called Nome yesterday and found that out. But they can't bring it to us,
and we can't go to them. We're stuck; stuck right here! And he's starting
to-morrow!"

The boys stared in speechless amazement, as the Major, dropping into a
chair, covered his face with his hands.

It was many minutes before he was calm enough to tell them the simple
truth of the matter, which was, of course, that the wireless message was
that one sent by the Doctor on the Aleutian Islands, telling of his
intended journey Northward; also that this same doctor was a hated rival
explorer, whom he had beaten a few years before; that he had not intended
going North at this time, but this action of his rival made it imperative
that he do so now. Finally, that the trading gasoline schooner, Gussie
Brown, was frozen in the ice three hundred miles north of Conjurer's Bay
and Great Bear Lake, and had an ample supply of gasoline.

"But after all, I guess we're beaten," said the Major wearily. "If we
succeed in getting out of this scrape alive we'll be fortunate."

"Cheer up! The worst is yet to come," smiled Barney. "Let's turn in."

Two interesting problems awaited the party in the morning. Was the man
who had been accidentally shot the night before the anarchist trader? If
so, who was the person whose bones lay in the ruins? Was the
infernal-machine a genuine affair, and if so, would it explode? While the
Major was still brooding over his disappointment, the boys were so eager
for these investigations that they quite forgot the affair of the
wireless message.