Page:Furcountryorseve00vernrich.djvu/151

 THE MIDNIGHT S UN. 8 1 tion, on its transit across the meridian, would facilitate the work of the two observers. Already the night before, and the same morning, by taking differ- ent altitudes, and by means of a calculation of right ascensions, the Lieutenant and the astronomer had ascertained the longitude with great accuracy. But it was about the latitude that Hobson was most anxious ; for what would the meridian of Cape Bathurst matter to him should it not be situated beyond the seventieth parallel ? Noon approached. The men of the expedition gathered round the observers with their sextants ready in their hands. The brave fellows awaited the result of the observation with an impatience which will be readily understood. It was now to be decided whether they had come to the end of their journey, or whether they must search still farther for a spot fulfilling the conditions imposed by the Company. Probably no good result would have followed upon further explora- tions According to the maps of North America — imperfect, it is true — the western coast beyond Cape Bathurst sloped down below the seventieth parallel, not again rising above it until it entered Russian America, where the English had as yet no right to settle j so that Hobson had shown considerable judgment in directing his course to Cape Bathurst after a thorough examination of the maps of these northern regions. This promontory is, in fact, the only one which juts out beyond the seventieth parallel along the whole of the North American continent, properly so called — that is to say, in English America. It remained to be proved that it really occupied the position assigned to it in maps. At this moment the sun was approaching the culminating-point of its course, and the two observers pointed the telescopes of their sextants upon it. By means of inclined mirrors attached to the instruments, the sun ought apparently to go back to the horizon itself; and the moment when it seemed to touch it with the lower side of its disc would be precisely that at which it would occupy the highest point of the diurnal arc, and consequently the exact moment when it would pass the meridian — in other words, it would be noon at the place where the observation was taken. All watched in anxious silence. " Noon ! " cried Jaspar Hobson and the astronomer at once. The telescopes were immediately lowered. The Lieutenant and