“What was his motive in coming to Stockholm, expressly to tell you that Patrick O’Donoghan was dead?” answered Mr. Bredejord.  “For what purpose did he subscribe twenty thousand kroners for the voyage of the ‘Alaska,’ when it was doubtful if she would ever make the journey?  Why did he embark with us to leave us at Brest?  I think we must be blind indeed if we do not see in these facts a chain of evidence as logical as it is frightful.  What interest has Tudor Brown in all this?  I do not know.  But this interest must be very strong, very powerful, to induce him to have recourse to such means to prevent our journey; for I am convinced now that it was he who caused the accident which detained us at Brest, and it was he who led us upon these rocks, where he expected we would all lose our lives.”

“It seems difficult, however, to believe that he could have foreseen the route that Captain Marsilas would choose!” objected Mr. Malarias.  “Why did he not indicate this route by altering the chart?  After delaying us for three days, he felt certain that the captain would take the shortest way.  The latter, believing that the waters were safe around Sein, was thrown upon the rocks.”

“It is true,” said Erik; “but the proof that the result of his maneuvers was uncertain lies in the fact that I insisted, before Captain Marsilas, that we ought still to keep to the west.”

“But who knows whether he has not prepared other charts to lead us astray, in case this one failed to do so?” said Mr. Bredejord.

“That is easily determined,” answered Erik, who went and brought all the charts and maps that were in the case.

The first one which they opened was that of Corunna, and at a glance the French officer pointed out two or three grave errors.  The second was that of Cape Vincent.  It was the same.

The third was that of Gibraltar.  Here the errors were apparent to every eye.  A more thorough examination would have been superfluous, as it was impossible to doubt any longer.  If the “Alaska” had not been shipwrecked on the Island of Sein, this fate would surely have awaited her before she could have reached Malta.

A careful examination of the charts revealed the means which had been employed to effect these changes.  They were undoubtedly English charts, but they had been partly effaced by some chemical process, and then retouched so as to indicate false routes among the true ones.  They had been recolored so skillfully that only a very slight difference in the tints could be perceived after the most careful scrutiny.

But there was one circumstance which betrayed the criminal intentions with which they had been placed on board the “Alaska.”  All the charts belonging to the vessel bore the seal of the secretary of the Swedish navy.  The forger had foreseen that they would not be examined too minutely, and had hoped that by following them they would all come to a watery grave.