"Why?" asked Cynthia.
"He should have chosen a different base, converged upon the Pole from a different angle, and covered ground altogether new. Then, whether he failed or not, he would have brought back a hundred new facts of interest to the scientist and the geographer. As it is he adds very little I should think to our knowledge."
Cynthia was silent for awhile after he had finished. Then she said in a low voice, bending over some embroidery at which she was working:
"And if you were to go back, Harry, where would you make your base?"
"I?"
Harry Rames sprang eagerly up.
"Oh, I should search for a harbor a long way to the east of my old one. At least," and he caught himself up, "I think that is what I should do. I am speaking at random, of course. But I should at all events have considered that possibility carefully, if I had been going out again."
Again a spell of silence followed upon his words and Cynthia did not raise her eyes from her work. She was wearing a hat with a wide brim and Harry Rames could see nothing of her face.
"Won't you get your charts out and show me?" she asked. She had mastered her voice so that there was no sound of effort in it.
"I haven't got them here," said Harry, with a fine indifference. "They are in London I believe, somewhere or other."