"Why, you are a fellow-creature at any rate, and whatever faults an American may have, he is no coward."
"No, indeed," said the Doctor. "He is a man, every inch as much as yourself, Hatteras."
"And like me, he shall have part in the glory that awaits us."
"The glory of reaching the North Pole?" asked Altamont.
"Yes," replied Hatteras, proudly.
"I guessed right, then," said Altamont.
"And you have actually dared to conceive such a project? Oh! it is grand; I tell you it is sublime even to think of it?"
"But tell me," said Hatteras in a hurried manner; "you were not bound for the Pole then yourself?"
Altamont hesitated.
"Come, speak out, man," urged the Doctor.