"At any rate," resumed Johnson, "if this captain presents himself, whether as man or devil, we shall receive him; but there's something else to be drawn from this letter."
"What is that?" asked Shandon.
"It is that we must go not only into Melville Bay, but also into Smith's Sound."
"You are right," said the doctor.
"Smith's Sound," repeated Shandon, mechanically.
"So it's very plain," continued Johnson, "that the Forward is not intended to seek the Northwest Passage, since we leave to the left, the only way towards it, that is to say, Lancaster Sound. This would seem to promise a difficult journey in unknown seas."
"Yes, Smith's Sound," replied Shandon; "that's the route Kane, the American, took in 1853, and it was full of dangers. For a long time he was given up for lost. Well, if we must go, we'll go. But how far? To the Pole?"
"And why not?" cried the doctor.
The mention of such a foolhardy attempt made the boatswain shrug his shoulders.
"Well," said James Wall, "to come back to the captain, if he exists. I don't see that there are any places on the coast of Greenland except Disco and Upernavik, where he can be waiting for us; in a few days that question will be settled."