“That's right. He established the settlement on the river. He killed some of the other traders in a fight over furs, so they couldn't name it after a murderer.”

“I've heard that story. I'm not so sure, even if I were a murderer, that I'd like my name attached to such a lonely and unattractive site. Besides, Ivory Island seems more poetic. And from what I know about the island as a source of ivory, accurate as well.” She paused. “You said the island was different. In what way?”

The captain shrugged. “Sometimes, when I've passed the island in the dark, I have seen lights moving about near the old fur trapper settlement on the river. What they call Ivorytown.”

“That's the expedition's headquarters, where I'll be staying.”

“They were probably pockets of gas luminescence.”

“Gas? You said the lights were moving.”

“You're very observant,” the captain said. “I apologize. I haven't been trying to frighten you.”

“On the contrary, you're interesting me.”

Karla was so much like his daughter. Intelligent. Headstrong. Fearless. “In any event, we'll be back in two weeks to pick you up,” he said. “Good luck with your research.”

“Thank you. I'm optimistic that I'll find something on the island to bolster my theory about the cause of the woolly mammoth's extinction.”

The captain's lips curled into a wry smile. “If your colleagues on the island are successful, we may be seeing mammoths in the Moscow zoo.”

Karla heaved a heavy sigh. “Maybe not in our lifetime. Even if the expedition manages to find mammoth DNA from an ancient specimen and it can be used to artificially impregnate an Indian elephant, it could take more than fifty years to develop a creature that is mostly mammoth.”

“I hope it never happens,” the captain said. “I don't think it's wise to tamper with nature. It's like the sailors say about whistling on board a ship. You might whistle up a wind.”

“I agree, which is why I'm glad I'm engaged in pure research.”

“Again, I offer my best wishes. Now, if you'll excuse me I must tend to my ship.”

Karla thanked him for his hospitality, and they shook hands. Karla felt a sense of loneliness as the captain walked off, but she braced herself with thoughts of the work ahead. With a defiant glance at the island, she headed off to her cabin, where she collected her bags, and came back on deck to wait for her ride to shore.

The ship made a sweep close to the shore of a natural harbor to break a channel through the ice. Karla piled her bags into the ship's launch, then got in herself. The open boat was lowered to the water, the two crewmen aboard cast off the lines and they headed toward the island, weaving their way around chunks of ice as big as cars. As the boat made its way toward land, she could see a figure on shore waving at them.