"Now, then," said the Doctor, "let us go onto name the most important of our discoveries."
"There is that immense sea which surrounds us, unfurrowed as yet by a single ship."
"A single ship!" repeated Altamont. "I think you have forgotten the Porpoise, and yet she certainly did not get here overland,"
"Well, it would not be difficult to believe she had," replied Hatteras, "to see on what she lies at present."
"True, enough, Hatteras," said Altamont, in a piqued tone; "but, after all, is not that better than being blown to atoms like the Forward?"
Hatteras was about to make some sharp retort, but Clawbonny interposed.
"It is not a question of ships, my friends," he said, "but of a fresh sea."
"It is no new sea," returned Altamont; "it is in every Polar chart, and has a name already. It is called the Arctic Ocean, and I think it would be very inconvenient to alter its designation. Should we find out by and by, that, instead of being an ocean it is only a strait or gulf, it will be time enough to alter it then."
"Very well, that is an understood thing, then," said the Doctor, almost regretting that he had started a discussion so pregnant with national rivalries.
"Let us proceed with the continent where we find ourselves at present," resumed Hatteras. "I am not aware that any name whatever has been affixed to it, even in the most recent charts."
He looked at Altamont as he spoke, who met his gaze steadily, and said--
"Possibly you may be mistaken again, Hatteras."
"Mistaken! What! This unknown continent, this virgin soil----"
"Has already a name," replied Altamont, coolly.
Hatteras was silent, but his lip quivered.
"And what name has it, then?" asked the Doctor, rather astonished at Altamont's affirmation.
"My dear Clawbonny," replied the American, "it is the custom, not to say the right, of every navigator to christen the soil on which he is the first to set foot. It appears to me, therefore, that it is my privilege and duty on this occasion to exercise my prerogative, and--"
"But, sir," interrupted Johnson, rather nettled at his sang froid.
"It would be a difficult matter to prove that the Porpoise did not come here, even supposing she reached this coast by land," continued Altamont, without noticing Johnson's protest. "The fact is indisputable," he added looking at Hatteras.