"What seemed to be a giant iceberg . . ." the earth a sailor and a nobleman. But he was a dare-devil didn't know fear and was always venturing where none of the rest of us would dare go. He bought the McDonald,' remodeled and refitted her after he got back from the war-she was more than a whaler, and I had a feeling that she would carry Burrows and his crew away for ever Eight bells rung just here, an. Enoch left us, first ordering breakfast for the stranger, and saying he would come back to hear the rest after breakfast. As I was going out, a sailor came to the door with a flat package, perhaps six inches thick and twelve or fourteen square, covered with a dirty piece of skin made from the intestines of a whale, which is used by the natives of this clime because it is light and waterproof. "We found this in a coil of rope, sir; it must belong to him. It must be mostly lead." It was heavy, and I set it inside the door, remarking that here was his precious pack. "Precious! aye, aye, sir; precious don't describe it. Sacred, that's the word. That package will cause more excitement in the world than the discovery of gold in California. This is the first time it's been out of my sight or feeling for months and months; put it in the bunk here, please." I went away, leaving him with his arms around his "sacred" package. After breakfast, Enoch and I went to the little cabin to hear the stranger's story, and I, for one, confess to a great deal of curiosity. Our visitor was swallowing his last bowl of coffee as we went in. So you knew Captain Burrows and the Duncan McDonald,'' said he. "Let me see, what is your name?" 66 66 6 Alexander, captain of the Champion,' at your service, sir." "Alexander; you're not the first mate, Enoch Alexander, who sat on a dead whale all night, holding on to a lance staff, after losing your boat and crew?" "The same." "Why, I've heard Captain Burrows speak of you a thousand times." "But you were going to tell us about the Duncan McDonald.' Tell us the whole cruise from stem to stern." "Let's see, where shall I begin?" 66 At the very beginning," I put in. "Well, perhaps you've noticed, and perhaps you have not, but I'm not a sailor by inclination or experience. I accidentally went out on the Duncan McDonald.' How old would you take me to be?" "Fifty or fifty-five," said Enoch. "Thanks, Captain, I know I must look all of that; but, let me see, forty-five, fifty-five, sixty-five, seventy-seventy-what year is this?" "Seventy-three." "Seventy-three. Well, I'm only twentyeight now.' "Impossible! Why, man, you're as gray as I am, and I'm twice that." "I was born in forty-five, just the same. My father was a sea captain in the old clipper days, and a long time after. He was in the West India trade when the war broke out, and as he had been educated in the navy, enlisted at once. It was on one of the gun-boats before Vicksburg that he was killed. My mother came of a well-to-do family of merchants, the Clarks of Boston, and to make a long story short-died in sixty-six, leaving me considerable money. 'Yes, I want to see the captain!' Well, the cap'en's jest gone ashore; his gig is yonder now, enemost to the landin'. You come out this evenin'. The cap'en's particular about strangers, but he's always to home of an evenin'.' "Who's this boat named after?' "The Lord knows, stranger; I don't. But I reckon the cap'en ken tell; he built her.' "An itching to travel, plenty of money, my majority, and no ties at home, sent me away from college to roam, and so one spring morning in sixty-seven found me. sitting lazily in the stern of a little pleasure boat off Fort Point in the Golden Gate, listlessly watching a steam whaler come in from the Pacific. My boatman called my attention to her, remarking that she was spickand-span new, and the biggest one he ever saw, but I took very little notice of the ship until, in tacking across her wake, I noticed her name in gold letters across the stern'Duncan McDonald.' Now that is my own name, and was my father's; and try as I would, I could not account for this name as "I opened the door on a scene I shall a coincidence, common as the name might never forget. A bright light swung from "I left word that I would call in the evening, and at eight o'clock was alongside again. This time I was assisted on board and shown to the door of the captain's cabin; the sailor knocked and went away. It was a full minute I stood there before the knock was answered, and then from the inside, in a voice like the roar of a bull, came the call: Well, come in!' the beams above, and under it sat a giant of the sea-Captain Burrows. He had the index finger of his right hand resting near the North Pole of an immense globe; there were many books about, rolls of charts, firearms, instruments, clothing, and apparent disorder everywhere. The cabin was large, well-furnished, and had something striking about it. I looked around in wonder, without saying a word. Captain Burrows was the finest-looking man I ever saw six feet three, straight, muscular, with a pleasant face; but the keenest, steadiest blue eye you ever saw. His hair was white, but his long flowing beard had much of the original yellow. He must have been sixty. But for all the pleasant face and kindly eye, you would notice through his beard the broad, square chin that proclaimed the decision and staying qualities of the man.' Well," continued the stranger, "he let me look for a minute or two, and then said: Was it anything particular?' "I found my tongue then, and answered: 'I hope you'll excuse me, sir; but I must confess it is curiosity. I came on board out of curiosity to "Reporter, hey?' asked the captain. No, sir; the fact is that your ship has an unusual name, one that interests me, and I wish to make so bold as to ask how she came to have it.' 666 "No, he wa'n't; but he was the best man I ever knew who wa'n't a whaler. He was a navy sailor, he was, and a whole tenpound battery by hisself. Why, you jest ort. to see him waltz his old tin-clad gun-boat up agin one of them reb forts-jest naturally skeered 'em half to death before he commenced shooting at all.' "Wasn't he killed at the attack on Vicksburg?' "Yes, yes; you knowed him, didn't you? He was a When did you come out here? Where be you goin', anyway?' "I found my breath, and told him briefly how I was situated. 'Old man Providence has got his hand on the tiller of this craft or I'm a grampus! Say! do you know I was wishin' and waitin' for you? Yes, sir; no more than yesterday, says I to myself, Chuck Burrows, says I, you are gettin' long too fur to the wind'ard o' sixty fur this here trip all to yourself. You ort to have young blood in this here enterprise; and then I just clubbed myself for being a lubber and not getting married young and havin' raised a son that I could trust. Yes, sir, jest nat'rally cussed myself from stem to stern, and never onct thought as mebbe my old messmate, Duncan McDonald, might 'a'done suthin' for his country afore that day at Vicks say! I want to give you half this ship. Mabee I'll do the square thing and give you the whole of the tub yet. All I want is for you to go along with me on a voyage of discovery--be my helper, secretary, partner, friend-anything. What de ye say? Say!' he yelled again, before I could answer, tell ye what I'll do! Bless me if-if I don't adopt ye; that's what I'll do. Call me pop from this out, and I'll call you son. Son! he shouted, bringing his fist down with a bang on the table. Son! that's the stuff! By the bald-headed Abraham, who says Chuck Burrows ain't got no kin? The Duncan McDonald,' Burrows & Son, owners, captain, chief cook, and blubber cooker. And who says they ain't?' "And the old captain glared around as if he defied anybody and everybody to question the validity of the claims so excitedly made. "Well, gentlemen, of course there was much else said and done, but that announcement stood; and to the day of his death I always called the captain Father Burrows, and he called me 'son,' always addressing me so when alone, as well as when in the company of others. I went every day to the ship, or accompanied Father Burrows on some errand into the city, while the boat was being refitted and prepared for a three-years' cruise. "Every day the captain let me more and more into his plans, told me interesting things of the North, and explained his theory of the way to reach the Pole, and what could be found there; which fascinated me. Captain Burrows had spent years in the North, had noted that particularly open seasons occurred in what appeared cycles of a given number of years, and proposed to go above the eightieth parallel and wait for an open season. That, according to his figuring, would occur the following year. "I was young, vigorous, and of a venturesome spirit, and entered into every detail with a zest that captured the heart of the old sailor. My education helped him greatly, and new books and instruments were added to our store for use on the trip. The crew knew only that we were going on a threeyears' cruise. They had no share in the profits, but were paid extra big wages in gold, and were expected to go to out-of-theway places and further north than usual. Captain Burrows and myself only knew that there was a brand-new twenty-foot silk flag rolled up in oil-skin in the cabin, and that Father Burrows had declared: 'By the hoary-headed Nebblekenizer, I'll put them stars and stripes on new land, and mighty near to the Pole, or start a butt a-trying.' "In due course of time we were all ready, and the Duncan McDonald' passed out of the Golden Gate into the broad Pacific, drew her fires, and stopped her engines, reserving this force for a more urgent time. She spread her ample canvas, and stood away toward Alaska and the unknown and undiscovered beyond. The frozen carcass of an immense mastodon." "The days were not long for me, for they were full of study and anticipation. Long chats with the eccentric but masterful man whose friendship and love for my father had brought us together were the entertainment and stimulus of my existence-a man who knew nothing of science, except that he was master of it in his own way; who knew all about navigation, and to whom the northern seas were as familiar as the contour of Boston Common was to me; who had more stories of whaling than you could find in print, and better ones than can ever be printed. "I learned first to respect, then to admire, and finally to love this old salt. How many times he told me of my father's death, and how and when he had risked his life to save the life of Father Burrows or some of the rest of his men. As the days grew into weeks, and the weeks into months, Captain Burrows and myself became as one man. "I shall never forget the first Sunday at sea. Early in the morning I heard the captain order the boatswain to pipe all hands to prayers. I had noticed nothing of a religious nature in the man, and, full of curiosity, went on deck with the rest. Captain Burrows took off his hat at the foot of the mainmast, and said: 666 My men, this is the first Sunday we have all met together; and as some of you are not familiar with the religious services on board the Duncan McDonald,' I will state that, as you may have noticed, I asked no man about his belief when I employed him -I hired you to simply work this ship-but on Sundays it is our custom to meet here in friendship, man to man, Protestant and Catholic, Mohammedan, Buddhist, Fire-worshiper, and pagan, and look into our own hearts, worshiping God as we know him, each in his own way. If any man has committed any offense against his God, let him make such reparation as he thinks will appease that God; but if any man has committed an offense against his fellow-man, let him settle with that man now and here, and not worry God with the details. Religion is goodness and justice and honesty; no man needs a sky-pilot to lay a course for him, for he alone knows where the channel, and the rocks, and the bar of his own heart are-look into your hearts.' followed the example of the rest. It was just three minutes by the wheel-house clock before the captain straightened up and said Amen,' and the men turned away about their tasks. "Beats mumblin' your words out of a book, like a Britisher,' said the captain to me; 'can't offend no man's religion, and helps every one on 'em.' "Long months after, I attended a burial service conducted in the same way-in silence. "In due course of time we anchored in Norton Sound, and spent the rest of the winter there; and in the spring of sixtyeight, we worked our way north through the ice. We passed the seventy-fifth parallel of latitude on July 4th. During the summer we took a number of whales, storing away as much oil as the captain thought necessary, as he only wanted it for fuel and our needs, intending to take none home to sell unless we were unsuccessful in the line of discovery in that event he intended to stay until he had a full cargo.' Here our entertainer gave out, and had to rest; and while resting he went to sleep, so that he did not take up his story until the next day. In the morning our guest expressed a desire to be taken on deck; and, dressed in warm sailor clothes, he rested his hand on my shoulder, and slowly crawled on deck and to a sheltered corner beside the captain's cabin. Here he was bundled up; and again Enoch and I sat down to listen to the strange story of the wanderer. "I hope it won't annoy you, gentlemen," said he, but I can't settle down without my pack; I find myself thinking of its safety. Would you mind sending down for it?"? It was brought up, and set down beside him; he looked at it lovingly, slipped the rude strap-loop over his arm, and seemed ready to take up his story where he left off. He began: "I don't remember whether I told you or not, but one of the objects of Captain Burrows's trip was to settle something definite about the location of the magnetic pole, and other magnetic problems, and determine the cause of some of the well-known distortions of the magnetic needle. He had some odd, perhaps crude, instruments, of his own design, which he had caused to be constructed for this purpose, and we found them very efficient devices in the end. Late in July, we found much open water, and steamed steadily in a northwesterly course. We |