"I suppose then it is all nonsense to talk about a magnetic mountain, or a mass of lodestone!"
"Yes, my good fellow, it is all 'old wives' fables.' As you see for yourself, there is not a sign of a mountain endowed with the power of attracting ships, and tearing away their iron, down to anchors and nails. Even your boots do not feel any heavier, as if they were dragging you down, do they? You can walk as easily here as anywhere else."
"But how can it be explained?"
"It can't be explained. We are not learned enough for that yet. But this one thing is an ascertained mathematical fact—the magnetic pole is here, in this very place."
"Ah! Mr. Clawbonny, what would the captain give if he could say as much of the North Pole?"
"He will say it some day, Johnson, that he will."
"I fervently hope he may."
Just at this moment the signal was made for their return, and after hastily erecting a cairn to mark the exact spot, they hurried back to the brig.
CHAPTER XVI
THE STORY OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN
The Forward succeeded in cutting right across the James Ross's Strait, but it was only done by dint of saws and petards, and at the cost of great fatigue to the crew. Fortunately the temperature was bearable, 30° higher than James Ross had found it at the same time of the year. The thermometer stood at 34°.
On Saturday, Cape Felix was doubled, at the extreme point of King William's Island. The sight of this island made a deep impression on the minds of the men, and they gazed with mournful interest at the coast as they sailed along. This was the theater of one of the most terrible tragedies the world has ever seen, for, only a few miles to the west, the Erebus and Terror were lost.
Johnson and the Doctor were going over the particulars of the sad catastrophe as the vessel fled swiftly on, and bays and promontories passed before the eye like some vast panorama. Several of the sailors, overhearing the subject
