk!" called Garry, giving the same identical whistle which had so perplexed the crew.

At the sound of his right name the dog gave one bound on to the poop, and stretched himself quietly at his master's feet. Not one of the crew said a word. The possession of the key, the dog sent by him, which now proved, as it were, his identity, together with the tone of command, which it was impossible to mistake, had a great effect on the minds of the men, and sufficed to establish Garry's authority.

Besides, Garry was hardly recognizable. He had shaved off his big whiskers, and his face appeared more impassive than before, and more energetic and imperious. He was dressed now as befitted his rank, and had the air of one used to command.

The crew were quite taken by storm, and, with sailor-like mobility of character, burst out in loud cheers for the captain, who desired Shandon to muster them in order, as he wished to inspect them. When they were all drawn up in file, he passed along in front of them and had a suitable word to say to each, treating them according to their past conduct.

Then he mounted the poop, and in a calm voice said:

"Officers and sailors, I am an Englishman like yourselves, and my motto is that of Admiral Nelson, England expects every man to do his duty."

"As an Englishman I am unwilling, we are unwilling, that any should be braver than ourselves, and venture where


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 we have not been. As an Englishman it vexes me, it vexes us, that others should have the glory of penetrating the ArticArctic [sic] regions farther than ourselves. If ever human foot shall tread on polar ground, it must be the foot of an Englishman. See, yonder waves your country's flag! I have fitted out this ship, I have consecrated my fortune to this enterprise, I will consecrate my life and yours to it, but that flag shall float over the North Pole. Have no fear. For each degree north you make from this day you shall receive £1000 sterling. We have only reached the 72nd yet, and there are 90. My name will guarantee my good faith. I am Captain Hatteras!"

"Captain Hatteras!" exclaimed Shandon.

This name had an ominous sound, for he was well known among sailors as a man who stuck at nothing to gain his end, and had little regard for his own or any other man's lifelife. [sic]

"And now," resumed Hatteras, "let the brig be anchored to icebergs, and order the furnaces to be put out. Each man resume his usual occupation; and, Shandon, I wish to speak with you in my cabin. I must talk matters over with you and the Doctor, and Johnson and Wall. Boatswain, dismiss the men."

And who was this Hatteras? He was the only son of a brewer in London, who left an immense fortune. He went to sea in early youth, notwithstanding his brilliant prospects. Not that he had any love for the merchant service; but he had a burning longing after geographical discoveries. Lean and wiry in body, like most men of sanguine temperament, of average height, well-knit frame, and muscles like iron; with a calm, rigid face, and thin, compressed lips, and cold though fine eyes, he looked the very personification of a man who would stick at nothing. He was one who would never draw back from what he had begun, and who would stake other men's lives as deliberately as his own. People had need think twice before committing themselves to any of his projects.

John Hatteras had all the pride of an Englishman to excess. It was he that said one day to a Frenchman, who, with true national courtesy, tried to pay him a compliment, by declaring that if he had not been a Frenchman he should have wished to be an Englishman: "And I, sir, if I had


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 not been an Englishman, should have wished to be an Englishman."

The speech showed the man. His most ardent desire was that his country should have the monopoly in geographical discoveries, and it was a great grief to him that in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries England had no place in the glorious phalanx of navigators. True, in modern times she can boast her roll of illustrious names; but that was not enough to satisfy Hatteras; he must needs invent a country to have the honor of finding it. He had remarked the fact, that though the English were far behind in respect of discovery, there was one corner of the globe where their efforts seemed concentrated—the Arctic regions. He was not content with the successful search for the North-West Passage; the Pole itself must be reached, and he had twice made the attempt in vessels equipped at his own expense. To accomplish this was the one purpose of his life.

After several prosperous voyages in the southern seas, Hatteras made his first venture north by Baffin's Bay, in his sloop, the Halifax, but did not succeed in getting higher than the 74th degree of latitude. The sufferings of his crew were frightful, and his foolhardy daring was carried to such a pitch that the sailors had little inclination for another voyage under such a captain.

However, in 1850, Hatteras equipped a schooner, the Farewell, and managed to enlist twenty gallant fellows in his service, but only by throwing out the tempting bait of high wages. It was at that time that Dr. Clawbonny wrote to him, requesting to take part in the expedition; but the post of surgeon was already filled up, and fortunate it was for the Doctor.

The FarwellFarewell [sic] pushed as far north as the 76th degree, but there she was forced to winter. The crew were exposed to so many hardships, and the cold was so intense, that not a man survived but John Hatteras himself, and he was rescued by a Danish whaler, after a march across the ice of two hundred milesmiles. [sic]

His return alone produced a great sensation in Liverpool. Who would ever dare to accompany Hatteras again in his mad attempts? Yet he himself never despaired, and his father just then died, leaving him a nabob's fortune.

In the interim, a brig, the Advance, manned by seventeen


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 humility and resignation at the same time." They are admirable in solos, but require careful treatment in orchestral writing, being easily rendered inaudible. They can also infuse a certain tinge of mystery into the music. On the whole, the best part of the instrument is the middle register: there the notes are mild, sweet, plaintive, and poetic, admirably suited to convey the dreaminess of love. Walckiers mentions melancholy as one of the chief characteristics of the flute; hence Sir Henry Irving, at a dinner of the Royal Society of Musicians, once humorously referred to the flute as "perhaps the most conspicuous interpreter of all the melancholy of these damp islands. What a stimulus to charitable impulse ought to be given by the flute!" The upper register is brilliant, bright, gay, lark-like. In an orchestra it tells out and penetrates the whole mass of the strings. The flute has been termed "the diamond of the orchestra"; and Gevaert says, "Les flutes, grace et ornament de l'orchestre, créant au dessus de la masse sonore une atmosphere de lumiére azurée." Schumann speaks of the "ethereal tones" of the upper register, which have been compared to a delicate light blue in painting.

Some one has spoken of the "fatal facility" of the flute. It certainly is much the most flexible and agile of all wind instruments. Rapid sequences, scales, arpeggios, and octaves in all keys, skips from high to low notes and vice-versa, all are easily playable on it. "Harmonics" are also possible in the


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 men, and commanded by Dr. Kane, was sent out by Grinnell, an American merchant, to the discovery of Franklin. It got as far, by Baffin's Bay and Smith's Straits, as the 82nd degree—nearer the Pole than any previous adventurers.

The vessel was American, Grinnell was American, Kane was American. This fact was a great grief to Hatteras, and the mortification of being outstripped by the Yankees rankled in his heart. He resolved that, come what might, he would distance them all and reach the Pole.

For two years he had been living in Liverpool, preserving a strict incognito. He passed for a sailor; he discovered the man he wanted in Richard Shandon, and made proposals both to him and Dr. Clawbonny by anonymous letters. The Forward was built, manned, and equipped. Hatteras took care to keep his name a secret, for he would not have found a single sailor to follow him. He determined not to take command of the brig unless compelled by imperative necessity, and not till the crew had gone too far to recede. He had also, as we have seen, kept such tempting offerings as glittering gold in reserve, that the poor fellows could not have refused to follow him to the world's end.

And to the world's end, indeed, it was that he vowed to go.

Now that affairs had come to a crisis, John Hatteras hesitated no longer to proclaim himself openly. His dog, the faithful Duk, who had been the companion of his voyages, was the first to acknowledge him, and happily for the brave, and unhappily for the timid, it was settled beyond dispute that the captain of the Forward was John Hatteras.

unexpected appearance of this bold personage did not produce the same effect on all the crew. Some rallied round him, completely attracted by his daring or by the love of money. Others were willing to join in the adventure, while reserving to themselves the right of protest at some future time. Besides, it would be no easy matter to resist such a man. The 20th was on a Sunday, and was kept as a day of rest for all on board.


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 A council of officers was held by the captain in his cabin, comprising Shandon, Wall, Johnson, and the Doctor. "Gentlemen," said Hatteras, in the gentle yet commanding tone peculiar to him, "you are aware of my project to reach the North Pole. I desire to know your opinion about it. What do you think, Shandon?"

"My business, captain, is not to think, but obey," said Shandon, coldly.

Hatteras showed no surprise at such a retort, but replied equally coldly: "Richard Shandon, I request your opinion as to our chance of success."

"Well, captain," was the answer, "facts will speak for me. Every attempt of the kind has hitherto failed; I hope we may be more fortunate."

"We shall be," said the captain. "And you, gentlemen, what do you think of it?"

"For my part," returned the Doctor, "I think your plan is practicable, and as it is evident that some day or other the Pole will be reached by navigators, I don't see why it should not be us as well as others."

"And there are also reasons why it should be so," resumed Hatteras; "all our measures have been adopted with a view to that end, and we shall profit by the experience of our predecessors. By the way, Shandon, thank you for your painstaking care in the equipment of the ship. There are, to be sure, a few black sheep among the crew that I must take in hand; but, on the whole, I have nothing but praise to bestow."

Shandon bowed stiffly. He felt his false position acutely. Hatteras understood his silence, and did not press him further.

"As for you, gentlemen," he continued, addressing Wall and Johnson, "I could not have the co-operation of braver or more experienced officers."

"Anyhow, captain, I'm your man," replied Johnson; "and though I must say I think your enterprise a little hazardous, you may rely on me, come what may."

"And equally on me," said James Wall.

"And for you, Doctor, all I can say is, I know your worth."

"Well, that is more than I do," replied the little man, smilingsmiling. [sic]


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 "But now, gentlemen," resumed Hatteras, "It is well that you should know on what indisputable facts I base my expectation of reaching the Pole. In 1817, the Neptune, of Aberdeen, went north from Spitzberg, as far as the 82nd degree. In 1826, the celebrated Parry, after his third voyage in the ArticArctic [sic] Seas, went also north from Spitzberg a hundred and fifty miles. In 1852, Captain Inglefield sailed up Smith's Sound as far as the 78th degree. All these vessels were English, and commanded by Englishmen, our fellow-countrymen."

Hatteras paused here, and went on in a sort of constrained voice, as if the words could hardly find utterance. "I ought to add that, in 1854, the American, Dr. Kane, in command of the brig Advance, got still higher; and that Morton, his lieutenant, crossed the ice-fields and hoisted the flag of the Union beyond the 82nd degree. Having said this, I shall not revert again to the subject. What I wish to tell you is, that the captains of all these vessels agree in stating that, extending from these high latitudes, there is a polar basin entirely free from ice."

"Free from ice!" exclaimed Shandon; "that's impossible."

The captain's eyes flashed for an instant, but he replied calmly: "You will please to notice, Shandon, that I am giving you facts and names"

"But, captain," interrupted Shandon again, "the facts are so contradictory!"

"Wrong, Shandon, wrong," said Dr Clawbonny; "science goes to support these facts, not to disprove them, as I should like to show you, if the captain will allow me."

"Say on, Doctor," said Hatteras.

"Well, Shandon, listen, then. It is clear, from geographical facts and from the study of the isothermal lines, that the coldest point of the globe is not at the Pole, but several degrees from it. Hence Brewster and Bergham, and others conclude that there are two points of greatest cold, one in Asia, in 79° 30' of north latitude and 120° of east longtitudelongitude [sic]; the other in America, in 78° of north latitude and 97 of west longitude. It is this latter which concerns us; and, you see, Shandon, it is situated about 12° below the Pole. Now, then, I ask you, why should not the sea at


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 the Pole be as free from ice as it is in the summer in the 66th parallel, that is to say, to the south of Baffin's Bay?"

"Mere chimeras and suppositions! Sheer conjecture!" replied Shandon, obstinately.

"Well, Shandon, let us consider the case both ways. Either there is a clear, open sea, or there is not. If there is, the Forward will sail along without difficulty, if it is all frozen over we shall use our sledges, and so whichever it may turn out, there is nothing to hinder us gaining the Pole. You will allow it is not impracticable; when once the brig gets as far as the 83°, we have only six hundred miles farther to go."

"And what is that!" exclaimed the enthusiastic Doctor, "when we know that a Cossack, Alexis Markoff, traveled along the northern coast of the Russian Empire over the Frozen Sea, in sledges drawn by dogs, a distance of eight hundred miles, in twenty-four days?"

"You hear that, Shandon?" returned Hatteras; "and now tell me if Englishmen cannot do as much as the Cossacks?"

"I should think so!" exclaimed Johnson and the Doctor; but Shandon made no reply till Hatteras said: "Come, Shandon, tell me."

Then all he said was in a freezing tone.

"Captain, I can only repeat what I have already told you—I will obey."

"Well," continued Hatteras, "let us look now at our actual situation. We are caught among the ice, and it seems to me impossible to get into Smith's Sound this year. This is what we had better do, then."

He unfolded a map and spread it out on the table, and tracing the route with his finger, said:

"Please to follow me. Though Smith's Sound is closed against us, Lancaster Sound is not, on the west side of Baffin's Bay. My opinion is, that we should enter this and go up as far as Barrow's Straits, and from thence on to Beechey Isle. Sailing vessels have taken this course a, hundred times, and certainly with our screw it could not be more difficult, at any rate. Once at Beechey Isle, we will get as far north as possible up Wellington Channel, and come out just at the very point from which the open water was visible. This is only the 20th of May; under favorable circumstances