CONJEC TURE. 
169 
ter Sound, and then retrace his steps to try the upper 
reg-ions of Baffin's Bay, which he could not reach with- 
out a long circuit ; or would he press to the north 
through the open lead that lay before him ? Those 
who know Franklin's character, his declared opinions, 
his determined purpose, so well portrayed in the late- 
ly published letters of one of his officers, will hardly 
think the question difficult to answer : his sledges had 
already pioneered the way, "We, the searchers, were 
ourselves tempted, by the insidious openings to the 
north in Wellington Channel, to push on in the hope 
that some lucky chance might point us to an outlet 
beyond. Might not the same temptation have had its 
influence for Sir John Franklin ? A careful and dar- 
ing navigator, such as he was, would not wait for the 
lead to close. I can imagine the dispatch with which 
the observatory would be dismantled, the armorer's es- 
tablishment broken up, and the camp vacated. I can 
understand how the preserved meat cans, not very val- 
uable, yet not worthless, might be left piled upon the 
shore ; how one man might leave his mittens, another 
his blanket coat, and a third hurry over the search for 
his lost key. And if 1 were required to conjecture 
some explanation of the empty signal cairn, I do not 
know what I could refer it to but the excitement at- 
tendant on just such a sudden and unexpected release 
from a weary imprisonment, and the instant prospect 
of energetic and perilous adventure. 
