"Mr. Wall," said Hatteras, "have the long boat got ready to transport the coal on board. I shall land in the pirogue with the doctor and the boatswain. Will you accompany us, Mr. Shandon?" "As you please," answered Shandon. A few minutes later the doctor, armed as a sportsman and a _savant_, took his place in the pirogue along with his companions; in ten minutes they landed on a low and rocky coast. "Lead the way, Johnson," said Hatteras. "You know it, I suppose?" "Perfectly, sir; only there's a monument here that I did not expect to find!" "That!" cried the doctor; "I know what it is; let us go up to it; the stone itself will tell us." The four men advanced, and the doctor said, after taking off his hat-- "This, my friends, is a monument in memory of Franklin and his companions." Lady Franklin had, in 1855, confided a black marble tablet to Doctor Kane, and in 1858 she gave a second to McClintock to be raised on Beechey Island. McClintock accomplished this duty religiously, and placed the stone near a funeral monument erected to the memory of Bellot by Sir John Barrow. The tablet bore the following inscription: "TO THE MEMORY OF FRANKLIN, CROZIER, FITZ-JAMES, AND ALL THEIR VALIANT BRETHREN OFFICERS AND FAITHFUL COMPANIONS who suffered for the cause of science and for their country's glory. "This stone is erected near the place where they passed their first Arctic winter, and from whence they departed to conquer obstacles or to die. "It perpetuates the regret of their countrymen and friends who admire them, and the anguish, conquered by Faith, of her who lost in the chief of the expedition the most devoted and most affectionate of husbands. "It is thus that He led them to the supreme haven where all men take their rest. "1855." This stone, on a forlorn coast of these far-off regions, appealed mournfully to the heart; the doctor, in presence of these touching regrets, felt his eyes fill with tears. At the very same place which Franklin and his companions passed full of energy and hope, there only remained a block of marble in remembrance! And notwithstanding this sombre warning of destiny, the _Forward_ was going to follow in the track of the _Erebus_ and the _Terror_. Hatteras was the first to rouse himself from the perilous contemplation, and quickly climbed a rather steep hill, almost entirely bare of snow. "Captain," said Johnson, following him, "we shall see the magazines from here." Shandon and the doctor joined them on the summit. But from there the eye contemplated the vast plains, on which there remained no vestige of a habitation. "That is singular!" cried the boatswain. "Well, and where are the magazines?" said Hatteras quickly. "I don't know--I don't see----" stammered Johnson. "You have mistaken the way," said the doctor. "It seemed to me that this was the very place," continued Johnson.