THE
SEA LIONS;
OR,*
THE LOST SEALERS.
BY J. FENIMORE COOPER.
" Daughter of Faith, awake, arise, illume'ahe dread unknown, the chaos of the tomb;.lrtJt, and dispel, ye spectre dbubts that roll
Cimmerian darkness o'er the parting soul."
CAMPBEID.
COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME
NEW -YORK:
PUBLISHED BY HURD AND HOUGHTON.
1871.




SEA LIONS.
Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1849, by
J. FENIMORE COOPER.
in the clerk'a anf,   e of the Dlstrict Court for the Northern District
of New York.




PRE F ACE.
IFr any thing connected with the hardness of the
human heart could surprise us, it surely would be the
indifference with which men live on, engrossed by
their worldly objects, amid the sublime natural phenomena that so eloquently and unceasingly speak to their
imaginations, affections, and judgments.  So completely is the existence of the individual concentrated
in self, and so regardless-does he get to be of all without that contracted circle, that it does not probably
happen to one man in ten, that his thoughts are drawn
aside from  this intense study of his own immediate
wants, wishes, and plans, even once in the twenty-four
hours, to contemplate the majesty, mercy, truth, and
justice, of the Divine Being that has set him, as an
atom, amid the myriads of the hosts of heaven and
earth.
The physical marvels of the universe produce little
more reflection than the profoundest moral truths. A
million of eyes shall pass over the firmament, on a
cloudless night, and not a hundred minds shall be filled
with a proper sense of the power of the dread Being
*that created all that is' there-not a hundred hearts
glow with the adoration that such an appeal to the
senses and understanding ought naturally to produce.
This indifference, in a great measure, comes of famiiarity; the things that we so constantly have before;iii)




IV                 PREFACE.
us, becoming as a part of the air we breathe, and as
little regarded.
One of the consequences of this disposition to disregard the Almighty Hand, as it is so plainly visible
in all around us, is that of substituting our own pow.
ers in its stead. In this period of the world, in enlightened countries, and in the absence of direct idol
atry, few men are so hardy as to deny the existence
and'might of a Supreme Being; but, this fact admitted, how few really feel that profound reverence for
him that the'nature of our relations justly demands!
It is the want of a due sense of huinility, and a sad
misconception of what we are, and for what we were
created, that misleads us in the due estimate of our
own insignificance, as compared with the majesty of
God.
Very few men attain enough of human knowledge
to be fully aware how much remains to be'learned,
and of that which they never can hope to acquire.
We hear a great deal of god-like minds, and of the
far-reaching faculties we possess; and- it may all be
worthy of our eulogiums, until we compare ourselves
in these, as in other particulars, with Him who produced them. Then, indeed, the utter insignificance of
our means becomes too apparent to admit of a cavil
We know that we are born, and that we die; science
has been able to grapple with all the phenomena of
these two great physical facts, with the exception of
the most. material of all-those which should tell us
what is life, and what is death. Something that we
cannot comprehend lies at the root of every distinct
division of natural phenomena. Thus faf shalt thou




P RE F A C E.               V
go and no farther, seems to be imprinted on every
great fact of creation. There is a point attained in
each and all of our acquisitions. where a mystery that
no human mind can scan takes the place of demonstration and conjecture. This, point may lie nore
remote with some intellects than with others; but it
exists for all, arrests the inductions of all, conceals all.
We are aware that the more learned among those,who disbelieve in the divinity of Christ suppose themselves to be sustained by written authority, contending
for errors of translation, mistakes and misapprehen-sions in the ancient texts. Nevertheless, we are inclined to think that nine-tenths of those who refuse the
old and accept the new opinion, do so for a motive no
better than a disinclination to believe that which they
cannot comprehend.  This pride of reason is one of
the most insinuating of our foibles, and is to be watched
as a most potent enemy.
How completely and philosophically does the venerable Christian creed embrace and modify all. these
workings of the heart! We say philosophically, for,it were not possible for mind to give a juster analysis
of the whole subject than St. Paul's nmost comprehensive but, brief definition of Faith.  It is this Faith
which-:forms the mighty feature of the church on
earth. It equalizes capacities, conditions, means, and
ends, holding'out the same encouragement and hope
to the least, as to the most gifted of the race; counting gifts in their ordinary and more secular points of
view.
It' is when health, or the usual means of success
dbandon uis, that we are made to feel how totally we




V1                 P R E FACE.
are insufficient for the achievement:of even our own
purposes, much less to qualify us to reason on the deep
mysteries that conceal the beginning and the end. It
has often been said that the most successful leaders of
-their fellow men havp had the clearest views of theii
own insufficiency to: attain their own objects. If Napoleon ever said,- as has been attributed to him, "Je
propose et je dispose," it must have been in one of those
fleeting moments in which success blinded him to the
fact of his own insufficiency.  No man had a-deeper
reliance on fertune, cast the result of great events on
the decrees of fate, or more anxiously watched. the
rising and setting of what he called his s" star."  This
was a faith that could lead to no good; but it clearly
denoted how far the boldest designs, the most ample
means, and the most vaulting ambition, fall short of
giving that sublime consciousness of power and its
fruits that distinguish the reign of Omnipotence.
In this book the design has been to pourtray man on
a novel field of action, and to exhibit his dependence
on the hand that does not suffer a sparrow to fall
unheeded.  The recent attempts of science, which
employed the seamen of the four greatest maritime
states of Christendom, made discoveries that have
rendered the polar circles much more familiar to
this age, than to any that has preceded it, so far as
existing records show. We say " existing records;"
for there is much reason for believing that the ancients
had a knowledge of our hemisphere, though less for
supposing that they ever braved the dangers of
the high latitudes.: Many are, just at this moment,
much disposed to believe that "Ophir" was on this




PREFACE.                  VIi
continent; though for a reason no better than the circumstance of the recent discoveries of much gold.
Such savans should remember that'peacocks' came
from ancient Ophir. If this be in truth that land, the
adventurers of Israel caused it to be denuded of that
bird of beautiful plumage.
Such names as those of Parryj Sabine, Ross, Franklin, Wilkes, Hudson, Ringgold, &c., &c., with those
of divers gallant Frenchmen and Russians, command
our most profound respect; for no battles or victories
can redound more to' the credit of seamen than the
dangers they all encountered, and the conquests they
have all achieved. One of those named, a resolute and
experienced seaman, it is thought must, at this moment, be locked in the frosts of the arctic circle, after
having passed half.a life in the endeavour to push his
discoveries into those remote and frozen regions. He
bears the name of the most distinguished of the philosophers ot this country; and nature has stamped on
his features-by one of those secret laws which just as
much baffle our means of comprehension, as the
greatest of all our mysteries, the incarnation of the
Son of God-a resemblance that, of itself, would go to
show that they are of the same race. Any one who
has ever seen this emprisoned navigator, and who is
familiar with the countenances of the men of the same
name who are to be found in numbers amongst ourselves, must be struck with a likeness that lies as much
beyond the grasp of that reason of which we are so
proud, as the sublimest facts taught by induction,
science, or revelation. Parties are, at this moment,
out in search of him and his followers; and it is to be




PREFACE.
hoped that the Providence which has so singularly attempered the different circles and zones of our globe,
placing this under a burning sun, and that beneath
enduring frosts, will have included in its divine fore;
thought a sufficient care for-these bold wanderers to
restore them, unharmed, to their friends anid country.
In a contrary event, their names must be transmitted
to posterity as the victims to a laudable desire to en.
large the circle of human knowledge, and with it, we
trust, to increase the glory due to God.




THE SEA LIONS.
CHAPTER  1..," When that's gone
He shall drink naught but brine.:'
Tempest.
WHILE there is less of that high polish in America that
is obtained by long intercourse with the great world, than
is to be found in nearly every European country, there is
much less positive rusticity also. There, the extremes of
society are widely separated, repelling rather than attracting each other; while among ourselves, the tendency is to
gravitate towards a common centre.  Thus it is, that all
things in America become subject to a mean law that is
productive of a mediocrity which is probably much above
the average of that of most nations; possibly of all, England excepted; but which is only a mediocrity, after all.
In this way, excellence in nothing is justly appreciated,
nor is it often recognised; and the suffrages of the nation
are pretty uniformly bestowed on qualities of a secondary
class. Numbers have sway, and it is as impossible to resist
them  in deciding on merit, as it is to deny their power in
the ballot-boxes; time alone, with its great curative influence, supplying the remedy that is to restore the public
mind to a healthful state, and give equally to the pretender
and to him who is worthy of renown, his proper place in
the pages of history.
The activity of American life, the rapidity and cheap
ness of intercourse, and the migratory habits both have
induced, leave little of rusticity and local character in any
(7)




8               THE  SEA  LIONS.
particular sections of the country. Distinctions, that an
acute observer may detect, do certainly exist between the
eastern and the western man, between the northerner and
the southerner, the Yankee and middle states' man; the
Bostonian, Manhattanese and Philadelphian; the Tuckahoe and the Cracker; the Buckeye or Wolverine, and the
Jersey Blue.  Nevertheless, the world cannot probably
produce another instance of a people who are derived from
so mnany different races, and who occupy so large an extent
of country, who are so homogeneous in appearance, characters'and opinions.  There is no question that the institutions have had a material influence in producing this
uniformity, while they have unquestionably lowered the
standard.to which opinion is submitted, by referring the:
decisions to the many, instead of making the appeal to the
few, as is. elsewhere done.  Still, the direction is-onward,
and though it may take time to carve on the social column
of America that graceful and ornamental capital which it
forms the just, boast of Europe to possess, when the task
shall be achieved, the work will stand on a base so broad
as to secure its upright attitude for ages.
Notwithstanding the general character of identity and
homogenity that so strongly marks the picture of.American.society, exceptions are to be met with, in particular dis.
tricts, that are not only distinct and incontrovertible, but
which are so peculiar as to be worthy of more than a pass.
ing remark in our delineations of national customs.  Our
present purpose leads us into one of these secluded districts, and it may be well to commence the narrative of
certain deeply interesting incidents that it is our intention
to attempt to portray, by first referring to the place and
people where and from whom the principal actors in our
legend had their origin.
Every one; at -all familiar with the map of America knows
the position and general form of the two islands that-shelter
the well-known harbour of the great emporium of the commerce of the country. These islands obtained their names
from the Dutch, who called them Nassau and Staten; but
the English, with little respect for the ancient house whence
the first of these appellations is derived, and consulting
9nly the homely taste which leads them to a practical rather




THE  SEA  LIONS..                  9
tlhen to a. poetical nomenclature in all things,. have since
virtually dropped the name of Nassau, altogether sJbstituting that of Long Island in its stead.
Long Island, or the island of Nassau, extends from the
mouth of the Hudson to the eastern line of Connecticut;
forming a sort of sea-wall to protect the whole coast of the
latter little territory against the waves of the broad Atlantic.
Three of the oldest New York counties, as their names
would imply, Kings, Queens, and Suffolk, are on this
island. Kings was originally.peopled by the Dutch, and
still possesses ias many names derived from Holland as
from England, if its towns, which are of recent origin, be
taken from the account. Queens is more of a mixture.
having.been early invaded and occupied by adventurers
from the other side of-the Sound; but Suffolk, which contains nearly, if not quite, two-thirds of the surface of the
whole island, is and ever has been in possession of a people
derived originally from the puritans of New England. Of
these three counties, Kings is much the smallest, though
next. to New York itself, the most populous county in the
state;.a circumstance that is owing to the fact that two
suburban offsets of the great emporium, Brooklyn and Williamsburg, happen to stand, within its limits, on the waters
of what is improperly called the East River; an arm of the
sea that has obtained this appellation, in contradistinction
to the Hudson, which, as all Manhattanese well know, is
as often called the North River, as by its proper name. In
consequence of these two towns, or suburbs of New York,
one of which contains nearly a hundred thousand souls,
while the other must be drawing on towards twenty thousand, Kings county has lost all it ever had of peculiar, or
local character. The same is true of Queens, though in a
diminished degree; but Suffolk remains Suffolk still, and
it is with Suffolk alone that our present legend requires us
to deal. Of Suffolk, then, we purpose to -say a few words
by way of preparatory explanation.
Although it has actually more sea-coast.than all the rest
of New York united, Suffolk has but one sea-port that is
ever mentioned beyond the limits of the county itself. Nor
Is this port one of general commerce, its shipping being
principally employed in the hardy and. manly occupation




10               THE SEA  L  I OVN S.
of whaling. As a whaling town, Sag Harbour is the third
or fourth port in the country, and maintains something like
that rank in importance. A whaling haven is nothing witlhout a whaling community. Without the last, it is almost
hopeless to look for success. New York can, and has often
fitted whalers for sea, having sought officers in the regular
whaling ports; but it has been seldom that the enterprises
have been rewarded with such returns as to induce a ser.ond voyage by the same parties.
It is as indispensable that. a whaler should possess a certain esprit de corps, as that a regiment, or a ship of war,
should be animated by its proper spirit.  In the whaling
communities, this spirit exists to an extent, and in a degree that is wonderful, when one remembers the great expansion of this particular branch of trade within the last
five-and-twenty years. It-may be a little lessened of late,
hut at the time of which we are writing, or about the year
IS.20, there was scarcely an individual who followed this
particular calling out of the port of Sag Harbour, whose
general standing on board ship was not as well known to
all the women and girls of the place, as it was to his shipTnates. Success in taking the whale was a thing that made
itself felt in every fibre of the prosperity of the town; and
it was just as natural that the single-minded population of
that part of Suffolk should regard the bold and skilful harpooner, or lancer, with'favdour, as it is for the belle at a
watering-place to bestow her smiles on one of the young
heroes of Contreras or Churubusco.  His peculiar merit,
whether with the oar, lance, or harpoon, is bruited'about,
as well as the number of whales he may have succeeded in
"making fast to," or those which he caused to " spout
blood."' It is true, that the great extension of the trade
within the last twenty years, by drawing so many from a
distance into its pursuits, has in a degree lessened this
local interest and local knowledge of character; but at the
tiune of which we are about -to write, both were at their
height, and Nantucket itself had not more of this " intelligence office" propensity, or more of the true whaling esprit
de corps, than were to be found in the district of country
that surrounded Sag Harbour.
Long Island forks at its eastern end, and may be said to




THE  SEA  LIONS.                     11,have two extremities.  One of these, which'is much the
shortest of the two legs thus formed, goes by the name of
Oyster- Pond Point; while the other, that stretches much
farther in the direction of Blok Island, is the well-known
cape called Montauk. Within the fork lies Shelter Island,
so-named from the snug berth it occupies. Between Shelter.Island.and the longest or southern prong of the fork,: are
the waters which compose the haven of Sag Harbour, an
estuary of some extent; while a narrow but deep arm of
the sea separates this island from the northern prong, that
terminates at"/Oyster Pond.
The name of Oyster-Pond Point was formerly applied to a
long, low, fertile and pleasant reach of land, that extended
several miles from,. the point itself,. westward, towards the
spot where the two prongds of the fork united.  It was not
easy, during the first quarter of the present century, to find
a more secluded spot on the whole island, than Oyster
P.ond. Recent enterprises have since converted it into the
*terminus of a railroad; and Green Port, once called. Sterling, is a name well known to travellers between.New
York and Boston; but in the earlier part of the present
century it seemed just as likely that the Santa Casa.of
Loretto. should take a new flight and descend on. the point,
as that the improvement that has actually been made should
in truth occur at that. out-of-the-way place.  It required,
indeed, the keen eye of a railroad projector to bring this
spot in connection with anything; nor could it be done
without having recourse to the water by.which it is. almost
surrounded.  Using the last, it is true, means have been
found to place it in a line between two of the great marts
of the country, and thus to put an end to all its seclusion.
its simplicity, its peculiarities, and we had almost said, its
happiness.
-It is to us ever.a painful sight to see the rustic virtues
rudely thrown aside by the intrusion of what are termed
itnprovements.  A railroad is certainly a capital invention
for the traveller, but it may be questioned if it is of any
-other benefit than that of pecuniary convenience to the
places through which it passes.  How  many delightful
hamlets, pleasant villages, and.everi tranquil county towns,
ire losing their primitive characters for simplicity and- con2




12               THE  SEA  LIONS.
tentment, by the passage of these fiery trains, that drag
after thern-a sort of bastard elegance, a pretension that is
destructive of peace of mind, and an uneasy desire in ali
who dwell by the way-side, to pry into the mysteries of the
whole length and breadth of the region it traverses!
W6 are writing of the year of our Lord one thousand
eight. hundred and nineteen. In that day, Oyster Pond
wax; in one of the best acceptations of the word, a rural
district.  It is true that its inhabitants were accustomed
to the water, and to the sight of vessels, from the two.
decker to the little shabby-looking craft that-brought ashes
fr6m town, to meliorate the sandy lands of Suffolk. Only
five years before, an English squadron had lain in Gardiner's Bay, here pronounced'Gar'ner's,' watching the Race,
or eastern outlet of the Sound, with a view to cut off the
trade and annoy their enemy.  That game is up, for ever.
No hostile squadron, English, French, Dutch, or all united,
will ever again blockade an American port for any serious
length of time, the young Hercules passing too rapidly
from the gristle into the bone, any longer to suffer antics
of this nature to be played in front of his cradle.  But
such was not his condition in the war of 1812, and the
good people of Oyster Pond had become familiar with
the checkered sides of two-deck ships, and the venerable
and beautiful ensign of Old England, as it floated above
hem.
Nor was it only by these distant views, and by means
of hostilities, that the good folk on Oyster Pond were acquaifnted with vessels.  New York is necessary to all on
the coast, both as a market and as a place to procure sup.
plies; and every creek, or inlet, or basin, of any sort,
within a hundred leagues of it, is sure to possess one or
more craft that ply between the favourite haven and the
particular spot in question. Thus was it with Oyster Pond.
There is scarce a better harbour on the whole American
coast, than'that which the narrow arm of the sea that di.
vides the Point-from Shelter Island presents; and even in
the simple times of which we are writing, Sterling h'ad its
two or three coasters, such as they were.  But the true
maritime character of Oyster Pond, as well as that of all
Suffolk, was derived from the whalers, and its proper nu



TH-E S EA  LIO N S.                 13
Cleus was. across the estuary, at Sag Harbour. Thithei'the
youths of the whole region resorted for employment, and
to advance their fortunes, and generally with such success
as is apt to attend enterprise, industry and daring, when
exercised with energy in a pursuit of moderate gains.
None became rich, in the -strict signification of the term,
though a few got to be in reasonably affluent circumstances;
many were placed altogether at their ease, and more were
made humbly' comfortable.  A farm  in America is well
enough'for the' foundation of family support, but it rarely
suffices for all" the growing wants of these days of indulgence,'and'of a desire to enjoy so much of that which was
formerly left to the unjdisputed possession of the unquestionably rich.  A farm, with a few hundreds per annum,
derived from other sources, makes a good base of comfort
and if the hundreds are converted into thousands, your
farmer, or agriculturalist, becomes a man not only at his
ease, but a proprietor of some importance.  The farms on
Oyster Pond were neither very extensive, nor had' they
owners of large incomes to support them; on the contrary,
most of them were made to support their owners; a thing
that is possible, even in America, with industry, frugality
and judgment. In order, however, that the names of places
we may have occasion to use shall be understood, it may
-be well to be a little more particular in our preliminary
explanations.
The reader knows that we' are now writing of Suffolk
County, -Long Island, New York. He also knows that our
opening scene is to be on the shorter, or most northern of
the two prongs of that fork, Which divides the eastern end
of this island, giving it what are properly two capes. The
smallest territorial division. that' is known to the laws of
New'York, in rural districts, is the "township,' -as it is
called.  These townships are usually larger than the Eng
lish parish, corresponding more properly with the French
canton.  They vary, however, greatly in size, some con
taining as much as a hundred square miles, which is the
largest size, while others do not contain more than a tenth
of that surface.
The township in which the northern prong,-or point of
T.ong- Island, lies, is named Southold, and includes not




14              THE  SEA  LIONS.
only all of the long, low, narrow land that then went by
the common names of Oyster Pond, Sterling, &c, but
several islands, also, which stretch off in the Sound, as
well as a broader piece of territory, near Riverhead. Oyster
Pond, which is the portion of the township that lies on the
~point,' is, or was, for we write of a remote period ini the
galloping history: of the state, only a part of Southold, and
probably was not then a name known in the laws, at all.
We have a wish, also, that this name should be pro.
nounced properly.  It is not called Oyster Pond, as the
uninitiated would be very apt to get it,, but Oyster Pind,
the last word having a sound similar to that of the cockney's  pound,' in his "two pFnd two."  This discrepancy
between the spelling and the pronunciation of proper names
is agreeable to us, for it shows that a people are not put in
leading strings by pedagogues, and that they make use of
their own, in their own way.  We remember how great
was our satisfaction' once, on entering Holmes' Hole, a
well-known bay in this very vicinity, in our youth, to hear
a boatman call the port;' Hum'ses Hull.' It is getting to
be so rare to meet with an American, below the higher
classes, who will consent to cast this species of veil before
his school-day acquisitions, that we acknowledge it gives
us pleasure to hear such.good, homely, old-fashioned English.as " Gar'ner's Island," "Hum'ses Hull," and " Oyster
Pund."
This plainness of speech was not the only proof of the
simplicity of former days that was to be found in Suffolk,
in the first'quarter of the century.  The eastern- end of
Long Island lies so much out of the track of the rest of the
world, that even the new railroad cannot make much im
pression on its inhabitants, who. get their pigs and poultry,
butter and eggs, a little earlier to market, than in the days
of the stage-wagons, it is true, but they fortunately, as yet,
bring little back except it be the dross that sets every thing
in motion, whether it be by rail, or through the sands, in
the former toilsome mode.
The season, at the precise moment when we desire to
take the reader with us to Oyster Pond, was in the de.
iightfill month of September, when the earlier promises of
the year are fast maturing into performance   Although




T HE SEA LIONS.                     15
S'uffolk, -as a whole, can.scarcely ba deemed a productive
county, beiing generally of a thin, light soil, and still covered
with.:a growth of small wood, it possesses nevertheless,
spots of exceeding fertility   A considerable portion of the
northern:prong of the fork has this latter character, and
Oyster Pond is a sort of garden compared with much of
the sterility that prevails around it. Plain, but respectable
dwellings, with numerous out-buildings, orchards and fruittrees, fences carefully preserved, a pains-taking tillage,
good roads, and here and there a " meeting-house," gave
the fork an.air of rural and moral beauty that, aided by the
water by which it was so nearly surrounded, contributed
greatly to relieve the monotony of so dead a level.  There
were heights in view, on Shelter Island, and bluffs towards.Rivethead, which, if they would not attract much attention
in Switzerland, were by no means overlooked in Suffolk.
In a word, both the season and the place were charming,
though most of the flowers had already faded; and the apple, and the pear, and the peach, were taking the places
of the inviting cherry.  Fruit abounded, notwithstanding
the close vicinity of the district to salt water, the airs from
the sea being broken, or somewhat tempered, by the land
that lay to-the southward.
We have spoken of the coasters that ply between the
emporium'and all the creeks and bays of the Sound, as
well as of the numberless rivers that find an outlet for their
waters between Sandy, Hook and Rockaway.  Wharves
were constructed, at favourable points, inside the prong,
and occasionally a sloop was seen at them loading its truck,
or discharging its ashes or street manure, the latter being
a very common return cargo for a Long Island coaster.
At one wharf, however, now lay a vessel of a different
mould, and one which, though of no great.size, was manifastly intended to go outside. This was a schooner that
had been recently launched, and which had advanced no
farther in its first equipment than to get in its two principal spars, the rigging of which hung suspended over the
mast-heads, in readiness to be " set up" for the first time.
The day being Sunday, work was suspended, and this so
much the more, because the owner of the vessel was a certainuDeacon Pratt, who dwelt in.a house within half a mile
2*               2




16 WTHE -S:EA  LIONS.
of the wharf, and who.- was-:also the proprietor of three
several parcels of land in that neighbourhood, each of which
had Fits own buildings and. conveniences, and was. properly
enough dignified with the name of a farm.  To be sure,
neither of these farms was very large, their acres united
amounting to but little more than two hundred,;, but, owing
to their condition, the native richness of the soil, and the
mode of turning them to account, they had made Deacon
Pratt a warm man, for Suffolk.
There are two great species of deacons; for we suppose
they must all be referred to the same genera. One species
belong to the priesthood, and become priests and' bishops;
passing away, as priests and bishops are apt to do, with
more or less of the savour of godliness. The other species
are purely laymen, and are sui generis.  They are, ex officio, the most pious men in a neighbourhood, as they sometimes are, as it would seem to us, ex officio, also the most
grasping and mercenary.  As we are not in the secrets of
the sects-to'which these lay deacons belong, we shall not
presume to pronounce whether the individual is elevated
to the deaconate because he is prosperous, in a worldly
sense, or whether the prosperity is a consequence of the
deaconate; but, that the two usually go together. is quite
certain. which being- the cause, and which the- effect, we
leave to wiser heads to determine.
Deacon Pratt was no exception to the rule.  A tighter
fisted sinner did not exist in the county than this pious
soul, who certainly not only wore, but wore out the "' form
of godliness," while he was devoted, heart and hand, to the
daily increase of worldly gear. No one spoke disparagingly
of the.deacon, notwithstanding. So completely had he got
to be interwoven with the church-' meeting,' we ought to
say-in that vicinity,.that speaking disparagingly of him
would have. appeared like assailing, Christianity: It, is true,
that many an unfortunate fellow-citizen in Suffolk had
been made to feel how close was the gripe of his hand, when
he found himself in its grasp; but there is a way of practising the most ruthless extortion, that serves not only to
deceive'the world, but which would really seem to mislead
the extortioner himself.  Phrases take the place of deeds,
sentiments those of facts, and grimaces those of benevolent




THE SEA LIONS.                     17
looks, so-ingeniously and so impudently, that the wronged
often fancy that they are the victims of a severe dispensation of Providence, when the truth would have shown that
they were simply robbed.
We do not mean, however, that Deacon Pratt was a
robber. He was merely a hard man in the management of
his affairs; never cheating, in a direct sense, but seldom
conceding a cent togenerous impulses, or to the duties of
kind. He was a widower, and childless, circumstances
that rendered his love of gain still less pardonable; for
many a man who is indifferent to money on his own account, will toil and save to lay up hoards for those who are
to come after him.  The deacon had only a niece to inherit his effects, unless'he might choose to step beyond
that degree of consanguinity, and bestow a portion of his
means. on cousins.. The church-or, to be more literal,
the' meeting'-had an eye on his resources, however; and
it was whispered it had actually succeeded, by means
known: to itself, in squeezing out of his tight grasp no less
a sum than one hundred dollars, as a.donation to a certain,
theological college.  It was conjectured by some persons
that this was only the beginning of a, religious liberality,
and that the excellent and godly-minded deacon would bestow most of his property in a similar way, when the moment should come that it could be no longer of any use to
himself.  This opinion was much in favour with divers
devout. females of the deacon's congregation, who had
daughters of their own, and who seldom failed to conclude
their observations on this interesting subject with some
such remark as, " Well, in that case, and it seems to me
that every thing points that way, Mary Pratt will get no
more than any other poor man's daughter."
Little did Mary, the only child of Israel Pratt, an elder
brother of the deacon, think of all this. She had been left
an orphan in her tenth year, both parents dying within a
few:months of each other, and had lived beneath her uncle's
roof for nearly ten more years, until use' and natural affection, and the customs of the country, had made her feel
absolutely at home there.  A less interested, or less selfish
being than Mary Pratt, never existed.  In this respect she
-was the very antipodes of her uncle, who often stealthily




18              THE  S-EA LIONS.
rebuked her fdr her charities and acts of neighbourly kind'
ness, which he was wont to term waste. ~ But Mary kept
the even -tenor of her way, seemingly not hearing such remarks, and doing her duty quietly, and in all humility.
Suffolk was settled originally by emigrants from New
England, and:the character of its people is, to this hour,
of modified New England habits and notions. Now;, one
of the marked peculiarities of Connecticut is an indisposi
tion to part with anything without a quid pro quo. Thos
little services, offerings, and conveniences that are elsewhere parted with without a thought of remuneration, go
regularly upon the day-book, and often reappear on a' settlement,' years after they have been forgotten by those who
received the favours. Even the m'an who keeps a carriage
will let it out for hire; and the maniner in which money is
accepted, and even asked for by persons in easy circumstances, and for things that would be gratuitous in the
Middle States, often causes disappointment, and sometimes
disgust. In this particular, Scottishand'wiss thrift, both
notorious, and the latter particularly so, are nearly equalled
by New  England thrift; more especially in the close
estimate of the value of services rendered. So marked,
indeed; is this practice of looking for requitals, that even
the language is infected with it. Thus, should a person
pass a few months by invitation with a friend, his visit is
termed' boarding;' it being, regarded as a matter of course
that he pays his way. It would scarcely be safe, indeed,
without the precaution of " passing receipts" on quitting,
for one to stay any time. in a New England dwelling, unless
prepared to pay for his board.  The firee and frank habits
that prevail among relatives and friends elsewhere, are
nearly unknown there, every service having its price.
These customs are exceedingly repugnant to all who have
been educated in different notions; yet are they not without their redeeming qualities, that might be pointed out to
advantage, though our limits will not permit us, at this
moment, so to do.
Little did Mary Pratt suspect the truth; but habit, or
covetousness, or some vague expectation that the girl might
yet contract a marriage that would enable him to claim all
lhis advances, had induced the deacon never to bestow




THE  SEA  LIONS.                  19
a:cent on her education, or dress, or pleasures of any
sort, that the money was not regularly charged against
her, in that nefarious work that he called his " day-book."
As for the self-respect, and the feelings of caste, which
prevent a gentleman from practising any of these tradesmen's tricks, the deacon knew nothing of them. He would
have set the man down as a -fool who deferred to any notions so unprofitable.  With him, not only every man, but
every thing " had its price," and usually it was a good
price, too. At the very moment when our tale opens there
stood charged in his book,- against his unsuspecting and
affectionate niece, items in the way of schooling, dress,
board, and pocket-money, that amounted.to the considera-:ble sum of one thousand dollars, money fairly expended.
The deacon was only intensely mean and avaricious, while
he was as honest as the day. Not a cent was overcharged;
and to own the truth, Mary was so great a favourite with
him, that most of his charges against-her were rather of a
reasonable rate than otherwise.
CHAPTER II.
"Marty, I saw your niece do more favours
To the count's serving-man, than ever she bestowed
Upon me; I saw it i' the orchard."
Twelfth Night.
ON the Sunday in question, Deacon Pratt went to meet.
ing-as usual, the building in which divine service was held
that day, standing less than two miles from his residence,
but, instead of remaining for the afternoon's preaching, as
was his wont, he got into his one-horse chaise, the vehicle
then in universal use among the middle classes, though
ulow so seldom seen, and skirred away homeward as fast as
an active, well-fed and powerful switch-tailed mare could
draw him; the animal being accompanied in her rapid
progress by a colt of some three months' existence. The




20               THE  SEA LIONS'.
residence'of the: deacon was unusually-inviting for a man
of his narrow habits.  It stood. on the edge of a fine apple.
orchard, having a door-yard of nearly. two acres in its front.
This door-yard, which had been twice inown that summer,
was prettily embellished with flowers, and was shaded by
four. rows of noble -cherry-trees. The house itself was of
wood,: as is almost uniformly the case in'Suffolk, where
little stone is to; be found, and where brick constructions
are apt to be thought damp: but, it was a respectable edifice, with five windows in front, and of two stories. The
siding was of unpainted cedar-shingles; and, although the
house had'been erected long previously to the revolution,
the siding had been renewed but once, about ten years before the opening bf our tale, and the whole building was in
a perfect state of repair. -The thrift of the deacon rendered
him careful, and he was thoroughly convinced of the truth
of the familiar adage which tells us that " a stitch in time,
saves nine." All around the house and farm was in perfect
order, proving the application of the -saying.- As.for the
view, it was sufficiently pleasant, the house having its front
towards the east, while its end windows looked, the one set
in the direction of the Sound,.and the other in that of the
arm of the sea, which belongs properly to Peconic Bay,
we believe.  All this water, some of which was visible
over points and among islands, together with a smiling- and
fertile, though narrow stretch of foreground, could not'fail
of making an agreeable landscape.
It was little, however, that Deacon Pratt.thought of
views, or beauty of any sort, as the mare reached the open
gate of his own abode.  Mary was standing. in the stoop,
or porch of the house, and appeared to be anxiously await.
ing her uncle's return.  The'latter gave the reins to a
black, one who was no longer a slave, but who was a descendanf of some of the ancient slaves of the Pratts, and in
that character consented still to dawdle about the place,
working for half price. On alighting, the uncle approached
the niece with somewhat of interest in his manner.
"Well, Mary," said the former, "how does he get on,
now?"
"Oh! my dear sir he cannot possibly live, I think, and




THE SEA  LIOiN'S.                 21
I do most earnestly entreat that you wili' let me send across
to the Harbour for Di. Sage."
By the Harbour was meant Sag's, and the physician
named was one of merited celebrity in old Suffolk.  So
healthy was the country in general, and so simple were the
habits of the people, that neither lawyer nor physician was
to be found in every hamlet, as: is- the case to-day.  Both
were to be had at Riverhead, as well as at Sag Harbour;
but, if a man called out " Squire," or " Doctor," in the
highways of Suffolk, sixteen men did not turn round to
reply, as is said to be the case in other regions; one half
answering to the one' appellation, and the second -half to
the other.  The deacon had two objections to yielding to
his niece's earnest request; the expense being one, though
it was not, in this. instance, the greatest; there was another
reason that he kept to himself, but which will appear as
our narrative proceeds.
A few weeks previously to the Sunday in question,- a
sea-going vessel, inward bound,' had brought up in Gard'i~ner's Bay, which is- a usual anchorage for all sorts of craft.
A: worn-out and battered seaman had been put ashore on
Oyster Pond, by a boat from this vessel, which sailed to
the westward soon after, proceeding most probably- to New
York. The stranger was not only well advanced in life,
but he was obviously wasting away with disease.
The account given of himself by this seaman was sufficiently explicit. He was born on Martha's Vineyard, but, as
is customary with the boys of that island, he had left home
in his twelfth year, and had now been absent from the
place of his birth a little' more than half a century.' Conscious.-of the decay which beset him, and fully convinced
that his days were few and numbered, the seaman, who
called himself Tom Daggett, had felt a desire to close his
eyes in the place where they had first been opened to the
light'of day. He had persuaded the commander of the
craft mentioned, to bring him from the West Indies, and
to put him ashore as related, the Vineyard being only a
hundred miles or so to the eastward of Oyster Pond Point.
H[e trusted to luck to give hirh the necessary opportunity.f overcoming these last hundred miles.
Daggett was poor, as he admitted, as well as friendless




22              THE  SEA  LIONS.
and unknown. He had with him, nevertheless, a substaln
tial sea-chest, one of those that the sailors of that day uniformly used in merchant-vessels, a man-of-war compelling
them to carry their clothes in bags, for the convenience of
compact stowage.  The chest of Daggett, however, was a
regular inmate of the forecastle, and, from its appearance,
had made almost as many voyages as its owner. The last,
indeed, was heard to say that he had succeeded in saving
it from no less than three shipwrecks. It was a reasonably
heavy chest, though its contents, when opened, did not
seem to be of any very great value.
A few hours after landing, this man had made a bargain
with a middle-aged widow, in very humble circumstances,
and who dwelt quite near to the residence of Deacon Pratt,
to receive him as a temporary inmate; or, until he could get
a "chance across to the Vineyard."  At first, Daggett
kept about, and was much in the open air.  While able to
walk, he met the deacon, and singular, nay, unaccountable
as it seemed to the niece, the uncle soon contracted a species of friendship for, not to say intimacy with, this stranger. In the first place, the deacon was a little particular
in not having intimates among the necessitous, and the
Widow White soon let it be known that her guest had not
even a "red cent."  He had chattels, however, that were
of some estimation among seamen; and Roswell Gardiner,
or" Gar'ner,' as he was called, the young seaman par ex.
cellence of the Point, one who had been not only a whaling,
but who had also been a sealing, and who at that moment
was on board the'deacon's schooner, in the capacity of
master, had been applied to-for advice and assistance. By
the agency of Mr. Gar'ner, as the young mate was then
termed, sundry palms, sets of sail-needles, a fid or two,
and various other similar articles, that obviouisly could no
onger be of any use to Daggett, were sent across to the
Harbour,' and disposed of there, to advantage, among the
nmany seamen of the port.  By these means the stranger
was, fori a few weeks, enabled to pay his way, the board
he got being both poor and &heap.
A much better result attended this intercourse with
Gardiner, than that of raising the worn-out seaman's iimmediate ways and means. Between Mary Pratt and Ros'




THE  SEA- LIONS.                 23
well~Gardiner there existed an intimacy of long standing
for their years, as well as of some peculiar.'features, to
which.there will be occasion to advert hereafter.  Mary
was the very soul.of charity in all its significations, and
this Gardiner knew.  WVhen, therefore, Daggett became
really necessitous, in the way of comforts that even money
could not command beneath the roof of the Widow White,
the young man let the fact be known to the deacon's niece,
who immediately provided sundry delicacies that were acceptable to the palate of even disease.; As for her uncle,
nothing was at first said to him on the subject. Although
his intimacy with Daggett went on increasing, and they
were daily more anq more together, in long and secret
conference, not a suggestion was ever made by the deacon
in the way of contributing to his new friend's comforts.
To own the truth, to give was the last idea that ever
occurred to this man's thoughts.
Mary Pratt was observant, and of a mind so constituted,
that its observations usually led her to safe and accurate
deductions. Great was the surprise of all on the Point
when it became known that Deacon Pratt had purchased
and.put into the water, the new sea-going craft that was
building on speculation, at Southold. Not only had he
done this, but he had actually bought some half-worn copper, and had it placed on the schooner's bottom, as high
as the bends, ere he had her launched. While the whole
neighbourhood was "exercised" with conjectures on the
motive which could induce the deacon to become a shipowner in his age, Mary did not fail t6 impute it to some
secret but powerful influence, that the sick stranger had
obtained over him. He now spent nearly half his time in
private communications with Daggett; and, on more than
one occasion, when the niece had taken some light article
of food over fQr the use of the last, she found him and her
uncle examining one or two dirty and well-worn charts of
the ocean. As she entered, the conversation invariably
was changed; nor was Mrs. White ever permitted to be
present at one of these secret conferences.
Not only was the schooner purchased, and coppered,
and launched, and preparations made to fit her for sea,
but "Young Gar'ner" was appointed to command her




c24             THE SEA LIONS.
As respects Roswell. Gardiner, or "Gar'ner," as it would
be almost thought a breach of decorum, in Suffolk, not to
call him, there was no.mystery. Six-and-twenty years before the opening of our legend, he had been born on Oystei
Pond itself, and of one of its best families,  Indeed, he
was known to'be a descendant of Lyon Gardiner, that engineer who had been sent to the settlement of  the lords
Saye and Seal, and Brook, since called Saybrook, near
two centuries before, to lay out a town "and a fort. This
Lyon Gardiner had purchased of the Indian~ the island in
that neighbourhood, which still bears his name. This establishment on the island was made in 1639; and now, at
an interval of two hundred and nine years, it is in possession of its- ninth owner, all having been of the name and
blood of its original patentee. This is great antiquity for
~America, which, while it has produced many families of
greater wealth, and renown, and importance, than that of
the Gardiners, has seldom produced any of more permanent
local respectability.  This is a feature in society that we
so much love to see, and which is so much endangered by
the uncertain and migratory habits of the people, that we
pause a moment to record this instance of stability, so
pleasing and so commendable, in an age and country of
changes.
The descendants of any family of two centuries standing,
will, as a matter of course, be numierous. There are exceptions, certainly;'but such is the rule. Thus is it with
Lyon Gardiner, and his progeny, who are now to be numbered in scores, including persons in all classes of life,
though it carries with it a stamp of caste to be known in
Suffolk as having come' direct from the loins' of old Lyon
Gardiner. Roswell, of that name, if not of that Ilk, the
island then being the sole. property of David Johnson Gardiner, the predecessor and brother of its present proprietor,
was allowed to have this claim, though it would exceed our
genealogical knowledge to point out the precise line )by
which this descent was claimed. Young Roswell was of
respectable blood on both sides, without being very brilliantly connected, or rich, On the contrary, early left an
orphan, fatherless and motherless, as was the case with
Mary Pratt, he had been taken from a country academy




THE SEA  LIONS.                   2b
when only fifteen, and sent to sea, that he might make his
own way in the world. Hitherto, his success had not beer
of a very flattering character. He had risen, notwithstanding, to be the chief mate of a whaler, and bore an excellent
reputation among the people of Suffolk. Had it only been
a year or'two later, when speculation took hold of the
whaling business in a larger way, he would not have had
the least difficulty in obtaining a ship. As it was, however,
great was his delight when Deacon Pratt engaged him as
master of the new schooner, which had been already
named the "Sea Lion" —or "Sea Lyon," as Roswell
sometimes affected to spell the word, in honour of his old
progenitor, the enginper.
Mary Pratt had noted all these proceedings, partly with
pain, partly with pleasure, but always with great interest.
It pained her to find her uncle, in the decline of life, engaging in a business about which he knew nothing.  It
pained her, still more, to see one whom she loved from
habit, if not from moral sympathies, wasting the few hours
that remained for preparing for the last great change, in
attempts to increase possessions that were already much
more than sufficient for his wants.  This consideration, in
particular, deeply grieved Mary Pratt; for she was profoundly pious, with a conscience that was so sensitive'as
materially to interfere with her happiness, as will presently
be shown, while her uncle was merely a deacon. It is one
thing to be a deacon, and another to be devoted to the. iove
of God, and to that love of our species which we are told
is the consequence of a love of the Deity. The two are not
incompatible; neither-are they identical.' This Mary had
been made to see, in spite of all her wishes to be blind as
respects the particular subject from whom she had learned
the unpleasant lesson.  The pleasure felt by our herolne,
for such we now announce Mary Pratt to Ile, was derived
from the preferment bestowed on Roswell Gardiner. She
had many a palpitation of the heart when she heard of his
good conduct as a seaman, as she always did whenever she
heard his professional career alluded to at all.  On this
point, Roswell was without spot, as all Suffolk knew and
confessed. On Oyster Pond, he was regarded as a species
of sea lion himself, so numerous and so exciting were the




26              THE SE'A  LIONS.
incidents that were related of his prowess among the whales.
But, there was a dark cloud before all these glories, in.the
eyes of Mary Pratt, which for two years had disinclined
her to listen to the young man's tale of love, which had
induced her to decline accepting a hand that had now been
offered to her, with.- a seaman's ardour, a seaman's frank.
ness, and a seaman's sincerity, some twenty times at least,
which had induced -her to struggle severely with her own
heart, which she had long fbund to-be a powerful ally of
her suitor. That cloud came from a species of infidelity
that is getting to be so widely spread in America as no
longer to work in secret, but which lifts its head boldly
among us, clainling openly to belong to one of the numerous sects of the land. Mary had reason to think that Roswell Gardiner denied the divinity of Christ, while he professed to honour and defer to him as a man far elevated
above all other men, and as one whose blood had purchased
the redemption of his race!
We will take this occasion.to say that our legend is not
polemical in any sense, and that we have no intention to
enter into discussions or arguments connected with this
subject, beyond those that we may conceive to be necessary to illustrate the picture which'it is our real aim to
draw- that of a confiding, affectionate, nay, devoted woman's heart, in conflict with a deep sense. of religious
duty.
Still, Mary rejoiced that Roswell Gardiner was to com-:nand the Sea Lion. Whither this little vessel, a schooner
of about one hundred and forty tons measurement, was to
sail, she had not the slightest notion; but, go where it
might, her thoughts and prayers were certain to accompany
it. These are woman's means of exerting influence, and
who shall presume to say that they are without results, and
useless? On the contrary, we believe them to be most
efficacious; and thrice happy is the man who, as he treads
the mazes and wiles of the world, goes accompanied by
the petitions of such gentle and pure-minded beings at
home, as seldom think of approaching the throne of Grace
without also thinkinug of him and -of his necessities. The
Romanists say, and say it rightly too, could one only believe in their efficacy, that the prayers they offer up in be



THE SEA: LION S.                   27
nalf of departed friends, are of the most endearing nature;
but it would be difficult to prove that petitions for the souls
of the dead can demonstrate greater interest, or bind the
parties more closely together in'the unity of love, than
those that are constantly offered up in behalf of the living.
The interest that Mary Pratt felt in Roswell's success
needs little explanation.  In all things he was most agreeable to her, but in the one just mentioned, Their ages,
their social positions, their habits, their orphan condition,
even their prejudices-and who that dwells aside from the
world is without them, when most of those who encounter
its collisions still cherish them so strongly?-all united to
render them of interest to each other.  Nor was Deacon
Pratt at all opposed to the connection; on the contrary, he
appeared rather to favour it.
The objections came solely from Mary, whose heart was
nearly ready to break each time that she was required to
urge them.  As for the uncle, it is not easy to say what
could induce him to acquiesce in, to favour indeed, the addresses to his niece and nearest relative, of one who was
known not to possess five hundred dollars in the world. As
his opinions on this subject were well known to all on
Oyster Pond, they had excited a good deal of speculation;
"-exercising" the whole neighbourhood, as was very apt to
be the case whenever anything occurred in the least out
of the ordinary track. The several modes of reasoning
were something like these:Some were of opini-on that the deacon foresaw a successfill career to, and eventual prosperity in the habits and
enterprise of, the young mate, and that he wmas willing to
commit to his keeping, not only his niece, lut the three
farms, his "money at. use," and certain shares he was
known to own in a whaler and no less than threecoasters,
as well as an interest in a store at Southold; that is to say,
to commit them all to the keeping of" young Gar'ner" when
he was. himself dead-; for no one believed he would part
with more than Mary, in his own lifetime.
Others fancied he was desirous of getting the orphan off
his hands, in the easiest possible way, that he might make
a bequest of his whole estate to the Theological Institution
that had been coquetting with him now, for several years.
3*




28              THE  SEA  LIONS.
through its recognised agents, and to which he had already
made the liberal' donation of one hundred dollars. It was
well ascertained that the agents of that Institution openly
talked of getting Deacon Pratt to sit for his portrait, in or.
der that it might be suspended among those of others of its
benefactors.
A third set reasoned differently from both the foregoing.
The " Gar'ners" were a better family than the Pratts, and
the deacon being so " well to do," it was believed by these
persons that he was disposed to -unite money with name,
and thus give to his family consideration, from a source
that was somewhat novel,in its history. This class of reasoners was quite small, however, and.mainly consisted of
those who had rarely been off of Oyster Pond, and who
passed their days with "Gar'ner's Island" directly before:'their eyes. A -few of the gossips of this class pretended to
say that their own young sailor stood next in succession
after the immediate family actually in possession should run
-out, of which there was then some prospect; and that the
deacon, sly fellow, knew all about it!  For this surmise,
to prevent useless expectations in the reader, it may be well
to say at once, there was no foundation whatever, Roswell's
connection with the owner of the island being much too
remote to give him any chanceof succeeding to that estate,
or to anything else that belonged to him.
There was'a fourth and last set, among those who speculated on the deacon's favour towards "' young Gar'ner,"
and these were they who fancied that the old man had
opened his, heart towards the young couple, and was disposed to render a deserving -youth and a beloved niece
happy. This was the.smallest class of all; and, what is a
little remarkable, it contained only the. most reckless and
least virtuous of all those who dwelt on Oyster Pond. The
parson of the parish, or the Pastor as he was usually termed, belonged to the second category, that good man being
firmly -impressed that most, if not all of Deacon Pratt's
worldly effects would eventually go to help propagate the
gospel.
Such was the state of things when the deacon returned
from meeting, as related in the opening chapter. At his
niece's suggestion of-sending to the Harbour for Dr. Sage,




THE  SEA  LIONS.                  29
he had demurred, not only on account of' the expense, but
for a still more cogent reason. To tell the truth, he was
exceedingly distrustful of any one's being admitted to a
communication with Daggett, who had revealed to him
matters that he deemed to be of great importance, but who
still retained the key to his most material mystery. Never.
theless, decency, to say nothing -of the influence of what
"folks would say," the Archimedean lever of all society of
puritanical origin, exhorted him to consent to his niece's
proposal.
"It is such a round-about road to get to the Harbour,
Nary," the uncle slowly objected, after a pause.
"'Boats often go there, and return in a few hours."'
"Yes, yes - boats; but I'm  not certain it is lawful to
work boats of a Sabbath, child."
" I believe, sir, it was deemed lawful to do good on the
Lord's day."
"Yes, if a body was certain it would do any good. To
be sure, Sage is a capital doctor-as good as any going in
these parts —but, half the time, money paid for doctor's
stuff is thrown away."
" Still, I think it our duty to try to serve a fellow-creature that is in distress; and Daggett, I fear, will not go
through the week, if indeed he go through the night."
"I should be sorry to have him die!" exclaimed the
detcon, looking really distressed  at this intelligence.
" Right sorry should I be, to have him die-just yet."'The last two words were uttered unconsciously, and in
a way to cause the niece to regret that they had been uttered at all. But they had come, notwithstanding, and the
deacon saw that he had been too frank. The fault could
not now be remedied, and he was fain to allow his words
to produce their own effect.
"Die he will, I fear, uncle," returned Mary, after a short
pause; " and sorry should I be to have it so without our
feeling the consolation of knowing we had done all in our
power to save him, or to serve him."
"It is so far to the Harbour, that no good might come
of a messenger; and the money paid him would be thrown
away, too."
"I dare say Roswell Gar'ner would be glad to go to




30              THE  SEA  LI0tNS.
help a fellow-creature who is suffering.: He would not
think of demanding any pay."
" Yes, that is true. I will say this for Gar'ner, that he
is as reasonable a young man, when he does an odd job, as
any one I know.  I like to employ him."
Mary Understood this very well. It amounted to neither
more nor less, than the deacon's perfect consciousness that
the youth had, again and again, given him  his time and
his services gratuitously; and that too, more than once,
under circumstances when it would have been quite proper
that he should look for a remuneration.  A slight colour
stole over the face of the niece,' as memory recalled to her
mind these different occasions.  Was that -sensitive blush
owing to her perceiving the besetting weakness of one who
stood in the light of a parent to her, and towards whom
she endeavoured to feel the affection of a child? We shall
not gainsay this, so far as a portion of the feeling which
produced that blush was concerned; but, certain it is, that
the thought that Roswell. had exerted himself to oblige her
uncle, obtruded itself somewhat vividly among her other
recollections.
"Well, sir," the niece resumed, after another brief,pause, " we can send for Roswell, if you think it best, and
ask him to do the poor man this act of kindness."
"Your messengers after doctors are always in- such a
hurry! I dare say, Gar'ner would think it necessary to
hire a horse to cross Shelter Island, and then perhaps a
boat to get across to the -Iarbour. If no'boat was to be
-found, it might be another horse to gallop away round the
head of the Bay. Why, five dollars would scarce meet the
cost of such a race!"
"-If five dollars were needed, Roswell would pay them
out of his own pocket, rather than ask another to -assist
him in doing an act of charity.  But, no horse will be necessary; the whale-boat is at the wharf, and is ready for
use, at any moment."
"True, 1 had forgotten the whale-boat. If that is home,
the doctor might be brought across at a reasonable rate;especially if Gar'ner will volunteer. I dare say Daggett's
effects will pay the bill for attendance, since they have answered, as yet, to meet the Widow White's charges. As




THE  SEA LIONS.                  31
I blve, here comes Gar'ner, at this moment, and just as we
want him."
"I knew of no other to ask to cross the bays, sir, and
sent for Roswell before you returned. Had you not got
back, as you did, I should have taken on myself the duty
ofsending for the doctor."
" In which case, girl, you would have made yourself
liable. I have too many demands on my means, to be
scattering dollars broadcast.  But, here is Gar'ner, and I
dare say all will be made right."
Gardiner now joined the uncle and niece, who had held
this conversation in the porch, having hastened up from
the schooner the instant he received Mary's summons. He
was rewarded by a kind look and a friendly shake of the
hand, each of which was slightly more cordial than those
that prudent and thoughtful young woman was accustomed
to bestow on him. He saw that Mary was a little earnest
in her manner, and looked curious, as well as interested,
to learn why he had been summoned at all. Sunday was
kept so rigidly at the deacon's, that the young man did not
dare visit the house until after the sun had set; the New
England practice of commencing the Sabbath of a Saturday evening, and bringing it to a close at the succeeding
sunset, prevailing among most of the people of Suffolk, the
Episcopalians forming nearly all the exceptions to the usage.
Sunday evening, consequently, was in great request for
visits, it being the favourite time for the young people to
meet, as they-were not only certain to be unemployed, but
to be in their best. Roswell Gardiner was in the practice
of visiting- Mary Pratt on Sunday evenings; but he would
almost as soon think of desecrating a church, as think of
entering the deacon's abode, on the Sabbath, until after
sunset, or "'sundown," to use the familiar Americanism
that is commonly applied to this hour of the day. Here
he, was, now, however, wondering, and anxious to learn
why he had been sent for.
" Roswell," said Mary, earnestly, slightly colouring again
as she spokes'" we have a great favour to ask. You know
the poor old sailor who has been' staying at the Widow
White's, this month or more-he is now very low; so low,
ve think he ought to have better advice than can be found
3




32              T.HE.SEA LI O  S.
on Oyster Pond, and we.wish to get Dr. Sage over front
the Harbour.  How to do it has been the question, when
t thought of you. If you could take the whale-boat and
go across, the poor man might have the benefit of the doe..-tor's.advice in the course of a few hours."
"Yes," put in the uncle, " and I shall charge nothing
for the use of the boat; so that, if you volunteer, Gar'ner,
it will leave so much towards settling up the man's accounts, when settling day comes."
Roswell Gardiner understood both uncle and niece perfectly. The intense selfishness of the first was no more a
secret to him..than was the entire disinterestedness of the
last. H'e gazed a moment, in fervent admiration, at Mary;
then he turned'to the deacon, and professed his readiness
to " volunteer."  Knowing the man so well, he took care
distinctly to express the word, so as to put the mind of this
votary of Mammon at ease.
"Gar'ner will volunteer, then," rejoined. the uncle, " and
I shall charge nothing for the use of the boat. This is'doing as we would be done by,' and is all right, considering that Daggett is sick and among strangers. The wind
is fair, or nearly fair, to go and to come back, and you'll
make a short trip of it. Yes, it will cost nothing, and may
do the poor man good."
"Now, go at once, Roswell," said Mary, in an entreating manner; "and show the same skill in managing the
boat that you did the day you won the race against the
Harbour oarsmen."
"I will do all a man can, to oblige you, Mary, as well
as to serve the sick.  If Dr. Sage should not be-' at home,
am I to look for another physician, Mr. Pratt?"
"Sage must be at home-we can employ no other. Your
old, long-established physicians understand how to consider
practice, and don't make mistakes-by the way, Gar'ner,
you needn't mention my name in the business, at all. Just
say that a sick man, at the Widow White's, needs his services, and that you had volunteered to take him across.
That will bring him —I know the man."
Again Gardiner understood what the deacon meant
He was just as desirous of not paying the physician as of
aot paying the messenger. Mary understood him, too




THE SEA LIONS.                    33
and, with a face still more sad than anxiety had previously
Mnade it, she walked into the house, leaving her uncle and
lover in the porch. After a few more injunctions from the
former, in the way of prudent precaution, the latter departed, hurrying down to the water-side, in order to take
to the boat.
CHAPTER III.
"All that glisters is not gold,
Oftan have you heard thlat told;
Many a man his life hath sold,
But my outside to behold."
Merchant of Venice.
No sooner was Deacon Pratt left alone, than he hastened
to the humble dwelling of the Widow White. The disease
of Daggett was a general decay that was not attended with
much suffering. He was now seated in a homely armchair, and was able to converse.  He was not aware, indeed, of the real danger of his case, and still had hopes of
surviving many years.. The deacon came in at the door,
just as the widow had passed through it, on her way to
visit another crone, who lived hard by, and with whom she
was in the-constant habit of consulting. She had seen the
deacon in the distance, and took that occasion to run across
the road, having a sort of instinctive notion that her presence was not required when the two men conferred together.  What was the subject of their frequent private
Communications, the Widow White did not exactly know;
but what she imagined, will in part appear in her discourse
with her neighbour, the Widow Stone.
" Here's the deacon, ag'in!" cried the Widow White,
as she bolted hurriedly into her friend's presence.  "This
makes the third time he has been at my house since yesterday morning. What can he mean?"
"Oh! I dare say, Betsy,-he means no more than to
visit the sick, as he pretends is the reason of his many
visits."




34              THE  SEA  LIONS.
"You forget it is Sabba' day!" added the Widow White
with emphasis.
"The better day, the better.deed, Betsy."
" I know that; but it's dreadful often for a man to viswi
the sick-three times in twenty-four hours!"
"Yes;'t would have been more nat'ral for a woman, a
body must own," returned the Widow Stone, a little drily.
"Had the deacon been a woman, I dare say, Betsy, you
would not have thought so much of his visits."
"I should think nothing of them at all," rejoined the
sister widow, innocently enough.  " But it is dreadful odd
in a m.an to be visiting about among the sick so much —
and he a deacon of the meeting!"
"Yes, it is not as comnmon as it might be, particularly
among deacons.  But, come in, Betsy, and I will show
you the text from which minister preached this morning.
It's well worth attending to, for it touches on our forlorn
state."  Hereupon, the two relicts'entered an inner room,
where we shall leave them to discuss the merits of the ser:mon, interrupted by many protestations on the part of the
Widow White, concerning the "dreadful" character of
Deacon Pratt's many visits to her cottage, " Sabba' days"
as well as week days.
in the meanwhile, the interview between the deacon,
himself, and - the sick mariner, had its course. After the
first salutations, and the usual inquiries, the visiter, with
some parade of manner, alluded to the fact that he had
sent for a physician for the other's benefit.
"I did it of my own head," added the deacon; " orj 1
might better say, of my own heart. It was unpleasant to
me to witness your sufferings, without doing something to
alleviate them. To alleviate sorrow, and pain, and the
throes of conscience, is one of the most pleasant of all the
Christian offices. Yes, I have sent young Gar'ner across
the bays, to the Harbour; and three or four hours hence
we may look for him back, with Dr. Sage in his boat."
"' I only hope I shall have the means to pay for all this
expense and trouble, deacon," returned Daggett, in a sort
of doubting way, that, for a' moment, rendered his friend
exceedingly uncomfortable.  "Go, I know I must, sooner
or later; but could I only live.to get to the Vineyard,




TEE  SEA- LIOaNS.                 35
t would be found that my share of the old homestead would
make up for all my wants.  I may live to Zee the end of
the other business."
Among the other tales of Daggett, was one which said
that he had never yet received his share of his father's propertyv; an account that was true enough, though the truth
might have shown that the old man had left nothing worth
dividing. He had been a common mariner, like the son,
and had left behind him a common mariner's estate.  The
deacon mused a moment, and then he took an occasion to
advert to the subject that had now been uppermost in his
thoughts ever since he had been in the habit of holding
secret conferences with the sick man.  What that subject
was, will appear in' the course of the conversation that
ensued.
"Have you thought of the chart, Daggett," asked the
deacon, "and given an eye to that journal?"
" Both, sir. Your kindness to me has been so great, that
I am not a man apt to forget it."
" I wish you would show me, yoursel-f, the precise places
on the chart, where them islands are to be found. There
is nothing like seeing a thing with one's own eyes."
"You forget my oath, deacon Pratt.  Every man on us
took his bible oath not to point out the position of the
islands, until a'ter the year 1820. Then, each and all on
us is at liberty to do as he pleases.  But, the chart is in
my chest, and not only the islands, but the key, is so plainly
laid down, that any mariner could find'em.  With that
chest, however, I cannot part so long as I live. Get me
well, and I will sail in the Sea Lion, and tell your captain
Gar'ner all he will have occasion to know. The man's
fortune will be made who first gets to either of them places."
" Yes, I can imagine that, easy enough, from your accounts, Daggett — but, how am I to be certain that some
other vessel will not get the start of me?"'" Because the' secret is now my own.  There was but
seven on us, in that brig, all told. Of them seven, four
died at the islands of the fever, homeward bound; and of
the other three, the captain was drowned in the squall I
told you of, when he was washed overboard. That left
only Jack Thompson and me; and Jack, I think must be
4




'36             THE  SEA  LIONS.
he very man whose death I see'd, six months since, as be
ing killed by a whale on the False Banks."
"Jack Thompson is so common a name, a body never
knows. Besides, if he was killed by that whale, he may
have told the secret to a dozen. before the accident."
"There's his oath ag'in it. Jack was sworn, as well as
all on us, and he was a man likely to stand by what he
swore to.' This was none of your custom-house oaths, of
which a chap might take a'dozen of a morning, and all
should be false; but it was an oath that put a seaman on
his honour, since it was a good-fellowship affair, all round."
Deacon Pratt did not tell Daggett that Thompson might
have as good reasons for disregarding the oath as he had
himself; but he'thought it. These are things that no wise
man utters on such occasions; and this opinion touching
the equality of the obligation of that oath was one of them.
" There is another hold upon Jack," continued Daggett,
after reflecting a moment.  "I;e never could make any
fist of latitude and longitude at all, and he kept no journal.
Now, should he get it wrong, he and his friends might
hunt a year without finding either of the places."
" You think there was no mistake in the pirate's account
of that key, and of the buried treasure?" asked the deacon,
anxiously..
" I would swear to the truth of what he said, as freely as
if I had seen the box myself. They was necessitated, as
you may suppose, or they never would have left so much
gold, in sich an uninhabited place; but leave it they did,
on the word of a dying man."
" Dying? —You mean the pirate, I suppose?"
"'T'o be sure I do. We was shut up in the same prison,
and we talked the matter over at least twenty times, before
he was swung off. When they was satisfied I had nothing
to do with the pirates, I was cleared; and I was on my way
to the Vineyard, to get some craft or other, to go a'ter
these two treasures (for one is just as much a treasure as
t'other) when I was put ashore here. It's much the same
to me, whether the craft sails from Oyster Pond or from
the Vineyard."
" Of course.  Well, as much to oblige you, and to put
yonur mind at rest. as anything.else, 1've bought this Sea




THE  SEA  LIONS.                   37
Lion, and engaged young Roswell Gar'ner to go out in her,
as her master.  She'll be ready to sail in a fortnight, and,
if things turn out as you say, a good voyage will she make.
All interested in her will have reason to rejoice. I see but
one thing needful just now, and that is that you' should give
me the chart at once,. in order that I may study it well, before the schooner sails.''
"Do you mean t6 make the v'y'ge yourself, deacon?"
asked Daggett, in some surprise.
"Not in person, certainly," was the answer.  "1'm
getting somewhat too old to leave home for so long a time;
and, though born and brought up in sight of salt-water,
I've never tried it beyond a trip to York, or one to Boston.
Still, I shall have nry property in the adventure, and it's
nat'ral to keep an eye on that.. Now, the chart well studied
before-hand would be much more useful, it seems to me,
than it can possibly be, if taken up at a late hour."
" There will be time enough for captain Gar'ner to overhaul his chart well, afore he reaches either of his ports,"
returned' the: mariner, evasively.  "If I sail with him, as I
suppose I must, nothing will be easier than for me to give
all the courses and distances."
This reply produced'a long and brooding silence.  By
this time, the reader will have got a clue to the nature of
the secret that was discussed so much, and so often, between these two men. Daggett, finding himself sick, poor,
and friendless, among strangers, had early cast about him
for the means of obtaining an interest with those who
might serve him.  He had soon got an insight into the
character of Deacon Pratt, from the passing remarks of the
Widow White, who was induced to allude to the uncle, in
consequence of the charitable visits of the niece. One day,
when matters appeared to be at a very low ebb with him,
and shortly after he had been put ashore, the sick mariner
requested an interview with the deacon himself. The request had been reluctantly granted; but, during the visit,
Daggett had managed so well to whet his visiter's appetite
for gain, that henceforth there was no trouble in procuring
the deacon's company. Little by little had Daggett let out
his facts, always keeping enough in reserve to render himself necessary, unti' he had got: his new acquaintance in




38              THE  SEA  LIONS.
the highest state of feverish excitement.  The schooner
was purchased, and all the arrangements necessary to het
outfit were pressed forward as fast as prudence would at
all allow.'The chart, and the latitude and longitude, were
the circumstances over which Daggett retained the control
These he kept to himself, though he -averred that he had
laid down on the charts that were in his chest the two important points which had been the subjects of his communications.
Although this man had been wily in making his revelations, and had chosen his confidant with caution and sagacity, most of that which he related was true.  He had
belonged to a sealer that had been in a very high southern
latitude, where it had made some- very important discoveries, touching the-animals that formed the objects of its
search. It was possible to fill a vessel in those islands in a,
few weeks; anrid the master of the sealer, Daggett having
been his mate, -had made all his people swear on their
"bible oaths" not to reveal the facts, except under prescribed circumstances.  His- own vessel was full when he
made the discoveries, but misfortune befel her on her
homeward-bound passage, until she was herself totally lost
in the West Indies, and that in a part of the ocean where
she had no business to be.
In consequence of these several calamities, Daggett and
one more man were the sole living depositories of the important information. These men separated, and, as stated,
Daggett had reason to think that his former shipmate had
been recently killed by a whale.  The life and movements
of a sailor are usually as eccentric as the career of a comet.
After the loss of the sealing-vessel; Daggett remained in the
West Indies and on the Spanish Main for some time, until
falling into evil company he was imnprisoned on a charge
of piracy, in company with one who better deserved the
imputation. While in the same cell, the pirate had made a
relation to Daggett of all the incidents of a very eventful
life. Among other things revealed was the fact that, on a
certain occasion, he and two others had deposited a very
considerable -amount of treasure on a key that he described
very minutely, and which he now bestowed on Daggett as
some compensation for his present unmerited sufferings,




THE SEA LiONS.                    39
his companions having both been drowned by the upsetting
of their boat on the return from the key in question. Subsequently, this pirate had been executed, and Daggett
liberated.  He was not able to get to the key without
making friends and confidants on whom he could rely; and
he-was actually making the best of his way to Martha's
Vineyard- with that intent, when-put ashore on Oyster
Pond. In most of that which this man had related to the
deacon, therefore, he had told the truth, though it was the
truth:embellished, as is so apt to be the case with men of
vulgar minds. He might have been misled by the narrative
of the pirate, but it was his own opinion that he had not
been: The man was,a Scot, prudent, wary, and sagacious;
and in the revelations he made he appeared to be governed
by a conviction that his own course was run, and that it
was best that his secret should not die with him. Daggett
had rendered him certain services, too, and gratitude might
have had some influence.
" My mind has been much exercised with this matter of
the hidden gold," resumed the deacon, after the long pause
already mentioned.  "You will remember that there may
be lawful owners of that money, should Gar'ner even succeed in finding it."
"'T would be hard for'em to prove their claims, sir, if
what McGosh told me was true. Accordin' to. his account,
the gold came from all sides-starboard and larboard, as a
body might say-and it was jumbled together, and so mixed,
that a young girl could not pick out her lover's keepsake
tfrom among the other pieces.'T was the'arnin's of threb
years cruisin', as I understood him to -say; and much of the
stuff had been exchanged in port, espbcially to get the custom-house officers and king's officers out of its wake.
There's king's officers among them  bloody Spaniards,
Deacon Pratt, all the same as among the English."
" Be temperate in your language, friend; a rough speech
is unseemly, particularly of the Lord's day."
Daggett rolled the tobacco over his tongue, and his eyes
twinkled with a sort of leer, which indicated that the fellow
was not without some humour. He submitted patiently to
the rebuke, however, making no remonstrance- against its
reception.
4*




40              THE  SEA  LIONS.
$ "No, no," he added presently, " a starn chase, they say,
is a.long chase; and the owners of them  doubloons, if
owners they can now be called, must be out of sight, long
before this. Accordin'to McGosh, some of the gold r'aally
captured had passed back through the hands of them that
sent it to sea, and they did not know their own children!"
"It is certainly hard to ideptify coin, and it would be a
bold man who should stand up, in open court, and make
oath to its being the same he had once held. I have heard
of the same gold's having answered the purposes of twenty
banks, one piece being so like another."
" Ay, ay, sir, gold is gold; and any of it is good enough
for me, though doubloons is my favourites. When a fellow
has got half-a-dozen doubloons alongside of his ribs, he can
look the landlord full in the eye; and no one thinks of
saying to sich as he,' it's time to think of shippinig ag'in."
From the nature of this discourse, it will not be easy for
the reader to imagine the real condition of Daggett. At
the very moment he was thus conversing of money, and
incidentally. manifesting his expectations of accompanying
Roswell Gardiner in the expedition that was about to sail,
the man had not actually four-and-twenty hours of life in
him.  Mary Pratt had foreseen his true'state, accustomed
as she was to administer to the wants of the dying; but
no one else.appeared to be aware of it, not even the deacon
It was true that the fellow spoke, as:it might be, firom his
throat only, and that his voice was hollow, and sometimes
reduced to a whisper; but he ascribed this, himself, to the
circumstance that he had taken a cold. Whether the deacon believed this account or not, it might be difficult to
say; but he appeared to give it full credit.  Perhaps his
mind was so much occupied with the subject of his discussions with Daggett, that it did not sufficiently advert to the
real condition of the man.
Twice, that afternoon, did Deacon Pratt go between the
cottage of the Widow White and his own dwelling. As often
did the relict fly across the way to express her wonder to
the Widow:Stone, at the frequency of the rich man's visits.
The second time that he came was when he saw the whale.
boat rounding the end of Shelter Island, and he perceived,
by means of his glass, that Dr. Sage was in it. At this




THE  SEA  LIONS.                  41
sight the.deacon hurried off to the cottage again, having
something to say to Daggett that could no longer be delayed.
"The whale-boat will soon be in," he observed, as soon
as he had taken his seat, "and we shall shortly have the
doctor here.  That young Gar'ner does what he has to do,
always, with a jerk! There was no such haste, but he
seems to be ever in a hurry!"
"Do what is to be done at once, and then lie by, is the
sailor's rule, deacon," rejoined the mariner.  " Squalls,
and gusts, and reefin', and brailin' up, and haulin' down,
won't wait for the seaman's leisure. ~ His work must be
done at once, or it will not be done at all. I'm not afeard
of the doctor; so let hiim come as soon as he pleases. Medicine can't hurt a body, if he don't take it."
"There's one -thing I wish to say to you, Daggett, before Dr. Sage comes in. Talking too much may excite
you, especially talking of matters that are of interest; and
you may give him a false impression of your state, should
Yyou get the pulse up, and the cheek flushed, by overtalking."
"I understand you, deacon.  My secret is my secret,
and no.doctor shall get it out of me as long as I know what
1 say. I'm  not so friendly with them, as to seek counsel
among doctors."
"Then it's the Lord's day," added the Pharisee, "and
it is not seemly to dwell too much on worldly interests, on
the Sabbath."
A novice might have been surprised, after what had
passed, at the exceeding coolness with which the deacon ut.
tered this sentiment. Daggett was not so in'the least, however; for he had taken the measure of his new confidant's
conscience, and had lived long enough to know how marked
was the difference between professions and practice/ Nothing, indeed, is more common than to meet with those
who denounce that in others, which is of constant occurrence with themselves; and who rail at vices that are so
interwoven with their own moral being, as to compose integral portions of their existence.  As for the deacon, he
really thought it would be urseemly, and of evil example,
for Daggett to converse with Dr. Sage, touching these




42              THEE SE'A  LIONS.
doubloons, of the Lord's day; while he had felt no scruples himself, a short hour before, to make them the theme
of a long and interesting discussion, in his own person.
It might not repay us for the trouble, to look for' the salve
that the worthy man applied to his own conscience, by way
of reconciling the apparent contradiction; though it pro.
bably was connected with some fancied and especial duty
on his part, of taking care of the sick man's secrets. Sickness, it is well known, forms the apology for many an error,
both of omission and commission.
Dr. Sage now arrived;'a shrewd, observant, intelligent
man, who nad formerly represented the district in which
he lived, in Copgress.' He was skilful in his profession,
and soon made up his mind concerning the state. of his
patient.  As the deacon never left him for a moment, to
him he first communicated his opinion, after the visit, as
the two walked back towards the well-known dwelling of
the Pratts.
"This poor man is' in the last stages of a decline," said
the physician,'coolly, " and medicine can do him no good.
He may live a -month; though it would' not surprise me to
hear of his death in an hour."
" Do you think his time so short!" exclaimed the'deacon.
"1 was in hopes he might last until the Sea Lion goes out,
and that a voyage might help to set him up."
" Nothing will ever'set him up again, deacon, you ma)
depend' on that. No sea-voyage -will do him any good;
and it is better that he'should remain on shore, on account
of the greater comforts he will get. Does he belong on
Oyster Pond?"
" He comes from, somewhere east," answered tihe deacon, careful not to let the doctor know the place whence
the-s.tranger had come, though to little purpose, as will
presently be seen.  "He has neither friend nor acquaintance? here; though I should think his effects sufficient to
meet all charges."
" Should they not be, he is welcome to my visit," answered -the doctor, promptly; for he well understood the
deacon's motive in making the remark.  "I have enjoyed
a pleasant sail across the bays with young Gar'ner, who
has promised to take me back again. I like boating,




THE  SEA  LIONS.                  43
and am always better for one of, these sailing excursions.
Could I carry my patients along, half of them would be
benefited by the pure air and the exercise."
"It's a grateful thing to meet with one of your temperament, doctor-but Daggett-"
"Is this man named Daggett?" interrupted the physician.
"JI believe that is what he calls himself, though a body
never is certain of what such people say."
"That's true, deacon; your rambling, houseless sailor
is commonly a great liar-at least so have I always found
him.  Most of their log-books will not do to read; or, for
that matter, to be written out, in full.  But if this man's
namneis really Daggett, he must come from the Vineyard.
There.are Daggetts there in scores; yes, he must be a
Vineyard man.'.'
"' There are Daggetts in Connecticut, as I know, of a
certainty-"
"We all know that, for it is a name of weight there;
but the Vineyard is the cradle of the breed. The'man has
a Vineyard look about himj..too. I dare say, now,'he has
not been home for many a day."
The deacon was in an agony. He was menaced with
the very thing he was in the hope of staving off, or a discussion on the subject of the sick man's previous, life.
The doctor was so mercurial and quick of apprehension.,
that, once fairly on the scent, he was nearly certain he
would extract every thing from the patient_.  This was the
principal reason why the deaconwdid' not wish to send for
him; the expense, though a seridous objection to one sc
niggardly, being of secondary consideration when so many
doubloons were at stake.  It was necessary, however, to
talk on boldly, as any appearance of hesitation might excite the doctor's distrust. The answers, therefore,.came
instantaneously.
"It may be as you say, doctor," returned the deacon;'for them Vineyard folks (Anglice folk) are great wan.
derers."
" That are they.   I had occasion to pass a day there, a
few years since, on my way to Boston,- and I found five
women 6n the island to one man. - It must be a particuarly conscientious person who could pass a week there.




44              THE SEA  LIONS.
and escape committing- the crime of bigamy.  As for you,
bachelors, I have heard that a poor wretch of that descrip
tion, who unluckily found himself cast ashore there, was
married three times the same morning."
As the doctor was a little of a wag, deacon Pratt did not
deem it necessary religiously to believe all that now escaped
him; but he was glad to keep him in this vein, in order to
prevent his getting again on the track of Daggett's early
life.' The device succeeded, Martha's Vineyard being a
standing joke for all in that quarter of the world, on the
subject of the ladies.
Mary was in the porch to receive her uncle and the
physician. It was unnecessary for her to ask any questions,
for her speaking countenance said all that was required, in
order to obtain an answer.
"' He's in a bad way, certainly, young lady," observed
the doctor, taking a seat on one of the benches, " and I
can give no hope.'How long he may live, is another matter. If he has friends whom he wishes to see, or if he has
any affairs to settle, the truth should be told him at once,
aind no time lost."
" He knows nothing of his friends," interrupted the
deacon, quite thrown off his guard by his own eagerness,
and unconscious, at the moment, of the manner in which
he was committing himself on the subject of a knowledge
of the sick man's birth-place, "not having been on the
Vineyard, or heard from there, since he first left home,
quite fifty years since."
The doctor saw the contradiction, and it set him thinking, and conjecturing, but he was too discreet to betray
himself. An explanation there probably was, and he trusted
to time to ascertain it.
"What has become of captain Gar'ner?" he asked, looking curiously around, as if he expected to find him tied to
the niece's apron-string.
Mary blushed, but she was too innocent to betray any
real confusion.
"He has gone back to the schooner, in order to have the
boat ready, for your return."
" And that return must take place, young lady, as soon
as I have drunk two cups- of your tea. I have patients at




THE SEA LIONS.                    45
the Harbour who must yet be visited this evening, and the.
wind goes down with the sun. Let the poor man take the
draughts I have left for him — they will soothe him, and
help his breathing-more than this my skill can do nothing
for him. Deacon, you need say nothing of this visit -I
am sufficiently repaid by the air, the sail, and Miss Mary's
welcome. I perceive that she is glad to see me, and that
is something, between so young a woman and so old a
man.  And now for the two cups of tea."
The tea was drunk, and the, doctor took his leave,
shaking his head as he repeated to the niece, that the
medical science could do nothing for the sick man.
"Let his friends know his situation at once, deacon,"
he said, as they walked towards the wharf, where the
whale-boat was all ready for a start.  " There is not an
hour to lose. Now I think of it, the Flash, captain Smith,
is to take a cargo of oil to Boston, and sails to-morrow. I
can write a line by her, as it is ten to one she will go into
the Hole.  All our craft get into that Hole, or into Tarpaulin Cove, before they venture across the Shoals; and a
letter addressed to any person of the name of Daggett
might find the right man. I'll write it this very evening."
The announcement of this intention threw the deacon
into a cold-sweat, but he did not think it prudent to say
aught against it. He had bought the Sea Lion, engaged
Roswell Gardiner, and otherwise expended a large sum of
money, in the expectation of handling those doubloons, to
say nothing of the furs; and here was a chance of all his
calculations being defeated by the interference of impertinent and greedy relatives! -There was no remedy but patience, and this the deacon endeavoured to exercise.
Deacon Pratt did not accompany the doctor beyond the
limits of his own orchard. It was not deemed seemly for a
member of the meeting to be seen walking out on the Sabbath, and this was remembered in season to prevent neighbourly comments.  It is true, the doctor might furnish an
apology; but, your strictly religious people, when they un..
dertake the care of other people's consciences, do not often
descend to these particulars.
No sooner had Gardiner and the physician re-embarked
than the deacon returned to the cottage of the Widow




A6              THE SEA LION S.
White. Here he had another long and searching discourse
with the sick mariner. Poor Daggett was wearied with
the subject; but Dr. Sage's predictions of an early termi
nation of the. case, and the possibility that kinsmen might
cross over from the'Vineyard,' in order to learn what the
long absent man had inll his possession, acted on him as
keen incentives. By learning the most material facts now,
the Sea Lion might get so far ahead of all competitors as
to secure the prizes, even should Daggett let others into
the secret, and start another vessel on the same expedition.
His own schooner was nearly ready for sea, whereas time
would be needed in order to make an entire outfit.
But Daggett did not appear to be disposed to be more
communicative than heretofore.  He went over the narrative of the discovery of the sealing-island, and gave a gra
phic account of the number and tame condition of the
animals who frequented it. A man might walk in their
midst without giving the smallest alarm. In a word, all
that a gang of good hands would have to do, would be to
kill, and skin, and secure the oil. It would be like picking up dollars on a sea-beach. Sadly! sadly! indeed, was
the deacon's cupidity excited by this account; a vivid picture of whales, or seals, having some such effect on the
imagination of a true Suffolk county man, or more properly on that of an East-ender, as those who live beyond
Riverhead are termed, as a glowing account of a prairie
covered with wheat has on that of a Wolverine or a Buck
eye; or an enumeration of cent per cent. has on the feel
ings of a Wall-street broker. Never before had Deacon
Pratt be'en so much "exercised" with a love of Mammon.
The pirate's tale, which was also recapitulated with much
gusto, scarce excited him as much as Daggett's glowing
acecounlt of the number, condition, and size of the seals.
-o0tning was withheld but the latitudes and longitudes.
No art of the deacon's, and he practised many,:could ex.
tort from the mariner these most material facts, without
which all the rest were useless; and the old man worked
himself into a fever almost as high as that which soon
came over Daggett, in the effort.to come at these facts-but
all in vain.
At that hour the pulse of the sick man usually quicken



THE  SEA LIONS.                   47
ed; but, on this occasion, it fairly thumped.  He had
excited himself, as well as his listener; and the inconsiZ
derate mapner in which both had yielded up their energies
to these enticing images of wealth, contributed largely to
increase the evil. At length, exhaustion came to put an
end to the scene, which was getting to be dramatic as well
as revolting.
So conscious was the deacon, on returning home that
evening, that his mind was not in such a condition as it
behoved him to keep it in on the Lord's Day, that he was
afraid to encounter the placid eye of his devout and singleminded niece.  Instead of joining her, and uniting in the
services that were customary at that hour, he walked in
the adjoining orchard'until near nine o'clock.  Mammon
was uppermost in the place of the Deity, and habit offered
too strong a barrier to permit him to bring, as it were. the
false god openly into the presence of.the true.
CHAPTER IV.
"C Oh! mourn not for them, their grief is o'er,
Oh! weep not for them, they weep no more;
For deep is their sleep, though cold and hard
Their pillow may be in the old kirk-yard." 
BAYLY."
EARLY on the succeeding morning, the whole household
of deacon Pratt, himself included, were up and doing. It
was as the sun came.up out of the waters that Mary and
her uncle met in the porch, as if to greet each other.
"Yonder comes the Widow White, and seemingly in a
great hurry," said the niece, anxiously; "' I am afraid her
patient is worse!"
" He seemed better when I left him last evening, though
a little tired with. talking," "returned the uncle. " The-man
woutld talk, do all I could to stop him. I wanted to get
but two or three words from him, and he used a thousand,
5             4




48              TIHE  SEA  LiONS..
without once using the few I wished most to hear. A talking man is that Daggett, I can tell you, Mary!"
"He'1' never talk ag'in, deacon!" exclaimed the Widow
White, who had got so near- as to hear the concluding
words of the last speaker —" He'll never say good or evil
more!"
The deacon was so confounded as to be speechless. - As
for Mary, she expressed her deep regrets that the summons
should have been so sudden, and that the previous preparation was so small; matters that gave her far more concern
than any other' consideration.  They were not long left to.
conjectures, the voluble widow soon supplying all the facts
that had occurred. It appeared that Daggett died in the
night, the widow having found him stiff and cold on visiting his bed-side a few minutes before. That this somewhat
unexpected event, as to'the time at least, was hastened by
the excitement of the conversation mentioned, there can
be little doubt, though no comment was made on the circumstance. The immediate cause of death was suffocation
from the effects of suppuration, as so often occurs in rapid
consumption.
It would be representing deacon Pratt as a worse man
than he actually was, to say that this sudden death had no
effect on his feelings. For a short time it brought him
back to a sense of his own age, and condition, and prospects. For half an hour these considerations troubled him,
but the power of Mammon gradually resutmed its sway, and
the unpleasant images slowly disappeared in others that he
found more agreeable. Then he began seriously to bethink
him of what the circumstances requited to be done.
As there was nothing unusual in the death of Daggett,
the investigations' of the coroner were not required.  It
was clearly a natural, though a sudden death. It remained,
therefore, only to give directions about the funeral, and to
have an eye to the safe-keeping of the effects. of the deceased. The' deacon assumed the duty of taking charge
of everything. The chest of Daggett was removed to'his
house for safe-keeping, the key having been taken from the
pocket.of his vest, and the neoessary orders were given for
the final disposition of the body.
The deacon had another serious, and even painful half




THE  SEA  LIONS.                  49
hour, when he first looked upon the corpse. There it lay,
a senseless shell, deserted by its immortal tenant, and totally unconscious of that subject which had so lately and
so intensely interested them  both. It appeared as if the
ghastly countenance expressed its sense of the utter worth.
lessness of all earthly schemes of wealth and happiness.
Eternity seemed stamped upon the pinched and sunken
features; not eternity in the sense of imperishable matter,
but in the sense of the fate of man. Had all the gold.of
the Indies lain within his reach, the arm of Daggett was
now powerless to touch it. His eye could no longer gloat
upon treasure, nor any part of his corporeal' system profit
by its possession.  A,more'striking commentary on the
vanity of human wishes could not, just then, have been
offered to the consideration of the deacon.  His moral
being was very strangely constituted. From early childhood
he had been accustomed to the cant of religion; and, in
many instances, impressions had been made on him that
produced effects that it was easy to confound with the
fruits that real piety brings forth.: This is a result that we
often find in a state of society in which appearances are
made to take the place of reality.  What is more, it is a
result that we may look for equally among the formalists
of established sects, and among the descendants of those
who once deserted the homes of their fathers in order to
escape from the impiety of so meretricious an abuse of the
substance of godliness. In the case of the latter, appearances occupy the mind more than that love of God which
is the one great test of human conversion from sin to an
improving state of that holihess, without which we are told
no man shall see his Creator; without which, indeed, no
man could endure to look upon-that dread. Being face to
face.
The deacon had all the forms of godliness in puritanical
perfection. He had never taken the " name of his God in
vain," throughout the course of a long life; but, he had
abstained from this revolting and gratuitous sin, more because it was a part of the teachings- of his youth so to do,
and because the neighbours would have been shocked at
its c6mmission, than because he felt the deep reverence for
his Maker, which it became the iasignificant being tha;




50              THE SEA LIONS.
was the work of his hand to entertain; and which would:
of itself, most effectually have prevented any wanton use
of his holy name, let the neighbours feel or think as they
might on the subject. In this way Deacon Pratt might be
said to have respected most of the commands of the decalogue; not, however, because the spirit of God impelled
him; through love, to reverence and obey, but because he
had been brought up in a part of the country where it was
considered seemly and right to be moral, to the senses, at
least, if not to the all-seeing eye above. It was in this way
that the deacon had arrived at his preferment in the meeting.  He had all the usual sectarian terms at the end of
his tongue; never uttered a careless expression; was regular at meeting; apparently performed all the duties that his
church required of its professors, in the way of mere ieligious observances; yet was he as far from  being in that
state which St. Paul has described succinctly as " for me
to live in Christ, and to die is gain," as if he. had been a
pagan.  It was not the love of God that was active in his
soul, but the love of self; and he happened to exhibit his
passion under these restrained and deceptive forms, simply
because he had been born and educated in a state of society where they composed an integral part of existence.
Covetousness was the deacon's besetting sin; and, as it is
a vice that may be pretty well concealed, with a little attention to appearances, it was the less likely to expose him
to comments than almost any other sin. It is true, that
the neighbourhood sometimes fancied him'close,' or, as
they expressed it," cluss," and men got to look sharply to
their own interests in their dealings with him; but, on the
whole, there was perhaps more reason to apprehend, in
*such a community, that the example of so good a man
should be accepted as authority, than that his acts should
impeach his character, or endanger his standing.
Very different were the situation, feelings, and motives
of the niece. She devoutly loved God, and, as a conse.
quence, all of those whom he had created, and placed
around her. Her meek and gentle spirit led her to worship in sincerity and truth, and all that she thought, said,
and did, was under the correction of the principles such
motives could best produce. Her woman's love for Ros.




THE  SEA  LIONS.                   51
well Gardiner alone troubled her otherwise happy and
peaceful existence.  That, indeed, had caused. her -more
than once to falter in her way;. but she struggled with the
weakness, and had strong hopes of being able to overcome
It. To accept of any other man as a husband, was, in her
eyes, impossible; with the feelings she was fully conscious
of entertaining towards him, it would have been bothl indelicate and unjust: but, to accept him, while he regarded
the Redeemer as only man, however pure and exalted, she
felt would be putting herself willingly, or wilfully, into the
hands of the great enemy of her salvation. Often and often
had she prayed for her lover, even more devoutly, and with
hotter tears, than she had ever prayed for herself; but, so
far as she could discoter, without any visible fruits.  His
opinions remained unchanged, and his frank nature forbade
him from concealing their state from Mary. In this way,
then, was unhappiness stealing on the early and innocent
hours of one who might, otherwise, have been so contented
and blessed. It formed a somewhat peculiar feature in
her case, that her uncle favoured the views of her suitor.
This rendered the trials of the niece so much the more
severe, as she had no. other judgment to sustain her than
her own, fortified as that was, however, by the consciou~sness of right, and the support of that great power which
never deserts the faithful.
Such was the state of feeling among some of the principal actors of our tale, when the sudden death of Daggett
occurred. The body was not removed from the house of
the Widow White, but the next morning it was conveyed
to the "grave-yard"-' church-yard' would have sounded
too episcopal-and interred in a corner that was bestowed
on the unhonoured and unknown.  It was then, only, that
the deacon believed he was the sole depository of the important-secrets.  He had the charts in his possession, and
no. more revelations could pass the lips of Daggett. Should
she friends of the deceased sailor hear of his death, and
come to look after his effects, there was very little probability of their finding anything among them to furnish a
clue to either the new sealing-ground, or to the' buried
treasure of the pirate.  In order to be secured, he even
went a little beyond his usual precautions, actually dis5:i.




52              THE  SEA  LIONS.
charging all indebtedness of the deceased to the Widow
White out of his own pocket, by giving to her the sum of
ten dollars This was handsome compensation in her eyes
as well as in his, and he quieted the suspicions so great
and unusual an act of liberality would be apt' to awaken,
by saying, " he would look to the friends, or if they failed
him, to the effects, for his returns; for it was better he
should lose by the stranger, than a lone widow."  lie also
paid for the coffin, the digging of the grave, and the other
light expenses of the interment. In a word, the deacon
endeavoured to hush all impertinent inquiries by applying
the salve of silver, wherever it was needed.
The chest had been removed to a large, light closet, that
communicated'with the deacon's own room.  When all
his accounts were settled, thither he repaired, armed with
the key that was to expose so much treasure to his longing
eyes.  Some slight qualms arose, after he had locked himself in the room, touching the propriety of his opening the
chest. It was not his, certainly; but he put such a construction on the nature of the revelations of Daggett, as he
thought would fully justify him in proceeding. He had
purchased the schooner expressly to go in quest of the
seals and the treasure. This he had done with Daggett's
knowledge and acquiescence; nor did he conceive that his
own rights were lessened by the mariner's decease. As
for himself, the deacon had never believed that the Martha's Vineyard man could accompapnythe expedition, so
that his presence or absence could have no influence on
his own rights.. It is true, the deacon possessed no direct
legal transfer of the charts; but he inferred that all the
previous circumstances gave him sufficient claims to justify
him in, at least, looking into their contents.
It was a solemn, as well as an anxious moment to -tlhe
deacon, when he first raised the lid of the chest. Solemn,
because it was not possible to forget the recent decease of
its late owner; and anxious, inasmuch as he had no. certainty that he should find even on the charts, the places of
which he sought the latitudes and longitudes;  Certainly,
nothing like treasure presented itself to his eyes, when all
that Daggett had left behind him lay exposed to view.
Phe chest of a common sailor is usually but ill-furnished,




THE  SEA LIONS.                   53
unless it may be just after his return from a long and wellpaid voyage, and before he has had time to fall back on his
purchases of clothes. as a fund to supply his cravings for
personal gratification.  This of Daggett's formed no exception to the rule. The few clothes it contained were of
the lightest sort, having been procured in warm climates,
and were well worn, in addition. The palms, needles, and
shells, and carving in whale-bone, had all been sold, to
meet their owner's wants, and nothing of that sort remained.
There were two old, dirty, and ragged charts, and on these
the deacon laid his hands, much as the hawk, in its swoop,
descends on its prey. As it did, however, a tremor came
over him, that actually compelled him to throw himself into
a chair, and to rest for a moment.
The first of the charts opened, the deacon saw at a
glance, was that of the antarctic circle. There, sure
enough, was laid down in ink, three or four specks-'for
islands, with lat.,-._", and long.   o, ", written out
at its side.  We are under obligations not to give the
figures that stand on the chart, for the discovery is deemed
to be important, by those who possess the secret, even to
the present hour.  We are at liberty to tell the whole,
story, with this one exception; and we shall proceed to do
so, with a proper regard to the pledges made in the premises.
The deacon scarcely breathed as he assured himself of
the important fact just mentioned, and his hands tremnblec
to such a degree as to fairly cause the paper of' the chart
to rattle.  Then he had recourse to an expedient that was
strictly characteristic of the mnan.  He wrote the latitude
and longitude in a memorandum-book that he carried on
his person; after which he again sat down, and with great
care erased the island and the writing from the chart, with
the point of a penknife. This done, his mind felt infinitely
relieved. Nor was- this all. Charts purchased for the
schooner-were lying on a table in his own room, and he
projected on one of them, as well as his skill would allow,
the sealing-islands he had just removed from the chart left
by Daggett.. There he also wrote, in pencil, the important
figures that we are commanded not to reveal.
The second chart was then opened. It was of the West




54              THE SEA LIONS-.
Indies, and particularly of certain keys. One of these last
was pointed out in away to leave no doubt tnat it was
meant for the key indicated by the pirate. The same pro.
hibition existing as to this:key that exists in respect to the
sealing-island, we cannot be more explicit.  The writing
near this key being in pencil, it was effectually removed
by means of India-rubber.  When this was done, the dea
con used the precaution to rub some material on the clean
place made by his knife, on the other chart, when he be
lieved no eye could detect what had just been done. Having marked the proper key, on his own chart of the West
Indies, he replaced the charts of Daggett in the chest, and
locked all up again;  The verbal accounts of the sick mariner he had already transferred to paper, and he now believed himself secure of all the information that was necessary to render him the richest man in Suffolk!
When they next met, Mary was surprised at the gaiety
of her uncle, and that so soon after a funeral. He had a
lightened heart, however; for after leading him  on, step
by'step, until he had gone so far as to purchase and fit out
the schooner, Daggett had pertinaciously refused to enter'into those minute particulars which it is even now forbid-'den us to state, and a want of which would have rendered
his previous' expenditures useless. Death, however, had
lifted the veil, and the deacon now believed himself secure
in his knowledge.
An hour or two later, Deacon Pratt and his niece were
seated, in company with two others, at the dinner-table.
The fare was simple, but good. Fish enters largely into
the domestic consumption of all those who dwell near the
water, in that part' of the country; and, on that particular
occasion, the uncle had, in the lightness of his heart, in.
dulged in what, for him, was a piece of extravagance
In all such regions there are broken-dowq, elderly men,
who live by taking fish. Liquor has usually been their
great enemy, and all have the same generic character of
laziness, shiftless and ill-regulated exertions, followed by
mnuch idleness, and fits of intemperance, that in the end
rommonly cause their deaths.'Such a man'fished between
Oyster Pond and Shelter Island, being known to all whc




THE SEA  LIONS..5dwelt within his beat, by the familiar appellation of Baiting
Joe.
Shortly after the discovery of the latitudes and longitudes on the charts, the deacon had gone to the wharf, in
his impatience to see how Roswell Gardiner got on with
the Sea Lion. The young man, with his gang of hands,
was hard at work, and a very material difference was to be
observed in the state of the schooner, from that in which
she was described in our opening chapter. Her rigging
had all been set up, every spar was in its place, and altogether she had a look of preparation and completeness..Her water was taking in, and from time to time a country
wagon, or an ox-cart delivered alongside articles belonging to her stores. 6f cargo, proper, there was none, or
next to none; a sealer carrying little besides salt, and her
stores. In a word, the work. was rapidly advancing, and
"Captain Gar'ner" told his impatient owner that the craft
would be ready to'put to sea in all that week.
" I have succeeded in engaging the first officer I wanted," added the young man, " and he is now busy in looking up and shipping hands, at Stonington, We must get
half-a-dozen reliable men on the main, and then we can
take some of our neighbours here, as beginners,: just to
please them."
"Yes, ship a goodly number of green hands," said the
deacon, zealously. " They work at cheap' lays,' and leave
the owners the greater profits.  Well, well, Captain Gar'ner, things seem to be doing well in your hands, and I will
leave you.  About two hours after dinner, I shall want to
have a word with you in- private, and will thank you just
to step across to the house, where you will be certain to
find me. Baiting Joe seems to have hooked something
there, in'arnest.":" That has he! I'll answer for it that he has a sheeps-'head at the end of his line that will weigh eight or. ten
pounds."
The words of Gardiner proved true, for Joe actually
pulled in a fish of the description and weight he had just
mentioned. It was this sight that, in the lightness of his
teart, tempted the deacon to a little extravagance.  Joe
was called ashore, and after a good deal of chaffering, the




56              THE SEA  L.IONS.
deacon bought the prize for half a dollar. As Mary was
celebrated for her skill in preparing this particular fish, the
deacon, before he left the wharf, with the sheepshead hanging from one hand, fairly invited " Captain Gar'ner" so to
time his visit to the house, as to be present at the feast.
Nor was this all.  Before the deacon had settled with
Joe, the Rev. Mr. Whittle came on the wharf, confessedly
in quest of something to eat. The regular occupations of
this divine were writing sermons, preaching, holding conferences, marrying, christening and burying, and hunting
up" something to eat." About half of his precious time
was consumed in the last of these pursuits. We do not wish
to represent this clergyman as having an undue gastronomic propensity',but, as having a due one, and a salary that
was so badly paid as quite to disable him from furnishing
his larder, or cellar, with anything.worth mentioning, in
advance. Now, he was short of flour; then, the potatoes
were out; next, the pork was consumed; and always there
was a great scarcity of groceries, and other necessaries of
that nature. This neglect on the part of the parishioners,
coupled with a certain improvidence on that of the pastor,
left the clergyman's family completely in that state which
is usually described as being in the " from hand to mouth"
condition, and which consequently occupied so large a
portion of the good man's time in " providing."
Deacon Pratt felt a little conscious and awkward, at
encountering the Rev. Mr. Whittle. It was not the fish
that caused the first any concern.  Fifty times had he met
and gone by his pastor, running about with a perplexed and
hungry look, when his own hands, or chaise, or wagon, as
the case might be, contained enough to render the divine's
family happy and contented for a week. No compunctions
of that sort ever troubled the deacon's breast. But, he had
missed the afternoon's meeting the last Sabbath, a delinquency for which he felt an awkwardness in accounting,
while he saw its necessity.  The salutations passed as
usual, the one party thinking intently on the absence from
service, and the other of the sheepshead. -Now, it happily
occurred to the deacon to invite his pastor also to partake
of the fish.  There was enough for all; and, though no
one on Oyster Pond was much in the habit of entertaining




THE  SEA  LIONS.                  57
at dinner, It was by no means unusual for the parishioners
to have their pastor for a guest. This lucky invitation so
occupied the parties that nothing was said about an occurrence so very unusual as the deacon's absence from "meeting" the "' last Sabba' day afternoon."
By these simple means the party at table consisted of
the deacon himself, Mary, Roswell Gardiner, and tile Rev.
Mr. Whittle.  The fish was excellent, being so fresh and
so skilfully"'prepared; and Mary was highly complimented
by all who ate of it, for her share in the entertainment.
But Mary Pratt seemed sad. She had not yet recovered
from the melancholy feelings awakened by the recent death
and funeral; and then,her thoughts recurred, with few interruptions, to the long voyage of Roswell, and most especially to the unhappy state of'religious belief in which he
would undertake so hazardous an expedition.  Several
times had she hinted to the clergyman her desire that he
would' talk to Roswell;' but the good man, though wellenough inclined, had really so much to do in'providing,'
that it was not a very easy matter for him to'go beyond the
beaten track, in order to probe the consciences of particular individuals. He promised fairly, but always forgot to
perform; and in this he imitated closely the example set
him by his parishioners, in reference to his own salary.
Roswell Gardiner, therefore, remained in his unbelief;
or, what was tantamount to it, under the influence of a set
of opinions that conflicted with all that the church had
taught since the time of the apostles- at least so thought
Mary and so think we.
On the contrary, the pastor and the deacon were parti.
cularly gay, for men of their habitual sobriety. Although
those were not the days. of temperance, par excellence,
neither of the guests was what might be termed even a
moderate drinker. For a novelty, in a- sailor, Roswell
Gardiner seldom touched anything but water, while the
other two took their rum and wafer; but it was in modera.
tion, as all the gifts of God should be used. As for the
intemperate cry which makes it a sin to partake of any
liquor,. however prudently, it was then never heard in the
land. On the whole, the clergy of all denominations might'be set down as brandy-and-water men, a few occasionally




58              THE  SEA LION'S.
carrying out their principle to exaggeration. But the Rev,
Mr. Whittle was a sober man, and, though he saw nc
great harm in enlivening his heart ahd cheering his spirits
with brandy taken in small quantities, he was never known
to ble any the worse for his libations. It was the same with
the deacon, though he drank rum-and-water of choice;
and no other beverage, Mary's currant-wine and cider excepted, was ever.seen on his table.
One thing may be said of liquor, whether it be in its
favour or not; it usually brings out all -there is of the
facetious in a man, rendering him conversable and pleasant; for the time being, at-least.  This was apt to be
peculiarly the ease with the Rev. Mr. Whittle and his
deacons. In their ordinary intercourse with their fellowcreatures, these good people had taken up the idea that, in
order to be religious, their countenances must be sombre,
and that care and anxiety should be stamped on their faces,
just as if they had no confidence in the efficacy of the redemption. Few, indeed, are they who vindicate their professions by living at peace with God and man! At Oyster
Pond, it was much the fashion to imagine that the more a
person became impressed with the truths of his, and par.
ticularly with those of her,- lost condition, the more it
became the party to be cynical, and to pry into, and comment, on the backslidings of the entire community. This
weakness, however, was characteristic of neither the pastor
nor the deacon, each of whom regarded his professions too
much in the light of a regular " business transaction,"to
descend into these little abuses. As for Mary, good creature, her humility was so profound as to cause her to believe herself anong the weakest and least favoured of all
who belonged to meeting.
" I was sorry that my late journey into Connecticut prevented my seeing the poor man who was so suddenly taken
away from the house of Widow White," observed the Rev.
Mr. Whittle, some little time after he had made his original
attack on the sheepshead. "' They tell me it was a hopeless
case from the firs.?"
"So Dr. Sage considered it," answered the deacon.'Captain Gar'ner volunteered to go across for the doctor
in mny boat —" with a heavy emphasis on the possessive




THE SEA  LIONS.                   59
pronoun —" and we had him to look at the patient.  But,
if the salt-water be good for consumptive-people, as some
pretend, I think there is generally little hope for seamen
whose lungs once give way."
"The poor man was'a mariner, was he?  I did not
know his calling, but had rather got. the impression that
he was a husbandman. Did he belong to Oyster Pond?"
"No; we have none of the name of Daggett here, which
is a tribe on the Vineyard. Most of the Daggetts are seafaring folks (folk, Anglice) and -this man was one of that
class, I believe; though I know nothing of him, or of his
pursuits, except by a word, here and there, dropped in discourse.",'The deacon thought himself safe in venturing this little
departure from the literal truth, inasmuch as no one had
been present, or he thought no one had ever been present
at his many secret conferences with the deceased mariner.
Little, howeveri, did he understand the character of the
Widow White, if he flattered himself with holding any discourseunder her roof, in which she was not to participate
in its-subject.'So far from this having been the case, the
good woman had contrived to' obtain, not only a listeningplace, but a peeping-hole, where she both heard. and saw
most of that which passed between her guest and the deacon. EHad her powers of comprehension been equal to her
will, or had not her mind been prepossessed with. the notion that the deacon must be after herself, old Suffolk
would have rung with the marvels that were thus revealed.
Not only would an unknown sealirg-island been laid before
the East-enders, but twenty such islands, and keys without
number, each of which contained r.ore hidden treasure
than'Gar'ner's Island,' Oyster Pond, the Plumb and
Fisher's, and all the coasts of the Sound put together; enriched as each and all of these places were thought to be,
by the hidden deposits of Kidd.
Nothing but an accident had prevented these rumours
from being circulated. It happened that on only one occasion Daggett was explicit and connected in his narrative.
At all other times his discourse was broken, consisting
more in allusions to what had been previously said than In
direct and clear revelations.  The widow, most unfortu
6




60              T'HE SEA LIONS.
nately for her means of information, was with " neighbour
Stone" when the connected narrative was given, and all
that she knew was disjointed, obscure, and a little contraw
dictory. Still, it was sufficient to set her thinking intensely,
and sufficient to produce a material influence on the future
fortunes of the Sea Lion, as will appear in the sequel.
" It is always a misfortune for a human being to take his
departure away from home and friends," observed the Rev.
Mr. Whittle.  "Here was an immortal soul left to take its
last great flight, unsupported, I dare say, except by the
prayers of a' few pious neighbours. I regret having been
absent during. the time he was here.  Getting home of a
Friday only, I gas compelled to devote Saturday to preparations for the Sabbath; and Sabbath-night, as I understand it, he departed."
" We are all in the hands of Divine Providence," said
the deacon, with a sober mien, "and it is our duty to submit. To my thinking, Oyster Pond catches more of its
share of the poor and needy, who are landed from vessels
passing east and west, and add considerably to our burthens."
This was said of a spot as much favoured by Divine Providence, in the way of abundance, as any other in highlyfavoured America. Some eight or ten such events as the
landing of a stranger had occurred within the last halfcentury, and this was the only instance in which either of
them had cost the deacon a cent. But, so little was he accustomed, and so little was he disposed, to give, that even
a threatened danger of that sort amounted, in his eyes,
nearly to a loss
"Well," exclaimed the literal'Roswell Gardiner, "I
think, deacon, that we have no great reason to complain.
Southold, Shelter Island, and all the islands about here, for
that matter, are pretty well off as to poor, and it is little
enough that we have to pay for their support."
"That's the idea of a young. man who never sees the
tax-gatherers," returned the deacon.  "However, there
are islands, captain Gar'fier, that are better off still, and I
hope you will live to find them."
" Is our young friend to sail in the Sea Lion in quest of
any such?' inquired the pastor, a little curiously.




THE SEA LIONS-                    61
The deacon now repented him of the allusion. But his
heart had warmed with the subject, and the rum.-and-water
had unlocked some of its wards. So timid and nervous
had he become, however, that the slightest indication of
anything like a suspicion- that his secrets were known,
threw him into a sweat.
"Not at all-not at all-the captain goes on well-known
and beaten ground-Sam, what is wanting, now?"
" Here is Baiting Joe comed up from the wharf, wantilg to see master,"-returned a grey-headed negro, who had
formerly been a slave, and who now lived about the place
giving his services for his support.
" Baiting Joe! He, is not after his sheepshiead, I hopeif he is, he is somewhat late in the day."
" Ay, ay," put in the young sailor, laughing-" tell him
Sam, that no small part of it is bound to the southward
meaning to cross the line in my company, and that right
soon."
" I paid Joe his half-dollar, certainly -you saw me pay
him, captain Gar'ner."
"I don't think it's any sich thing, master. There is a
stranger with Joe, that he has ferried across from Shelter
Island, and he's comed up from the wharf too. Yes -
that's it, master."
A stranger! Who could it be? A command was given
to admit him, and no sooner did Mary get a sight of his
person', than she quietly arose to procure a plate, in order
that he, too, might have his share of the fish.




62               THE  SEA- LIONS.
CHAPTER V
"Stranger!' I fled the home of grief,
At Connocht Mbran's tomb to falli
I found the helmet of my chief,
His bow still hanging on our wall;"
CAMP B ELL.
"AAMPHIBIOUS!" exclaimed Roswell Gardiner, in an
aside to Mary, a: the stranger entered the room, following
Baiting Joe's leptd. The last only came for his glass of
rum-and-water, served with which by the aid of the negro,
he passed the back of his hand across'his mouth, napkin
fashion, nodded his 1"good-day," and withdrew.  As for
the stranger, Roswell Gardiner's term  being- particularly
significant, it may be well to make a brief explanation.
The word " amphibious" is, or rather was, well applied to
many of the seamen, whalers, and sealers, who dwelt on the
eastern end of Long Island, or the Vineyard, around St(nington, and, perhaps we might add, in the vicinity of New
Bedford.:The Nantucket men had not base enough, in
the way of terra firma, to come properly within the cate,gory.  The' class to which the remark strictly applied were
sailors without being seamen, in the severe signification
of the term.  While they could do all that was indispensably necessary to take care of their vessels, were surpassed
by no other mariners in enterprise, and daring, and hardihood, they knew little about " crowning cables," "carrickbends," and all the. mysteries of "knotting,"'" grafting,"
and "splicing."  A regular Delaware-bay seaman would
have turned up his nose in contempt at many of their ways,
and at much of their real ignorance; but, when it came to
the drag, or to the oar, or to holding out in bad weather,
or to any of the more manly qualities of the business, he
would be certain to yield his respect to those at whom it
had originally been his disposition to laugh. It might best
describe these men to say that they bore some such relation
to the thorough-bred tar, as the volunteer bears to the
regular soldier.




THE  SEA  LIONS.                  63
As a matter of course, the stranger was invited to take
his seat at the table.  This he did without using many
phrases$ and Mary had reason to believe, by his appetite,
that he thought well of her culinary skill. There was very
little of the sheepshead left when this, its rast assailant,
shoved his plate back, the signal that he could do no more.
He then finished a glass of rum-and-water, and seemed to
be in a good condition to transact the business that had
brought him there.  Until this moment, he had made no
allusion to the motive of his visit, leaving the deacon' full
of conjectures.
" The fish of Peconic and Gar'ner's is as good as any 1
know," coolly observad this worthy, after certainly having
established some. claim to give an opinion on the subject.
" We think' ourselves pretty well off, in this respect, on the
Vineyard-"
"On the Vineyard!" interrupted the deacon, without
waiting to hear what was to follow.
"Yes, sir, on Martha's Vineyard-for that's the place
I come from. Perhaps I ought to have introduced myself
a little more particularily-I come from Martha's Vineyard,
and my name is Daggett."
The deacon fairly permitted the knife, with which he was
spreading some butter, to fall upon his plate. "Daggett"
and the " Vineyard" sounded ominously. Could it be that
Dr. Sage had managed to get a message so far, in so short
a time; and had this amphibious inhabitant of the neighbouring island come already to rob him of his treasure?
The perceptions of the deacon, at first, were far from clear:
and he even imagined that all he had expended on the Sea
Lion was thrown away, and that he might be even called
on to give some sort of an account, in a court of chancery,
of the information obtained from the deceased. A little
reflection, however, sufficed to get the better of this weak.
ness, and he made a civil inclination of his head, as much
as to tell the stranger, notwithstanding his name and place
of residence, that he was welcome. Of course no one but
the deacon himself knew of the thoughts that troubled him,
and after a very brief delay, the guest proceeded with his
explanations of the object of his visit.
"The Daggetts are pretty numerous on the Vineyard."
6*                 5




U64             THE SEA  LIONS.
continued the stranger, "' and when you-name one of them
it is not always easy to tell, just what family he belongs to.
One of our coasters came into the Hull (Holmes' Hole was
meant) a few weeks since, and reported that she spoke an
inward-bound brig, off New Haven, from which she heard
that the people of that craft had put ashore, at Oyster Pond,
a seafaring man, who belonged to the Vineyard, and who
was bound home, arter an absence of fifty years, and whose
name was Thomas Daggett.  The word passed through
the island, and a great stir it made among all us Daggetts.
There's plenty of our Vineyard people wandering about
the'arth, and sometimes one drops in upon the island, just
to die. As most of them that come back bring something
with them, it's gen'rally thought a good. sign to hear of
their arrival. After casting about, and talking with all the
old folks, it has been concludedithat this Thomas Daggett
must be a brother of my father's, who-went to sea about
fifty years since, and has never been seen or heard of since.
He's the only person of the name for whom we can't account, and the family have got me to come across to look
him up."
"I am sorry, Mr. Daggett, that you arie so late," answered the deacon, slowly, as if unwilling to give pain.
"-Had you come last week, you might have seen and conversed with your relation; or had you come early this
morning, only, you might have attended his funeral. He
came among us a stranger, and we endeavoured to imitate
the conduct of the good Samaritan. I believe he had all
the comforts that Oyster Pond can give; and, certainly,
he had the best advice. Dr. Sage, of Sag Harbour, attended him in his last illness-Dr. Sage, of the Harbour'
doubtless you have heard him mentioned?"
" I know him by reputation, and make no doubt all was
done that could be done. As the sloop I namued iav by the
brig some time, in a calm, the two captains had a long talk
together; and ours had prepared us to hear of our kinsman's speedy dissolution.  He was in a decline when he
landed, and we suppose that no human skill could have
saved him. As he had so skilful a physician, and one who
came so far, I suppose my uncle must have left property?"




THE  SEA  LIONS.                  65
This was a home-thrust; but, fortunately tbr the deacon,
ne had already prepared himself with an answer.
"Sea-faring men, that are landed oil points and capes,
from inward-bound vessels, are not very apt to be overloaded with worldly goods," he said, smiling. ".When a
man prospers in that calling, he usually comes ashore at a
wharf, in some large place, and gets into his coach, to ride
up to some grand tavern!  I have remarked, pastor, that
sea-faring men love comforts and free-living, unaccountably, when they can fairly get a chance at'em."
"That is natural, deacon-quite natural; and what is
natural, is very likely m happen.  The natural man loves
all sorts of indulgence~, and these among others."
As there was no gainsaying this commonplace commentary on the species, it was permitted to pass unanswered.
" I hope my kinsman has not been a burthen to any on
Oyster Pond?" said the nephew, inquiringly.
"1 cannot say that he has," returned the deacon. " He
was at little cost, at first, and got along by selling a few
odd things that he owned. As Providence had placed him
in the dwelling of a poor widow, I thought it might be
pleasing to the friends-and every man has some friends, I
suppose-to settle with her.  This I did, this very morning, taking her receipt in full, as you can see," passing the
paper to the stranger.  " As a sort of security for my advances, I had the chest of the deceased removed to this
house; and. it is now up-stairs, ready to be examined.  It
feels light, and I do not think much silver or gold will be
found. in it."
To own the truth, the Vineyard'seaman looked a little
disappointed. It was so natural that a man who has been
absent fifty years should bring back the fruits of his labour,
that he had expected some slight reward for the trouble he
was now taking, to be bestowed in this particular form.
This, however, was not the specific object of his.visit, as
will appear as we proceed. Keeping in view his real motive, the nephew continued his inquiries, always putting
his questions a little indirectly, and receiving answers that
were as evasive and cautious as his own interrogatories.
All this was characteristic of the wary people from which
both had sprung, who seldom speak, in a matter of busi



66              THE  SEA  LIONS.
ness, without bearing in mind all the possible constructions
of what they are saying. After a discourse of some fifteen minutes, in which the history of the chest, in its outlines. was fully given, and during which the stranger pro
duced written evidence of his right to interfere, it was determined to make an inventory, on the spot, of the property
left by Daggett, for the benefit of all who might have any
interest in it. Accordingly, the whole party, including
Mary, was soon assembled in the deacon's own room, with
the sea-chest placed invitingly in the centre.  All eyes
were fastened on the lid, in curious anticipations of the
contents; for, the deacon excepted, vall supposed that those
contents were aprofound secret. The Widow White could
have told them better, she having rummaged that chest a
dozen times, at least, though without abstracting even a
pin. Curiosity had been her ruling motive, far more than
cupidity. It is true, the good woman had a prudent regard
to her own interests, and felt some anxiety to learn the
prospects of her receiving the stipulated price for boardonly $1 50 per week-but the sales of the needles, and
palms, and carved whale-bone, having kept her accounts
reasonably square, solicitude on this particular interest was
not at is height.  No: curiosity, pure feinale curiosity, a
little quickened by the passion which is engendered among
the vulgar by the possession of a slight degree of instruction, was really at the bottom of her researches. Not only
had she handled every article in the chest, but she had
read, and re-read, every paper it contained, half-a-dozen
letters included, and made her own surmises on their nature. Still, the good woman was very little the wiser for
her inquiries.  Of the great secret she knew absolutely
nothing, unless the broken hints collected in her many
listenings, could be so considered. But, here her ignorance ceased.  Every hole in a shirt, every patch in a pair
of trousers, and every darn in a stocking, -had been examined, and its probable effect on the value of the garment
duly estimated. The only thing that had escaped her scrutiny was a small till, that was locked. Into that she could
not look, and there were moments when she would have
parted with a finger in order to overhaul it.
"This jacket might sell for a dollar," had the Widow




THE  SEA  LIO'NS.                 67
White calculated, "but for the hole in the elbow; and,
that well patched, would bring seventy-fiv'e cents. Them
trowsers must have cost two dollars, but they ar'n't worth
half price now. That pee-jacket is the best article in the
chest, and, sent across to the Harbour, about the time the
ships are going out, it would bring enough to maintain
Daggett a month!'
Such had been the character of the widow's visitations
to the chest, though no one knew anything of her disco.
veries, not even her sister-relict, neighbour Stone.
" Here is the key," said the deacon, producing that instrument from the drawer of a table, as if he had laid it
carefully aside for some such moment. "I dare say it will
be found to fit, for I remember to have seen Daggett use it
once or twice myself:"
Roswell Gardiner, as the youngest man, and the one on
whom the labouring oar ought to fall, now took the key,.
applied it to the lock, turned it without difficulty, and then
lifted the lid.  Disappointment appeared on every face but
that of the deacon, at the meagre prospect before the company.  Not only was the chest more than half empty, but
the articles it did contain were of the coarsest materials;
well worn sea-clothes that had seen their best days, and
which had never been more than the coarse common attire
of a foremast hand.
"There is little here to pay a man for crossing from the
Vineyard," observed Roswell Gardiner, a little drily; for
he did not half like the appearance of cupidity that shone
through the nephew's tardy concern for the fate of the
uncle.  "The last voyage has not been prosperous, I fear,
or the owners failed before the vessel got in! What is to
be done with all this dunnage, deacon?"
"It would be best to take out the contents, artiele by
article," answered the other, "and examine each and all.
Now that we have made a beginning with the inventory, it
is best to g'o through with it."
The young man obeyed, calling out the name of each
article of dress, as he raised it from its receptacle, and
passing it over to him who stood there in the character of
a sort of heir-at-law. The last gave each garment a sharp
look, and prudently put his hand into every pocket, in




68-             T-H E S E'A L I O N S.
order to make sure that it-was empty, before he laid the
article on the floor. Nothing was discovered for some
time, until a small key was found in the fob of a pair of old'go-ashore' pantaloons. As there was the till to the chest
already mentioned, and a lock on that till, the heir at-law
kept the key, saying nothing touching its existence.
"The deceased does not appear to have been much
afflicted with this world's wealth," said the Rev. Mr.
Whittle, whose expectations, to own the truth, had been a
little disappointed. "' This may have been all the better for
him, when the moment of departure drew near."
"I dare say he would have borne the burthen cheerfully,"
put in Roswell (Qardiner, "to have been a little more coinfortable. I never knew a person, seaman or landsman, who
was ever the worse for having things-snug about him, and
for holding on to the better end of his cheer, as long as he
could."
" Your notion of what is best for man as he draws near
to his end, captain Gar'ner, is not likely itobe of the most
approved nature. The sea does not produce many very
orthodox divines."
The young sailor coloured, bit his lip, cast a glance at
Mary, and began a nearly inaudible whistle. In a moment
he forgot the rebuke he had received, and laughingly went
on with the inventory.
"' Well," he cried, "this is rather a poorer outfit than
Jack is apt to carry  Infit, I suppose it should be called,
as the poor fellow who owned it was inward bound, when
he brought up on Oyster Pond.  You'll  hardly think it
worth while, captain Daggett, to take this dunnage across
to the Vineyard."
" It is scarce worth the trouble, though friends and relations ~may set a value on it that strangers do not.  I see a
couple of charts there - will you hand them this way, if
you please? They may have a value with a sea-faring man,
as old mariners sometimes make notes that are worth as
much as the charts themselves."
This was said very naturally and simply; but it gave the
deacon a good deal of concern. Nor was this feeling at all
lessened by the earnest, not to say eager, manner in which
L)aggett, as we shall now call this member of the family,




THE  SEA  LIONS.                  69
spread the chart on the bed,.and began to pry into its records. The particular chart first opened in this way, was the
one including the antarctic circle, and, of course, was that
from which the deacon had been at so much pains to erase
the sealing-islands, that the deceased mariner had laid
down with so great precision and care.  It was evident
that the Martha's Vineyard-man was looking for something
that he could not find, and that he felt disappointment. Instead of looking at the chart, indeed, he may be said to have
been peering at it, in all its holes and crannies, of which
there were not a few, in consequence of the torn condition
of the paper. Several minutes elapsed ere.the investigation
terminated, the stranger seeming, all that time, to feel no
interest in. the remainder of his relation's wardrobe.
"This is an old chart, and of the date of 1.802," observed Daggett, raising himself erect, as a man who has
long been bent takes the creaks out of his back. " So old
a chart as to be of little use now-a-day. Our sealers have
gone over so much of the ground to the southward of the
two capes, as to be able to do much better than this now."
"'Your uncle had the appearance of an old-fashioned
sailor," coldly observed the deacon; "and it may be that
he most liked old-fashioned charts."
" If such was the case he must have pretty well forgotten
his Vineyard schooling. There is not a woman there who
doesn't know that the latest chart is commonly the best. 1
own I:-n disapp'inted somewhat; for the master of the
sloop gave me to understand he had heard from the master
of the brig, that some valuable information was to be found
on the old gentleman's charts."
The deacon started, as here was an indication that the
deceased had tallied of his knowledge to others, as well as
to himself! It was so natural for a man like Daggett to
boast of what his charts were worth, that he si-aw the extreme probability that a difficulty might arise from  this
source. It was his cue, however, to leniain silent, and let
the truth develop itself in due course. His attention was
not likely to be drawn aside by the shirts and old clothes,
for the stranger began a second time to examine the chart,
and what was more, in the high latitudes at no great distance from the very spot where the sealing-islands had




70              THE  SEA  LIONS'.
been placed, and from which they had been so carefully
erased.
" It is unaccountable that a man should wear out a chart
like this, and leave so few notes on it!" said the Vineyardman, much as one complains of a delinquency. " Here is
white water noted in the middle of the ocean, where I dare
say no other white water was seen but that which is made
by a fish, and nothing is said of any islands. What do you
think of this, captain Gar'ner?" laying his finger on the
precise spot where the deacon had been at work so long
that very morning erasing the islands.  "This looks wellfingered, if nothing else, eh?"
" Its a shoal laid down in dirt," answered Roswell Gardiner, laughing  -" Let's see; that's about lat.-~ - ",
and long. -~ -". There can be nlo known land thereaway, as even captain Cook did not succeed in getting as
far south. That's been a favourite spot with the skipper
for-taking hold of his chart. I've known one of those old.
fashioned chaps put his hand on a chart, in that way, and
never miss his holding ground for three years on a stretch.
Mighty go-by-rule people are some of our whaling-masters,
in particular, who think they know the countenances of
some of the elderly fish, who are too cunning to let a har
poon get fast to'em."
"You've been often in them seas, I some think, captain
Gar'ner?" said the other, inquiringly.
"I was brought up in the business, and have a hankering for it yet," returned the young man, frankly.  "Nor
do I care so much for charts. They are well enough when
a vessel is on her road; but, as for whales or seals, the
man who wishes to find either, in these times, has to look
for them, as I tell my owner.  Accordifig-to reports, the
time has been when a craft had only to get an offing to fall
in with something that was worth putting a harpoon into;
but those days are gone, captain Daggett; and whales are
o be looked after, out at sea, much as money is to be looked
or ashore here."
"Is the craft I saw at the wharf fitting out for a whaler,
then?"
"She is going after luck, and will accept of it, in whatever form it may turn up."




THE SSEA LIONS.                   7_
":She is rather small for the whaling business, though
vessels of that size have done well, by keeping close in
upon our own coast."
"We shall krnow better what she will do after she has
been tried," returned Gardiner, evasively. "' What do you
think of her for the Banks of Newfoundland.?"
The Martha's Vineyard-man gave his brother tar a quick,
impatient glance, which pretty plainly said, " tell that to
the marines," when he opened the second chart, which as
yet had been neglected.
"Sure erlough," he muttered, in a low tone, though
loud enough to be heard by the keenly attentive deacon;
" here it is - a chart, of the West Indies, and of all the
keys!"
By this casual, spontaneous outbreaking, as it might be,
the deacon got another clue to the stranger's knowledge,
that gave him increased uneasiness. He was now convinced that, by means of the masters. of the brig and the
sloop, such information had been seht to the relatives of
Daggett as had prepared them to expect the very revelations on w.hich he hoped to establish his own fortunes. To
what extent these revelations had been made, of course he.could only conjecture; but there must have been a good
deal of particularity to induce the individual who had come
over to Oyster Pond to look into tlie two charts so closely.
Under the circumstances, therefore, he felicitated himself on
the precaution he had so early taken to erase the important
notations from the paper.
"Captain Gar'ner, your eyes are younger than mine,"
said the Vineyard-man, holding the chart up to the light" will you be good enough to look here?-does it not seem
as if that key had been noted, and.the words rubbed off the
chart?"
This-caused the deacon to peer over Roswell Gardiner's
shoulder, and glad enough was he to ascertain that the
stranger had placed his finger on a key that must lie several hundred miles from that which was supposed to hold
the buried treasure of'the pirates.  Something like an
erasure did appear at the indicated point; but the chart
was so old and dirty, that little satisfaction could be had by
vxamining it.  Should the inquirer settle down on the key
7




72              THE  SEA LIONS.
he evidently. had in his eye, all would be well, since it was
far enough from the spot really noted.
"It is strange that so old a seafaring man should wear
out a chart, and make no observation on it!" repeated tne
stranger, who was both vexed and at a loss what to conjecture. "All my charts are written over and marked off, just
as if I meant to get out an edition for myself."
" Men differ in their tastes and habits," answered Roswell Gardiner, carelessly.  "Some navigators are for ever
finding rocks, and white water, and scribbling on their
charts, or in the newspapers, when they get back; but I
never knew any good come of it. The men who make the
charts are most to be trusted.  For my part, I would not
give a sixpence for a note made by a man who passes a
shoal or a rock, in a squall or a gale."
" What would you say to the note of a sealer who should
lay down anrisland where the seals lie about on the beach
like pigs in a pen, sunning themselves? Would you not
call a chart so noted a treasure?"'That would alter'the case, sure enough,"'returned
Gardiner, laughing; "though I should not think of looking into this chest for any such riches. Most of our masters
navigate too much at random to make their charts of any
great value. They can. find the places they look for them-selves, but don't seem to know how to tell other people the
road. I have known my old man lay down a shoal that he
fancied he saw, quite a degree out of the way. Now such
a note as that would do more harm than good. It might
make a foul wind of a' fair one, and cause a fellow to go
about, or ware ship, when there was not the least occasion
in the world for doing anything of the sort."
"Ay, ay; this will do for nervous men, who are always
thinking they see danger ahead; but it is different with
islands that a craft has actually visited. I do not see much
use, Deacon Pratt, in your giving yourself any further trouble. My uncle was not a very rich man, I perceive, and I
must go to work and make my'own fortune if I wish more
than I've got already. If there is any demand against the
deceased, I am ready to discharge it."
This was coming so much to the point that the deacon
hardly knew what to make of it. He recollected his own




THE SEA LIONS.                   73
tell dollars, and the covetousness of his disposition so far
got the better of his prudence as to induce him to mention
the circumstance.
" Dr. Sage Inay have a charge —no doubt has one, that
ought to be settled, but your uncle mainly paid his way as
he went on. I thought the widow who took care of him
was entitled to something extra, and I handed her ten dollars this morning, which you may repay to me or not, just
as you please."
Captain Daggett drew forth his wallet and discharged
the obligation on the spot. He then replaced the charts,
and, without opening the till of the chest, he shut down
the lid, locked it, and, put the key in his pocket, saying
that he would cause the whole to be removed, much as if
he felt anxious to relieve the deacon of an incumbrance.
This done, he asked a direction to the' dwelling of the
Widow White, with whom he wished to converse, ere he
left the Point.
"I shall have the questions of so many cousins to answer, when I get home," he said, smiling, "-that it will
never do for me to go back without taking all the talk I
can get with me. If you will be kind enough to show me
the'way, captain Gar'ner, I will promise to do as much for
you, when you come to hunt up the leavings of some old
relation'on the Vineyard."
Roswell Gardiner very cheerfully complied, not observing
the look of dissatisfaction with which his owner listened to
the request. Away the two went, then, and were soon at
the widow's door. Here the young man left his companion,
having duty to attend to on board the Sea Lion. The
Widow White received her guest with lively interest, it
for'ming one of the:greatest pleasures of her existence to
be imparting and receiving intelligence.
"I dare.say you found my uncle a companionable man,"
observed the captain, as soon as amicable relations-were
established between the parties, by means of a few flattering remarks on one side and on the other. " The Vineyard
folks are generally quite conversable."
"That he was, captain Daggett; and when the deacon
had not been over to perplex him, and wake up the worldly
spirit in him, he was as well inclined to preparation as any




74              THE SEA  LIONS.
sick person I ever waited on. To be sure it was different
arter the deacon had paid one of his visits."
"Was Deacon Pratt in the habit of coming to read and
pray with the sick?"
"He pray! I don't believe he as much as went through
a single sentence of a prayer in all his visits. Their-whull
talk was about islands and seals, when they was by themselves."
"Indeed!" exclaimed the nephew, manifesting a new
interest in the discourse. "And what could they find to
say on such subjects? Islands and seals were a strange
topic for a dying man!"
" I know it" —answered the widow, sharply. " I know'd
it at the time; but what could a lone woman do to set'em
right; -and he a deacon of the meetin' the whull time? If
they would talk of worldly things at such times, it wasn't
for one like me to put'em right."
" Then this discourse was held openly in your presencebefore your face, as it might be, ma'am?"
"I can't say that it was just that; nor was it altogether
when my back was turned. They talked, and I overheard
what was said, as will happen when a body is about, you
know."
The stranger did not press the point, having been brought
up in what might almost be termed a land of listeners.
An island, that is cut off from much communication with
the rest of the earth, and from which two-thirds of the
males must be periodically absent, would be very likely to
reach perfection in the art of gossiping, which includes
that of the listener.
"Yes," he answered, "one picks up a good deal, he
doesn't know how.  So they talked of islands and seals?"
Thus questioned, the widow cheerfully opened her stores
of knowledge.  As she proceeded in her account of the
secret conferences between Deacon Pratt and her late inmate, her zeal became quickened, and she omitted nothing
that she had ever heard, besides including a great deal that
she had not heard. But her companion was accustomed
to such narratives, and knew reasonably well how to make
allowances. I-Ie listened with a determination not to believe more than half of what she said, and by dint of long




THE  SEA  LI O NS.                75
experience, he succeeded in separating the credible portions of the woman's almost breathless accounts, from those
that ought to have been regarded as incredible, with a surprising degree of success.  The greatest difficulty in the
way of comprehending the Widow White's report, arose
from the fact that she had altogether missed the preliminary
and most explicit conference. This left so much to be
understood and inferred, that, in her own efforts to supply
the deficiencies, she made a great deal of confusion in the
statements. Captain Daggett was fully assured that the
deacon knew of the existence of the sealing-island, at least;
though he was in doubt whether the rumour that had been
brought to him, touchilg the buried treasure, had also been
imparted to this person.  The purchase and equipment of
the Sea Lion, taken in connection with the widow's ac.
count, were enough, of themselves, to convince one of his
experience and foresight, that an expedition after seal was
then fitting out, on the information derived from his deceased relative.  Of this much he had no doubt; but.he
was not able to assure himself, quite so satisfactorily, that
the key was to be looked at by the way.
The interview between Captain Daggett and the Widow
White lasted more than an hour.  In that time the former
had gleaned all the information the latter could give, and
they parted on the best terms in the world.  It is true that
the captain gave the widow nothing-he had acquitted his
conscience on this score, by re-paying the deacon the
money the last had advanced-but he listened in the most
exemplary manner to all she had to say; and, with a certain class of vehement talkers, the most favoured being in
the world is your good listener.  Interest had given the
stranger an air of great attention, and the delighted woman
had poured out her torrent of words in a way that gratified,
in the. highest degree, her intense desire to be imparting
information.  When they separated, it was with an understanding that letters, on'the same interesting subject,
should pass between them.
That afternoon, Captain Daggett found means to remove
*he chest of his late kinsman, across the bays, to Sag Harbour, wvhither he proceeded himself by the same conveyance.  There, he passed an hour or two in making inqui7*




76               THE  SEA  LIONS.
ries touching the state of equipment, and the probable time
of the departure of the Sea Lion. The fitting out of this
schooner was the cause of a good deal of discourse in all
that region, and the Martha's Vineyard-man heard numberless conjectures, but very little accurate information.
On the whole, however, he arrived at the conclusion that
the Sea Lion would sail within the next ten days; that her
voyage was to be distant; that her absence was expected
to exceed a twelvemonth; and that it was thought she had
some other scheme in view, in addition to that of sealing.
That night, this.hardy mariner-half agriculturist as he
was-got into his whale-boat, and sailed for the Vineyard,
all alone, taking the chest with him.  This was nothing,
however; for qdite often, before, had he been off at sea, in
his boat, alone, looking out for inward-bound vessels to
pilot.
CHAPTER VI.
"Launch thy bark, mariner!
Christian, God speed thee!
Let loose the rudder-bands,
Good angels lead thee!
Set thy sails warily,
Tempests will come;
Steer thy course steadily,
Christian, steer home!"
MRU. SOUTHEY.
THE visit of Captain Daggett, taken in connection with
all that he had said and done, while on Oyster Pond, and
at Sag Harbour, had the effect greatly to hasten the equipments of the Sea Lion. Deacon Pratt knew the characters
of the seamen of the island. too well, to trifle in a matter
of so much moment.  How much the Vineyard folk had
been told, in reference to his great secrets, he did not
know; but he felt assured that they knew enough, and had
learned enough in this visit, to quicken all their desires for
riches, and to set them in motion towards the antarctic




THE  SEA  LIONS.                  77
circle. With such a people, distance and difficulties are
of no account; a man who has been cradling oats, to-day,
in his own retired fields, where one would think ambition
and the love of change could never penetrate, being ready
to quit home at twenty-four hours' notice, assuming the
marlingspike as he lays aside the fork, and setting forth for
the uttermost confines of the earth, with as little hesitation
as another might.quit his home for an ordinary journey of
a week. Such, did the deacon well know, was the character of those with whom he had now to deal, and he foresaw
the necessity of the utmost caution, perseverance, diligence, and activity.
Philip Hazard, the mate mentioned by Roswell Gardiner,
was enjoined to lose rto time; and the men engaged for the
voyage soon began to cross the. Sound, and to make thleir
appearance on board the schooner.  As for the craft herself, she had all that was necessary for her wants below
hatches; and the deacon began to manifest some impatience
for the -appearance of two or three men of particular excellence,of whom Phil Hazard was in quest, and whom Captain Gardiner had made it a point should be obtained.
Little did the worthy owner suspect that the Vineyard people were tampering with these very hands, and keeping
them from coming to terms, in order that they might fit
out a second Sea Lion, which they had now been preparing for near a month;, having purchased her at New Bedford, with a view to profit by the imperfect information
that had reached them, through the masters of the brig and
sloop. The identity in the name was accidental, or, it
might be better to say, had been naturally enough sug
gested by the common nature of the enterprise; but, once
existing, it had been the means of suggesting to the Vineyard company a scheme of confounding the vessels, out of
which they hoped to reap some benefit, but which it would
be premature now fully to state.
After a delay of'several days, Hazard sent across from
Stonington a man by the name of Watson, who had the
reputation of being a first-class. sealer. This accession
was highly prized; and, in the absence of his mates, both
of whom were out looking for hands, Roswell Gardiner, to
whom command was still novel, consulted freely with this




78              THE  SEA  LIONS.
experienced and skilful mariner. It was fortunate for the
schemes of the deacon that he had left his young master
still in the dark, as respected his two great secrets.. Gardiner understood that the schooner was to go after seals,
sea-lions, sea-elephants; and all animals of the genusphoca;
but he had been told nothing concerning the revelations
of Daggett, or of the real motives that had induced him to
go so far out of his usual course, in the pursuit of gain.
We say it was fortunate that the deacon had been so wary;
for Watson had no intention whatever to sail out of Ovster
Pond, having been actually engaged as the second officer
of the rival Sea Lion, which had been purchased at New
Bedford, and was then in an active state of forwardness in
its equipments, with a view to compete with the craft that
was still lying so quietly and unconsciously alongside of
Deacon Pratt's wharf. In a word, Watson was a spy, sent
across by the Vineyard-men, to ascertain all he could of
the intentions of the schooner's owner, to worm himself into
Gardiner's confidence, and to report, from time to time,
the state of things generally, in order that the East-enders
might not get the start of his real employers.  It is a common boast of Americans that there are no spies in their
country. This may be true in the every-day signification
of the term, though it is very untrue in all others. This is
probably the most spying country in christendom, if the
looking into other people's concerns be meant. Extensive
and recognised systems of espionage exist among merchanrts; and nearly every man connected with the press
has enlisted himself as a sort of spy in the interests of
politics   many, in those of other concerns, also. The
reader, therefore, is not to run away with impressions
formed under general assertions that will scarce bear investigation, and deny the truth of pictures that are drawn
with daguerreotype fidelity, because they do not happen to
reflect the cant of the day.  The man Watson, who had
partially engaged to go out in the Sea Lion, captain Roswell Gardiner, was not only a spy, but a spy sent covertly
into an enemy's camp, with the meanest motives, and with
intentions as hostile as the nature of the circumstances
ivould permit.
Such was the state of things on Oyster Pond for quite a




THE;SEA  LIONS.                  79
week'after the nephew had been to look after the effects
of the deceased uncle. The schooner was now quite ready
for sea, and her master began to talk of hauling off from
the wharf.  It Is true, there was no very apparent reason
why this step, preliminary to sailing, should be taken in
that port, where there were so few opportunities for her
people's running into excesses; but it sounded ship-shape,
and captain Gardiner had been heard to express an intention to that effect. The men arrived but slowly from the
main, and something like impatience was manifested by
the young commander, who had long before got all his
green hands, or youths from the neighbourhopd, on board,
and was gradually breaking them in to the ways of a vessel.
Indeed, the best reason he could give to himself for' hauling off,' was the practice it might give to these lads with
the oars.
"I don't know what Hazard and Green are about"called out Roswell Gardiner to his owner, the first being
on the quarter-deck of the Sea Lion, and the last on the
wharf, while Watson was busy in the main-rigging; " they've
been long enough on the main to ship a dozen crews for a
craft of this size, and we are still short two hands, even
if this man sign the papers, which he has not yet done.
By the way, Watson, it's time we saw your hand-writing."
"-I'm  a poor scholar, captain Gar'ner," returned the
cunning mariner, "and it takes time for me to make out
even so'small a matter as my name."
"Ay, ay; you are a prudent fellow, and I like you all
the better for it.  But' you have had leisure, and a plenty
of it too, to make up your mind. You must know the
schooner from her keel up by this time, and ought to be
able to say now that you are willing, to take luck's chances
in her."
"Ay, ay, sir; that's all true enough, so far as'the craft
is'concerned. If this was a West India v'y'ge, I wouldn't
stand a minute about sighing the articles; nor should I
make much question if the craft was large enough for a
common whalin' v'y'ge; but, sealin' is a different business,
and one onprofitable hand may make many an onprofitable
lay."
"All this is true enough; but we do not intend to take
6




80              THE  SEA  LIONS.
any unprofitable hands, or to have any unprofitable -lays
You know me — "
"Oh! if all was like you, captain Gar'ner, I wouldn't
stand even to wipe the pen.  Your repitation was made in
the southward, and no man can dispute your skill."
" Well, both mates are old hands at the business, and
we intend that all the' ables' shall be as good men as you
are yourself."
"It needs good men, sir, to be: operatin' among some ot'
hem sea-elephants! Sea-dogs; for sea-dogs is my sayin'
They tell of seals getting scurce; but I say, it's all in knowin'
the business- -' There's young captain Gar'ner,' says 1,'that's fittin' out a schooner for some onknown part of the
world,' says I, "maybe for the South Pole, for-ti-know, or
for some sich out-of-the-way hole; now he'll come back
full, or I'm no judge o' the business,' says I."' Well, if this is your way of thinking, you have only to
clap your name to the articles, and take your lay."
"Ay, ay, sir; when I've seed my shipmates. There
isn't the business under the sun that so much needs that
every man should be true, as the sea-elephant trade.
Smaller animals may be got along with, with a narvous
crew, perhaps; but when it comes to the raal old bulls, or
bull-dogs, as a body might better call'em, give me stout
hearts, as well as stout hands.":' Well, now, to my notion, Watson, it is less dangerous
to take a sea-elephant than'to fasten to a regular old bullwhale, that may be has had half a dozen irons in him already."
"Yes, sir, that's sometimes skeary worki too; though I
don't think so much of a whale as I do of a sea-elephant,
or of a sea-lion.'Let me know my shipmates,'-say I,' on
a sealin' expedition.'"
"Captain Gar'ner," said the deacon, who necessarily
overheard this discourse, "you ought to know at once
whether this man is to go in the schooner or not. The
mates believe he is, and may come across from the main
without a hand to take his place should he leave us. The.hing should be settled at once."
"I'm willing to come to tarms this minute," returned
Watson, as boldly as if. he were perfectly sincere; "only




THE SEA  LIONS.                   81
let me understand what I undertake. If I know'd to what
islands the schooner was bound, it might make a difference
in my judgment."
This was a well-devised question of the spy's, though it
failed of its effect, in consequence of the deacon's great
caution in not.having yet told his secret, even to the master of his craft.  Had Gardiner known exactly where he
was about to go, the desire to secure a hand as valuable as
Watson might have drawn from him some imprudent revelation; but knowing nothing himself, he was obliged to
make the best answer he could.
"Going," he said; " why, we are going. after seals, to
be sure; and shall look for them where they are most to
be found.  As experienced a hand as yourself ought to
know where that is."
"Ay, ay, sir," answered the fellow, laughing-" it's just
neither here nor there-that's all."
"Captain Gar'ner," interrupted the deacon, solemnly,
"this is trifling, and we must come to terms with this
man, or write to Mr. Hazard to engage another in his
place. Come ashore, sir; I have business with you up at
the house."
The serious manner in which this was uttered took both
the captain and the man a little by surprise. As for the
first, he went below to conceal his good-looking throat beneath a black handkerchief, before he followed the deacon
where it was most probable he should meet with Mary.
While he was thus occupied, Watson came down out of
the main-rigging and descended into the forecastle.  As
the young captain was walking fast towards the dwelling
of Deacon Pratt, Watson tamne on deck again, and hailed
Baiting Joe, who was fishing at no great distance from the
wharf. In a few minutes Watson was in Joe's boat, bag
and all - he had not brought a chest on board - and was
under way for the Harbour.  From the Harbour he sailed
the same evening, in a whale-boat that was kept in readiness for him, carrying the news over to Holmes's Hole
hat the Sea Lion, of Ovster Pond, would certainly be
ready to go out as early as the succeeding week. Although
Watson thus seemingly deserted his post,'it was with a
perfect understanding with his real employers  He hlad




82               THE SEA  LIONS
need of a few days to make his own preparations before he
left the 41st degree of north latitude to go as far south as
a vessel could proceed.  He did not, however, leave his
post entirely vacant. One of Deacon Pratt's neighbours
had undertaken, for a-consideration, to let the progress of
events be known, and tidings were sent by every opportunity, reporting the movements of the schooner, and the
prospects of her getting to sea. These last were not quite
as flattering as Roswell Gardiner hoped and believed, the
agents of the Vineyard company having succeeded in
getting away two of Hazard's best men; and as -reliable
sealers were not to be picked up as easily as pebbles on a
beach, the delayoaused by this new stroke of inanagement
might even be serious.  All this time the Sea Lion, of
Holmes' Hole, was getting ahead with untiring industry,
and there was every prospect of her being ready to go out
as soon as her competitor. But, to return to Oyster Pond.
Deacon Pratt was in his porch ere Roswell Gardiner
overtook him. There the deacon gave his young friend to
understand he had private.business-of moment, and led the
way at once into his own apartment, which served the pur
poses of office, bed-room and closet; the good man being
accustomed to put up his petition to the throne of Mercy
there, as well as transact all his temporal affairs. Shutting
the door, arid turning the key, not a little to Roswell's surprise, the old man faced his companion with a most earnest
and solemn look, telling him at once that he was now about
to open his mind to him in a matter of the last concern.
The young sailor scarce knew what to think of it all; but
he, hoped that Mary was, in some way, connected with the
result.
"In the first place, captain Gar'ner," continued the
deacon, "' I must ask you to take an oath."
"An oath, deacon - This is quite new for the sealing
business-as ceremonious as Uncle Sam's people."' Yes, sir, an oath; and an oath that must be most religiously kept, and on this bible.  Without the oath, our
whole connection must fall through, captain Gar'ner."
" Rather than that should happen, deacon, I will cheerrflly take two oaths; one to clench the other."
"It is well. I ask you, Roswell Gar'ner, t6 swear on




THE SEA LIONS.                    83
this Holy Book that the secrets I shall now reveal to you
shallnot be told to any other, except in a manner prescribed
by myself; that in no other man's employment will you
profit by them  and that you will in all things connected
with'them be true and faithful to your engagements to me
and to my interests-so help you God!"
Roswell Gardiner kissed the book, while he wondered
much, and was dying with curiosity to know what was to
follow. This great point secured, the deacon laid aside the
sacred volume, opened a drawer, and produced the two allimportant charts, to which he had transferred the notes of
Daggett.' Captain Gar'ner,",resumed the deacon, spreading the
chart of the antarctic sea on the bed, "you must have
known me and my ways long enough to feel some surprise
at finding me, at my time of life, first entering into the
shipping concern."
"If I've felt any surprise, deacon, it is that a man of
your taste and judgment should have held aloof so long
from the only employment that I think fit for a man of real
energy and character."
"Ay, this is well enough for you to say, as a seaman
yourself; though you will find it hard to persuade most of
those who live on shore into your own ways of thinking.'-'
"That is because people ashore think and act as they
h'qve been brought up to do. Now, just look at that chart,
deacon;. see how much of it is water, and how little of it
is land. Minister Whittle told us, only the last Sabbath,
that nothing was created without a design, and that a wise
dispensation of Divine Providence was to be seen in all the
works of nature.  Now, if the land was intended to take
the lead of the water, would there have been so much more
of the last than of the first, deacon?  That was the idea
that came into my mind when I heard the minister's words;
and had not Mary-"
"What of Mary?" demanded the dea6on, perceiving
that the young man paused.
" Only I was in hopes that what you had to say, deacon,
might have some connection with her."
" What I have to say is better worth'hearing than fifty
Marvs. As to my niece, Gar'ner, you are welcome to her.
S 




84              THIE SEA L IONS.
if she will have you; and why she does'not is to me unaccountable. But, you see that chart -look at it well, and
tell me if you find anything new or remarkable about it."
"It looks like old times, deacon, and here are many
places that I have visited and know, What have we here' 
Islands laid down in pencil, with the latitude and longitude
in figures! Who says there is land, thereaway, Deacon
Pratt, if I may be so free as to ask the question?"
"I do-and capital good land it is, for a sealing craft to
get alongside of. Them islands, Gar'ner, may make your
fortune, as well as mine. No matter how I know they are
there-it is enough that I do know it, and that I wish you
to carry the Sea Lion to that very spot, as straight as you
can go; fill het up with elephant's oil, ivory, and skins,
and bring her back again as fast as she can travel."
"Islands in that latitude and longitude'!" said Roswell
Gardiner, examining the' chart as closely as if it were of
very fine print indeed -" I never.heard of any such land
before!"
"'Tis there, notwithstanding; and like all land in distant seas that men have not often troubled, plentifully garnished with what will pay the mariner well for his visit."
"Of that I have little doubt, should there be actually
any land there. It may be a Cape Fly Away that some
fellow has seen in thick weather. The ocean is full of such
islands!"
" This is none of them. It is bony fidy'arth, as I know
from the man who trod it. You must take good care,
Gar'ner, and not run the schooner on it" — with a small
chuckling laugh, such as a man little accustomed to this
species of indulgence uses, when in high good-humour.," I am not rich enough to buy and fit out Sea Lions for
you to cast'.em away."
"That's a high latitude, deacon, to carry a craft into.
Cook, himself, fell short of that, somewhat!"
"Never mind Cook - he was a king's navigator- my
man was an American sealer; and what he has once seen
he knows where to find again. There are the islands —
three in number' and there you wil find'em, with animals
on their shores. as plenty as clam-shells on the south
beach."




THE  SEA  LIONS.                  85
"I hope it may be so. If land is there, and you'l risk
the schooner, I'1 try to get a look at it. I shall want you
to put it down in black and white, however, that I'm to go
asdhigh as this."
" You shall have any authority a man may ask. On that
point there can be no difficulty between me and you. The
risk of the schooner must be mine of course; but I rely on
you to.take as good care of her as a man can. Go then,
direct, to that point, and fill up the schooner. But, Gar'ner,
my business doesn't end with this! As soon as the schooner
is full, you will come to the southward, and get her clear
of everything like ice as fast as possible."
"That I should be very likely to do, deadon, though you
had said nothing on th~e subject."
"Yes, by all accounts them are stormy seas, and the
sooner a body is, shut of them the better. And now, Gar'ner,
I must swear you again. I have another secret to tell you,
and an oath must go with each. Kiss this sacred volume
once more, and swear to me never to reveal to another that
which I am about to reveal to you, unless it may be in a
court of law, and at the command of justice, so help you
God."
"What, a second oath, deacon!-You are as bad as the
custom-houses, which take you on all tacks, and don't believe you when you've done. Surely, I'm sworn in already."
" Kiss the book, and swear to what I have put to you,"
said the deacon, sternly, " or never go to sea in a craft of
mine. Never to. reveal what I shall now tell you, unless
compelled by justice, so help you God!'"
Thus cornered, Roswell Gardiner hesitated no longer,
but swore as required, kissing the book gravely and reverently. This was the young man's first command, and he
was not. going to lose it on account of so small a matter as
swearing to keep. his owne:'s secrets. Having obtained the
pledge, the deacon now produced the- second chart, which
was made to take the place of the other on the bed.
"There!" he.exclaimed, in a sort of triumph —" that is
he real object of your voyage!"
"That key! Why, deacon, that is in north latitude --
-', and you make a crooked road of it truly, when you




86              THE  SEA  LIONS
tell me to go as far south as --  — ", in order to reach
it."' It is well to have two strings to a body's bow,  When
you hear what you are to bring from  that key, you will
understand why I send you south, before-you are to come
here to top off your cargo."' It must be with turtle, then," said Roswell Gardiner,
laughing. " Nothing grows on these keys but a few stunted
shrubs, and nothing is ever to be found on them but turtle.
Once in a while a fellow may pick up a few turtle, if he
happen to hit the right key."
"Gar'ner," rejoined the deacon, still more solemnly-:'that island, low and insignificant as it is, contains treasure. Pirates made their deposits here a long time ago,
and the knowledge of that fact is now confined to myself."
The young man stared at the deacon as if he had some
doubts whether the old man were in his right mind. He
knew the besetting weakness of his character well, and had
no difficulty in appreciating the influence of such a belief
as that he had just expressed, on his feelings; but it seemed
so utterly improbable that he, living on Oyster Pond, should
learn a fact of this nature, which was concealed from
others, that, at first, he fancied his owner had been dreaming of money until its images had made him mad. Then
he recollected the deceased mariner, the deacon's many
conferences with him, the interest he had always appeared
to take in the man, and the suddenness, as well as the
time, of the purchase of the schooner; and he at once obtained a clue to the whole affair.
"Daggett'has told you this, Deacon Pratt" —said Gardiner, in -his off-hand way. "And he is the man who has
told you of those sealing-islands too?"
"Admitting it to be so, why not Daggett as well as any
other man?"
"Certainly, if be'knew what he was saying to be truebut the yarn of a sailor is not often to be taken for gospel.'
"Daggett'was near his end, and cannot be classed with
those who. talk idly in the pride of their health and strength
- men who are ever ready to say -' Tush, God has for.'gotte.'"




THE  SEA  LIONS.                  87
"Why was this told to you, when the man had natural
friends and relatives by the dozen over on the Vineyard?"
" He had been away from the Vineyard and them relatives fifty years; a length of time that weakens a body's
feelings considerably.  Take you away from Mary only a
tfourth part of that time, and you would forget whether her
eyes are blue or black, and altogether how she looks."
"If I should, a most miserable and'contemptible dog
should I account. myself! No, deacon, twice fifty years
would not make me forget the eyes or the looks of Mary!"
" Ay, so all youngsters think, and feel, and talk.  But
let'em try the world, and they'11 soon find out their own
foolishness.  But Daggett made me his confidant because
Providence put me in his way, and because he trusted to
being well enough to go in the schooner, and to turn the
expedition to some account in his own behalf."
" Had the man the impudence to confess that he had
been a pirate, and helped to bury treasure on this -key?"
"That is not, by any means, his history.  Daggett was
never a pirate himself, but accident placed him in the same
prison and same room as that in which a real pirate was
confined. There the men became friends, and the condemned prisoner, for such he was in the end, gave this
secret to Daggett as the last service he could do him."' I hope, deacon, you do not expect much in the way of
profit from this part of. the voyage?"
" I expect the most from it, Gar'ner, as you will too,
when you come to hear the whole story."
The deacon then went into all.the particulars of the re-.
velations made by the pirate to his fellow-prisoner, much
as they had been given by Daggett to himself. The young
man listened to this account at first with incredulity, then
with interest; and finally with a feeling that induced him
to believe that there might be more truth in the narrative
than he had originally supposed possible. This change
was produced by the earnest manner of the deacon as
much as by the narrative itself; for he had become graphic
under the strong impulses of that which, with him, was a
master passion. So deep had been the impression made
on the mind of the old man by Daggett's account, and so
intense the expectations thereby awakened, that he omitted
8 *




88              THE  SEA  LIONS.
nothing, observed the most minute accuracy in all his
details, and conveyed just as distinct impressions to his
listener, as had been conveyed to himself, when the story
was first told to him.
"This is a most extr'or'nary account, take it on whatever tack you will!" exclaimed Roswell Gardiner, as soon
as a pause in the deacon's story enabled him to put in another word.  "The most extr'or'nary tale I ever listened
to! How carne so much gold and silver to be abandoned
for so long a time?"
"Them  three officers hid it there, fearing to trust their
own crew with it in their vessel. Their pretence was to
stop for turtle, just as you must do: whilst the hanids were
turtling, the captain and his mates walked about the key,
and took occasion to make their deposits in that hole on
the coral rock, as you have heard me say. Oh! it's all too
natural not to be true!"
Roswell Gardiner saw that the old man's hopes were too
keenly excited to be easily cooled, and that.his latent co
vetousness was thoroughly awakened. Of all the passions
to which poor human nature is the slave, the love of gold
is that which endures the longest, and is often literally
carried with us to the verge of the grave. Indeed, in minds
so constituted originally as to submit to an undue love of
money, the passion appears to increase, as others more dependent on youth, and strength, and enterprise, and am'bition, gradually become of diminished force, slowly but
surely usurping the entire sway over a being that was once
subject to many masters.  Thus had it been with the deacon. Nearly all his passions now centred in this one. He
no longer cared for preferment in politics, though once it
had been the source of a strong desire to represent Suffolk
at Albany; even the meeting, and its honours, was loosening its hold on his mind; while his fellow-men, his kindred
included, were regarded by him as little more than so many
competitors, or tools.
"A  lie may be made to seem very natural," answered
Roswell Gardiner, "' if it has been put together by one who
understands knotting and splicing in such matters.  Did
this Daggett name the amount of the sum that he supposed
the pirates may have left on that key?"




THE SEA LIONS.                    89
"lie did," returned the deacon, the whole of his narrow
and craving soul seeming to gleam in his two sunken eyes
as he answered.. "According to the account of the pirate,
there could not have been much less than thirty thousand
dollars, and. nearly all of it in good doubloons of the coin
of the kings-doubloons that will weigh their full sixteens
to the pound-ay, and to spare!"
" The Sea Lion's cargo, well chosen and well stowed,
would double that, deacon, if the right animals can only be
found."
"May be so - but, just think, Gar'ner- this will be in
good bright coined gold!"
"But what right can we have to that gold, even admitting
that it is there, and can be found?"
"Right!" exclaimed the deacon, staring.  "Does. not
that which Divine Providence gives man become his own?"
" By the same rule it might be said Divine Providence
gave it to the pirates. There must be lawful owners to all
this money, if one could only find them."
"Ay, if one could only find them.  Harkee, Gar'ner;
have you spent a shilling or a quarter lately?"
"A good many of both, deacon," answered the young
man, again betraying the lightness of his heart with a
laugh.  "I wish I had more of your saving temper, and I
might get rich.  Yes, I spent a quarter only two hours
since, in buying fish for the cabin, of old Baiting Joe."
"Well, tell me the impression of that quarter. Had it a
head, or only pillars? What was its date, and in whose
reign was it struck?  Maybe it was from the mint at Philadelphia- if so, had it the old eagle or the new?  In a
word, could you swear to that quarter, Gar'ner, or to any
quarter you ever spent in your life?"
"Perhaps not, deacon.  A fellow doesn't sit down to
take likenesses, when he gets a little silver or gold.'
"Nor is it very probable that any one could say -' that
is my doubloon.'"'' Still there must be a lawful owner to each piece of
that money, if any such money be there," returned'Roswell
Gardiner, a little positively. " Have you ever talked with
Mary, deacon, on this subject?"
" I talk of such a matter with a woman! Do you think




90               THE_ SEA LIONS.
I'm  mad, Gar'ner?  If I wanted to have the secret rut-(
through old Suffolk, as fire runs over the salt meadows ill
the spring, I might think of such a thing: but not without.
I have talked with no one but the master of the craft that I
am about to send out in search of this gold, as well as in
search of the sealing-islands I have shown you. Had there
been but one object in view, I might nothave ventured so
much; but with two before my eyes, it would seem  like
flying in the face of Divine Providence to neglect so great
an opportunity!"
Roswell Gardiner saw that arguments would avail nothing against a cupidity so keenly aroused. He abstained,
therefore, froit urging any more of the objections that
suggested themselves to his mind, but heard all that the
deacon had to tell him, taking full notes of what he heard
It would seem that Daggett had been sufficiently clear in
his directions for finding the hidden treasure, provided
always that his confidant the pirate had been as clear with'
him, and had not been indulging in a mystification. The
probability of the last had early' suggested itself to one of
Deacon Pratt's cautious temperament; but Daggett had
succeeded in removing the impression by his forcible statements of his friend's sincerity.  There was as little doubt
of the sincerity of the belief of the Martha's Vineyard mariner, as there was of that of the deacon himself.
The day that.succeeded this conference, the Sea Lion
hauled off from the wharf, and all commu'nications with her
were now made only by means of boats. The sudden disappearance of Watson may have contributed to this change,
men being more under control with a craft at her moorings
than when fast to a wharf. T'hree days later the schooner
lifted her anchor, and with a light air made sail. She
passed through the narrow but deep channel which separates Shelter Island from Oyster Pond, quitting the waters
of Peconic altogether. There was not an air of departure
about her, notwithstanding.  The deacon was not much
concerned; and some of Roswell Gardiner's clothes were
still at his washerwoman's, circumstances that were fully
explained, when the schooner was seen to anchor in Gardiner's Bay, which is an outer roadstead to all the ports and
havens of that region




THE  SEA  LIONS.                   91
CHAPTER VII.
" Walk in the light! so shalt thou know
That fellowship of love,
His spirit only can bestow
Who reigns'in light above.
Walk in the l.ght! and sin, abhorr'd,
Shall ne'er defile again;
The blood of Jesus Christ, the Lord,
Shall cleanse from every stain."
BERNARD BARTON.
ABO1~T an hour after the Sea Lion, of Oyster Pond, had
let go her anchor i'n Gardiner's Bay, a coasting sloop approached her, coming from the westward.  There are two
passages by which vessels enter or quit Long Island Sound,
at its eastern termination. The main channel is between
Plum and Fisher's Islands, and, from the rapidity of its
currents, is known by the name of the Race. The other
passage is much less frequented, being out of the direct
line of sailing for craft that keep mid-sound. It lies to the
southward of the Race, between Plum Island and Oyster
Pond Point, and is called by the Anglo-Saxon appellation
of Plum Gut. The coaster just mentioned had come through
this latter passage; and it was the impression of those who
saw her from the schooner, that she was bound up into
Peconic, or the waters of Sag Harbour. Instead of luffing
tip into either of the channels that would have carried her
into these places, however, she kept off, crossing Gardiner's
Bay, until she got within hail of the schooner. The wind
being quite light, there was time for the following short
dialogue to take place between the skipper of this coaster
and Roswell Gardiner, before the sloop had passed beyond
the reach of the voice.
" Is that the Sea Lion, of Oyster Pond?" demanded the
skipper, boldly.
"Ay, ay," answered Roswell Gardiner, in the sententious
nanner of a seaman.




9 12            THE SEA. LIONS.
"' Is there one Watson, of Martha's Vineyard, shipped in
that craft?"
" He was aboard here for a week, but left us suddenly.
As he did not sign articles, I cannot say that he run."
"He changed his mind, then," returned the other, as
one expresses a slight degree of surprise at hearing that
which was new to him.  "Watson is apt to whiffle about,
though a prime fellow, if you can once fasten to him, and
get him into blue water. Does your schooner go out tomorrow, Captain Gar'ner?"
"Not till next day, I think," said Roswell Gardiner,
with the frankness of his nature, utterly free from the
slightest suspicion that he was communicating with one in
the interests of rivals. " My mates have not yet joined me,
and I'am short of my complement by two good hands, Had
that fellow Watson stuck by me, I would have given him a
look at water that no lead ever sounded."
"Ay, ay; he's a whiffler, but a good man on a sea-elephant. Then you think you'll sail day a'ter to-morrow?"
" If my mates come over from the main. They wrote
me yesterday that they had got the hands, and were then
on the look-out for something to get across in. I've come
out here to be ready for them, and to pick'em up, that
they needn't go all the way up to the Harbour."
" That's a good traverse, and will save a long pull. Perhaps they are in that boat."
At this allusion to a boat, Roswell Gardiner sprang into
his main rigging, and saw, sure enough, that a boat was
pul-ling directly towards the schooner, coming from the
main, and distant only a short half mile. A glass was
handed to him, and he was soon heard announcing cheerfully to. his men, that " Mr. Hazard and the second officer
were in the boat, with two seamen," and that he supposed
they should now have their complement.  All this was
overheard by the skipper of the sloop, who caught each
syllable with the most eager attention.
"You'11 soon be travelling south,. I'm thinking, Captain
Gar'ner?" called out this worthy, again, in a, sort of felici
tating way -" Them's your chaps, and they'11 set you up.':
"I hope so, with all my heart, for there is nothing-more
%iresome than waiting when one is all ready to trip. My




THE SEA LIONS.                    93
owner is getting to be impatient too, and wants to see some
skins in return for his dollars."
"Ay, ay, them's your chaps, and you'll be off the day
a'ter to-morrow, at the latest. Well, a good time to you,
Captain Gar'ner, and a plenty of skinning. It's a long
road to travel, especially when a craft has to go as far south
as youxr's is bound!"'.' How do you know, friend, whither I am bound? You
have not asked me for my sealing ground, nor is it usual,
in our business, to be hawking it, up and down the country."
"All that is true enough, but I've a notion, notwithstanding. Now, as yob'11 be off so soon, and as I shall not
see you again, for some time at least, I will give you a
piece of advice. If you fall in with a consort, don't fall out
with her, and make'a distant v'y'ge a cruise for an enemy,
but come to tarms, and work in company; lay for lay; and
make fair weather of what can't be helped."
~ The men on board the sloop laughed at this speech,
while those on board the schooner wondered. To Roswell
Gardiner and his people the allusions were an enigma, and
the former muttered something about the stranger's being
a dunce, as he descended from the rigging,'and gave some
orders to prepare to receive the boat.
" The chap belongs to the Hole," rejoined the master
of the schooner, "and all them Vineyard fellows fancy
themselves bettei blue-jackets than the rest of mankind:
I suppose it must be because their island lies further out
to sea than anything we have here inside of Montauk."
Thus ended the communications with the stranger. The
sloop glided away before a light south wind, and, favoured
by an ebb tide, soon rounded the spit of sand that shelters
the anchorage; and, hauling up to the eastward, she went
on her way towards Holmes' Hole. The skipper was a
relative of half of those who were interested in fitting out
the rival Sea Lion, and had volunteered to obtain the very
information he took with him, knowing how acceptable it
would be to those at home. Sooth to say, a deep but wary
excitement prevailed on the Vineyard, touching not only
the sealing-islands, but also in respect to the buried' trea
sure. T'he information actually possessed by the relation.




94              THE  SEA  LIONS.
of the deceased mariner was neither very full nor very
clear. It consisted principally of sayings of Daggett, uttered during his homeward-bound passage, and transmitted
by the master of the brig to him of the sloop in the course
of conferences that wore away a long summer's afternoon,
as the two vessels lay becalmed within a hundred fathoms
of each other. These sayings, however, had been frequent
and intelligible. All men like to deal in that which makes
them of importance; and the possession of his secrets had
just the effect on Daggett's mind that was necessary to
render him boastful. Under such impulses his tongue had
not beet very guarded; and facts leaked out which, when
transmitted to his native  island, through the medium of
half a dozen tongues and as many fancies, amounted to
statements sufficient to fire the imaginations of a people
much duller than those of Martha's Vineyard. Accustomed
to converse and think of such expeditions, it is not surprising that a few of the most enterprising of those who
first heard the reports should unite and plan the adventure
they now actually had in hand. When the intelligence of
what was going on on Oyster Pond reached them, everything like hesitation or doubt disappeared; and from the
moment of the nephew's return in quest of his uncle's
assets, the equipment of the "Humses' Hull" craft had
been pressed in a way that would have done credit to that
of a government cruiser. Even Henry Eckford, so well
known for having undertaken to cut the trees and put
upon the waters of Ontario two double-bank frigates, if
frigates they could be termed, each of which was to mount
its hundred guns, in the short space of sixty days, scarce
manifested greater energy in carrying out his contract,
than did these rustic islanders in preparing their craft to
compete with that which they were now certain was about
to sail from the place where their kinsman had breathed
his last.
These keen and spirited islanders, however, did not
work quite as much in the dark as our accounts, unexplained, might give the reader reason to suppose. It will
be remembered that there was a till to the chest which
had not been examined by the deacon. This till contained
an old mutilated journal, not of the last, but of one or two




THE  SEA  LIONS.                   95
of the earlier voyages of the deceased; though it ha( detached entries that.evidently referred to different and distaut periods of time.  By dint of study, and by putting
together sundry entries that at first sight might not be supposed to have any connection with each other, the present
possessor of that -chest had obtained what he deemed to be
very sufficient clues to his uncle's two great.secrets. T''here
were also in the chest several loose pieces of paper, on
which there were rude attempts to make charts of all the
islands and keys in question, giving their relative positions
as it respected their immediate neighbours, but int no instance giving the latitudes and longitudes.  In addition to
these significant proofs that the reports brought through
the two masters were not without a foundation, there was
an unfinished letter, written by the deceased, and addressed
as a sort of legacy, " to any, or all of Martha's Vineyard,
of the name of Daggett."  This address- was sufficiently
wide, including, probably, some hundreds of persons; a
clan in fact; but it was also sufficiently significant. The
individual into whose hands it first fell, being of the name;
read it first, as a matter of course, when he carefully folded
it up, and placed it in a pocket-book which he was much
in the habit of carrying in his own pocket. On what principle this letter, unfinished and withodt a signature, with
nothing indeed but its general and comprehensive address
to point out its origin as well, as its destination, was thus
appropriated to the purposes of a'single individual, we
shall not stop to inquire. Such was the fact, however, and
none connected with the equipment of the Sea Lion, of
Holmes" Hole, knew anything of the existence of that
document, its present possessor excepted. He looked it
over occasionally, and deemed the information it conveyed
of no trifling import, under all the circumstances of the
case.
Both the enterprises of which we have given an opening
account were perfectly characteristic of the state of society
in which they were brought into existence. Deacon Pratt,
if he had any regular calling, was properly a husbandman,
though the love of money had induced him to invest his
cash in nearly every concern around him, which promised
remunerating returns.  The principal owners of the Sea
9              V




96              THE SEA LIONS.
Lion, of Holmes' Hole, were husbandmen also; folk who
literally tilled the earth, cradled their own oats and rye,
and mowed their own meadows.' Notwithstanding, neither
of these men, those of the Vineyard any more than he of
Oyster Pond, had hesitated about investing of his means
in a maritime expedition, just as if they. were all regular
ship-owners of the largest port in the Union.  With such
men, it is only necessary to exhibit an account with a fair
prospect of large profits, and they are ever ready to enter
into the adventure, heart, hand, and pocket;  Last season,
it may have been to look for whales'on the coast of Japan;
the season before that, to search for islands frequented by
the seals; this season, possibly, to carry a party out to
hunt for camelopards, set nets for young lions, and beat
up the quarters of the rhinoceros on the plains of Africa:
while the next, they may be transporting ice from Long
Pond to Calcutta and Kingston —not to say to London
itself. Of such materials are those descendants of the
Puritans composed; a mixture of good and evil; of the
religion which clings to the past, in recollection rather
than in feeling, mingled with a worldly-mindedness that
amounts nearly to rapacity; all cloaked and rendered decent by a conventional respect for duties, and respectable
and useful, by frugality, enterprise, and untiring activity.
Roswell Gardiner had not mistaken the persons of those
in the boat. They proved to be Phil Hazard, his first
officer; Tim Green, the second mate; and the two sealers
whom it had cost so much time and ingenuity to'obtain.
Although neither of the mates even suspected the truth,
no sooner had they engaged the right'sort of man than he
was tampered with by the agents of the Martha's Vineyard
concern, and spirited away by means of more tempting
proposals, before' he had got quite so far as to sign the
articles. One of the motives for sending Watson across to
Oyster Pond had been to induce Captain Gardiner to be.
lieve he had engaged so skilful a hand, which would effec.
tually prevent his attempting to procure another, until, at
tile last moment, he might find.himself unalble to put to
sea for the want of a complement. A whaling or a sealing
voyage requires that the vessel should take out with her the
particular hands necessary to her specific object, though,




THE  SEA LIONS.                     97
of late years, the seamen have got so much in the habit
of'running,' especially in the Pacific, that it is onl.y the
craft that strictly belong to what may be termed the whaling
communities, that bring back with them the people they
carry out, and not always them.
But here had Roswell Gardiner his complement full,
and nearly everything ready to sea. He had only to go up
to the Harbour and obtain his clearance, have a short interview with his owner, a longer with Mary, and be off for
the antarctic circle, if indeed the ice would allow him to
get as far south. There were now sixteen souls on board
the Sea Lion, a very sufficient number for the voyage on
which she was about to sail. The disposition or rating of
the crew was as follows, viz.
1. Roswell Gardiner, master.   9. Joshua Short, seaman.
o. Philip Hazard, chief mate.  10. Stephen Stimson,   do.
3. Timothy Green, second do.  11. Bartlett Davidson,  do
4. David Weeks, carpenter.   12. PeterMount, landsman.
5. Nathan Thompson, seaman. 13. Arcularias Mott,   do.6. Sylvester Havens,   do.   14. Robert Smith,   do
7. Marcus Todd,      do.   15. Cato Livingston, cook.
8. Hirama Flint,     do.   16. Primus Floyd, boy.
This was considered. a good crew, on the whole. Every
man was a native American, and most of them belonged to
old Suffolk. Thompson, and Flint, and Short, and Stimson, four capital fellows in their way, came from the main;
the last, it was said, from  as far east as Kennebunk.  No
matter; they were all reasonably young, hale, active:fellows, with a promise of excellent service about every man
of them.  Livingston and Floyd were coloured persons,
who bore the names of the two respectable families in
which they or their progenitors had formerly been slaves.
Weeks was accustomed to the sea, and might have been
rated indifferently as a carpenter or as a mariner.  Mount
and Mott, though shipped as landsmen, were a good deal
accustomed to ihe water also,.having passed each two seasons in coasters, though neither had ever yet been really
outside, or seen blue water.
It would not have been easy to give to the Sea Lion
a more efficient crew; yet there was scarce a real seaman belonging to her-a man who could have been made
7




98-              THE SEA, LIONS.
a captain of the forecastle on board a frigate or a ship
of the line.  Even Gardiner, the best man in his little
craft in nearly every respect, was deficient in many attainmerits that mark the thorough sea-dog. He would have
been remarkable anywhere for personal activity, for courage, readiness, hardihood, and all those qualities which
render a man useful in the business to which he properly
belonged; but he could hardly be termed a skilful leadsman, knew little of the finesse of his calling, and was
wanting in that in-and-in breeding which converts habit
into an instinct, and causes the thorough seaman to do the
right thing, blow high or blow low, in the right way, and
at the right moment.  In all these respects, however, he
was much the best man on board; and he was so superior
to the rest as fully to command all their respect.  Stimson
was-probably the next best seaman, after the master.
The day succeeding that on which the Sea Lion re.
ceived the remainder of her people,. Roswell Gardiner went
up to the Harbour, where he met Deacon Pratt, by appointment. The object was to clear the schooner out,
which could be done only at that place.  Mary accompanied her uncle, to transact some of her own little domestic
business; and it was then arranged between the parties,:that the deacon should make his last visit to his vessel in
-the return-boat of her master, while Roswell Gardiner
should take Mary back to Oyster Pond, in the whale-boat
that had brought her and her uncle over. As Baiting Joe,
as usual, had acted as ferryman, it was necessary to get
rid of him, the young sailor desiring to be alone with Mary.
This was easily enough effected, by a present of a quarter
of a dollar.  The boat having two lugg sails, and the wind
being light and steady, at south-west, there was'nothing to
conflict with Roswell Gardiner's wishes.
The young sailor left the wharf at Sag Harbour about
ten minutes after the deacon had preceded him, on his way
o the schooner. As the wind was so light and so fair, he
soon had his sheets in, and the boat gliding along at an
easy rate, which permitted him to bestow nearly all his attention on his charming companion.  Roswell Gardiner
had sough this occasion, that he might once more open
his heart to Mary, and urge his suit for the last time, pre




THE. SEA  L'IO:N S.                 99
viously to so long an absence.  This he did in a manly
frank way, that was far from being unpleasant to his gentle
listener, whose inclinations, for a few minutes, blinded her
to the -resolutions already made on principle.~ So urgent
was her suitor, indeed, that she should solemnly plight her'faith to him, ere he sailed, that a soft illusion came "over
the mind of one as affectionate as Mary, and she was halfinclined to believe her previous determination was.unjustifiable'and obdurate. But the head of one of her high principles, and clear views of duty, could not long be deceived
by her heart, and she regained' the self-command which
had hitherto sustained her in all her former trials, in connection with this subject.
"Perhaps it would' have been better, Roswell," she said,
" had I taken leave of you at the Harbour, and not incurred
the risk of the pain- that I foresee I shall both give and
bear, in our present discourse. -Ihave concealed nothing
from you; possibly I have been more sincere than prudence
would sanction.  You know the only obstacle there is to
our union; but that appears to increase in strength, the
more I ask you to reflect on it-to try to remove it."
"What would you have me do, Mary! Surely, not to
play the hypocrite, and profess to believe that which I certailaly do not, and which, after all my inquiries, I cannot
believe."
"I am sorry it is so, on every account," returned Mary,
in a low and saddened tone. " Sorry, that one of so frank,
ingenuous a mind; should find ii impossible to accept the
creed of his fathers, and sorry that it must leave so impassable a chasm between us, for ever."'No, Mary; that can never be!  Nothing but death
can separate us for so long a timne!' While we meet, we
shall at least be friends; and friends love to meet and to
see each other often."
" It may seem unkind, at a moment like this, Roswell,
but it is in truth the very reverse, if I say we ought not to
meet ea( h other here, if we are bent on following our own
separate ways towards a future world. My God is not your
God; and what can there be of peace in a family, when its
two heads worship different de.ies-?  I am afraid that you
-do not think sufficiently-oJ the iature of these things."9*




100             THE  SEA  LIONS.
"I did not believe you to be so illiberal, Mary! HadIId
the deacon said as much, I might not have been surprised;
but, for one like you to tell me that my God is not your
God, is narrow, indeed!"
C" Is it not so, Roswell?  And, if so, why should we at
tempt to gloss over the tr'ith by deceptive words? I am a
believer in the Redeemer, as the Son of God; as one of
the Holy Trinity; while you believe in him only as a man
-a righteous and just, a sinless man, if you will, but as a
man only. Now, is not the difference in these creeds immense? Is it not, in. truth, just the difference between
God and man? I worship my Redeemer; regard him as
the equal of the, Father-as a part of that Divine Being;
while you look on him as merely a man without sin-as a
man such as Adam probably was before the fall."
"Do we know enough of these matters, Mary, to justify
us in allowing them to interfere with our happiness?"
" We are told that they are all-essential to'our happiness
-not in the sense you may mean, Roswell, but in one of
far higher import-and we cannot neglect them, without
paying the penalty."
"I think you carry these notions too far, dearest Mary,
and that it is possible for man and wife most heartily to
love each other, and to be happy in each other, without
their thinking exactly alike on religion. How many good
and pious women do you see, who are contented and pros.
perous as wives and mothers, and who are members of
meeting, but whose husbands make no. profession of any
sort!"
" That may be true, or not. I lay no claim to a right
to judge of any other's duties, or manner of viewing what
they ought to do. Thousands of girls marry without feel.
ing the very obligations that they profess to reverence; and
when, in after life, deeper convictions come, they cannot
zast aside the connections they have previously formed, if
they would; and probably would not, if they could. That
is a different thing from'a young woman, who has a deep
sense of what she owes to her Redeemer, becoming deliberately, and with'a full sense of what she is doing, the wife
)f one who. regards her God as merely a man-I care not
how you qualify this opinion, by saying a pure and sinless




THE  SEA  LIONS.                 101
man; it will be man, still.  The difference between God
and man is too immense, to be frittered away by any such
qualifications as that."
"But, if I find it impossible to believe all you believe,
Mary, surely you would not punish me for having the sincerity to tell you the truth, and the whole truth."
"No, indeed, Roswell," answered the honest girl, gently,
not to say tenderly.  "Nothing has given me a better opinion of your principles, Roswell-a higher notion of vwhat
your upright and frank character really is, than the manly
way in which you have admitted the justice of my -suspicions of your want of faith-of faith, as I consider faith can
alone exist. This fair dealing has made me honour you,
and esteem you, in addition to the more girlish attachment
that I do not wish to conceal from you, at least, I have so
long felt."
"Blessed Mary!" exclaimed Roswell Gardiner, almost
ready to fall down on his knees and worship the pretty enthusiast, who sat at his side, with a countenance in which
intense interest in his welfare was beaming from two of the
softest and sweetest blue eyes that maiden ever bent on a
youth in modest tenderness, whatever disposition he might
be in to accept her God as his God.." How can one so kind
in all other respects, prove so cruel in this one particular!'
"Because that one particular, as you term it, Roswell,
is.all in all to her," answered the girl, with a face that was
now flushed with feeling.  "I must answer you as Joshua
told the Israelites of old — Choose you,'this day, whom
you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served,
that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the
Anrlorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my
house, we will serve the Lord.'"
" Do you class me with the idolaters and pagans of Palestine?" demanded Gardiner, reproachfully.
"You have said it, Roswell. It is not I, but yourself,
who have thus classed you.  You worship your reason,
-instead of the one true and living God. This is idolatry
of the worst character, since the idol is never seen by the
devotee, and he does not kn6w of its existence."
"You consider it then idolatry for one to use those gifts
which he has received from his Maker, and to treat the




1.02             THIE SEA  LIONS.
most important of all subjects, as a rational being, instead
of receiving a creed blindly, and without thought?"
If what you call thought could better the inatt6r; if it
were sufficient to comprehend and master this subject,
there might be force in what you say. But what is this
boasted reason, after all?  It is not sufficient to explain a
single mystery of the creation, though there are thousands,
I know there are, nlay there must be, a variety of opinions
among those who look to their reasons, instead. of accept,.
ing the doctrine of revelation, for the character of Christ;
but I'believe all, who are not open infidels, admit that the
atonement of his death was sufficient for the salvation of
men: now, can you explain- this part of the theory of our
religion any mote than you can -explain the divine nature
of the Redeemer? Can you reason any more wisely touching the fall, than touching the redemption itself?  I know
I am unfit to treat of matters of this profound nature," continued Mary, modestly, though with great earnestness and
beauty of manner; " but,- to me, it seems very-plain that
the instant circumstances lead us beyond the limits of our
means of comprehension, we are to believe in, and not to
reason on, revelation.  The whole history of Christianity
teaches this. Its first ministers were uneducated men;
men who were totally ignorant until enlightened by their
faith; and all the lessons it teaches are to raise faith, and
faith in the Redeemer, high above all other attainments,
as the one great acquisition that includes and colours every
other.  When such is the fact, the heart does not make a
stumbling-block of every thing that the head cannot understand."
".1 do not know how it is," answered Roswell Gardiner,
influenced, though unconvinced; " but when I talk with
you on this subject, Mary, I cannot do justice to my opinions, or to the manner in which I reason on them  with
my male friends and acquaintance. I confess it does appear to me illogical, unreasonable-I scarce know how to
designate what I mean-but, improbable, that God should
suffer himself, or his Son, to be crucified by beings that
he himself created, or that he should feel a necessity for
any such' course, in order to redeem beings he had himself,brought into existence."




THE SEA. LI ONS.                  103
"If there be any argument in the last, Roswell, it is an
argument as much against the crucifixion of a man, as.against the crucifixion  of one of the Trinity itself. I understand you to believe that. such a being as Jesus of Nazareth did exist; that he was crucified for our redemption;
and that: the atonement was accepted, and acceptable -before God the Father.  Now, is it not just as difficult to
understand how, or why,-this should be, as to understand
the common creed of Christians?"
"Surely, there is a vast-difference between the crucifixion of a subordinate being, and the crucifixion of one
who made a part of the Godhead itself, Mary!  I can imagine the first, though I may not pretend to understand its
reasons, or why it' was necessary it should be so; but, 1
am certain you will not mistake my motive when I say, I
cannot imagine the other."
" Make no apologies to me, Roswell; look- rather to
that Dread Being whose teachings, through chosen ministers, you disregard.  As for what you say, I can fully feel
its truth. I do not pretend to understand why such. a sacrifice should be necessary, but I believe it, feel it; and
believing and feeling it, I cannot but adore and worship
the Son, who quitLd heaven to come on earth,-and suffered, that we might possess eternal life.  It is all mystery
to me, as is the creation itself, our existence, God himself,
and all else that my mind is too limited to comprehend.
But,'Roswell, if I believe a part of the teachings of the
Christian church, I must believe all. The apostles, who
were called by Christ in person, who lived in his very presence, who knew nothing except as the Holy Spirit prompted, worshipped him as the Son of God, as one' who thought
it not robbery to be equal with God;' and' shall I, ignorant
and uninspired, pretend to set up my feeble means of reasoning, in opposition to.their written instructions!"
"Yet must each of us stand or fall by the'means he possesses, and the use he makes of them."
"That is quite true, Roswell; and ask yourself the use
to which you put your own faculties.- I do not deny that
we are to exercise our reason, but it is within the bounds
#et for its exercise. We may examine the evidence of
Christianity, and determine for ourselves how far it is sup



104             THE SEA  LIONS.
ported by reasonable and sufficient proofs; beyond this we
cannot be expected to go, else might we be required to
cornprehend the mystery of our own existence, which just
as much exceeds our understanding as any other. We are
told that man was created in the image of his Creator,
which means that there is an immortal and spiritual part
of him that is entirely different from the material creature
One perishes, temporarily at least-a limb can be severed
from the body and.perish, even while the body survives;
but it is not so with that which has been created in the
image of the deity. That is imperishable, immortal, spiritual, though doomed to dwell awhile in a tenement of
clay.: Now, why is it more difficult to believe that pure
divinity may. have entered into the person of one man, than
to believe,. nay to feet, that the image of God has entered
into. the persons of so many myriads of men? You not
only overlook all this, Roswell, but you commit the, to me
inexplicable, mistake of believing a part of a.mystery, while
you hesitate about believing all.  Were you to deny the
merits of the atonement altogether, your position would be
much stronger than it is in believing what you do.  But,
Roswell, we will not embitter the moment of separation by
talking more on this subject, now. I have other things to
say to you, and but little time to say them in. The promise
you have asked of me to remain single until your return, I
most freely make. It costs me nothing to give you this
pledge, since there is scarce a possibility of my ever marrying another."
Mary repeated these words, or rather this idea in other
words, to Roswell Gardiner's great delight; and again
and again he declared that he could now penetrate the
icy seas with a light heart, confident he should find her,
on his return, disengaged, and, as he hoped, as much disposed to regard him with interest as she then was. Nevertheless, Gardiner did not deceive himself as to Mary's intentioris.  He knew her and her principles too well, to
fancy that her resolution would be very likely to falter.
Notwithstanding their long and intimate knowledge of each
other, at no time had she ever betrayed a weakness that
promised to undermine her high sense of duty; and as time
increased her means of judging of what those duties were,




THE SEA  LIONS.                    105.her submission to them Seemed to be stronger and stronger.
Had there been anything stern or repulsive in Mary's manner of manifesting the feeling that was uppermost in her
mind, one. of Roswell Gardiner's temperament would have
been very apt to shake off her influence; biat, so far from
this being the case, she ever met him and parted from him
with a gentle and ingenuous interest in his welfare, and
occasionally with much womanly tenderness.  He knew
that she prayed for him daily, as fervently as she prayed for
herself; and even this, he hoped, would serve to keep alive
her interest in him, during his absence.  In this respect
our young sailor showed no bad comprehension of human
nature, nothing being, more likely to maintain an influence
of this sort, than the conviction that on ourselves depends
the happiness or interests of the person beloved.
CHAPTER VIII.
"And I have loved thee, Ocean! and my joy
Of youthful sports was on thy breast to b6
Borne, like thy bubbles, onward; from a boy
I wanton'd with thy breakers-they to me
Were a delight; and if the freshening sea
Made them a terror-'twas a pleasing fear;
For I was, as it were, a child of thee,
And trusted to thy billows, far and near,.
And laid my hand upon thy mane-as I do here."
BYRON
IT was past the turn of the day when Roswell Gardinet
rtached his vessel, after having carefully and with manly
interest in all that belonged to her, seen Mary to her home,
and taken his final leave of her. Of that parting we shall
say but little.  It was touching and warm-hearted, and it
was rendered a little solemn by Mary Pratt's putting into
her lover's hand a pocket-bible, with an earnest request
hat he would not forget to consult its pages. She added,
at the same time, that she had carefully marked those




-106             THE  SEA  LIONS.
passages which she wished him most to study and reflect
on. The book was accepted in the spirit in which it was
offered, and carefully placed in a little case that contained
about a hundred volumes of different works.
As the hour approached for lifting' the anchor, the nervousness of the deacon became very apparent to the commander of his schooner.  At each instant the former'was
at the latter's elbow, making some querulous suggestion,
or asking a question that betrayed the agitated and unsettled state of his mind. It really seemed as if the old man,
at the last moment, had not the heart to part with- his property, or to trust it out of his sight.  All this annoyed
Roswell Gardiner, disposed as he was, at that instant, to
regard every person and thing that in any manner pertained to Mary Pratt, with indulgence -and favour.
"You will be particular about them  islands, Captain
Gar'ner, and not get the schooner ashore," said the deacon,
for the tenth time at least.  "'They tell me the tide runs
like a horse in the high latitudes, and that seamen are
often stranded by them, before they know where they are."
"Ay, ay, sir; I'll try and bear it in mind," answered
Gardiner, vexed at being importuned so often to recollect
that which there was so little likelihood of his forgetting;
"I am an old cruiser in those seas, deacon, and know all
about the tides. Well, Mr. Hazard, what is the news of
the anchor?"
" We are short, sir, and only wait for orders to go on,
and get clear of the ground."
"; Trip, at once, sir; and so farewell to America —or to
this end of it, at least."
"-Then the keys, they tell me, are dangerous navigation, Gar'ner, and a body needs have all his eyes about
him."
"All places have their dangers to your sleepy navigator,
deacon; but the man who keeps his eyes open has little to
fear.  Had you given us a chronometer,' there would not
bave been one-half the risk there will be without one."
This had been a bone of contention between the master
of the Sea Lion and his owner.  Chronometers were not,
by any means, in as general use at the period of our tale
as they are to-day; and the deacon abhorred the expense to




THE  SEA  LIONS.'107
which such an article would have put him. Could he have
got one at a fourth of the customary price he might have
been tempted; but it formed no part of his principles of
saving to anticipate and prevent waste by liberality.
No sooner was the schooner released from the ground
than her sails were filled, and. she went by the low spit of
sand already Inentioned, with the light south-west breeze
still blowing in her favour, and an ebb tide. Everything
appeared propitious, and no vessel probably ever left home
iinder better omens. The deacon remained on board until
Baiting Joe, who was to act as his boatman, reminded him
of the distance and the probability that the breeze would
go down entirely witlh the sun. As fit was, they had to
contend with wind and tide, and it would require all *his
own knowledge of the eddies to get the whale-boat up to
Oyster Pond in anything like reasonable time. Thus admonished, the owner tore himself away from his beloved
craft, giving "young Gar'ner" as many'last words' as if
he were about to be executed. Roswell had a last word on
his part, however, in the shape of a message to Mary.
"Tell Mary, deacon," said the young sailor, in an aside,
"that I rely on her promise, and that I shall think of her,
whether it be under the burning sun of the line, or among
the ice of the antarctic."
"Yes, yes; that's as it should be," answered the deacon,
heartily.  "I like.your perseverance, Gar'ner, and hope
the gal will. come round yet, and I shall have you for a nephew. There's nothing that takes the women's minds like
money. Fill up the schooner with skins and ile, and bring
back. that treasure, and you make as sure of Mary for a
wife as if the parson had said the benediction over you."
Such was Deacon Pratt's. notion of his niece, as well as
of the female sex.  For months he regarded this speech as
a coup de maitre, while Roswell Gardiner forgot it in half
an hour; so much better than the uncle did the lover comprehend the character of the niece.
The Sea Lion, of Oyster Pond, had now cast off the last
ligament which connected her with the land.  She had no
pilot, none being necessary, or usual, in those waters; all
that a vessel had to do being to give Long Island a sufficient berth in rounding its eastern extremity.  The boat
10




1(08             TMTHE SEA  LIONS.
was soon shut in by Gardiner's Island, and thenceforth no.
thing remained but the ties of feeling to connect those
bold adventurers with their native country. It is true that
Connecticut, and subsequently Rhode Island, was yetw isible on one hand, and a small portion of New York on the
other; but as darkness came to close the scene, even that
means of communication was soon virtually cut off. The
light on Montauk, for hours, was the sole beacon for these
bold mariners, who rounded it about midnight, fairly meeting the long, rolling swell of the broad Atlantic. Then the
craft might be said to be at sea for the first time.
The Sea Lion was found to perform well. She' had been
constructed with an. eye to comfort, as well as to sailing,
and possessed that just proportion in her hull which carried
her over the surface of the waves like a duck. This quality
is of more importance to a small than to a large vessel, for
the want of momentum renders what is termed " burying"
a very deadening process to a light craft. In this very important particular Roswell was soon satisfied that the shipwright had done his duty.
As the wind still stood at south-west, the schooner was
brought upon an'easy bowline, as soon as she had Montauk
light dead to windward. This new course carried her out
to sea, steering south-south-east, a little easterly, under
everything that would draw. The weather appearing set.
tled, and there being no signs of a change, Gardiner now
went below and turned in, leaving the care of the vessel
to the proper officer of the watch, with an order to call
him at sunrise.  Fatigue soon asserted its power, and the
young man was shortly in as profound a sleep as if he had
not Just left a mistress whom  he almost worshipped for an
absence of two years, and to go onra voyage that probably
would expose him to more risks -and suffering than any
other enterprise tfien attempted by sea-faring men.  Our
young sailor thought not if the last at all, but he fell asleep
dreaming of Mary.
The master of the Sea Lion of Oyster Pond was called
precisely at the hour he had named. Five minutes sufficed
to bring him  on deck, where he found everything as he
had left it, with the exception of the schooner itself.  In
the six hours he had been below, his vessel had moved her




IHE  SEA  LIONS.                   109
position out to sea nearly forty miles. No land was now to
be seen, the American coast being very tame and unpicturesque to the eye, as the purest patriot, if he happen to
knvw anything of other parts of the world, must be constrained to admit. A low, monotonous coast, that is scarcely
visible'at a distance of five leagues, is certainly not to be
named in the same breath with those glorious shores of the
Mediterranean, for instance, where nature would seem  to
have-exhausted herself in uniting the magnificent with the
bewitching.  On this continent, or on our own portion of
it at least, we must be content with the useful, and lay no
great claims to the beautiful; the rivers and bays giving
us some competsatiorn in their admirable commercial faci-lities, for the sameness, not to say tameness, of the views.
We mention these things in passing, as a people that does
not understand its relative position in the scale of nations,
Is a little, apt to fall into errors that do not contribute to its
character or respectability; more especially when they
exhibit a self-love founded altogether on ignorance, and
which has been liberally fed by flattery.
The first thing. a seaman does on' coming -on deck, after
a short absence, is to look to windward, in order to see
-how the wind stands, "and what are the prospects of the
weather.  Then he turns his eyes aloft to ascertain what
canvass is spread, and how it draws.- Occasionally, the
order of these observations is changed, the first look being
sometimes bestowed on the sails, and'the second on the
clouds.  Roswell Gardiner, however, cast his first glance
this morning towards the -southward and westward, and
perceived that the breeze promised to be steady. On looking- aloft, he was well satisfied with the manner in which
everything drew; then he turned to the second mate, who
had-the watch, whom he addressed cheerfully, and with a
courtesy that'is not always observed among sailors.
"A  fine morning', sir," said Roswell Gardiner, " and' a
good-bye to America.  We've a long road to travel, Mr.
Green, but we've a fast' boat to do it in. Here is an offing
ready made to our hands. Nothing in sight to the westward;'not so much as a coaster, even'! It's too early foir the outward-bound craft of the' last ebb, and too late for those that




110             THE SEA LIONS.
sailed the tide before. I never saw this bight of the coast
clearer of canvass."
"Ay, ay, sir; it does seem empty, like. Here's a chap,
however, to leeward, who appears inclined to try his.rate
of sailing with us.  Here he is, sir, a very little abaft the
beam; and, as near as I can make him out, he's a fore.
tawsail schooner, of about our own dimensions; if you'll
just look at him through this glass, Captain Gar'ner, you'll
see he has not only our rig, but our canvass set."
"You are right enough, Mr. Green," returned Roswell,
after getting his look.  "He is a schooner of about our
tonnage, and under precisely our canvass.  How long has
the fellow bore as he does now?"
"'He came (~ut from  under Blokl Island a few hours
since, and we made him by moonlight. The question with
me is, where did that chap come from? A Stunnin'ton
man would have naturally passed to windward of Blok
Island; and a Newport or Providence fellow would not
have fetched so far to windward without making a stretch
or two on purpose.  That schooner has bothered me ever
since it was daylight; for I can't place him where he is
by any traverse my poor l'arnin' can work!"
" She does seem to be out of her wav. Possibly it is a
schooner beating up for.the Hook, and finding herself too
close in, she is standing to the southward to get an offing
again."
" Not she, sir.  She came out from behind Blok, and a
craft of her size that wanted to go to the westward, and
which found itself so close in, would have taken the first
of the flood and gone through the Race like a shot.  No,
no, Captain Gar'ner; this fellow is bound south as well as
ourselves, and ii is quite onaccountable how he should be
just where he is —so far to windward, or so far to leeward,
as a body might say. A south-south-east course, from any
place behind Point Judith, would have taken him off near
No Man's Land, and here he is almost in a line with Blok
Island!"
"' Perhaps he is out of New London, or some of the ports
on the main, and being bound to the-West Indies he has
beer;n- a little careless about weathering the island. It's no
great matter, after all."




THE.SEA L-IONS.                  111, "It is some such matter, Captain Gar'ner, as walkin
round a meetin'-'us' when your ar'n'd is in at the door ir
front.  But there, was no such craft in at Stunnin'tun ol
New London, as I know from havin' been at both places
within the last eight-and-forty hours."
"You begin to make me as curious about this fellow as
you seem to be yourself, sir. And now I think the matter
all over, it is somewhat extr'or'nary he should be just where
he is. It is, however, a very easy thing to get a nearer look
at him, and it's no great'matter to us, intending as we-do
to make the islands off the Cape de Verde, if we do lose a
little of our weatherly. position —keep the schooner away a
point, and get a small,-pull on your weather braces - give
her a little sheet too, fore and aft, sir.  So, that will dokeep her steady at that-south-east and by south.  In two
hours we shall just about speak this out-of-the-way joker."
As'every conmmand was obeyed, the Sea Lion was soon
running off free, her bowlines hanging loose, and all her
canvass a rap full.  The change in her line of sailing
drought the sail to leeward, a little forward of her beam;
but the movement of the vessel that made the freest wind
was consequently the- most rapid.'In the course of half
an'our the stranger was again a little abaft the beam, and
he was materially nearer than when first seen. No change
was made in the: route of the stranger, who now seenied
disposed to stand out to sea, with the wind as it was, on
an easy bowline, without paying any attention to the sail
in sight.
It was noon ere the two schooners came within hail of
each other.  Of course, as they drew nearer and nearer,
it was possible for those on board of each to note the appearance, equipments, and other peculiarities of his neighbour. In size, there was no apparent difference bet.ween
the vessels, and there was a somewhat'remarkable resemblance in the details.
"That fellow is no West India drogger," said Roswell
Gardiner, when less than a mile from the stranger.'" He
carries a boat on deck, as we do, and has one on each
~quarter, too. Can it be possible that he is bound after
seals, as well as we ar'e ourselves!"
"I believe you're right, sir," answered Hazard, the
10*               8




112             THE SEA  LIONS.
chief-mate, who was now on deck.  "There's a sealing
look about the gentleman, if I know my own complexion.
It's odd enough, Captain Gar'ner, that two of us should
come together, out here in the offing, and both of us bound
to the other end of the'arth!"
C' There is nothing so very remarkable in that, Mr. Ha.
zard, when we remember that the start must be properly
timed for those who wish to be off Cape Horn in the sum.
mer season.  We shall neither of us get there much before
December, and I suppose the master of yon schooner knows
that as well as I do myself.  The position'of this craft
puzzles me far more than anything else about her.  From
what port can a vessel come, that she should be just here,
with the wind at south-west?"
"Ay, sir," put in Green, who was moving about the
decks, coiling ropes and clearing things away, "that's
what I tell the chief-mate. Where can a craft come from,
to be just here, with this wind, if she don't come from
Stunnin'tun. Even from Stunnin'tun she'd be out of her
way; but no such vessel has been in that port any time
these six weeks. Here, you Stimson, come this way a bit.
Didn't you tell me something of having seen a schooner at
New Bedford, that was about our build and burthen,-and
that you understood had been bought for a sealer?"
"Ay, ay, sir," answered Stimson, as bluff an old seadog as ever flattened in a jib-sheet, " and that's the craft,
as I'm a thinkin', Mr. Green. She had an animal for a
figure-head, and that craft has an animal, as well as I can
judge, at this distance."
" You are right enough there, Stephen," cried Roswell
Gardiner, "and that animal is a seal. It's the twin-brother
of the sea lion we carry under our own bowsprit. There's
some proof in that, tastes agree sometimes, even if they do
differ generally. What became of the schooner you saw?"' I heard, sir, that she was bought up by some Vineyard
men, and was taken across to Hum'ses Hull. They sometimes fit out a craft there, as well as on the main. I should
have crossed myself to see what they was at, butI fell in
with AMr. Green, and shipped aboard here."
".An adventure by which, I hope, you will not be a loser,
my hearty," put in the captain.  "And you think that is




THE -SFEA LION-S.                113
the craft which was built at New Bedford, and fitted out
on the Vineyard?'' Sartain of it, sir; for-I know the figure-head, and all
about her build."
"Hand me the trumpet, Mr. Green; we shall soon be
near enough for a hail, and it will be easy to learn the
truth."
Roswell Gardiner waited a few minutes for the two
schooners to close, and was in the very act of applying the
trumpet to his mouth, when the usual salutation was sent
across the water from the stranger. During the conversation that now took place, the vessels gradually drew nearer
to each other, until both parties laid aside their trumpets,
and carried on the discourse with the unaided voice.
"Schooner, ahoy!" was the greeting of the stranger, and
a simple " Hilloa!" the answer..
"' What schooner is that, pray?"
"' The:Sea Lion, of Oyster-Pond, Long Island; bound
to the southward, after seal, as I suppose you know by our
outfit."
"When did you leave Oyster Pond-and how did you
leave your owner, the good Deacon Pratt?"
"We sailed yesterday afternoon, on the first of the ebb,
and the deacon left us as we weighed anchor. He was
well, and full of hope for our luck. What schooner is that,
pray?"
"The Sea Lion, of Hum'ses Hull; bound to the south.
ward, after seals, as you probably knew by our outfit. Who
-commands that schooner?"
"Captain Roswell Gar'ner-who commands aboard you,
pray?"
"Captain Jason Daggett," showing himself more plainly,
by moving out of the line of the main-rigging.  "I had
the pleasure of seeing you when I was on the P'int, looking after my uncle's dunnage, you may remember, Captain
Gar'ner.'T was but the other day, and you are not likely
to have forgotten my visit."
" Not at all, not at all, Captain Daggett; though I had
no idea, then, that you intended to make a voyage to the
southward so soon.  When did you leave the Hole, sir?"




114             THE:SEA  LIONS.
"Day before yesterday, a'ternoon. We came out of the
Hull about five o'clock."
"How had you the wind, sir?"
"Sou'-west, and sou'-west and by south. There has
been but little change in. that, these three days."
Roswell Gardiner muttered something to himself; but
he did not deem it prudent to utter the thoughts, that were
just then passing through his mind, aloud.
"Ay, ay," he answered, after a moment's pause, "the
wind has stood there the whole week; but I think we shall
shortly get a change. There is an easterly feeling in the
air."
"Waal, let it come.  With this offing, -we could clear
Hatteras with anything that wasn't worse than a southeaster.  There's a southerly set, in here, down the coast,
for two or three hundred miles."
"A heavy south-easter would jam us in, here, between
the shoals, in a way I shouldn't greatly relish, sir. I-like
always'to get to the eastward of the Stream, as soon as I
can, in running off the land."
"Very true, Captain Gar'ner-very true, sir. It is best
to get outside the Stream, if a body can.  Once there, 1
call a craft at sea. Eight-and-forty hours more of this wind
would just about carry us there. Waal, sir, as we re bound
on the same sort of v'y'ge, I'm happy to have fallen in with
you; and I see no reason why we should not be neighbourly, and'gam' it a little, when we've nothing better to
do. I like that schooner of yours so well, that I've made
my own to look as nearly resembling her as I could. You
see our paint is exactly the same."
"I have observed that, Captain Daggett; and you might
say the same of the figure-heads."
"Ay, ay; when I was over on the P'int, they told me
the name of the carver, in Boston, who cut your seal, and
I sent- to him to cut me a twin.  "If they lay in a shipyard, side by side, 1 don't think you could tell one from
the other."
"So it seems, sir. -Pray haven't you a man aboard there
of the name of Watson?"
"Ay, ay —he's my second-mate.  I know what you
mean, Captain G ar'ner-you're right enough,'tis the same




THE SEA  LIONS.                  115
hand who was aboard you; but wanting a second officer,
I offered himlthe berth, and he thought that better than
takin~g a foremast lay in your craft."
This explanation. probably satisfied all who heard it,
though the truth was not mnore than half told. In point of
fact, Watson was engaged as Daggett's second mate before
he.had ever laid eyes on Roswell Gardiner, and had been
sent to watch the progress of the work on Oyster Pond, as
has been previously stated. It was so much in the natural
order of events for a man to accept preferment when of
feied, however, that evkn Gardiner himself blamed the de,
linquent for the desertion far less than -he had previously
done.  In the mean time the conversation proceeded.
"You told us nothing of your having that schooner fit.
ting, when you were on the Point," observed Roswell Gardiner, whose thoughts just then happened to advert.to this
particular fact.
" My mind was pretty much taken up with the affairs
of my poor uncle, I suppose, Captain Gar'ner. Death must
visit each of us, once; nevertheless, it makes us all melancholy when he comes among friends."
Now, Roswell Gardiner was not in the least sentimental,
nor had he the smallest turn towards indulging in moral
inferences, from ordinary events; but, this answer seemed
so proper, that it found no objection in his mind. Still,
the young man had his suspicions on the subject of the
equipment of the other schooner, and suspicions that were
now active and keen, and which led him directly to fancy
that Daggett had also some clue to the very objects he was
after himself. Singular as it may seem at first, Deacon
Pratt's interests were favourably affected by this unexpected
meeting with the Sea Lion of Holmes' Hole.  From  the
first, Roswell Gardiner had been indisposed to give full
credit to the statements of the deceased mariner, ascribing
no small part of his account to artifice, stimulated by a
desire to render himself important. But, now that he found
one of this man's family embarked in an enterprise similar
to his own, his views of its expediency were sensibly
changed.  Perfectly familiar.with the wary economy with
which every interest was regulated in that part of the worlds
ne did not believe a company of Martha's Vineyard: men




1 16            THE SEA LIONS.
would risk their money in an enterprise that they had no.
good reasons for believing would succeed. Although it.exceeded his means to appreciate fully the information possessed by the Vineyard folk, and covetousness did not
quicken his faculties on this subject, as they had quickened
those of the deacon, he could see enough to satisfy his'mind that either the sealing-islands, or the booty of the pirates, or both, had a reality, in the judgments of others,
which had induced them also to risk their money in turning their knowledge to account. The effect of this conviction was very natural. It induced Roswell to regard the
charts, and his instructions, and all connected with his
voyage, as much more serious matters than he had originally been inclined to do. Until now, he had thought it
well enough to let the deacon have his fancies, relying on
his own ability to obtain a cargo for the schooner, by visiting sealing stations where he had been before; but, now,
he determined to steer at once for Daggett's Islands, as he
and his owner named the land revealed to them, and ascertain what could be done there. He thought it probable
the other Sea Lion might wish to keep him company; but
the distance'was so great, that a hundred occasions must
occur when it would be in his power to shake off such a
consort, should he deem it necessary.
For several hours the two schooners stood on in coinpany,. keeping just without hailing distance apart, and
sailing so nearly alike as to render it hard to say which
craft had the best of it. There was nothing remarkable in
the fact that two vessels, built for' the same trade, should
have a close general resemblance to each other; but it was
not common to find them so moulded, stowed, sparred and
handled, that their rate of sailing should be nearly identical.
If there was any difference, it was slightly in favour of the
Sea Lion of the Vineyard, which rather drew ahead of her
consort, if consort the other Sea Lion could be termed, in
the course of the afternoon.
It is scarcely necessary to say that many were the speculations that were made on board these rivalvessels-competitors now for the commonest glories of their pursuits, as
well as in the ultimate objects of their respective voyages.
On the part of Roswell Gardiner and his two mates, they




THE  SEA  LIONS.                 117
did not fail, in particular, to comment on the singularity
of the' circumstance that the Sea Lion, of the Vineyard,
should be so far out of her direct line of sailing.
"Although we have had the wind at sow-west" (sowwest always, as pronounced by every seaman, from'the
Lord High Admiral of England-, when there happens to be
such a functionary, down to the greenest hand on board
the greenest sealer) "' for these last few days," said Hazard,
"anybody can see we shall soon have easterly weather.
There's an easterly feel in the air, and all last night the
water had an easterly glimmer about it. Now, why a man'vho came out of the Vineyard Sound, and who had nothing to do but just to clear the west eend of his own
island, and then lay his course off yonder to the southward
and eastward, should bear up cluss (Anglice, close) under
Blok, and stretch out to sea, for all the world as if he was
a Stunnin'tun chap, or a New Lunnoner, that had fallen a
little to leeward, is more than I can understand, Captain
Gar'ner! Depend on it, sir, there's a reason for't.  Men
don't put schooners into the water, now-a-days, and give
them costly outfits, with three whale-boats, and sealin' gear
in abundance, just for'the fun of making fancy traverses,
on or off a coast, like your yacht gentry, who never know
what they would be at, and who never make a v'y'g6 worth
speaking on.".
"I have been turning all this over in my mind, Mr.
Hazard," answered the young master, who was amusing
himself at the moment with strapping a small block, while
he threw many a glance at the vessel that was just as close
under his lee as comported with her sailing.  "There is a
reason for it, as you say; but, I can find no other than the
fact that she has come so much out of her way, in order
to fall in with tus; knowing that we were to come round
Montauk at a particular time."
"Well, sir, that may have been her play! Men bound
the same way often wish to fall into good company, to make
the journey seem the shorter, by making it so much the
pleasanter."
" Those fellows can never suppose the two schooners
will keep in sight of each other from forty-one degrees
north all the way'to seventy south, ot perhaps further




118              THE SEA  LIONS.
south still!  If we remain near each other a week,'t will
be quite out of the common way."
"I don't know that, sir. I was once in a sealer that, do
all she could, couldn't get shut of a curious neighbour.
When seals are scarce, and the master don't know where
to look for'em, he is usually glad to drop into some vessel's
wake, if it be only. to pick up her leavin's."
" Outfits are not made on such chances as that.  These
Vineyard people know where they are going as well as we
know ourselves; perhaps better."
"There is great confidence- aboard here, in the master,
Captain Gar'ner. I overheard the watch talking the matter
over early this morning; and there was but one opinion
among them, I can tell you, sir."
" Which opinion was, Mr. Hazard —"
"That a lay aboard this craft would be worth a lay and
a half aboard any other schooner out of all America!
Sailors go partly on skill and partly on luck.  I've known
hands that wouldn't ship with the best masters that ever
sailed a vessel, if they didn't think they was lucky as well
as skilful."
"Ay, ay, it's all luck!  Little do these fellows think of
Providence -or of deserving, or undeserving.  Well, I
hope the schooner will not disappoint them-or her masteeither.  But, whaling and sealing, and trusting to the.
chances of the ocean, and our most flattering hopes, may
mislead us after all."
"'Ay, ay, sir; nevertheless, Captain Gar'ner has a name,
and men will trust to it!"
Our young master could not but be flattered at this,
which came at a favourable moment to sustain the resolutions awakened by the competition with the rival schooner.
Although so obviously competitors, and that in a matter of
trade, the interest which above -all others is apt to make.men narrow-minded and hostile to each.other, though the
axiom  would throw this particular reproach on doctors,
there were no. visible signs that the two vessels did not
maintain the most amicable relations. As'the day advanced
the wind fell, and after many passages of nautical compli
ments, by means of signals and the trumpet, Roswel
Gardiner fairly lowered  a boat into the water, and




THE  SEA  LIONS.                 119
went a "gamming," as it is termed, on board the other
schooner.
Each of these little vessels was well provided with boats,
and those of the description in common use among whalers.
A whale-boat differs from the ordinary jolly-boat, launch,
or yawl —gigs, barges, dinguis, &c. &c., being Exclusively
for the service of vessels of war —in the following particulars: viz. -It is sharp at both ends, in order that it may'back off,' as well as'pull on;' it steers with an oar, instead of with a rudder, in order that the bows may be
thrown round to avoid danger when not in motion; it is
buoyant, and made to withstand the shock of waves at
both ends; and it is light and shallow, though strong, that
it may be pulled with facility. When it is remembered that
one of these little egg-shells —little as vessels, though of
good size -as boats — is often dragged through troubled
waters at the rate of ten or twelve knots, and frequently at
even a swifter movement, one can easily understand how
much depends on its form, buoyancy and strength. Among
seamen, it is commonlv thought that a whale-boat is the
safest craft of the sort in which men can trust themselves
in rough water.
Captain Daggett received his guest with marked civility,
though in a quiet, eastern way. The rum and water were
produced, and a friendly glass was taken by one after the
other. The two masters drank to each other's success, and
many a conventional remark was made between them on
the subject of sea-lions, sea-elephants, and the modes of
capturing such animals. Even Watson, semi-deserter as.he was, was shaken cordially by the hand, and his questionable conduct -overlooked.  The ocean has many of the
aspects of eternity, and often disposes mariners to regard
their fellow-creatures with an expansiveness of feeling suited to their common situations. Its vastness reminds them
of the time that has neither beginning nor end; its ceaseless movement, of the never-tiring impulses of hum!nan passions; and its accidents and dangers, of the Providence
which protects all alike, and which alone prevents our being abandoned to the dominion of chance.
Roswell Gardiner was a kind-hearted man, moreover,
and was inclined to judge his fellows leniently. Thus it
11




120              THE SE;A  LIONS.
was that nls "good evening"- at parting, to Watson, was
just as frank and sincere as that he bestowed on Captain
Daggett himself
CHAPTER IX.
Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean-roll 
Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain;
Man marks the earth with ruin-his control
Stops with the shore; —upon the watery plain
The wrecks are all thy deeds, nor dotl remain
A shadow of man's ravage, save his own,
When for a moment, like a drop of rain,
He sinks into thy depths with bubbling groan,
Without a grave, unknell'd, uncoffin'd, and unknown."
BYRON.
THAT evening the sun set in clouds, though the eastern
horizon was comparatively clear. There was, however, an
unnatural outline to objects, by which their dimensions
were increased, and in some degree rendered indefinite.
We do not know the reason why the wind at east should
produce these phenomena, nor do we remember ever to
have met with any attempt at a solution; but of the fact,
we are certain, by years of observation.  In what is called'easterly weather,' objects are seen through the medium of
a refraction that is entirely unknown in a clear northwester; the crests of the seas emit a luminous light that is
far more apparent than at-other times; and the face of the
ocean, at midnight, often wears the aspect of a clouded
day.  The nerves, too, answer to this power of the eastern
winds.  We have a barometer within that can tell when
the wind is east without looking abroad, and one that never
err.s. It is true that allusions are often made to these peculiarities, but where are we to look for the explanation? On
the coast of America the sea-breeze comes from the rising
sun, while on that of Europe it blows from the land; but
no difference in these signs of its influence could we ever
discover on account of this marked distinction.




THE SEA LIONS.                   121
Roswell Gardiner found the scene greatly changed when
he came on deck next morning.  The storm, which had
been brewing so long, had come at last, and the wind was
olowing a little gale from south-east.  The quarter from
which the air came had compelled the officer of the watch
to haul up on the larboard tack, or with the schooner's
head to the southward and westward; a course that might
do for a few days, provided it did not blow too heavily.
T'he other tack would not have cleared the shoals, which
stretched away to a considerable distance to the eastward.
Hazard had got in his flying-jib, and had taken the bonnets
off his foresail and jib, to prevent the craft burying.  He
had also single-reefed his mainsail and foretopsail. The
Sea Lion, of the Vineyard, imitated each movement,- and
was brought down precisely to the same canvass as her
consort, and on the same tack. At that moment the two
vessels were not a cable's length asunder, the Oyster
Ponders being slightly to leeward. Their schooner, however, had a trifling advantage in sailing when it blew fresh:and the water was rough; which advantage was now
making itself apparent, as the two craft struggled ahead
through the troubled element.
"I wish we were two hundred miles to the eastward,"
observed the young master to his first officer, as soon as
his eye had taken in the whole view.  "I am afraid we
shall get jammed in on Cape Hatteras. That place is
always in the way with the wind at south-east and a vessel
going to the southward. We are likely to have a dirty time
of it, Mr. Hazard."
c'Ay, ay, sir, dirty enough," was the, careless answer.
"I've known them that' would go back and anchor in Fort
Pond Bay, or even in Gardiner's, until this south-easter
had blown itself out."
"I couldn't think of that!  We are a hundred miles
south-east of Montauk, and if I run the craft into any
place, it shall be into Charleston, or some of the -islands
along that coast.  Besides, we can always ware off the
land, and place ourselves a day's run further to the southward, and we can then give the shoals a wide berth on the
other tack. If we were in the bight of the coast between
Long Island and Jersey,'t would be another matter; but,




122             THE 9EA LIONS.
out here, where we are, I should be ashamed to look the
deacon in the face if I didn't hold on."
"I only made the remark, Captain Gar'ner, by way of
saying something. As for getting to the southward, close
in with our own coast, Ildon't know that it will be of much
use to a craft that wishes to stand so far to the eastward,
since the trades must be met well to windward, or they had
better not be met at all. For my part, I would as soon
take my chance of making a passage to the Cape de Vertds
or their neighbourhood, by lifting my anchor from Gardidiner's Bay, three days hence, as by meeting the next shift
of wind down south, off Charleston or Tybee."
" We should, be only five hundred miles to windward, in
the latter case, did the wind come from the south-west,
again, as at this season of the year it is very likely to do.
But, it is of no consequence; men bound where we have
got to go, ought not to run into port every time the wind
comes out foul. You know as well as I do, Mr. Hazard,
that away down south, yonder, a fellow thinks a gale of
wind is a relief, provided it brings clear water with it. 1
would rather run a week among islands, than a single day
among icebergs.  One knows where to find land, for that
never moves; but your mountains that float about, are here
to-day, and there to-morrow."
"Quite true, sir,'" returned Hazard, "and men that take
their lays in sealers, are not to expect anything but squalls.
I'm ready to hold on as long as our neighbour yonder; he
seems to be trimming down to it, -as if in raal earnest to
get ahead."
This was true enough.  The Sea Lion of the Vineyard
was doing her best, all this time; and though unable -to
keep her station on her consort's weather bow, where she
had been most of the morning, she was dropped so very
slowly as to render the change nearly imperceptible. Now,
it was, that the officers and crews of these two craft watched
their "'behaviour," as it is technically termed, with the
closest vigilance and deepest interest. Those in the Oyster
Pond vessel regarded the movements of their consort, much
as a belle in a ball-room observes the effect produced by
the sister belles around her; or a rival physician notes the
progress of an operation, that is to add new laurels,' or to




T HE'SE A.LI O N S.            123
cause old ones to wither. Now, the lurch was commented
on; then, the pitch was thought to be too heavy; and
Green was soon of opinion that their competitor was not
as easy on her spars as their own schooner. In short,
every comparison that experience, jealousy or skill could
suggest, was freely made; and somewhat as a matter of
course, in favour of their own vessel. That which was
done on board the Sea Lion of Oyster Pond, was very freely
emulated by those on board her namesake of the Vineyard
They made their comparisons, and formed their conclu.,
sions, with the same deference to self-esteem, and the same
submission to hope, as had been apparent among theiz
competitors. It would seem to be a law of nature that
men should thus flatter themselves, and perceive the mote
in the eye of their neighbour, while the beam in their own
escapes.
Had there been an impartial judge present, he: might
have differed from both sets of critics.  Such a person
would have seen that one of these schooners excelled in
this quality, while the other had an equal advantage in another. In this way, by running through the list of properties that are desirable in a ship, he would, most probably,
have come to the conclusion that there was not much to
choose between the two vessels; but, that each had been
constructed with an intelligent regard. to the particular
service in which she was about to be employed, and both
were handled by men who knew perfectly well how to take
care. of craft of that description.
The wind gradually increased in strength, and sail was
shortened in the schooners, until each was finally brought
down to a close-reefed foresail. This would have been
heaving the vessels to, had they not been kept a little off,
in order to force them through the water.  To lie-to, in
perfection, some after-sail might have been required; but
neither master saw a necessity, as yet, of remaining stationary.  It was thought better to wade along some two
knots, than to be pitching and lurching with nothing but a
drift, or leeward set. In.this, both masters were probably
right, and found their vessels farther to windward in the
end, than if they had endeavoured- to hold their own, by
lying-to. The great difficulty they had to contend with
11 *




124             THE  SEA  LIONS.
in keeping a little off, was the danger of seas coming orn
board; but, as yet, the ocean was not sufficiently aroused
to make this very hazardous, and both schooners, having
no real cargoes, were light and buoyant, and floated dry.
Had they encountered the sea there was, with fill freights
in their holds, it might have been imprudent to expose
them even to this remote chance of-having their decks
swept. Water comes aboard of small vessels, almost without an exception, in head winds and seas; though the contrivances of modern naval architecture have provided defences that make merchant vessels, now, infinitely more
comfortable, in this respect, than they were at the period
of which we are writing.
At the end of three days, Roswell Gardiner supposed
himself to be about the latitude of Cape Henry, and some
thirty or forty leagues from the land. It was much easier
to compute the last, than -the first of these material facts.
Of course, he had no observations. The sun had not been
visible since the storm  commenced, and nearly half the
time, during the last day, the two vessels were shut in from
one another, by mists and a small rain. It blew more in
*squails than it had done, and the relative positions of the
schooners were more or less affected by the circumstance.
Sometimes, one would be to windward, and ahead; then,
the other would obtain a similar advantage. Once or twice
they seemed about to separate, the distance between them
getting to be so considerable, as, apparently, to render it
impossible to keep in company; then the craft would
change places, by a slow process, passing quite near to
each other again. No onV could tell, at the moment, precisely why these variations occurred; though the reasons,
generally, were well understood by all on board them.
Squalls, careless steering, currents, eddies, and all the accidents of the ocean, contribute to create these vacillating
movements, which will often cause two vessels. of equal
speed, and under the same canvass, to seem to be of very
different qualities. In the nights,.the changes were greatest, often placing the schooners leagues asunder, and seemingly. separating them  altogether.  But, Roswell Gardiner
became satisfied that Captain Daggett stuck by. him intentionally; for on all such occasions if his schooner happened




THE  SEA  LIONS.                 125
to be out of the way, he managed to close again, ere the
danger of separating became too great to be overcome.
Our mariners judged of their distance from the land, by
means of the lead. If the American coast is wanting in the
sublime and picturesque, and every traveller must admit
its defects in both, it has the essential advantage of graduated soundings. So regular is the shoaling. of the water,
and so studiously have the fathoms been laid down, that a
cautious navigator can always feel his way in to the coast.,
and never need place his vessel on the beach, as is so often
done, without at least knowing that he was about to do so.
Men become adventurous by often-repeated success;, and
the struggles of competition, the go-ahead-ism of the national character, and the trouble it gives to sound in deep
water, all contribute to cast away the reckless and dashing
navigator, on this as well as on other coasts, and this to
his own great surprise; but, whenever such a thing does
happen, unless in cases of stress of weather, the reader
may rest assured it is because those who have had charge
of the stranded vessel have neglected to sound. The milestones on a highway do not more accur.ately note the distances, than does the lead on nearly the whole of the American coast. Thus Roswell Gardiner judged himself to be
about thirty-two or three marine leagues from the land, on
the evening of the third day of that gale of wind.  He
placed the schooner in the latitude of Cape Henry on less
certain data; though that was the latitude in which he supposed her to be, by dead reckoning.
" I wish I knew where Daggett makes himself out," said
the young master, just as the day closed on a most stormy
and dirty-looking night. "I don't half like the appearance
of th'e weather; but, I do not wish to ware off the land,
with that fellow ahead and nearer to the danger, if there
be any, than we are oursel.ves."-Here, Roswell Gardiner rrlMnifested a weakness that lies
at the bottom of half our blunders.' He did not like to be
outdone by a competitor, even in his mistakes. If the Sea
Lion of Holmes' Hole could hold on, on that tack, why
might not the Sea Lion of Oyster Pond-do the same'! It
is by this process of human vanity that men sustain each
other in wrong,- arfd folly obtains the sanction of numbers,




126             THE SEA LIONS.
if not that of reason.  In this practice we see one of the
causes of the masses becoming misled, and this seldom
happens without their becoming oppressive.
Roswell Gardiner, however, did not neglect the lead.
The schooner had merely to luff close to the wind, and
they were in a proper state to sound. This they did twice,
during that night, and with a very sensible diminution in
the depth of the water. It was evident that the schooner
was getting pretty close in on the coast, the wind coming
out nearly'at south, in squal'ls. Her commander held on,
for he thought there were indications of a change, and he
still did not like to ware so long as his rival of the Vineyard kept on the larboard tack.  In this way, each encouraging the other in recklessness, did these. two craft
run nearly into the lion's jaw, as it might be; for, when
the day re-appeared, the wind veered.round to the eastward, a little northerly, bringing the craft directly on a leeshore, blowing at the time so heavily as to render a foresail
reefed down to a mere rag, more canvass than the little
vessels'could well bear.  As the day returned, and the
drizzle cleared off.a little, land was seen to leeward, stretching slightly to seaward, both ahead and astern! On consulting his charts, and after getting a pretty good look at
the coast from aloft, Roswell Gardiner became satisfied
that he was off Currituckj which.placed him near six degrees to the southward of his port of departure, and about
four to the westward.  Our young man now deeply felt
that a foolish rivalry had led him into an error, and he regretted that he had not wore the previous evening, when
he might have had an offing that would have enabled him
to stand in either direction, clearing the land. As things
were, he was not by any means certain of the course he
ought. to pursue.
Little did Gardiner imaginethat the reason why Daggett had thus stood on, was so ely the wish to keep him
company; for, that person, in consequence of Gardiner's
running so close in towards the coast, had taken up the
notion that the Sea Lion of Oyster Pond meant to pass
through the West Indies, visiting the key, which was
bhought to contain treasure, and of which he had some act
counts that' had aroused all his thirst fof gold, without giv.




THE  SEA  LIONS.                 127
ing him the clue necessary to obtain it. Thus it was that
a mistaken watchfulness on one side, and a mistaken pride
on the other, had brought these.two vessels.into as dangerous a position as could have been obtained for them by a
direct attempt to plaqe them in extreme jeopardy.
~ About ten, the gale was at its height, the wind still
hanging at east, a little northerly.  In the course of the
~morning, the officers on board both schooners, profiting by
lulls and clear moments, had got so many views of the land
from aloft, as to be fully aware of their respective situations. All thoughts of competition and watchfulness had
now vanished. Each vessel.was managed with a reference
solely to her safety; and, as might have been foreseen
when true seamen handled both, they had recourse to the
same expedients to save themselves. The mainsails of
both crafts were set, balance-reefed, and the hulls were
pressed up against the wind and sea, while they were
driven ahead with increased momentum.
"That main-mast springs like a'whale-bone whip-handle,
sir," said Hazard, when this new experiment had been
tried some ten minutes or more.  " She jumps from one
sea to another, like a frog in a hurry to hop into a puddle!"
"She must stand it, or go ashore," answered Gardiner,
coolly, though in secret he was- deeply concerned. " Did
Deacon Pratt forgive me, should we lose the schooner, I
never could forgive myself!"
" Should we lose the schooner, Captain Gar'ner, few of
us would escape drowning, to feel remorse or joy. Look
at that coast, sir - it is clear now, and a body can see a
good bit of it-never did I put eyes upon a less promising
land-fall, for strangers to make."
Roswell Gardiner did look, as desired, and he fully
agreed with Hazard in opinion.  Ahead, and astern, the
land trended -to seaward, placing the schooners in a curve
of the coast, or what seamen term  a bight, rendering it
quite impossible for the vessels to lay out past either of the
head-lands in sight. The whole coast was low, and endless
lines of breakers were visible along it, flashing up with
luminous crests that left no doubt of their character, or of
the dangers that they so plainly denoted. At times, co.
urnns of water shot up into the air like enormous jets,
9




128             THE SEA -LIONS.
and the spray was carried inland for miles. Then it was
that gloom gathered around the brows of the seamen, who
fully comprehended the nature of the danger that was so
plainly indicated.  The green hands were the least concerned, "knowing nothing and fearing nothing," as the
older seamen are apt to express their sense of this indifference on the part of the boys and landsmen.
According to the calculations of those on board the Sea
Lion, of Oyster Pond, they had about two miles of drift
before they should be in the breakers.  They were on the
best tack, to all appearances, and that was the old one, or
the same leg that had carried them  into the bight. To
ware now, indeed, would be a very hazardous step, since
every inch of room was of importance. Gardiner's secret
hope was that they might find the inlet that led into Currituck, which was then open, though we believe it has since
been closed, in whole or in part, by the sands. This often
happens on the American coast, very tolerable passages
existing this year for vessels of an easy draught, that shall
be absolutely shut up, and be'converted into_visible beach,
a few years later. The waters within will then gain head,
and break out, cutting themselves a channel, that remains
open until a succession of gales drives in the sands upon
them from the outside once more.
Gardiner well knew he was on the most dangerous part
of the whole American coast, in one sense, at least.  The
capacious sounds that spread themselves within the long
beaches of sand were almost as difficult of navigation as
any shoals to the northward; yet would he gladly have
been in one in preference to clawing off breakers on their
outside. As between the two schooners, the Vineyard-men
had rather the best' of it, being near a cable's length to
windward, and so much further removed from destruction.
The difference, however, was of no great account in the
event of the gale continuing, escape being utterly impossi.
ble for either in that case. So critical was the situation
of both craft becoming, indeed,. that neither could now
afford to yield a single fathom of the ground she held.
All eyes were soon looking for the inlet, it having been
determined to keep the Sea Lion, of Oyster Pond, away
For it, should it appear to leeward, under.circumstances




TH-E SEA LIONS.                  129
that would allow of her reaching it. The line of breakers
was now very distinctly visible, and each minute did it not
only appear to be, but it was in fact -nearer and nearer.
Anchors were cleared away, and ranges of cable over.
hauled, anchoring being an expedient that a seaman felt
bound to resort to, previously to going ashore, though it
would be with very little hope of ground-tackles holding.
The schooner had been described by Hazard as'jumping' into the sea. This expression is not a bad one, as
applied to small vessels in short seas, and it was particularly apt on this occasion. Although constructed with great
care forward as to buoyancy, this vessel made plunges into
the waves she met that uearly buried her; and, once or
twice, the shocks were so great, that those on board her
could with difficulty persuade themselves they had not
struck the bottom, The lead, nevertheless, still gave water
sufficient, though it was shoaling fast, and with a most
ominous regularity.  Such was the actual state of things
when the schooner made one of her mad plunges, and was
met by a force that seemed to check her forward move.
ment as effectually as if she had hit a rock. The mainmast was a good spar in some respects, but it want6d wood.
An inch or two more in diameter might have saved it; but
the deacon had been induced to buy it to save his money,
though remonstrated with at the time. This spar now
snapped in two, a few feet from the deck, and falling to
leeward, it.dragged after it the head of the foremast, leaving
the Sea Lion, of Oyster Pond, actually in a worse situation,
just at that moment, than if she had no spars at all.
Roswell Gardiner now appeared in a new character.
Hitherto he had been silent, but observant; issuing his
orders in a way not to excite the men, and with an air of unconcern that really had the effect to mislead most of them
on the subject of his estimate of the danger they were in.
Concealment, however, was no longer possible, and our
young master came out as active as circumstances required,
foremost in every exertion, and issuing his orders amid the
gale trumpet-tongued. IHis manner, so full of animation,
resolution. and exertion, probably prevented despair from
getting the ascendancy at that important moment. He was
nobly sustained by both his mates: and three or four of the




130             THE  SEA  LIONS.
older seamen now showed themselves men to be relied- on
to the last..The first step was to anchor. Fortunately, the foresight
of Gardiner had everything ready for this indispensable
precaution. Without anchoring, ten minutes would pro.
bably have carried the schooner directly down upon the
breakers, leaving no hope for the life of any on board her,
and breaking her up into chips. Both bowers were let go
at once, and long ranges of cable given. The schooner was
snubbed without parting anything, and was immediately
brought head to sea. This relieved her at once, and there
was a moment that her people fancied she might ride out
the gale where,she was, could they only get clear of the
wreck. Axes, hatchets, and knives were freely used, and
Roswell Gardiner saw the mass of spars and rigging float
clear of him with a delight he did not desire to conceal.
As it drove to leeward, he actually cheered.  A lead was
instantly dropped alongside, in order to ascertain whether
the anchors held. This infallible test, however, gave the
melancholy certainty that the schooner was still drifting
her length in rather less than two minutes.
The only hope now was that the flukes of the anchors
might catch in better holding ground than they had yet
met with. The bottom was hard sand, however, which
never gives a craft the chance that it gets from mud.  By
Roswell Gardiner's calculations, an  hour, at the most,
would carrfy them  into the breakers; possibly less time.
The Sea Lion, of Holmes' Hole, was to windward a cable's
length when this accident happened to her consort, and
about kalf a mile to the southward. Just at that instant
the breakers trended seaward, ahead of that schooner, rendering it indispensable for her to ware. This was done
bringing her head to the southward, and she now came
struggling directly on towards her consort. The operation
of waring had caused her to lose ground enough to bring
her to leeward of the anchored craft, and nearer to the
danger.
Roswell Gardiner stood on his own quarter-deck, anxiousy watching the drift of the other schooner, as she drew
near in her laboured way, struggling ahead through bit.
lows that were almost as white as the breakers that menaced




THE- SEA  LIONS.                 131
st*rnt with destruction to leeward. The anchored vessel,
though drifting, had so slow a movement that it served to
mark the steady and rapid set of its'consort towards its
certain fate. At first, it seemed to Gardiner that Daggett
would pass just ahead of him, and he trembleA for his
cables, which occasionally appeared above water, stretched
like bars of iron, for the distance of thirty or forty fathoms.
But, the leeward set of the vessel under way was too fast
to give her any chance of bringing this new danger on her
consort.  When a cable's length distant, the Sea Lion, of
the Vineyard, did seem as if she might weather her consort; but, ere that short space was passed over, it was found
that she fell off so fast, by means of her drift, as to carry
her fairly clear of her stern. The two masters, holding with
one hand to some permanent object by which to steady
themselves, and each pressing histarpaulin firmly down on
his head with the other, had a minute's conversation when
the schooners were nearest together.
"Do your anchors hold?" demanded Daggett, who was
the first to speak, and who put his question as if he thought
his own fate depended on the answer.
" I'm sorry to say they do not.  We drift our length in
about two minutes."
"That will put off the evil moment an hour or two.
Look what a wake we are making!"
Sure enough, that wake was frightful!  No sooner was
the head of the Sea Lion, of the Vineyard, fairly up with
the stern of the Sea Lion, of Oyster Pond, than Gardiner
perceived that she went off diagonally, moving quite as fast
to leeward as she went ahead. This was so very obvious
that a line drawn from the quarter of Roswell's craft, in a
quartering direction, would almost have kept the other
schooner. in its range from the moment that her bow hove
heavily past.
"God bless you!-God bless you!" cried Roswell Gardiner, waving his hand in adieu, firmly persuaded that he
and the Vineyard master were never to meet again in this
world. "The survivors must let the fate of the lost be
known.  At the pinch, I shall out boats, if I can."
The other made no answer. It would have been useless,
indeed, to attempt it; since no human voice had power to
12




132             THE SEA LIO.NS.
force itself up against such a gale, the distance that had
now to be overcome.
"That schooner will be in the breakers in half an hour,"
said Hazard, who stood by the side of young Gardiner.
"Why don't he anchor! No power short of Divine Providence can save her."'And Divine Providence will do it-thanks to Almighty
God for his goodness.!" exclaimed Roswell Gardiner. "Did
you perceive that, Mr. Hazard?"
The' that' of our young mariner was, in truth, a most
momentous omen. The wind had lulled so suddenly that
the rags of sails which the other schooner carried actually
flapped. At first our seamen thought she had been becalmed by the swell; but the change about themselves was
too obvious to admit of any mistake. It blew terribly, again,
for a minute; then there was another lull. Gardiner sprang
to the lead-line to see the effect on his own vessel. She no
longer dragged her anchor!
"God is with us!" exclaimed the young master-" blessed for ever be his holy name."
"And that of his only and true Son," responded a voice
from one at his elbow.
Notwithstanding the emergency, and the excitement
produced by this sudden change, Roswell Gardiner turned
to see from whom this admonition had come. The oldest
seaman on board, who was Stimson, a Kennebunk man,
and who had been placed there to watch the schooner's
drift, had uttered these unusual words. The fervour with
which he. spoke produced more impression on the young
master than the words themselves; the former being very
unusual among sea-faring men, though the language was
not so much so. Subsequently, Gardiner remembered that
little incident, which was not without its results.
"I do believe, sir," cried Hazard, "that the gale is
broken. I.t often happens, on our own coast, that the southe
easters chop. round suddenly, and come out nor'-westers.
I hope this will not be too late to save the Vineyard chap,
though he slips down upon them breakers at a most fearful
rate."
"There goes his foresail, again-and here is another
lull!" rejoined Gardiner. "I tell you, Mr. Hazard, we




THE  SEA. LIONS.                 133
shal have a shift of wind-nothing short of which could
save either of us from these breakers."
"Which comes from the marcy of God Almighty, through
the intercession of his only Son!" added Stimson, with
the same fervour of manner, though he spoke in a very low
tone of voice.
Roswell Gardiner was again surprised, and for another
moment he forgot the gale and its dangers. Gale it was
no longer, however, for the lull was now decided, and thle
two cables of the schooner were distended only when the
roll of the seas came in upon her. This wash of the waves
still menaced the other schooner, driving her down towards
the breakers, though less rapidly than before.
" Why don't the fellow anchor!" exclaimed Gardiner,
in his anxiety, all dare for himself being now over.  " Unless he anchor, he will yet go into the white water, and be
lost!"
" So little does he think of that, that he is turning out
his reefs," answered Hazard. "See! there is a hand aloft
loosening his topsail-and there goes up a whole mainsail,
already'!"
Sure enough, Daggett appeared more disposed to trust
to his canvass, than to his ground-tackle.  In a very brief
space of time he had his craft under whole sail, and was
struggling, in the puffs, to claw off the land. Presently,
the wind ceased altogether, the canvass flapping so as to be
audible to Gardiner and his companions, at the distance
of half a mile.  Then; the cloth was distended in the opposite direction, and the wind came off the land. The
schooner's head was instantly brought to meet the seas,
and the lead dropped at her side showed that she was moving in the right direction. These sudden changes, sometimes destructive, and' sometimes providential as acts of
mercy, always bring strong counter-currents of air in their
train.
"Now we shall have it!" said Hazard-" a true nor'vvester, and butt-end foremost!"
This opinion very accurately described that which folowed. In ten minutes it was blowing heavily, in a direc-,ion nearly opposite to that which had been the previous
current of the wind.  A;s a matter of course, the Sea Lion




134             THE SEA  LIONS.
of the Vineyard drew off the land, wallowing through the
meeting billows that still came rolling in from the brcoad
Atlantic; while the Sea Lion of Oyster Pond tended to
the new currents of air, and rode, as it might-be, suspended
between the two opposing forces, with little or no strain
on her cables. Gardiner expected to see his consort stand
out to sea, and gain an offing; but, instead of this, Captain
Daggett brought his schooner quite near to the disabled
vessel, and anchored.  This act of neighbourly kindness
was too unequivocal to require explanation.  It was the
intention of the Vineyard men to lie by their consort until
she was relieved from all apprehensions of danger.'I'he.'butt-end' of the' nor'-wester' was too large to admit of
intercourse until next morning,. when.that which had been
a small gale had dwindled to a good'steady breeze, and
the seas had gone down, leaving comparatively. smooth
water all along the coast. The line of white water which
marked the breakers was there, and quite visible; but it
no longer excited apprehension. The jury-masts on board
the disabled craft were got up, and what was very conve.
nient, just at that moment, the wreck came floating out on
the ebb, so near to her as to enable the boats to secure all
the sails -and most of the rigging. The main-boom, too,
an excellent spar, was towed alongside and saved.
CHAPTER X.
"The shadow from thy brow shall melt,
The sorrow from thy strain;
But where thy earthly smile hath dwelt,
Our hearts shall thirst in vain."
MRs. HEmANS.
As soon as it would do to put his boats in the water, or
at daylight next morning, Captain Daggett came alongside
of his consort. He was received with a seaman's welcome,
and his offers of services were accepted, just as frankly, as
under reversed circumstances, they would have been made




THE SEA LIONS.                   13b
In all this there was a strange and characteristic admixture
of neighbourly and Christian kindness, blended with a keen
regard of the main chance. If the former duties are rarely
neglected by the descendants of the Puritans, it may be
said, with equal truth, that the latter are never lost sight
of. Speculation, and profit, are regarded as so many integral portions of the duty of man; and, as our kinsmen of
Old England have set up an idol to worship, in the form
of aristocracy, so do our kinsmen of New England pay
homage to the golden calf. - In point of fact, Daggett had
a double motive in now offering his services to Gardiner;
the one being the discharge of his moral obligations, and
the other a desire too remain near the Sea Lion of Oyster
Pond, lest she should visit the key, of which he had some
very interesting memorandums, without having enough to
find the place unless led there by those who were better
informed on the subject of its precise locality than he was
himself.
The boats of Daggett assisted in getting the wreck
alongside, and in. securing the sails and rigging. Then.
his pdople aided in fitting jury-masts; and, by noon, both
vessels got under way, and stood along the coast, to the
southward and westward. Hatteras was no longer terrible,
for the wind still stood at north-west, and they kept in view
of those very breakers which, only the day before, they
would have given the value of both vessels to be certain of
never seeing again. That night they passed the formidable
cape, a spit of sand projecting far to seaward, and which
is on a low beach, and not on any main land at all.. Once
around this angle in the coast, they had a lee, hauling up
to the south-west.  With the wind abeam, they stood on
the rest of the day, picking up a pilot.  The next night
they doubled Cape Look Out, a very good landmark for
those going north to keep in view, as a reminder of the
stormy and sunken Hatteras, and arrived off Beaufort harbour just as the sun was rising, the succeeding morning.
By this time the-north-wester was done, and both schooners
entered Beaufort, with-a light southerly breeze, there being
just water enough to receive them. This was the only
place on all that coast into which it would have answerea
heir purposes to go; and it was, perhaps, the very port of
12*




-136             THE  SEA  LIONS.
all others that was best suited to supply the present wants
of Roswell Gardiner.  Pine timber, and spars of. all sorts,
abounded in that region; and the " Banker," who acted as
pilot, told our young master that he could get the very
sticks he needed, in one hour's time after entering the ha.
ven. This term of " Banker" applies to a scattering population of wreckers and fishermen, who dwell on the long,
low, narrow beaches which extend along the whole of this
part of the coast, reaching from Cape Fear to near Cape
Henry, a distance of some hundred and fifty miles. Within
lie the capacious sounds already mentioned, including Albemarle and Pimlico, and which form the watery portals
to the sea-shores of all North Carolina.  Well is the last
headland of that region, but one which the schooners did
not double, named Cape Fear. It is the commencement;
on that side, of the dangerous part of the coast, and puts
the mariner on his guard by its very appellation, admonishing him to be cautious and prudent.
Off the entrance of Beaufort, a very perfect and beautifal haven, if it had a greater depth of water, the schooners
hove-to, in waiting for the tide to rise a little; and Roswell-Gardiner took that occasion to go on board the sister
craft, and express to Daggett a sense of the obligations he
felt for the services the other had rendered.
"Of course, you will not think of going in, Captain
Daggett," continued our hero, in dwelling on the subject,
" after having put yourself, already, to so much unneces.
sary trouble.  If I find the spars the Banker talks of, I
shall be out again in eight-and-forty hours, and we may
meet, some months hence, off Cape Horn."
"I'11 tell you what it is, Gar'ner," returned the Vine.
yard mariner, pushing the rum towards his brother master,
"I'm a plain sort of a fellow, and don't make much talk
when I do a thing, but I like good-fellowship.  We came
near going, both of us-nearer- than I ever was before, and
escape wrackin'; but escape we did-and when men have
gone through such trials in company, I don't like the noion of casting off till I see you all a-tanto ag'in, and with
as many legs and arms as I carry myself. That's just my
feelin, Gar'ner, and I won't say whether it's a right feelin'
or not-help yourself."




THE  SEA LIONS.                  137.'It s a right. feeling, as between you and me, Captain
Daggett, as I can answer for.  My heart tells me you are
right,. and I thank you from it, for these marks of friendship. But, you must not forget there are. such persons as
owners, in this world. I shall have trouble enough on my
hands, with my owner., and I do not wish you to have
trouble with yours.  Here is a nice little breeze to take
you out to sea again;.and by passing to the southward of
Bermuda, you can make a short cut, and hit the trades far
enough to windward to answer all your purposes."
"'Thankee, thankee, Gar'ner —I know the road, and
can find the places I'm  going to, though no great navigator.  Now, I never took a lunar in my life, and' can't do
anything wuith a chronometer; but as for finding the way
between Martha's Vineyard and Cape Horn, I'll turn my
back on no shipmaster living."
I' I'm afraid, Captain Daggett, that we have both of us
turned our backs on our true course, when we suffered
ourselves to get jammed awaydown here, on Hatteras.
Why, I never saw the place before, and never wish to see
it-again!  It's as much out of the track of a whaler, or
sealer, as Jupiter is out of the track of Mars, or Venus."
"Oh, there go your lunars, about which I know nothing,
and care nothing. I tell you, Gar'ner, a man with a.good
judgment, can just as well jog about the'arth, without any
acquaintance with lunars. as he can with. Then, your
sealer hasn't half as much need of your academy-sort of
navigation, as another man. More than half of our calling
is luck; and all the best sealing stations I ever heard of,
have been blundered on by some chap who has lost -his way.
I despise lunars, if the truth must be said; yet I like to go
straight to my port of destination.  Take a little sugar
with your rum-and-water-we Vineyard folks like sweetening."
"For which purpose, or that of going straight to your
port, Captain Daggett, you've come down here, on.your
way to the Pacific; or, about five hundred miles out of
your way!"
"I came here for company, Gar'ner.  We hadn't much
choice, you must allow; for, we couldn't -have weathered
the shoals on the other tack.  I see no great harm in our




138             T-HE  SEA LIONS.
positions, if you hadn't got dismasted. That's a two or
three hundred dollar job, and may make your owner grum.
ble a little, but it's no killing matter. I'11 stick by you.
and you can tell the deacon as much in the letter you'll
write him, when we get in.'
"It seems like doing injustice to your owners, as well
as to my own, keeping you here, Captain Daggett," re,
turned Roswell, innocently, for he had not the smallest
suspicion of the true motive of all this apparent good-fel
lowship, " and I really wish you would now quit me."
"I couldn't think of it, Gar'ner.'T would make an
awfill talk on the Vineyard, was I to do anything of the
sort.'Stick by your consort,' is an eleventh commandment, in our island."
" Which is the reason why there are so many old maids
there, I suppose, Daggett," cried Roswell Gardiner, laughing. " Well, I thank you for your kindness, and will endeavour to remember it when you may have occasion for
some return. But, the tide must be making, and we ought
to lose no time, unnecessarily. Here's a lucky voyage to
us both, Captain Daggett, and a happy return to sweethearts and wives."
Daggett tossed off his glass to this toast, and the two then
went-on deck. Roswell Gardiner thought that a kinder
ship's company never sailed together than this of the Sea
Lion of Holmes' Hole; for, notwithstanding the interest
of every man on board depended on the returns of their
own voyage, each and all appeared willing to stick by him
and his craft so long as there was a possibility of being of
any service.
Whalers and sealers do not ship their crews tbr wages in
money, as is done with most vessels. So much depends on
the exertions of the people in'these voyages, that it is the
practice to give every man a direct interest in the result.
Consequently, all on board engage for a compensation to
be derived from a division of the return cargo. The terms
on which a party engages are. called his " lay;" and he gets
so many parts of a hundred, according to station, expe.
rience and qualifications. The owner is paid for his risk
and expenses in' the same way, the vessel and outfits usually
taking about two-thirds of the whole returns, while the




THE  SEA:LIONS..                 139
officers and crew get the other. These conditions vary a
little, as the proceeds of whaling and sealing rise or fall in
the market, and also in reference to the cost of equipments.
It follows that Captain Daggett and his crew were actually
putting their hands into their own pockets, when they lost
time in remaining with the crippled craft. This Gardiner
knew, and it caused him to appreciate their kindness at a
rate so much higher than he might otherwise have done.
At first sight, it might seem that all this unusual kindness was superfluous, and of no avail. This, however, was
not really the case, since the crew of the second schooner
was of much real service in forwarding the equipment of
the disabled vessel. ]Beaufort has an excellent harbour for
vessers of a light draught of water like our two sealers; but
the town is insignificant, and extra labourers, especially
those of an intelligence suited to such work, very difficult
to be had. At the bottom, therefore, Roswell Gardiner
found his friendly assistants of much real advantage, the
two crews pushing the work before them with as much
rapidity as suited even a seaman's impatience.  Aided by
the crew of his consort, Gardiner got on fast with his repairs, and on the afternoon of the second day after he had
entered Beaufort, he was ready to sail once more; his
schooner probably in a better state for service than the day
she left Oyster Pond.
The lightning-line did not exist at the period of which
we are writing. It is our good fortune to be an intimate
acquairitance of the distinguished citizen who has bestowed
this great gift on his own country-one that will transmit
his name to posterity, side by side with that of Fulton. In
his case, as in that of the last-named inventor, attempts
have been made to rob him equally of the honours and the
profits of his very ingenious invention. As respects the
last, we hold that it is every hour becoming less and less
possible for any American to maintain his rights against
numbers. There is no question that the government of this
great Republic was intended to be one of well-considered
and upright principles, in which certain questions are to be
eferred periodically to majorities, as the wisest and most
natural, as-well as the most just mode of disposing of them.
Such a government, well administered, and with an accu



140             THE  SEA  LIONS.
rate observance of its governing principles, would probably
be the best that human infirmity will allow men to administer; but when the capital mistalke is made of supposing that
mere numbers are to control all things, regardless of those
great fundamental laws that the state has adopted for its
own restraint, it may be questioned if so loose, and capri;
cious, and selfish a system, is not in great danger of' becoming the very worst scheme of polity that cupidity ever
set in motion. The tendency-not the spirit of the institutions, the two things being the very antipodes of each
other, though common minds are so apt to confound themthe tendency of the institutions of -this country, in flagrant
opposition to their spirit or intentions, which were devised
expressly to restrain the disposition of men to innovate, is
out of all question to foster this great abuse, and to place
numbers above principles, even when the principles were
solemnly adopted expressly to bring numbers under the
control of a sound fundamental law. This influence of
numbers, this dire mistake of the very nature of liberty,
by placing men and their passions above those great laws
of right which come direct from God himself, is increasing
in force, and threatens consequences which may set at
naught all the well-devised schemes of the last generation
for the security of the state, and the happiness of that very
people, who can never know either security or even peace,
until they learn to submit themselves, without a thought of
resistance, to those great rules of right which in truth form
the spirit of their institutions, and which are only t6o often
in opposition to their own impulses and motives.
We pretend to no knowledge on the subject of the dates,)f discoveries in the arts and sciences, but well do we remember the earnestness and single-minded devotion to a
laudable purpose, with which our worthy friend first communicated to us his ideas on the subject of using the
electric spark by way of a telegraph. It was in Paris, and
during the winter of 1831-2, and the succeeding spring, a
time when we were daily together; and we have a satisfaction in recording this date, that others may prove better
claims if they can.  Had Morse set his great invention on
foot thirty years earlier, Roswell Gardiner might have corn.
municated with his owner, and got a reply, ere he again




THE SEA  L1ONS.                   141
saled, considerable as was the distance between themi.
As things then were, he was fain to be content with writing
a letter, which was put into the deacon's hand about a
week after it was written, by his niece, on his own return
from a short journey to Southold, whither lhe had been to
settle and discharge a tardy claim against his schooner.
"Here is a letter for you, uncle," said Mary Pratt,
struggling to command her feelings, though she blushed
with the consciousness of her own interest in the missive.
"It came from the Harbour, by some mistake; Baiting
Joe bringing it across just after you left home."
"'A letter with a post.mark -' Beaufort, N. C.' - Who
in natur' can this lettef be from? —What a postage, too, to
charge on a letter! Fifty cents!"
"That is a proof, sir, that Beaufort must be a long way
off. Besides, the letter is double. I think the hand-writing
is Roswell's."
Had the niece fired a six-pounder under her uncle's ears,
he would scarcely have been more startled. IHe even turned pale, and instead of breaking the wafer as he had been
about to do, he actually shrunk fromn performing the act,
like one afraid to proceed.
4' What can this mean?" said the deacon, taking a moment to recover his voice.  "Gar'ner's hand-writing! So
it is, I declare. If that imprudent young man has lost my
schooner, I'll never forgive him in this world, whatever a
body may beforced to do in the. next!"
"It is not necessary to believe anything as bad as that,
uncle.  Letters are often written at sea, and sent in by
vessels that are met. I dare say Roswell has done just this.'
" Not he-not he-the careless fellow! He has lost that
schooner, and all my property is in the hands of wrackers,
Ewho are worse than so many rats in a larder.'Beaufort,
N. C.' Yes, that must be one of the Bahamas, and N. C.
stands for New Providence -Ah's me'! Ah's me!'"
"But N. C. does not stand for New Providence -it
would be N. P. in that case, uncle."
"N. C. or N. P., they sound so dreadfully alike, that i
don't know what to think! Take the letter and open it
Oh! how big it is-there must be a protest, or some other
costly thing inclosed."




142             THE SEA LIONS.
Mary did take the letter, and she opened it, though with
trembling hands. The inclosure soon appeared, and the
first glance of her eye told her it was a letter addressed to
herself.
" What is it, Mary?-What is it, my child? -Do not be
afraid to tell me," said the deacon, in a low faltering voice.
"I hope I know how to meet misfortunes with Christian
fortitude.  Has it one of them  awful-looking seals that
Notary Publics use when they want money?"
Mary blushed rosy-red, and she appeared very charming
at that moment, though -as resolute as ever to give her hand
only to a youth whose'God should be her God.'
"It is a letter to me, sir-nothing else, I do assure you,
uncle.  Roswell'often writes to me, as you know; he has
sent one of his letters inclosed in this to you."
" Yes, yes -I'm glad it's no worse.  Well, where was
his letter written? Does he mention the latitude and longitude? It will be some comfort to learn that he was well to
the southward and eastward."
Mary's colour disappeared, and a paleness came over her
face, as she ran through the few first lines of the letter.
Then she summoned all her resolution, and succeeded in
telling her uncle the facts.'A misfortune has befallen poor Roswell," she said, her
voice trembling with emotion, " though it does not seem to
be half as bad as it might have been. The letter is written
at Beaufort, in North Carolina, where the schooner has put
in to get new masts, having lost those with which she sailed in a gale of wind off Cape Hatteras."
"Hatteras!" interrupted the deacon, groaning-" What
in natur' had my vessel to do down there?"
"I am sure.I don't know, sir —but I had better read you
the contents of Roswell's letter, and then you will hear the
wvhole story."
Mary now proceeded to read aloud. Gardiner gave a
frank, explicit account of all that had happened since lie
parted with his owner, concealing nothing, and not attempting even to extenuate his fault. Of the Sea Lion of EHl)mes'
Hole he wrote at large, giving it as his opinion that Captain
Daggett really possessed some clue-what he did not know
-to the existence of the sealing islands, though he rather




THE SEA LIONS.                   143
thought that he was not very accurately informed of their
precise position. As respected the key, Roswell was silent,
for it did not at all occur to him that Daggett knew anything of that part of his own mission. In consequence of
-this opinion, not the. least suspicion of the motive of the
Vineyard-man, in sticking by him, presented itself to Gardiner's mind; and nothing on the subject was communicated in the letter.  On the contrary, our young master
was quite eloquent in expressing his gratitude to Daggett
and his crew, for the assistance they had volunteered, and
without which he could not have been ready to go to sea
again in less than a week. As it was, the letter was partly
written as the schooner re-passed the bar, and was sent
ashore by the pilot to be mailed. This fact was stated in
full, in a postscript.
"Volunteered!" groaned the deacon, aloud. "As if a
man ever volunteers to work without his pay!"' Roswell tells us that Captain Daggett did, uncle," answered Mary, " and that it is understood between them he
is to make no charge for his going into Beaufort, or for
-anything he did while there. Vessels often help each other
in this kind.way, I -should hope, for the sake of Christian
charity, sir."
"Not without salvage, not without salvage! Charity
is a good thing, and it is our duty to exercise it on all
occasions; but salvage comes into charity all the same as
into any other interest.  This schooner will ruin me, I
fear, and leave me in my old age to be supported by the
town!"
"That can hardly happen, uncle, since you owe nothing
for her, and have your farms, and all your other property
unencumbered. It is not easy to see how the schooner can
ruin -you."
"Yes, I am undone"-returned the deacon, beating the
foor with his foot, in nervous agitation —" as much undone
as ever Roswell Gar'ner's father was, and he might have
been the richest man between Oyster Pond and Riverhead,
had he kept out of the way of speculation.  I reniember
him much better off than I am myself, and he died but
little more than a beggar. Yes, yes; I see how it is; this
schooner has undone me!"
13          10




144             T H E S EA LiO  S.
"But Roswell sends an account of all that he has paid,.
and draws a bill on you for its payment. The entire amount
is but one hundred and sixteen dollars and seventy-two
cents."'" That's not for salvage. The next thing will be a demand for salvage in behalf of the owners and crew of the
Sea Lion of Humses' Hull! I know how it will be, child;
I know how it will be! Gar'ner has undone me, and I
shall go down into my grave a beggar, as his father has
done already."
" If such be the fact, uncle, no one but I would be the
sufferer, and 1 will strive not to grieve over your losses.
But, here is a [laper that Roswell has inclosed in his letter
to me, by mistake, no doubt. See, sir; it is an acknowledgment, signed by Captain Daggett and all his crew, admitting that they went into Beaufort with Roswell out of
good feeling, and allowing that they have no claims to
salvage.  Here it is, sir; you can read it for yourself."
The deacon did not only read it —he almost devoured
the paper, which, as Mary suggested, had been inclosed in
her letter by mistake. The relief produced by this document so far composed the uncle, that he not only read
Gardiner's letter himself, with a very close attention to its
contents, but he actually forgave the cost of the repairs incurred at Beaufort. While-he was in the height of his joy
at this change in the aspect of things, the niece stole into
her own room in order-to read the missive she had received,
by herself.
The tears that Mary Pratt profusely shed over Roswell's
letter, were both sweet and bitter. The manifestations of
his affection for her, which were manly and frank, brought
tears of tenderness from her eyes; while the recollection
of the width of the chasm that separated them, had the
effect to embitter these proofs of love. Most females would
have lost the sense of duty which sustained our heroine in
this severe trial, and, in accepting the man of their heart,
would have trusted to time, and her own influence, and the
mercy of Divine Providence, to bring about the change she
desired; but Mary Pratt could not thus- blind herself to her
own high obligations.  The tie of husband and wife she
rightly regarded as the most serious of all the obligations




THE SEA LIONS.                   145
we can assume, and she could not - would not plight her
vows to any man whose' God was not her God.'
Still there was much of sweet consolation in this little.
expected letter from Roswell. He wrote, as he always did,
simply and naturally, and attempted no concealments. This
was just as true of his acts; as the master of the schooner,
as it was in his character of a suitor. To Mary he told'the
whole'story of his weakness, acknowledging that a silly
spirit of pride which would not permit him  to seem  to
abandon a trial of the qualities of the' two schooners, had
induced him to stand on to the westward longer than he
should otherwise have done, and the currents had come to
assist in increasing the danger.  As for Daggett, he supposed him to have been similarly influenced; though he
did not withhold his expressions of gratitude for the generous manner in which that seaman had stuck to him to the
last.
For weary months did Mary Pratt derive sweet consola.
tion from her treasure of a letter. It was, perhaps, no
more than human nature, or woman's nature at least, that,
in time, she got most to regard those passages which best
answered to the longings of' her own heart; and that she
came at last to read the missive, forgetful in a degree, that
it was written by one who had deliberately, and as a matter
of faith, adopted the idea that the Redeemer was not, in
what may be called the catholic sense of the term, the Son
of God. The papers gave an account of the arrival of the'Twin Sea Lions,' as the article styled them, in the port
of Beaufort, to repair damages; and of their having soon
sailed again, in company. This paragraph she cut out of
the journal in which it met her eye, and enclosing it in
Roswell's last letter, there was not a day in the succeeding
year in which both were not in her hand, and-read for the
hundredth time, or more.  These proofs of tenderness,
however, are not to be taken as evidence of any lessening
of principle, or as signs of a disposition to let her judgment
and'duty submit to her affection.  So far from this, her
"esolution grew with reflection, and her mind became inore
settled in a purpose that she deemed sacred, the longer she
reflected on the subject. But, her prayers in behalf of her
absent'lover grew more frequent, and much more fervent.




146             THE  SEA  LIONS.
In the mean time, the Twin Lions sailed. On leaving
Beaufort, they ran off the coast with a smart breeze from
south-west, making a leading wind of it. There had been
some variance of opinion' between Daggett and Gardiner,
touching the course they ought to steer. The last was for
hauling up higher, and passing to the southward of Bermuda; while the first contended for standing nearly. due
east, and going to the northward of those islands. Gardiner felt impatient to repair his blunder, and make the
shortest cut he could; whereas Daggett reasoned more
coollyj and took the winds into the account, keeping in
view the main results of the voyage. Perhaps the last
wished to keep his-consort away from all the keys, until
he was compelled to alter his course in a way that would
leave no doubt of his intentions. Of one thing the last
was now certain; he knew by a long trial that the Sea
Lion of Oyster Pond could not very easily run away from
the Sea Lion of Holmes' Hole, and he was fully resolved
that she should not escape from him in the night, or in
squalls. As for Roswell Gardiner, not having the smallest
idea of looking for his key, until he came north, after visiting the antarctic circle, he had no notion whatever of the
reason why the other stuck to him so closely; and, least
of all, why he wished to keep him clear of the West Indies,
until ready to make a descent on his El Dorado.
Beaufort lies about two degrees to the northward of the
four hundred rocks, islets, and small islands, which are
known as the Bermudas; an advanced naval station, that
belongs to a rival commercial power, and which is occupied
by that power solely as a check on this republic in the
event of war. Had the views of real statesmen prevailed
in America, instead of those of mere politicians,, the whole
energy of this republic would have been long since directed
to the object of substituting our own flag for that of England, in these Islands. As things are, there they exist; a.
station for hostile fleets, a receptacle for prizes, and a depot
for the munitions of war, as if expressly designed by nature
to hold the whole American coast in command. While
little men with great names are wrangling about southw-estern acquisitions, and north-eastern boundaries, that
are-of no real mornent to the growth and power of the re



THE  SEA  LIONS.                 147
public, these islands, that ought never to be out- of the
mind of.the American statesman, have not yet entered into
the account at all; a certain proof how jittle the minds
that do, or ought to, influence events, are really up to the
work they have been delegated to perform. Military expeditions have twice been sent from this country to Canada,
when both the Canadas are not of one-half the importance
to the true security and independence of the country-(no
nation is independent until it holds the control of all its
greater interests in its own hands) —as the Bermudas.
When England asked the cession of territory undoubtedly
American, because it overshadowed Quebec, she should
have been met witl, this plain proposition-" Give us the
Bermudas, and we will exchange with you. You hold
those islands as a check on our power, and we will hold
the angle of Maine for a check on yours, unless you will
consent to make a fair and mutual transfer. We will not
attack you for the possession of the Bermudas, for we deem
a just principle even more important than such an accession; but when you ask us to cede, we hold.out our hands
to take an equivalent in return. The policy of this nation
is not to be influenced by saw-logs, but by these manifest,
important, and ulterior interests.  If you wish Maine, give
us Bermuda in exchange, or go with your wishes ungratified." Happily, among us, events are stronger than men;
and the day is not distant when the mere force of circumstances will compel the small-fry of diplomacy to see what
the real interests and dignity of the republic demand, in
reference to this great feature of its policy.
Roswell Gardiner and Daggett had several discussions
touching the manner in which they ought to pass those
islands. There were about four decrees to spare between
the trades'and the Bermudas; and the former was of opinion that they might pass through this opening, and make
a straighter wake, than by going farther north. These
consultations took place from quarter-deck to quarter-deck,
as the two schooners ran off free, steering directly for the
slands, as a sort of compromise between the two opinions.
The distance from the main to the Bermudas is computed
at about six hundred miles, which gave sufficient leisure
for the discussion of the subject in all its bearings. The
13*




148             THE  SEA  LIONS.
conversations were amicable, and the weather continuing
mild,.and the wind standing, they were'renewed each afternoon, when the vessels closed, as if expressly to admit of
the dialogue. In all this time, five days altogether, it was
farther ascertained that the difference in'sailing between
the Twin Lions, as the sailors now began to call the two
schooners, was barely perceptible. If anything, it was.slightly in favour of the.Vineyard craft, though there yet
remained many of the vicissitudes of the seas, in which to
make the trial. While this uncertainty as to the course
prevailed, the low land appeared directly ahead, when
Daggett consented to pass it to the southward, keeping the
cluster in sight,,however, as they went steadily on towards
the southward and eastward.
CHAPTER XI.
"With glossy skin, and dripping mane,
And reeling limbs, and reeking flank,
The wild steed's sinewy nerves still strain
Up the repelling bank."
MAZEPPA.
ROSWELL GARDINER felt as if he could breathe more
freely when they had run the Summers Group fairly out of
sight, anA the last hummock had sunk into the waves of
the west. He was now fairly quit of America, and hoped
to see no more of it, until he made the well-known rock
that points the way into that most magnificent of all the
havens of the earth, the bay of Rio de Janeiro. Travellers
dispute whether the palm ought to be given'to this port, or
to those of Naples and Constantinople.  Each, certainly,
has its particular claims to surpassing beauty, which ought
to be kept in view in coming to a decision.  Seen from its
outside, with its minarets, and Golden Horn, and Bospho.
rus, Constantinople is, probably, the most glorious spot on
-earth. Ascend its mountains, and overlook the gulfs of




THE SEA LIONS.                   149
Salerno and Gaeta, as well as its own waters, the Campagna Felici and the memorials of the past, all seen in the
witchery of an Italian atmosphere, and the mind becomes
perfectly satisfied'that nothing equal is to be found else.
where; but enter the bay of Rio, and take the whole of
the noble panorama in at a glance, and even the experienced
traveller is staggered with the stupendous as well as bewitching character of the loveliness that meets his eye.
Witchery is a charm that peculiarly belongs to Italy, as all
must feel who have ever been brought within its influence;
but it is a witchery that is more or less shared by all regions
of low latitudes.
Our two Sea Lions met with no adventures worthy of.record, until they got well to the southward of the equator.
They had been unusually successful in getting through the
calm latitudes; and forty-six days from NMontauk, they spoke
a Sag Harbour whaler, homeward bound, that had come
out from Rio only the preceding week, where she had been
to dispose of her oil. By this ship, letters were sent horne;
and as Gardiner could now tell the deacon that he should
touch at Rio even before the time first anticipated, he believed that he should set the old man's heart at peace. A
little occurrence that took place the very day they parted
with the whaler, added to the pleasure this opportunity of
communicating with the owner had afforded.  As the
schooners were moving on in company, about a cable's
length asunder, Hazard saw a sudden and extraordinary:movement on board the Vineyard Lion, as the men now
named that vessel, to distinguish her from her consort.
" Look out for a spout!" shouted the mate to Stimson,
who happened to be-on the foretopsail-yard at work, when
this unexpected interruption to- the quiet of the passage
occurred.  "There is a man overboard from: the other
schooner, or they see a spout."
"A spout! a spout!" shouted Stimson, in return; " and
a spalm (sperm, or spermaceti, was meant) whale, in the
bargain! Here he is, sir, two p'ints on our weather beam."
This was enough. If any one has had the misfortune to
oe in a coach drawn by four horses, when a sudden fright
starts them off at speed, he can form a pretty accurate:notion of the movement that now took place on board of




150              THE SEA  L1ONS.
Deacon Pratt's craft. Every one scemed to spring into
activity, as if a single will directed a common set of mus.
cles. Those who were below literally " tumbled up," as
seamen express it, and those who were -aloft slid down to
the deck like flashes of lightning. Captain Gardiner sprang
out of his cabin, seemingly at a single bound; at another.
he was in the whale-boat that Hatard was in the very act
of lowering into the water, as the schooner rounded-to.
Perceiving himself anticipated here, the mate turned to the
boat on the other quarter, and was in her, and in the water,
almost as soon as his commanding officer.
Although neither of the schooners was thoroughly fitted
for a whaler, each had lines, lances, harpoons, &c., in ieadiness in their quarter-boats, prepared for any turn of luck
like this which now offered. The process of paddling up
to whales, which is now so common in the American ships,
was then very little or not at all resorted to.. It is said that
the animals have got to be so shy, in consequence of being
so much pursued, that the old mode of approaching them
will not suffice, and that it now requires much more care
and far more art to take one of these creatures, than it did
thirty years since.. On this part of the subject, we merely
repeat what we hear, though we think we can see an ad
vantage in the use of the paddle that is altogether independent of that of the greater quiet of that mode of forcing a
boat ahead. He that paddles looks ahead, and the approach
is more easily regulated, when the whole of the boat's crew
are apprised, by means of their own senses, of the actual
state of things, than when they attain their ideas of them
through the orders of an officer.  The last must govern in
all cases, but the *men are prepared for them, when they
can see what is going on, and will be more likely to act
with promptitude and intelligence, and will be less 1 able
to jnake mistakes.
The four boats, two from  each schooner, dropped into
the water nearly about the same time. Daggett was at the
vteering-oar of one, as was Roswell at that of another.
Hazard, and Macy, the chief mate of the Vineyard craft,
were at the steering-oars of the two remaining boats.  All
pulled in the direction of the spot on the ocean where the
spouts had been seen. It was the opinion of those who had




THE SEA LIONS.                   151
Been aloft, that there were several Jish; and it was certain
that they were of.the most valuable species, or the spermaceti, one barrel of the oil of which was worth about as
much. as the oil of three of the ordinary sort, or that of the
right whale, supposing- them all to yield the same quantity
in number of barrels. The nature or species of the fish:was easily enough determined by the spouts; the right
whale throwing up two high arched jets of water, while the
spermaceti throws but a single, low, bushy one.
It was not long ere the boats of the two captains came
abreast of each other, and within speaking distance.. A
stern rivalry was now apparent in every countenance, the
men pulling might and main, and without even a smile
among them  all.  Every face was grave, earnest, and de-.ermined; every arm strung to its utmost powers -of exertion.  The men rowed' beautifully, being accustomed to
the use of their long oars in rough water, and in ten minutes they were all fully a mile dead to windward of the two
schooners.
Few things give a more exalted idea of the courage and
ingenuity of the human race than to see adventurers set
forth, in a mere shell, on the troubled waters of the open
ocean, to contend with and capture an animal of the size
of the whale.  The simple circumstance that the last is in
its own element, while its assailants are compelled to approach it in such light and fragile conveyances, that, to the
unpractised eye, it is sufficiently difficult to manage them
amid the rolling waters, without seeking so powerful an
enemy to contend with. But, little of all this did the crews
of our four boats now think.  They had before them the.objects,.or one of the objects, rather, of their adventure,
and so long as that was the case, no other view but.that of:prevailing could rise before their eyes.
"How is it, Gar'ner?" called out the Vineyard master;'shall it be shares? or does each schooner whale on her
cvn hook?"
This was asked in a friendly way, and apparently with
great indifference as to the nature of the reply, but with
profound art. It was Daggett's wish to establish a sort of
partnership, which, taken in connection with the good feeling created by the affair at -Beaufort, would be very apt tc




152              T H E S —E A -"L:I O N:S.
lead on to further and more important association. Luckily
for Gardiner, an idea crossed his mind, just as he was about
to reply, which induced the wisest answer.  It was the
thought, that competition would be.more likely to cause
exertion than a partnership, and -that the success of all
would better repay them  for. their toils and risks, should
each vessel act exclusively for itself.  This is the principle
that-renders the present state of society m.ore healthful and
advantageous than that which the friends of the different
systems of associating, that are now so much in vogue,
wish-to substitute in its place. Individuality is an all-important feeling in the organization of human beings -into
communities; and the -political economist who does not
use it as his mdst powerful auxiliary in advancing civilization, will soon see it turn round in its tracks, and, become
a dead weight; indulging its- self-love, by living with the
~minimum of exertion,' instead of pushing his private advantage, with;the maximum.
" I think each vessel had better work for herself and her
owners," answered Roswell Gardiner.
As the schooners were in the trades, there was a regular
sea running, and one that was neither very high nor much
oroken.  Still, the boats were lifted on it like egg-shells
or bubbles, the immense power of the ocean raising the.argest ships, groaning under their vast weight of ordnance,
as if they were feathers.  In a few minutes, Gardiner andDaggett became a little more separated, each looking ea.
gerly for the spouts, which had not been seen by either
since quitting his vessel. All this time the two mates came,teadily on, until the whole of the little fleet of boats was,
by this tinime, not less than a marine league distant. from the
schooners. The vessels themselves were working up to
windward, to keep as near to the boats as possible, making
short tacks under reduced canvass; a shipkeeper, the cook,
steward, and one or two other hands, being all who were
left on board them.
We shall:suppose that most of our readers are sufficiently
acquainted with the general character of that class of ani.
mals to which the whale belongs, to know that all of the
genus breathe the atmospheric air, which is as necessary
for life to them as it is to man himself.  The only differ




THE  SEA LIONS.                    153
once in this. respect is, that the whale can go longer without renewing his respiration than all.purely land-animals,
though he must come up to breathe at intervals, or die. It
is the exhaling of the old stock of air, when he brings the
"blow-holes," as seamen call the outlets of his respiratory
organs, to the surface, that forces the water upward, and
forms the "spouts,;" which usually indicate to the whalers
the position of their game. The." spouts" vary in appearance, as has been mentioned, owing to the number and
situation of the orifices by which the exhausted air escapes.
No sooner is the vitiated air exhaled, than the lungs receive
a new supply; and the animal. either remains near the surface, rolling about and sporting amid the waves, or descends
again, a short distailcwe, in quest of its food.  This food,
also, varies materially in the different species. The rightwhale is supposed to live on what may be termed marine
insects, or the mollusca of the ocean, which it is thought
he obtains by running in the parts of the sea where they
most abound; arresting them by the hairy fibres which
grow on the laminae of bone that, in a measure, compose
-his jaws, having no teeth. The spermaceti, however, is
furnished with regular grinders, which he knows very well
how to use, and with which he often crushes the boats of
those who come against him.  Thusj the whalers hate but
one danger to guard against, in assaulting the common
animal, viz., his flukes, or tail; while'the spermaceti, in
addition to the last means of defence, possesses those of his
teethor jaws. As this latter animal is quite. one-third head,
he has no very great dissemblance to- the alligator in this
particular.
By means of this brief description of the physical formation and. habits of the animals of which our adventurers
vere in pursuit, the general reader will be the better able
to understand that which it is our duty now to-record.
After rowing the distance named, the boats became a -little
separated, in their search for the fish.  That spouts had
been seen, there was no doubt; though, since quitting the
schooners, no one in the boats had got a further view of
the. fish,-if fish, animals with respiratory organs can be
termed. A good look-out for spouts had been kept by each
man at the steering-oars, but entirely without sluccess. ~ Had




154              T H E SEA LI O NS..
not Roswell and Daggett, previously to leaving their respective vessels, seen the signs of whales with their own
eyes, it is probable that they would now have. both been
disposed to return, calling in their mates. But, being certain that the creatures they sought were not far distant,
they continued slowly to separate, each straining his eyes
in quest of his game, as his boat rose on the summit of the
rolling and tossing waves. Water in motion was all' around
tihem; and the.schooners working slowly up against the
trades, were all that rewarded their vigilant and anxious
looks. Twenty times did each fancy that he saw the dark
back, or head, of the object he sought; but as often did it
prove to be no more than a lipper of water, rolling up into
a hummock ere it broke, or melted away. again into the
general mass of the unquiet ocean. When it is remembered
that the surface of the sea is tossed into a thousand fantastic outlines, as its waves roll along, it can readily be imagined how.such mistakes could arise.
At length Gardiner discerned that which his practised
eye well knew.  It was the flukes, or extremity of the tail
of an enormous whale, distant from him less than a quarter
of a mile, and in such a position as to place the animal at
about the same breadth of water from Daggett.  It would
seem'that both of these vigilant officers perceived their
enemy at the same instant, for each boat started for it, as
if'.it had been instinct with life.  The pike or the shark
could not have darted towards its prey with greater promptitude, and -scarcely with greater velocity, than these two
boats. Very soon the whole herd was seen, swimming
flong against the wind, an enormous bull-whale leading,
while half a dozen calves kept close to the sides of their
dams, or sported among themselves, much as the offspring
of land. animals delight in their youth and strength.  Pre
sently a mother rolled lazily over on her side, permitting
its calf to suck.  Others followed this example; and then
the leader of the herd ceased his passage to windward, but
began to circle the spot, as if in complaisance to'those con
siderate nurses who thus waited on the wants of their
young. At this interesting moment, the boats came glanc.;ng in among the herd.
H[ad the competition and spirit of rivalry been at a lower




THE SEA  LIONS.                  155
point among our adventurers than it actually was, greater
caution might have been observed. It is just as dangerous
to assault a whale that has its young to defend, as to assault,nost other animals. We know that the most delicate wyomen
become heroines in such straits; and nature seems to have
given to the whole sex, whether endowed with reason or
only with an instinct, the same disposition to die in defence
of the helpless creatures that so much depend on their care.
But, no one there now thought of the risk he ran, it being
the Vineyard against Oyster Pond, one Sea Lion against
the other, and, in many instances, pocket against pocket.
Roswell, as if disdaining all meaner game, pulled quite
through the herd, and laid the bows of his boat directly on
the side of the old bull — a hundred-barrel whale, at the
very least,. No sooner did the enormous creature feel the
harpoon, than, throwing its flukes upward, it descended
into the depths of the ocean, with a velocity that caused
smoke to arise from the chuck through which the line
passed. Ordinarily, the movement of a whale is not much
faster than an active man can walk; and, when it runs on
the surface, its speed seldom exceeds that of a swift vessel
under full-'sail; but, when suddenly startled, with the harpoon in its blubber, the animal is capable of making a prodigious exertion.  When struck, it usually'sounds,' as it
is termed, or runs downward, sometimes to the depth of a
mile; and it is said that instances have been known in
which the fish inflicted great injury on itself, by dashing
its head against rocks.
In the case before us, after running out three or four
hundred fathoms of line, the' bull' to which Gardiner had' fastenred,' came up to the surface,' blowed,' and began to
move slowly towards the herd again.  No sooner was the
harpoon thrown, than a change took place in the disposition of the crew of the, boat, which it may be well to explain. The harpoon is a barbed javelin, fastened to a staff
lo give it momentum. The line is attached to this weapon,
the proper use of which is to' fasten' to the fish, though it
sometimes happens that the animal is killed at the first
blow This is when the harpoon has been hurled by a very
skilful and vigorous harpooner. Usually, this weapon penetrates some distance into the blubber in which a while is
14




156              THE. SEA  LONS.
encased, and when it is drawn back by the plunge of the
fish, the barbed parts get embedded in the tough integuments of the hide, together with the blubber, and hold.
The iron of the harpoon being very soft, the shank bends
under the strain of the line, leaving the staff close to the
animal's body.  Owing to this arrangement, the harpoon
offers less resistance to the water, as the whale passes swiftly
through it. No sooner did the boat-steerer, or harpooner,
cast his' irons,' as whalers'term the harpoon, than he
changed places with Roswell, who left the steering-oar, and
proceeded forward to wield the lance, the weapon with
which the victory is finally consummated. The men now'peaked' their oars, as it is termed; or they placed the
handles in cleets made to receive them, leaving the blades
elevated in the air, so as to be quite clear of'the water.
This was done to get rid of the oars, in readiness for otherduty, while the instruments were left in the tholeb, to be
resorted to in emergencies. This gives a whale-boat a peculiar appearance, with its five long oars raised in the air,
at angles approaching forty-five degrees. In the mean time,
as the' bull approached the herd, or school,* as the whalers
term it, the boats' crew began to haul in line, the boatsteerer coiling it away carefully, in a tub placed in the
stern-sheets purposely to receive it. Any one can understand how important it was that this part of the duty should
be well performed, since bights of line running out of a
boat, dragged by a whale, would prove so many snares to
the men's legs, unless previously disposed of in a place
proper to let it escape without this risk.  For this reason
it is, that the end of a line is never permitted to run out at
he bow of a boat at all.  It might do some injury in its
passage, and an axe is always applied near the bows, when
it is found necessary to cut from a whale.
It was so unusual a thing to see a fish turn towards the
spot where he was struck, that Roswell did not know what
to make of this man(euvre in his bull. At first he supposed
the animal meant to make fight, and set upon him with its
tremendous jaws; but it seemed that caprice or alarm
* We suppose this word to be a corruption of the Dutch " schule'
which, we take it, means the same thing.




THE  S.EA  LIONS.                157
directed the movement; for, after coming within a hundred
yards of the boat, the creature turned and commenced
sculling away to windward, with wide and nervous sweeps
of its formidable flukes. It is by this process that all the
fish of this genus force their way through the water, their
tails being admirably adapted to the purpose. As the men
had showed the utmost activity in hauling in upon the line,
by the time the whale went off to windward again they had
got the boat up within about four hundred feet of him.
Now commenced a tow, dead to windward, it being
known that a fish, when stru6k, seldom runs at first in any
other direction. The rate at which the whale moved was
not at the height of his speed, though it exceeded six knots.
Occasionally, this rate was lessened, and in several instances his speed was reduced to less than half of that just
mentioned. Whenever one of these lulls occurred, the men
would haul upon the line, gradually getting nearer and
nearer to the fish, until they were within fifty feet of his
tremendous flukes.  Here, a turn was taken with the line,
and an opportunity to use the lance was waited for.
Whalers say that a forty-barrel bull of the spermaceti
sort is much the most dangerous to deal with of all the
animals of this species. The larger bulls are infinitely the
most powerful, and drive these half-grown creatures away
in herds by themselves, that are called'pads,' a circumstance that probably renders the young bull discontented
and fierce. The last is not only more active than the larger
animal, but is much more disposed to make fight; commonly giving his captors the greatest trouble.  This may
be one of-the reasons why Roswell Gardiner now found
himself towing at a reasonable rate, so close upon the flukes
of a hundred-barrel whale.  Still, there was that in the
movements of this animal, that induced our hero to be exceedingly wary. He was now two leagues from the schooners,'and half that distance from the other boats, neither of which
had as yet fastened to a fish. This latter circumstance was
imputed to the difficulty the different officers had in mraking
their selections, cows, of the spermaceti breed, when they
give suck, being commonly light, and yielding,.comparatively, very small quantities of head-matter and oil. If selecting the -bull, Roswell had shown his judgment, the male




158             THE SEA  LIONS.
animal commonly returning to its conquerors twice the
profit that is derived from the female.
The whale to which Roswell was fast continued sculling
away' to windward for quite two hours, causing the men to
entirely lose sight of the other boats, and bringing the topsails of the schooners themselves down to the water's edge.
Fortunately, it was not yet noon, and there were no immediate apprehensions from the darkness; nor did the bull
appear to be much alarmed,'though the boat was towing so
close in his rear. At first, or before the irons were thrown,
the utmost care had been taken not to make a noise; but
the instant the crew were'fast,' whispers were changed
into loud calls, and orders were passed in shouts, rather
than in verbal 6ommands.  The wildest excitement prevailed among the men, strangely blended jwith a cool dex.
terity; but it was very apparent that a high sporting fever
was raging among them. Gardiner himself was much the
coolest man in his own boat, as became his station and
very responsible duties.
Stimson, the oldest and the best seaman in the schooner,
he who had admonished his young commander on the subject of the gratitude due to the Deity, acted as the master's
boat-steerer, having first performed the duty of harpooner.
It was to him that Gardiner now addressed the remarks he
made, after having been fastened to his whale fully two
hours.
"This fellow is likely to give us a long drag," said the
master, as he stood balancing himself on the clumsy cleets
in the bows of the boat, using his lance as an adept in
saltation poises his pole on the wire, the water curling
fairly above the gunwale forward, with the rapid movement
of the boat; "I would haul up alongside, and give him
the lance, did I not distrust them flukes. I believe he
knows we are here."
" That he does - that does he, Captain Gar'ner.  It's
always best to be moderate and wait your time, sir. There's
a jerk about that clhap's flukes that I don't like myself, and
it's best to see what he would be at, before we haul up any
nearer.  Don't you see, sir, that every minute or two he
strilkes down, instead of sculling off handsomely and with a
wide sweep, as becomes a whale?"




THE SEA LIONS.                   1].59." That is just the'motion I distrust, Stephen, and I shall
wait a bit to see what he would be at. I hope those ship.
keepers will be busy, and work the schooners well up to
windward before it gets to be dark.  Our man is asleep
half his time, and is apt to let the vessel fall off a point or
two.))
"Mr. Hazard gave him caution to keep a bright look
out, sir, and I think he'll be apt to-look out, sir!-Look
out!":This warning was well-timed; for, just at that instant
the whale ceased. sculling, and lifting its enormous tail high
in the air, it struck five or six blows on the surface of the
water, that made a noQise which might have been heard half
a league, besides filling the atmosphere immediately around
him with spray.  As the tail first. appeared in the air, line
was permitted to run out of the boat, increasing the distance between its bows -and the flukes to quite a hundred
feet.  Nothing could better show the hardy characters of
the whalers than the picture then presented by Roswell
Gardiner and his companions. In the midst of the Atlantic,
leagues from their vessel, and'no other boat in sight, there
they sat patiently waiting the moment when the giant of
the deep should abate in his speed, or in his antics, to enable them to approach and complete their capture.  Most
of the men sat with their arms crossed, and bodies halfturned, regarding the scene, while the two officers, the
master and boat-steerer, if the latter could properly be thus
designated, watched each evolution with a keenness of
vigilance that -let nothing like a sign or a symptom escape
them.
Such was the state of things, the whale still threshing
the sea wvith his flukes, when a cry among his men induced
Roswell for a moment to look aside. There came Daggett
fast to a small bull, which was running directly in the
wind's eye with great speed, dragging the boat after him,
which was towing astern at a distance of something like
two hundred fathoms. At first, Roswell thought he should
be compelled to cut from his whale, so directly towards his
own boat did the other animal direct his course. But, intimidated, most probably, by the tremendous blows with
which the larger bull continued to belabour the ocean, the
14*                11




160             THE  SEA  LIONS.
smaller animal sheered away in time to avoid a collision,
though he now began to circle-the spot where his dreaded
monarch lay. This change of course gave rise to a new.
source of apprehension. If the smaller bull should continue to encircle the larger, there was great reason to be.
lieve that the line of Daggett might get entangled with. the
boat of Gardiner, and produce a collision that might prove
fatal to all there. In'order to be ready to meet this danger,
Roswell ordered his crew to be on the look-out, and to,
have their knives in a state for immediate use. It was not
known what might have been the consequence of this cir.
cular movement as respects the two boats; for, before they
could cdme toaether, Daggett's line'actually passed into
the mouth of dardiner's whale, and drawing up tight into
the angle of his jaws, set the monster in motion with a
momentum and power that caused the iron to draw from
the smaller whale, which by this time had more than half
encircled the animal. So rapid was the rate of running
now, that Roswell was obliged to let out line, his whale
sounding to a prodigious depth. Daggett did the same
unwilling to cut as long as he could hold on to his line.
At the expiration of five minutes the large bullacame up
again for breath, with both lines still' fast to him; the one
in the regular way, or attached to the harpoon, and the
other jammed in the jaws of the animal by means of the
harpoon and staff, which formed a sort of toggle at the
angle of his enormous mouth. In consequence of feeling
this unusual tenant, the fish compressed its jaws together,
thus rendering the fastening so much the more secure. As
both boats had let run line freely while the whale was
sounding, they now found themselves near a quarter of a
mile astern of him, towing along, side by side, and not fifty
feet asunder.  If the spirit of rivalry had been aroused
among the crew of these two boats before, it was now excited to a degree that menaced acts of hostility.
" You know, of course, Captain Daggett, that this is my
whale," said Gardiner.  "I-was fast to him regularly, and
was only waiting for him to become a little quiet to lance
him, when your whale crossed his course, fouled your line,
and has got you fast in an unaccountable way, but not according to whaling law."




-THE  SEA  LIONS.                161
"I don't know that.  I fastened to a whale, Captain
Gar'ner, and am fast to a whale now. It must be proved
that I have no right to the crittur' before I give him up."
Gardiner understood the sort of man with whom he had
to deal too well to waste words in idle remonstrances. Resolved to maintain his just rights at every hazard, he ordered
his men to haul in upon the line, the movement of the whale
becoming so slow as to admit of this measure. Daggett's
crew did the same, and a warm contest existed between
the two boats, as to which should now first close with the
fish and kill it. This was not a moment for prudence and
caution.  It was " haul in —haul in, boys," in both boats,
without any regard to'the danger of approaching the whale.
A very few minutes sufficed to bring the parties quite in a
line with the flukes, Gardiner's boat coming up on the larboard or left-hand side of the animal, where its iron was
fast, and Daggett's on the opposite, its line leading out of
the jaws of the fish in that direction. The two masters
stood erect on their respective clumsy cleets, each poising
his lance, waiting only to get near enough to strike. The
men were now at the oars, and without pausing for any
thing, both crews sprung to their ashen' instruments, and
dreve the boats headlong upon the fish. Daggett, perhaps,
was the coolest and most calculating at that moment, but
Roswell was the most nervous, and the boldest. The boat
of the last actually hit the side of the whale, as its young
commander drove his lance through the blubber, into the
vitals of the fish. At the same instant Daggett threw his
lance with consummate skill, and went to the quick. It
was now," stern all!" for life, each boat backing off from
the danger as fast as hands could urge. - The sea was in a
foam, the fish going into his "flurry" almost as soon as
struck, and both crews were delighted to see the red of the
blood mingling its deep hues with the white of the troubled
water. Once or twice the animal spouted, but it was a fluid
dyed in his gore. In ten minutes it.turned up and was
tead.




162              THE SEA LIONS
CHAPTER XII.
u God save youl, sir!"
"And you, sir! you are welcome."
"Travel you far on, or are you at the furthest-?"
"Sir, at the furthest for a week or two."
SHAAKSPEAUE.
GARDINER and Daggett tnet, face to face, on the carcase
of the whale. Each struck his lance into the blubber, steadying himself by its handle; and each eyed the other in a
way that betokened feelings awakened to a keen desire to
defend his rights.  It is a fault of American character,-a
fruit of the institutions, beyond a doubt,-that renders men
Unusually indisposed to give up. -This stubbornness of
temperament, that so many mistake for a love of liberty
and independence, is productive of much good, when the
parties.happen to' be right; and of quite as much evil, when
they happen to be wrong; It is ever the wisest, as, indeed,
it is the noblest course, to defer to that which is just, with
a perfect reliance on its being the course pointed out.by
the finger of infallible wisdom and truth. He who does
this, need feel no concern for his dignity, or for his suc*cess; being certain that.it is intended that right shall prevail in the end, as prevail it will and does.  But both our
shipmasters were too much excited to feel the force of these
truths; and there they stood, sternly.regarding each other,
as if it were their purpose to commence a new struggle for
the possession of the leviathan of the' deep.
"Captain Daggett," said Roswell, sharply, "you are too
old a whaler not to know whaling law. My irons were first.
in this fish; I never have been loose from it, since it was
first struck, and my lance killed it.  Under such circumstances, sir, I am surprised that any man, who knows the
usages among whalers, should have stuck by the creature
as you have done."
"It's in my natur', Gar'ner," was the answer. " I stuck




THE SEA  LIONS.,      163
oy you when you was dismasted under Hatteras, and I stick
by everything that I undertake. This is what I call Vineyard natur'; and I'm  not about to discredit my native
country."
"This is idle talk," returned Roswell, casting a severe
glance at the men in the Vineyard boat, among whom a
common smile arose, as if they highly approved of the reply
of their own officer. "You very well know that Vineyard
law cannot settle such A question, but American law.
Were you man enough to take this whale from me, as I
trust you are not, on our return home you could be and
would be made to pay smartly for:.the, act. Uncle Sam has
a long arm, with which he sometimes reaches round the
whole earth. Before you proceed any further in this matter, it may be well to remember that."
Daggett reflected;. and it is probable that, as he cooled
off from the excitement created by his later exertions, he
fully recognised the justice of the other's remarks, and the
injustice of his own claims.  Still, it seemed to him unAmerican, un-Vineyard, if the reader please, to " give up;"
and he clung to his error with as much pertinacity as if he
had been right.
" If you are fast, I am fast, too. I'm not. so certain of
your law. When a man puts an iron into a whale, commonly it is his fish, if he can get him, and kill him. But
there is a law above all whalers' law, and that is the law
of Divine Providence. Providence has fastened us to this
crittur', as if on purpose to give us a right in it; and I'm
by no means, so sure States' law won't uphold that doctrine.
Then, I lost my own whale by means of this, and am entitled to some compensation for such a loss."
".You lost your own whale because he led round the
head of mine, and not only drew his own iron, but came
nigh causing me to cut. If any one is entitled to damage'or such an act, it is I, who have been put to extra trouble
in getting my fish."
"I do believe it was my lance that did the job for the
fellow! I darted, and you struck; in that way I got the
start of you, and may claim to have made the crittur' spout
the first blood. But, hearkee, Gar'ner-there's my handyve've been friends so far, and I want to hold out friends




164              THE SEA LION.S.
i will make you a proposal, therefore.  Join stocks from
this moment, ana whale, and seal, and do all things else in
common.  When we make a final stowage for the return
passage, we can make a final division, and each man take
his share of the common adventure."
To do Roswell justice, he saw'through the artifice of this
proposition, the instant it was uttered.  It had the effect,
notwithstanding, a good deal to mollify his feelings, since
it induced him to believe that Daggett was manoeuvring to
get at his great secret, rather than to assail his rights.
"You are part owner of your schooner, Captain Daggett,". our hero answered, "while I have no other interest
in mine than my lay, as her master. You may have au.
thority to make such a bargain, but I have none. It is my
duty to fill the craft as fast and as full as I can, and carry
her back safely to Deacon Pratt; but, I dare say, your
Vineyard people will let you cruise about the earth at your
pleasure, trusting to Providence for a profit. I cannot
accept your offer,"
"This is answering like a man, Gar'ner, and I like you
all the better for it.  Forty or fifty barrels of ile shan't
break friendship between us. I helped you into port at
Beaufort, and gave up the salvage; and now I'1I help tow
your whale alongside, and see you fairly through this business, too.  Perhaps I shall have all the better luck for
being a little generous."
There was prudence, as well as art, in this decision of
Daggett's. Notwithstanding his ingenious pretensions to
a claim in the whale, he knew perfectly well that. no law
would sustain it, and that, in addition to the chances of
being beaten on the spot, which were at least equal, he
would certainly be beaten in the courts at home, should he
really attempt to carry out his declared design.  Then, he
really deferred to the expectation that his future good fortune might be influenced by his present forbearance: Superstition forms'a material part of a sailor's nature, if, indeed, it do not that of every man engaged in hazardous and
uncertain adventures.  How far his hopes were justified in
this last respect, will appear in the contents of a communication that Deacon Pratt received from the rmaster of his




THE  SEA  LIONS.                165
schooner, and to which we will now refer, as the clearest
and briefest mode of continuing the narrat ve.
The Sea Lion left Oyster Pond late in September. It
was the third day of March, in the succeeding year, that
Mary was standing at a window, gazing with melancholy
interest at that point in the adjacent waters where last she
had seen,-nearly six months before, the vessel of Roswell
disappear behind the woods of the island- that bears his
family name. There had been a long easterly gale, but the
weather had changed; the south wind blew softly, and all
the indications of an early spring were visible. For the
first time in three months, she had raised the sash of that
window; and the air that entered was bland, and savoured
of the approaching season.
"I dare say, uncle"-the deacon was writing n'ear a very
low wood-fire, which was scarcely more than embers —" 
dare say, uncle," said the sweet voice of Mary, which was a
little tremulous with feeling, " that the ocean is calm enough
to-day. It is very silly in us to tremble, when there is a
storm, for those who must now be so many, many thousand
miles away. What is the distance between the Antarctic
Seas and Oyster Pond, I wonder?"
" You ought to be able to calculate that yourself, gal, or
what is the use to pay -for your schooling?"
" I should not know how to set about it, uncle," returned
the gentle Mary, " though I should be very glad to know.'
"How many miles are there in a degree of latitude
child? You know that, I believe."
"More than sixty-nine, sir."
"' Well, in what latitude is Oyster Pond?"
"I have heard Roswell say that we were a little higher,,s he calls it, than forty-one."
"Well, 41 times 69"-figuring as he spoke-" make
2829; say we are 3000 miles from the equator, the nearest
way we can get there. Then, the antarctic circle commences in 230 30' south, which, deducted from 90 degrees,
leave just 660 30' between the equator and the nearest spot
within the sea you have mentioned. Now, 66~ 30' give
about 4589 statute miles more, in a straight line, allowing
only 69 to a degree. The two sums, added together, make
7589 miles, or rather more. But the road is not straight,




166             THE  SEA  LIONS.
by any means, as shipmasters tell me; and I suppose Gar'
ner must have gone, at the very least, 8000 miles to reach
his latitude, to say nothing of a considerable distance of
longitude to travel over, to the southward of Cape Horn."
"It is a terrible distance to have a friend from us!"
ejaculated Mary, though in a low, dejected tone
" It is a terrible distance for a man to trust his property
away from him,. gal; and I do not sleep a-nights for think.
ing of it, when I remember where my own schooner may
be all this time!"
" Ah, here is Baiting Joe, and with a letter in his hand,
uncle, I do declare!"
It might be a secret hope that impelled Mary, for away
she bounded, like a young fawn, running to meet the old
fisherman at the door. No sooner did her eyes fall on the
supersdription, than the large package was pressed to her
heart, and she seemed, for an instant, lost in thanksgiving.
That no one might unnecessarily be a witness of what
passed between her uncle and herself, Joe was directed to
the kitchen, where a good meal, a glass of rum and water,
and the quarter of a dollar that Mary gave him as she
showed the way, satisfied him with the results of his trouble.
"Here it is, uncle," cried the nearly breathless girl, reentering the' keeping-room,' and unconsciously holding the
letter still pressed to her heart,-"A letter-a letter from
Roswell, in his own precious hand."
A flood of tears gave some relief to feelings that had so
long been pent, and based a heart that had been compressed
nearly to breaking. At any other time, and at this unequivocal evidence of the hold the young tnan had on the affections of his niece, Deacon Pratt would have remonstrated
with her on the folly of refusing to become " Roswell Gar'ner's" wife; but the sight of the letter drove all other
thoughts from his head, concentrating his whole'being in
the fate of the schooner.
"Look, and see if it has the Antarctic post-mark on it,
Mary," said the deacon, in a tremulous voice.
This request was not made so much in ignorance as in
trepidation. The deacon very well knew that the islands
the Sea Lion was to visit were uninhabited, and were deis




THE  SEA LIONS.                   167
titute of post-offices; but his ideas were confused, and ap.
prehension rendered him silly.
" Uncle!" exclaimed the niece, wiping the tears from a
face that was now rosy with blushes at her own weakness,'surely, Roswell can find no post-office where he is!"
But the letter must have some post-mark, child. Baiting
Joe has not brought it himself into the country."
" It is- post-marked' New York,' sir, and nothing elseYes, here is' Forwarded by Cane, Spriggs, and Button,
Rio de Janeiro.' It must have been put into a post-office
there."
"Rio! —Here is more salvage, gal-more salvage coming to afflict me!"
"But you had no salvage to pay, uncle, on the other occasion; perhaps there will be none to pay on this. *Had I
not better open the letter at once, and see what has happened?"
"Yes, open it, child," answered the deacon, in a voice
so feeble as to be scarcely audible —" open it at once, as
you say, and let me know my fate. Anything is better than
this torment!"
Mary did not wait for a second permission, but instantly
broke the seal. It might have been the result of education,
or there may be such a thing as female instinct in these
matters; but, certain it is, that the girl turned towards the
window, as she tore the paper asunder, and slipped the
letter that bore her own name into a fold of her dress, so
dexterously, that one far more keen-sighted than her uncle
would not have detected the act.  No sooner was her own
letter thus secured, than the niece offered the principal
epistle to her uncle.
" Read it yourself, Mary," said the last, in his querulous
tones. " My eyes are so dim, that I could not see to read it."
"Rio di'Janeiro, Province of Brazil, South America,
Nov. 14th, 1819," commenced the niece.
"Rio di Janeiro!" interrupted the uncle.' Why that
is round Cape Horn, isn't it, Mary?"
"' Certainly not, sir.  Brazil is on the east side of tile
Andes, and Rio di Janeiro is its capital. The king of Por
tugal lives there now and has lived there as long as I can
rernember."
15




168             THE SEA LIONS.
"Yes, yes; I had forgotten. The Brazil Banks, where
our whalers go, are in the Atlantic.  But what can have
taken Gar'ner into Rio, unless it be to spend more money!'
" By reading the letter, sir, we shall soon know. I see
there is something'about- spermaceti oil here."
"Ile?  And spalm ile, do you say!" exclaimed the deacon, brightening up at once -" Read on, Mary, my good
gal-read the letter as fast as you can-read it at a trot."
"Deacon Israel Pratt -Dear sir," continued Mary, in
obedience to this command, "the two schooners sailed from
Beaufort, North Carolina, as stated already per mail, in a
letter written at that port, and which has doubtless come
to hand.  We'had fine weather and a tolerable run of it
until we reached the calm latitudes, where we were detained by the usual changes for about a week. On the
18th Oct. the pleasant cry of' there she spouts' was heard
aboard here, and we found ourselves in the neighbourhood
of whales.  Both schooners lowered their boats, and I was
soon fast to a fine bull, who gave us a long tow before the
lance was put into him, and he was made to spout blood.
Captain Daggett set up some claims to this fish, in consequence of his line's getting foul of the creature's jaws, but
he changed his mind in good season, and clapped on to
help tow the whale down to the vessel. His irons drew from
a young bull, and a good deal of dissatisfaction existed
among the'other crew, until, fortunately, the school of
young bulls came round quite near us, when Captain Dag
gett and his people succeeded in securing no less than
three of the fish, and -Mr. Hazard got a, very fine one
for us.
"I am happy to say that we had very pleasant weather
to cut in, and secured every gallon of the oil of both our
whales, as did Captain Daggett all of his. Our largest bull
made'one hundred and nineteen barrels, of which fortythree barrels was head-matter. I never saw better case
and junk in a whale in my life. The smallest bull turned
out well too, making fifty-eight barrels, of which twentyone was head. Daggett got one hundred and thirty-three
barrels from his three fish, a very fair proportion of head,
though not as large as our own. Having this oil on board,
we came in here after a pleasant run; and I have shipped,




THlE SEA LrONS.                  169
us per invoice enclosed, one hundred and seventy-seven barrels of spermaceti oil, viz., sixty-four barrels of head, and rest
in body-oil, to your order, care of Fish & Grinnell, New
York, by the brig Jason, Captain Williams, who will sail
for home about the 20th proximo, and to whom I trust this
letter"-'.
"' Stop, Mary,. my dear-this news is overpowering —it is
almost too good to be true," interrupted the deacon, nearly
as much unmanned by this intelligence of his good fortune
af he.had previously been by his apprehensions. " Yes, it
does seem too good to be true; read it again, child; yes,
read every syllable of it again!"
Mary complied, delighted enough to hear all she could
of Roswell's success.
"Why; uncle," said the deeply-interested girl, " all this
oil is spermaceti! It is worth a great deal more than so
much of that which comes of the right whale."
" More! Ay, nearly as three for one.  Hunt me up the
last Spectator, girl - hunt me up the last Spectator, and
let me see at once. at what they quote spalm."
Mary soon found the journal, and handed it to her
uncle.
" Yes, here it is, and quoted $1.12- per gallon, as I live!
That's nine shillings a gallon, Mary-just calculate on that
bit of..paper-thirty times-one hundred and seventy-seven,
Mary; how much is that, child?"
"I make it 5310, uncle -yes, that is right.  But what
are the 30 times for, sir?"' Gallons, gal, gallons. Each barrel has 30 gallons in it,
if not more. There ought to be 32 by rights, but this is a
cheating age. Now, multiply 5310 by 9, and see what. that
comes to."
"Just 47,790, sir, as near as I can get it."
"Yes, that's the shillings. Now, divide 47,790 by 8, my
dear.  Be actyve, Mary, be actyve."
"It leaves 5973, with a remainder of 6,.sir. I believe
I'm right."
"I dare.say you are, child; yes, I dare say you are. This
is the dollars. A body may call them $6000, as the barrels
will a little overiun the 30 gallons. My share of this win




170             THE SEA  LION S.
be two-thirds, and that will nett the handsome sum of, say
$4000!"
The deacon rubbed his hands with delight, and having
found his voice again, his niece was astonished at hearing
him utter what he had.to say, with a sort of glee that
sounded in her ears as very unnatural, coming from him.
So it was, however, and she dutifully endeavoured not to
think of it.', Four thousand dollars, Mary, will quite cover the first
cost of the schooner; that is without including outfit and
spare-rigging, of which her master took about twice as much
as was necessary. He's a capital fellow, is that young
Gar'ner, and will make an excellent husband, as I've always
told you, child. A little wasteful, perhaps, but an excellent
youth at the bottom. I dare. say he lost his spars off Cape
Hatteras in trying to outsail that Daggett; but I overlook
all that now.  He's a capital youth to work upon a whale
or a sea-elephant! There isn't his equal, as I'll engage,
in all Ameriky, if you'll only let him know where to find
he creatur's. I knew his character before I engaged him;
for no man but a real skinner shall ever command a craft
of mine."
"Roswell is a good fellow," answered Mary, with emphasis, the tears filling her eyes as she listened to these
eulogiums of her uncle on the youth she loved with all of a
woman's tenderness, at the very moment she scrupled to
place her happiness on one whose'God was not her God.'
"No one knows him  better than I, uncle, and no one respects him more. But, had I not better read the rest of his
letter?-there is a good deal more of it."
"Go on, child, go on- but, read the part over again
where he speaks of the quantity of the ile he has shipped
to Fish & Grinnell."
Mary did as requested, when she proceeded to read aloud
the rest of the communication.
"I have been much at a loss how to act in regard to
Captain Daggett," said Roswell, in his letter.  " He stood
by me so manfully and generously off Cape Hatteras, that I
did not like to part company in the night, or in a squall,
which would have seemed ungrateful, as well as wearing a
sort of runaway look.'I am afraid he has some knowledge




THE SEA LIONS.                   171
of the existence of our islands, though' I doubt whether he
has their latitude and longitude exactly.  Something there
is of this nature on board the other schooner, her people
often dropping hints to my officers and men, when they
have been garnming. I have sometimes fancied Daggett
sticks so close' to us, that he may get the advantage of our
reckoning to help him to what he wants to find. He is no
great navigator anywhere, running more by signs and currents, in my judgment, than by the use of his instruments.
Still, he could find his way to any part of the world."
" Stop there, Mary; stop a little, and let me have time
to consider.  Isn't it awful, child?"
The niece changed colour, and seemed really frightened,
so catching was the deacon's distress, though she scarce
knew what was the matter.
"What is awful, uncle?" at length she asked, anxious
to know the worst.
"This covetousness in them Vineyarders! I consider
it both awful and wicked. I must get the Rev. Mr. Whittle
to preach against the sin of covetousness; it does gain so
much ground in Ameriky! The whole church should lift
its voice against it, or it will shortly lift its voice against
the church. To think of them Daggetts' fitting out a
schooner to follow my craft, about the'arth in this unheard-of manner; just as if she was a pilot-boat, and young
Gar'ner a pilot! I do hope the fellows will make a wrack
of it, among the ice of the antarctic seas! That would be
a fit punishment for their impudence and covetousness."
" I suppose, sir, they think that they have the same right
to sail on the ocean that others havel Seals and whales are
the gifts of God, and one person has no more right to them
than another."
"You forget, Mary, that one man may have a secret that
another -doesn't know. In that case he ought not to go
prying about like an old woman in a village neighbourhood. Read on, child, read on, and let me know the worst
at once."
" I shall sail to-morrow, having finished all my business
here, and hope to be off Cape Horn in twenty days, if not
sooner.  In what manner I am to get rid of Daggett, I do
not yet know. He outsails me a little on all tacks, unless
15 *




172             THE SEA  LIONS.
it begin very heavy weather, when I have a trifling advan
tage over him. It will be in my power to quit him any
dark night; but ifI'let him go ahead, and he should really
have any right notions about the position of the islands, he
might get there first, and make havoc among the seals."
"Awful, awful!" interrupted the deacon, again; " that
would be the worst of all! I won't allow it; I forbid itit shall not be."':
"Alas! uncle, poor Roswell is too far from us, now, to
hear these Words. No doubt the matter is long since decided, and he has acted according to the best of his judgment."
"It is terrible to have one's property so far away! Government ought to have steam-boats, or packets of some
sort, running between New York and Cape Horn, to carry
orders back and forth.-But we shall never have things
right, Mary, so long as the democrats are uppermost."
By this remark, which savours very strongly of a species
of censure that is much in fashion in the coteries of that
Great Emporium, which it is the taste and pleasure of its.
people to term  a commercial emporium, especially among
elderly ladies, the reader will at once perceive that the
deacon was a federalist, which was somewhat of a novelty
in Suffolk, thirty years since. Had he lived down to our
own tiines, the old man would probably have made all the
gyrationsin politics that have distinguished the school to
which he would have belonged, and, without his own knowledge, most probably, would have been as near an example
of perpetual motion as the world will ever see, through his
devotion to what are now called "Whig Principles."  We
are-no great politician, but time has given us the means of
comparing; and we often smile when we hear the disciples
of Hamilton, and of Adams, and of all that high-toned
school, declaiming against the use of the veto, and talking
of the " one man power," and of Congress' leading the government! The deacon was very apt to throw the opprobrium of even a bad season on the administration, and the
reader has seen what he thought of the subject of running
packets between New York and Cape Horn.
"There ought to be a large navy, Mary, a monstrous
navy, so that the vessels might' be kept carrying letters




THE SEEA LIONS.           "      1'73
about, and serving the public. But we shall never have
things right, until Rufus King, or some man like him, gets
in. If Gar'ner lets that Daggett get the start of him, he
never need come home again.  The islands are as much
mine as if I had bought them; and I'm not sure an action
wouldn't lie for seals taken on them without my consent.
Yes, yes; we want a monstrous navy, to convoy sealers,
and carry letters about, and keep some folks at home, while
it lets other folks go about their lawful business."
"Of what islands are you speaking, uncle?  Surely the
sealing islands, where Roswell has gone, are public and
uninhabited, and no one has a better right there than another!"
The deacon perceived that he had gone too far, in his
tribulation, and began to have a faint notion that he was
making a fool of himself. He asked his niece, in' a very
faint voice, therefore, to hand him the letter, the remainder
of which he would endeavour to read himself... Although
every word that Roswell Gardiner wrote was very precious
to Mary, the gentle girl had a still unopened epistle to herself to peruse, and glad enough was she to make the exchange.  Handing the''deacon his letter, therefore, she
withdrew at once to her private room, in order to read her
own.'Dearest Mary," said Roswell Gardiner, in this epistle,
"your uncle will tell you what has brought us into this
port, and all'things connected with the schooner. I have
sent home more than $4000 worth of oil, and I. hope my
owner will forgive the accident off Currituck, on account
of this run of good luck. In my opinion, we shall ye.
make a voyage, and that part of my fortune will be- secure.
Would that I could feel as sure of finding you more disposed to be kind to me, on my return! [I read in your
Bible every day, Mary, and I often pray to God to enlighten
my' mind, if my views have been wrong. As yet, I cannot
flatter myself with any change, for my old opinions appear
rather to be more firmly rooted than they were before I
sailed."' Here poor Mary heaved a heavy sigh, and wiped
the tears from her eyes. She was pained to a degree she
could hardly believe possible, though she did full credit to
Roswell's frankness.' Like all devout persons, her faith in




174             THE S,A'LIONS.
the.efficacy of sacred writ was strong: and she so muen,
the more lamented her suitor's continued blindness, because
it remained after light had shone upon it.' Still, Mary,"
the letter added, "as I have every human inducement to
endeavour to be right, I shall not throw aside the book, by
any means. In that I fully believe; our difference being
in what the volume teaches.  Pray for me, sweetest girlbut I know you do, and will continue. to do, as long as
am absent."
"Yes, indeed, Roswell," murmured Mary-" as long as
you and I live!"
" Next to this one great concern of my life, comes. that
which this man Daggett gives me,"-the letter went- on to
sav. "I hardlV know what to do under all'the circum-.
stances.  Keep in his company much longer I cannot,
without violating my duty to the deacon.  Yet, it is not
easy, in any sense, to get rid of him. He has stood by me
so manfully on all occasions, and seems so much disposed
to make good-fellowship of the voyage, that, did it depend
on myself only, I should at once make a bargain with him
to seal in company, and to divide the spoils.  But this is
now impossible, and I must. quit him in some way or other.
He outsails me in most weathers, and it is a thing easier
said than done. What will make it more difficult is the
growing shortness of the nights. The days lengthen fast
now, and as we go south they will become so much longer,
that, by the time when it will be indispensable to separate,
it will be nearly all day. The thing must be done, however, and I trust to luck to be able to do it as it ought to
be effected.
"And now, dearest, dearest Mary —" But why should
we lift the veil from the feelings of this young man, who
concluded his letter by pouring out his whole heart in a
few sincere and manly sentences. Mary wept over them
most of that' day, perusing and reperusing them, until her
eyes would scarce perform their proper office.
A few days later the deacon was made a very happy man
by the receipt of a letter from Fish & Grinnell, notifying
him of the arrival of his oil, accompanied by a most gratifving account of the state of the market, and asking for
instructions.  The oil was disposed of, and the deacon




THE SEA LIONS.                    175
pocketed his portion of the proceeds as soon as possible;
eagerly looking for a new and profitable investment for the
avails.  Great was the. reputation Roswell Gardiner made
by this capture of the two spermaceti whales, and by sending the proceeds to so good a market. In commerce, as in
war, success is all in all, though in both success is nearly
as often the result of unforeseen circumstances as of calculations and wisdom.  It is true there are a sort of trade,
and a sort of war, in which prudence and care may effect
a great deal, yet are both often outstripped by the random
exertions and.adventures of those who calculate almost as
wildly as they act.  Audacity, as the French term it, is a
great quality in war, and often achieves more than the most
calculated wisdom —nay, it becomes wisdom in that sort
of struggle; and we are far from being sure that audacity
is not sometimes as potent in trade.  At all events, it was
esteemed a bold, as well as a prosperous exploit, for a little
schooner like the- Sea Lion of Qyster Pond, to take a hundred-barrel whale, and to send home its " ile," as the deacon always pronounced the word,'in common with most
others in old Suffolk.
Long and anxious months, with one exception, succeeded
this bright spot of sunshine in Mary Pratt's solicitude in
behalf of the absent Roswell. She knew there was but
little chance of hearing from him again until he returned
north. The exception was a short letter that the deacon
received, dated two weeks later than that-written from Rio,
in latitude forty-one, or just. as far south of the equator as
Oyster Pond was north of it, aiid nearly fourteen hundred
miles to the southward of Rio.  This letter was written in
great haste, to send home by a Pacific trader who was accidentally met nearer the coast than was usual for such
vessels to be. It stated-that all was well; that the schooner
of Daggett was still in company; and that Gardiner intended to get " shut" of her, as the deacon expressed it, on
the very first occasion.
After the receipt of this letter, the third written by Roswell Gardiner since he leitt home, a long'and blank interval
Pf silence succeeded.  Then it was that months passed
away in an anxious and dark uncertainty. Spring followed
winter, summer succeeded to spring, and autumn came to
12




176              THE  SEA  LIONS..
reap the fruits of all the previous seasons, without bringing
any further tidings from  the adventurers.  Then winter
made its second appearance since the Sea Lion had sailed,
filling the minds of the mariners' friends with sad forebodings as they listened to the moanings of the gales that
accompanied that bleak and stormy quarter of the year.
Deep and painful were the anticipations of the deacon, in
whom failing health, and a near approach to the "last of
earth," came to increase the gloom.  As for Mary, youth
and health sustained her; but her very soul was heavy, as
she pondered on so long and uncertain an absence.
CHAPTER XII1.
"Safely in harbour
Is the king's ship; in the deep nook, where once
Thou calledst me up at midnight to fetch dew
From the still vex'd Bermoothes, there she's hid."
Tempest.
THE letter of Roswell Gardiner last received, bore the
date of December 10th, 1819,'or just a fortnight after he
had sailed from Rio de Janeiro. We shall next present the
schooner of Deacon Pratt to the reader'on the 18th of that
month, or three weeks and one day after she had sailed
from the capital of Brazil.. Early in the morning of the
day last mentioned, the Sea Lion of Oyster Pond was visible, standing to the northward, with the wind light but
freshening from the westward, and in smooth water. Land
was not only in sight, but was quite near, less than a league
distant. Towards this land the head of the schooner had
been laid, and she was approaching it at the rate of some
four or five knots. The land was.broken, high, of a most
sterile aspect where it was actually to be seen, and nearly
all covered with a light but melting snow, though the season was advanced to the middle of the first month in summer.. The weather was not very cold, however, and there




THE  SEA  LIONS                  177
was a feeling about it that promised it would become still
milder. The aspect of the neighbouring land, so barren,
rugged and inhospitable, chilled the feelings, and gave to
the scene a sombre hue which the weather itself might not
have imparted. Directly ahe~ad of the schooner rose a sort
of pyramid of broken rocks, which,; occupying a small
island, stood isolated in a measure, and some distance in
advance of other and equally ragged ranges of mountarns,
which belonged also to islands detached from  the main
land thousands of years before, under some violent convulsions of nature.
It was quite apparent that all on board the schooner regarded that ragged pyramid with lively interest.  Most of
the crew was collected on the forecastle, including the
officers, and all eyes were fastened on the ragged pyramid
which they were diagonally approaching. The principal
spokesman was Stimson, the oldest mariner on board, and
one who had oftener visited those seas than any other of
the crew.
"You know the spot, do you, Stephen?" demanded
ERoswell Gardiner, with interest.
" Yes, sir, there's no mistake. That's the Horn. Eleven
times have I doubled it, and this is the third time that I've
been so close in as to get a fair sight of it. Once I went
inside, as I've told you, sir."
"I have doubled it six times myself," said Gardiner,
"but never saw it before.  Most navigators give it a wide
berth.'Tis said to be the stormiest spot on the known
earth!"
"That's a mistake, you may depend on't, sir. The
sow-westers blow great guns here-abouts, it is true enough;
and when they do, sich a sea comes tumbling in on that
rock as man never seed anywhere else, perhaps; but, on
the whull, I'd rather be close in here, than two hundred
miles further to the southward.  With the wind at sowwest, and heavy, a better slant might be made from the
southern position; but here I know where I am, and I'd
go in and anchor, and wait for the gale to blow itself
out."
" Talking of seas, Captain Gar'ner," observed Hazard,
"' don't you think, sir, we begin to feel the swell of the




178             THE SEA LIONS.
Pacific.  Smooth as the' surface of the water is, here is a
ground-swell rolling in that must be twelve or fifteen feet
in height."
"There's no doubt of that. We have felt the swell of the
Pacific these two hours; no man can mistake that.  The
Atlantic* has no such waves. T'Ihis is an ocean in reality,
and this is its stormiest part. The wind freshens and hauls,
and I'm afraid we are about to be caught close in here,
with a regular sow-west gale."
"Let it come, sir, let it come," put in Stimson, again;
"if-it does, we've only to run in and anchor.  I can stand
pilot, and I promise to carry the schooner where twenty
sow-westers will,do' her no harm. What I've-seen done
once, I know can be done again. The time will come when
the Horn will be a reg'lar harbour."
Roswell left the forecastle, and walked.aft,-pondering on
what had just been said. His situation was delicate, and
demanded decision, as well as prudence. The manner in
which Daggett had stuck by him, ever since the two vessels
took their departure from Block Island, is known to the
reader.  The Sea Lions had sailed from Rio in company,
and they had actually made Staten Land together, the day
preceding that on which we now bring the Oyster Pond
craft once more upon the'scene, and had closed so near as
to admit of a conversation between the two masters.  It
would seem that Daggett was exceedingly averse to passing
through the Straits of le Maire. An uncle of his had been
wrecked there, and had reported the passage as the rmost
dangerous one he had ever encountered.  It has its diffi
cultiest no.doubt, in certain states of the wind and tide,
but Roswell had received good accounts of the place from
Stimson, who had been through'several times.  The wind
was rather- scant to go through, and the weather threatened
to be thick. As Daggett urged' his reasons for keeping off
and passing outside of Staten Land, a circuit ofconsiderable extent, besides bringing a vessel far to leeward with the
Frevalent winds of that region, which' usually blow from
northwest round to southwest, Roswell was reflecting on
the opportunity the circumstances afforded of giving. his
consort the'slip.  After discussing the matter for. some
time, he desired Daggett to lead on, -ad',he would follow.




THE SEA LIONS.                   [79
This was done, though neither schooner was kept off until
Roswell got a good view of Cape St. Diego, on Tierra del
Fuego, thereby enabling him to judge of the positions of
the principal land-marks. Without.committing himself
by any promise, Uierefore, he told Daggett to lead on, and
for some time he followed, the course being one that did
not take him  much out of the way. The weather was
misty, and at times the wind blew in squalls.: The last
increased as the schooners drew nearer to Staten Land.
Daggett, being about half a mile ahead, felt the full power
of one particular squall that came out of the ravines with
greater force than common, and he kept away to increase
his distance from the land. At the same time, the mist
shut in the vessels from each other. It was also past sunset, and a dark and dreary night was approaching. This
latter fact had been one of' Daggett's arguments for going
outside. Profiting by all these circumstances, Roswell
tacked,.and stood over towards Tierra del Fuego.  He
knew from the smoothness of the water that an ebb-tide
was running, and trusted to its force to carry him through
the Straits. HIe saw no more of the Sea Lion of the Vineyard. She continued shut in by the mist until night closed
around both vessels.  When he got about mid-channel,
Roswell tacked again. By this time the current had sucked
him fairly into the passage, and no sooner did he go about
than his movement to the southward was very rapid.  The
squalls gave some trouble, but, on the whole, he did very
well. Next morning he was off Cape Horn, as described.
By this expression, it is generally understood that a vessel is
somewhere near the longitude of that world-renowned cape,.ut not necessarily in sight of it. Few navigators actually
see the extremity of the American continent, though they
double the cape, it being usually deemed the safest to pass
well to the southward. Such was Daggett's position; who,
in consequence of having gone outside of Staten Land, was
now necessarily a'long distance to leeward, and who could
not hope to beat up abreast of the Hermits, even did the
wind and sea favour him, in less than twenty-four hours.
A great advantage was obtained by coming through the
Straits of Le Maire, and Roswell felt very certain that he
should not see his late consort again that day, even did he
16




180              THE  SEA  LIONS.
heave-to for him.  But our hero had no idea of doing any
thing of-the sort.  Having shaken off his leech, he had no
wish to suffer'it to fasten to him again. It was solely with
the intention of making sure of this object that he thought
of making a harbour.
In order that the reader may better understand those incidents of our narrative which we are about to relate, it
may be well to say a word of the geographical features of
the region to which he has been transported, in fiction, if
not in fact. At the southern extremity.of the American continent is a: cluster of islands, which are dark, sterile, rocky,
and most of the year covered with snow. Evergreens relieve the aspect. of sterility, in places that are a little sheltered, and therb is a meagre vegetation in spots that serve
to sustain animal life.  The first. strait which separates
this cluster of islands from the main, is that of Magellan,
through which vessels occasionally pass, in preference to
going farther south. Then comes Tierra del Fuego, which
is much the largest of all the islands. To the southward
of Tierra del Fuego lies a cluster of many small islands,
which bear different names; though the group farthest
south of all, and which it is usual to consider as the'southern
termination of our noble continent, but which is not on a
continent at all, is known by the appropriate appellation
of the Hermits. If solitude, and desolation, and want, and
a contemplation of some of the sublimest features of this
earth, can render a spot fit for a hermitage, these islands
are very judiciously named. The one that is farthest south
contains. the cape itself, which is marked by the ragged
pyramid of rock already mentioned; placed there by nature, a never-tiring sentinel of the war of the elements.
Behind this cluster of the Hermits it was that Stimson advised hts officer to take refuge against the approaching
gale, of which the signs were now becoming obvious and
certain   Roswell's motive, however, for listening to such
advice, was less to find. a shelter for his schooner than to
get rid of Daggett.  For the gale he cared but little, since
he was a long way from the ice, and could stretch off the
land to the southward into a waste of waters that seems interminable. There are islands to the southward of Cape
Horn, and a good many of them too, though none very




THE SEA LIONS.                   il]
near. It is now known, also, by means of the toils and
courage of various seamen, including, those of the persevering and laborious Wilkes, the most industrious and the
least rewarded of all the navigators who have ever worked
for the human race in this dangerous and exhausting occu.
pation, that a continent is there also; but, at the period of
which we are writing, the existence of the Shetlands and
Palmer's Land was the extent of the later discoveries in
that. part of the ocean. After pacing the quarter-deck a few
minutes, when he quitted the forecastle as mentioned, Roswell Gardiner again went forward among the men.
" You are quite sure that this high peak is the Horn,
Stimson?" he obserued, inquiringly.
c" Sartain of it, sir. There's no mistaking sich a place,
which, once seen, is never forgotten."
" It agrees with the charts and our reckoning, and I may
say it agrees with our eyes also. Here is the Pacific Ocean,
plain enough, Mr. Hazard."
"So I think, sir. We are at the end of Ameriky, if it
kas an end anywhere. This heavy long swell is an old acquaintance, though I never was in close enough to see the
land, hereabouts, before."
"It is fortunate we have one trusty hand- on board who
can stand pilot. Stimson, I intend to go in and anchor,
and I shall trust to you to carry me into a snug berth."
"['11i do it, Captain Gar'ner, if the weather will permit
it,' returned the sednan, with an unpretending sort of
confidence that spoke well for his ability.
Preparations were now commenced in earnest, to come
to. It was time that.some steady course should be adopted,
as the wind was getting up, and the schooner was rapidly
approaching the land.  In half an hour the Sea Lion was
bending to'a little gale, with her canvass reduced to closereefed mainsail and foresail, and the bonnet off her jib.
The sea was fast'getting up, though it came in long, and
mountain-like. Roswell dreaded the mist. Could he pass
through the narrow channels that Stimson had described to
him, with a clear sky, one half of his causes of anxiety
woul(l be removed. But the wind was not a clear one, and
he felt that no time was to be lost.
It required great nerve to approach a.coast like that of




182             THE SEA LIONS.
Cape Horn in such weather. As the schooner got nearer
to the real cape, the sight' of the seas tumlbling  ill and
breaking on its ragged rock, and the hollow roaring sound
they- made, actually became terrific. To' add to the awe
inspired in the breast of even the most callous-minded man
on board, calne a doubt whethei' the schooner could weather a certain point of rock, the western extremity of the
island, after'she had got so far into a bight as to render
waring questionable, if not impossible.  Every one now
looked grave and anxious. Should the schooner go ashore
in such a place, a single minute would suffice to break hei
to' pieces, and not a soul could expect to be saved.  Roswell was exceedirgly anxious, though he remained cool.
" The tides and eddies about these rocks, and in so high
a latitude, sweep a vessel like chips," he said to his chief
mate.  "We have been set in here by an eddy, and a terrible place it is."
"All depends on our gears holding on, sir," was the answer, " with' little on Providence.  Just watch the point
ahead, Captain Gar'ner; though we are not actually to
leeward of it, see with what a drift we have drawn upon it!
lhe manner in which these seas roll in from the sow-west
is terrific! No craft can go to windward against them."
This remark of Hazard's was very just.  The seas that
caine down upon the cape resembled' a rolling prairie in
their outline.  A single wave would extend a quarter of a
mile from trough to trough, and as it passed beneath the
schooner, lifting' her high in the air,- it really seemed as if
the glancing water woduld sweep her away in its force. But
human' art had found the means to counteract even this
imposing display of the power of nature. The little schooner
rode over the billows like a duck, and when she sank between two of them, it was merely to rise again on a new
summit, and breast the gale gallantly.  It was the current
that menaced the greatest danger; for that, unseen except
in its fruits, was clearly setting the little craft to leeward,
and bodily towards the rocks. By this time our adventurers
were so near the land that they almost gave up hope itself.
Cape Hatteras and its much-talked-of dangers, seemed a
place of refuge compared to that in which our navigators
now found themselves.  Could the deepest bellowings of




THE SEA LIONS.                   183ten thousand bulls be united in a common roar- the noise
would not have equalled that of the hollow sound which
issued from a sea as it went into some cavern of the rocks.
Then, the spray filled the air like driving rain, and there
were minutes when the cape, though so frightfully near,
was hid from view by the vapour.
At this precise moment, the Sea Lion was less than a
quarter of a mile to windward of the point she was
struggling to weather, and towards which she was driving under a treble impetus; that of the wind, acting
on hersails, and pressing her ahead at the rate of fully
five knots, for the craft was kept a rap full; that of the
eddy, or current, ard that of the rolling waters.  No
man spoke, for each person felt that the crisis was one
in which silence was a sort of homage to the Deity.
Some prayed privately, and all gazed on the low rocky
point that.it was indispensable to pass, to avoid destruction.
There was one favourable circumstance; the water was
known to be deep, quite close to the iron-bound coast, and
it was seldom that any danger existed, that it was not visible to the eye. This, Roswell knew from Stimson's accounts, as well as from those of other mariners, and he saw
that the fact was of.the last importance to him.  Should
ne be able to weather the point ahead, that which terminated at the mouth of the passage that led within the Hermits, it was now certain it could be done only by going
fearfully near the rocks.
Roswell Gardiner took his station between the knightheads,. beckoning to Stimson to come. near him. At the
same time, Hazard himself went to the helm.
"Do you remember this-place?" asked the young master of the olid seaman.
"This is the spot, sir; and if we can'round the rocky
point ahead, I will take you to a safe anchorage. Our drift
is awful, or we are in an eddy tide here, sir!"
"It is the eddy," answered Roswell, calmly, "though
our drift is not trifling. This is getting frightfully near'to
that point!"
" Hold onr, sir-it's our only chance; —hold on, and we
may- rub and go."
"If we rub, we are lost; that is certain enough. Should
16*




184             THE SEA  LIONS.
we get by'this first point, there is. another, a snort distance'
beyond it, which must certainly fetch us up, I fear. Seeit opens more, as we draw ahead."
Stimson saw the new danger, and fully appreciated it.
He did not speak, however; for, to own the truth, he now
abandoned all hope, and, being a piously inclined person,
he was privately addressing himself to God.  Every man
on: board was fully aware of the character of this new dander, and all seemed to forget that of the nearest point of
rock, towards which they were now wading with portentous
speed. That point might be passed; there was a little hope
there; but as to the point a quarter of a mile beyond, with
the leeward set of the schooner; the most ignorant hand on
board saw how tinlikely it was that they should get by it.. An imposing silence prevailed in the schooner, as she
came abreast of the first rock. It was about fifty fathoms
under the lee bow, and, as to fthat spot, all depended on the
distance outward that the dangers thrust themselves. This
it was impossibleto see amid the chaos of waters produced
by the.collision between the waves and the land. Roswell
fastened his eyes on objects ahead, to note the rate of his
leeward set, and, with a seaman's quickness, he noted the
-first change.
"' She feels the under-tow, Stephen," he said, in a voice
-so compressed ag to seem to come out of the depths of his
chest, "and is breasted up to windward!"
" What means that sudden luff, sir?  Mr. Hazard must
keep a good full, or we shall have no chance."
Gardiner looked.aft, and saw that the mate was bearing
the helm well up, as if he met with much resistance. The
truth then flashed upon- him, and he shouted out"All's well, boys! God be praised, we have caught the
ebb-tide, under our lee-bow!"
These few words explained the reason of the change.
Instead of setting to leeward, the schooner was now meeting a powerful tide of some four or five knots, which hawsed
her up to windward with irresistible.force. As if conscious
of the danger she was in, the tight little craft rebceded from
the rocks as she shot ahead, and rounded that second point,
which, a minute before, had appeared to be placed there
purposely to destroy her. It was handsomely doubled, at




T H E SEA L I O  S.             185
the safe distance of a hundred fathoms.  Roswell believed
he might now beat his schooner off the land far enough to
double the cape altogether, could he but keep her in that
current. It doubtless expended itself, however, a short distance in the offing, as its waters diffused themselves on the:breast of the ocean; and it was this diffusion of the element
that produced the eddy which had proved so nearly fatal.
In ten minutes after striking the tide,. the schooner
opened the passage fairly, and was kept away to enter it.
Notwithstanding it blew so heavily, the rate of sailing, by
the land, did not exceed five knots. This was owing to the
great strength of the tide, which sometimes rises an(l falls
thirty feet, in high latitudes and narrow waters. Stimson
now showed he was a man to be- relied on. Conning the
craft intelligently,'he took her in behind the island on
which the cape stands, luffed her up into a tiny cove, and
made a cast of the lead. There were fifty fathoms of water,
with a bottom of mud. With the certainty that there was
enough of the element to keep him clear of the ground at
low water, and that his anchors. would h'bld, Roswell made
a flying moor, and veered out enough cable to render his
vessel secure.
Here, then, was the Sea Lion of Oyster Pond, that craft
which the reader had seen lying at Deacon Pratt's wharf,
only three short months before, safely anchored in a nook
of the rocks behind Cape Horn. No navigator but a sealer
would have dreamed of carrying his vessel into such a place,
but it is a part of their calling to poke about in channels
and passages where no one else has ever been.  It was in
this way that Stimson had learned to know where to fin'd
his present anchorage.  The berth of the schooner was
perfectly snug, and entirely land-locked.  The tremendous
swell that was rolling in on the outside, caused the waters
to rise and fall a-little within.the passage, but there was no
strain upon the cables in consequence. Neither did the
rapid tides affect the craft, which lay in an eddy that merely
kept hel steady. The gale came howling over the Hermits,'but was so much broken by the rocks as to do little more
than whistle through the cordage and spars aloft.
Three days, and as many nights, did the gale from the
south-west continue. The fourth day there was a change,




186             THE SEA LIONS.
the wind coming from the eastward.  Roswell would now
have gone out, had it not been for the apprehension of fall.
ing in with Daggett again.  Having at length gotten rid
of that pertinacious companion, it would have been an act
of great weakness to throw himself blindly in his way once
more.  It was possible that Daggett might not suppose he
had been left intentionally, in which case, he would be very
apt. to look for his lost consort in the vicinity of the cape.
As for the gale, it might, or it might.not, have blown him
to leeward.  A good deal would depend on the currents,
and his distance to the southward.  Near the land, Gardidiner believed the currents favoured a vessel doubling it,
going west; and if Daggett was also aware'of this fact, it
might induce him to keep as near the spot as possible.
Time was very precious to our sealers, the season beingso short. in thethigh latitudes.  Still, they' were a. little in
advance of their calculations, having got off the Horn
fully ten days sooner than they had hoped to be there.
Nearly the whole summer was before them.,' and there was
the possibility of their even. being too soon for the loosening
of the ice further south... The wind was the strongest inducement to go out, for the point to which our adventurers
were bound lay a considerable distance to the westward,
and. fair breezes were not to be neglected. Under all the
circumnstances,.however, it was decided to remain within
the passage one day longer, and this so much the more,
because Hazard had discovered some signs of sea-elephants
frequenting an island at no great distance. The boats were
lowered accordingly, and the mate went in one direction,
while the master pulled up to the rocks, and landed on.the
Hermit, or the island which should bear that name,.par
excellence, being that in which the group terminates.
Taking Stimson with him, to carry a glass., and armed
with an old lance as a pike-pole, to aid his efforts, Roswell
Gardiner now commenced the ascent of the pyramid already.
mentioned. It was ragged, and offered a thousand obstacles,
but none that vigour and resolution could not overcome.After a few minutes of violent exertion, and by helping
each other in difficult places, both Roswell and Stimsoni
succeeded in placing themselves on.the summit of the elevation,. which was an irregular peak. The height was




THE  SEA  LIONS.                 187
considerable, and gave an extended view of the adjacent
islands, as well as of the gloomy and menacing ocean to.he south.ward. The earth, probably, does not contain a
more remarkable sentinel than this pyramid on which our
hero had now taken his station. There it stood, actually
the Ultima Thule of this vast continent, or, what was much
the same, so closely united to it as to seem a part of our
own moiety of the globe, looking out on the broad expanse
of waters. The eye saw, to the right, the Pacific; in front
was the Southern, or Antarctic Ocean; and to the left was
the great Atlantic. For several minutes, both Roswell and
Stephen sat mute, gazing on this grand spectacle.  By:turning their faces north, they beheld the high lands of
Terra del Fuego, of which many of the highest peaks were
covered with snow. The pyramid on which they were,
however, was no longer white with the congealed rain, but
stood, stern and imposing, in its native brown. The out-'
lines of all the rocks, and the shores of the different islands,
had an appearance of volcanic origin, though the rocks
themselves told a somewhat different story. The last was
principally of trap formation.  Cape pigeons, gulls, petrels,
and albatross were wheeling about in the air, while the
rollers that still came in on this noble sea-wall were really
terrific. Distant thunder wants the hollow, bellowing sound
that these waves made when brought in contact with the
shores.  Roswell fancied that it was like a groan of the
mighty Pacific, at finding its progress suddenly checked.
The spray continued to fly, and, much of the time, the air
below his elevated seat was filled with vapour.
As soon as our young master had taken in the grander
features of this magnificent view, his eyes sought the Sea
Lion of Martha's Vineyard.  There she was, sure enough,
at a distance of only a couple of leagues, and apparently
standing directly for the Cape. Could it be possible that
Daggett suspected his manceuvre, and was coming in search
of him, at the precise spot in which he had taken shelter?
As respects the vessel, there was no question as to her character.  From the elevation at which he was placed, Roswell, aided by the glass, had no difficulty in making her
out, and in recognising her rig, form, and character. Stimson also eiamined her, and knew her to be the schooner,




188             THE  E E A L I ON S.
On that vast and desolate sea, she resembled a speck, but
the art of man had enabled those she held to guide her
safely through the tempest, and bring her up to her goal,
in a time that really seemed miraculous for the circumstances.
" If we had thought of it, Captain Gar'ner," said Stephen-,
"we.might have brought up an ensign, and set it on theserocks, by way of letting the Vineyarders know where we
are to be found. But we can always go out and meet them,
should this wind stand."
" Which is just what I-have no intention of doing, Stephen. I came in here, on purpose to get rid of that schooner."
"You surprise me, sir! A consort is no bad thing,
when a craft is a-sealin' in a high latitude. The ice-makes
such ticklish times, that, for me, I'm always glad to know
there is such a chance for taking a fellow off, should there
happen to be a wrack."
"All that is very true, but there are reasons which may
tell against it. I have heard of some islands where seals
abound, and a consort is not quite so necessary to take
them, as when one is wrecked."
"That alters the case, Captain Gar'ner.  Nobody is
obliged to tell of his sealing station. I was aboard one of
the very first craft that found out that the South Shetlands
was a famous place for seals, and no one among us thought
it necessary to tell it to all the world. Some men are weak
enough to put sich discoveries in the newspapers; but, formy part, I think it quite enough to put them in the log."
"That schooner must have' the current with her, she
comes down so fast. She'll be abreast of the Horn in half
an hour longer, Stephen. We will wait, and see what'she
would be at."
Gardiner's prediction was true. In half an hour, the
Sea Lion of Holmes' Hole glided past the rocky pyramid
of the Horn; distant from it less than a mile. Had it been
the object of her commander to pass into the Pacific, he
might have doie so with great apparent ease.  Even with
a south-west wind, that which blows fully half the time in
those seas, it would'have been in his power to lay past the
islands, and soon get before it. A north-east course, with




THE  SEA  LIONS.                 1-89
a little offing, will clear the islands, and when a vessel gets
as far north as the main land, it would take her off the
coast.
But Daggett had no intention of doing anything of the
sort. He was looking for his consort, which he had hoped
to find somewhere near the cape. Disappointed in this
expectation, after standing far enough west to make certain
nothing was in sight in that quarter, he hauled up on an
easy bowline, and stood to the southward. Roswell was
right glad to see this, inasmuch as it denoted ignorance of
the position of the islands he sought.  They lay much farther to the westward; and no sooner was he sure of the
course steered by the other schooner, than he hastened
down to the boat, in order to get his own vessel under way,
to profit by the breeze.
Two hours later, the Sea Lion of Oyster Pond glanced
through the passage which led into the ocean, on an ebbtide. By that time, the other vessel had disappeared in the
southern board; and Gardiner came out upon the open
waters again, boldly, and certain of his course.  All sail
was set, and the little craft slipped away from the land with
the ease of an aquatic bird, that is plying its web-feet.
Studding-sails were set, and the pyramid of the Horn soon
began to lower in the distance, as the schooner receded.
When night closed over the rolling waters, it was no ionger
visible, the vessel having fairly entered the Antarctic Ocean,
4' anything north of the circle can properly so be termed.




(190             THE  SEA  LIONS
CHAPTER XIV.
uAll gone!'tis ours the goodly land —
Look round-the heritage behold;
Go forth-upon the mountain stand;
Then, if you can, be cold."
SPRAGUE.
IT was an enterprising and manly thing for a little vessel
like the Sea Lion to steer with an undeviating course into
the mysterious depths of the antarctic circle - mysterious,
far more in that day, than at the present hour.  But the
American sealer rarely hesitates. He has very little science,
few charts, and those oftener old than new, knows little of
what is going on among the savans of the earth, though his
ear is ever open to the lore of men like himself, and he has
his mind stored with pictures of islands and continents that
would seem to have been formed for no other purpose than
to meet the wants of the race of animals it is his business
to pursue and to capture. Cape Horn and its vicinity have
so long been frequented by this class of men, that they are
at home among their islands, rocks; currents and sterility;
but, to the southward of the Horn itself,.all seemed a waste.
At the time of which we are writing, much less was known
of the antarctic regions than is known to-day; and even now
our knowledge is limited to a few dreary outlines, in:which
barrenness and ice compete for the mastery.  Wilkes, and
his competitors, have told us that a vast frozen continent
exists in that quarter of the globe; but even their daring
and perseverance have not been able to determine more
than the general fact.
We should be giving an exaggerated and false idea of
Roswell Gardiner's character, did we say that he steered
into that great void of the southern ocean in a total indifference to his destination and objects.  Very much the reverse was his state of mind, as he saw the high land of the




THIE. SEA LIONS.                 191
cape sink, as it might be foot by foot, into the ocean, and
then lost sight of it altogether.. Although the weather was
fine for the region, it was dark and menacinig.  Such, indeed, is usually the case in that portion of this globe, which
appears to be the favourite region of the storms. Although
the wind was no more than a good breeze, and the ocean
was but little disturbed, there were those symptoms in the
atmosphere and in the long ground-swells that came rolling.in from the southwest, that taught the mariner the cold
lessons of caution.  We believe that heavier gales of wind
at sea are encountered in the warm than in the cold months;
but there is something so genial in the air of the ocean
during summer, anJ something so chilling and repulsive in
the rival season, that most of us fancy that the currents of
air correspond in strength with the fall of the mercury.
Roswell knew better than this, it is true; but he also fully
understood where he was, and what he was about. As a
sealer, he had several.times penetrated as far south as the
ne plus ultra of Cook; but it had ever before been in
subordinate situations.  This was the first time in which
ne had the responsibility of command thrown oA himself,
and it was no more than natural that he should feel the
weight of this new burthen.  So long as the Sea Lion of.the Vineyard was in sight, she had'presented a centre of
interest and concern. To get rid of her had been his first
care, and almost absorbing object; but, now that she seemed to be finally thrown out of his wake, there remained the
momentous and closely approaching difficulties of the main
adventure directly before his eyes. Roswell, therefore, was
thoughtful and grave, his countenance offering no bad reflection of the sober features of. the atmosphere and the
ocean.
Although the season was that of summer, and the weather was such as is deemed propitious in the neighbourhood of Cape:Horn, a feeling of uncertainty prevailed over
every other sensation. To the southward a cold mistiness
veiled the view, and every mile the schooner advanced appeared like penetrating deeper and deeper into regions that
nature had hitherto withheld from the investigation of the
mariner.  Ice, and its dangers, were known to exist a few
degrees farther in that direction; -but islands also had been.
17  13




192             THE SEA  LIONS.
discovered, and turned to good account by the enterprise
of the sealers.
It was truly a great thing for the Sea Lion of Oyster
Pond to havd thrown off her namesake of the Vineyard. It
is true both vessels were still in the same sea, with a possibility of again meeting; but, Roswell Gardiner was steering
onward towards a haven designated in degrees and minutes,
while the other craft was most probably left to wander in
uncertainty in that remote and stormy ocean. Our hero
thought thore was now very little likelihood of his again
falling in with his late consort, and this so much the more,
because the islands he sought were not laid down-in the
vicinity of any other known land, and were consequently
out of the usual track of the sealers.  This last circumstance was fully appreciated by our young navigator, and
gave him confidence of possessing its treasures to himself,
could he only find the place where nature had hid them.
When the sun went down in that vast waste of water
which lies to the southward of this continent, the little Sea
Lion had fairly lost sight of land, and was riding over the
long southwestern ground-swell like a gull that holds its
way steadily towards its nest. For many hours her course
had not varied half a point, being as near as possible to
south-southwest, which kept her a little off the wind. No
sooner, however, did night come to shut in the view, than
Roswell Gardiner went aft to the man at the helm, and ordered him to'steer to the southward, as near as the breeze
would conveniently allow. This was a material change in
the direction of the vessel, and, should the present breeze
stand, would probably place her, by the return of light, a
good distance to the eastward of the point she would otherwise have reached  Hitherto, it had been Roswell's aim to
drop his consort; but, now it was dark, and so much time
nad already passed and been improved since the other
schooner was last seen, he believed he might venture tc
steer in' the precise direction he desired to go. The season
is so short in those seas, that every hour is precious, and
no more variation from a real object could be permitted
than circumstances imperiously required.  It was now
generally understood that the craft was making the best ol
he-r way towards her destined sealing-ground.




THE SEA LIONS.                    1.93:
Independently of the discoveries of the regular explorers,
a great deal of information has been obtained from  the
sealers themselves within the present century, touching the
antarctic seas.  It is thought that many a headland, and
various islands, that have contributed their shares in procuring the accolades for- different European. navigators,
were known to.the adventurers from Stonington and other
by-ports of this country, long -before science ever laid its
eyes upon them, or monarchs their swords on the shoulders
of their secondary discoverers.
That divers islands existed in' this quarter of the ocean
was a fact recognised in geography long before the Sea
Lion was thought oft; probably before her young master
was actually born; but the knowledge generally possessed
on the subject was meagre and unsatisfactory. In particular cases, nevertheless, this remark would.not apply, there
being at that moment on board our little schooner several
mariners who had often visited the South Shetlands, New
Georgia; Palmer's Land, and other known places in those
seas.  Not one of them  all, however, had ever heard of
any island directly south of the present position of the
schooner.
No material change occurred during the night, or in the
course of the succeeding day, the little Sea Lion industriously holding her way toward the south pole; making,
very regularly her six knots each hour. By the time she:
was thirty-six hours from the Horn, Gardiner believed himself-to be fully three degrees to the southward of it, and
consequently some distance within the parallel of sixty degrees south. Palmer's Land, with its neighbouring islands,
would have been near, had riot the original course carried
the schooner so far to the westward.  As it -was, no one
could say what lay before them.
The third day out, the wind hauled, and it-blew heavily
from the north-east. This gave the adventurers a great run.
T-he blink of ice was shortly seen, and-soon after ice itself,
drifting about in bergs. The floating hills were grand objects to the eye, rolling and wallowing in the seas; but
they. were much worn and melted by the wash of the ocean,
and comparatively of greatly diminished size.  It was now
absolutely necessary to lose most of the hours of darkness




194             T -iE SiE A LION S.
It being much too dangerous to run in the night. The great
barrier of ice was known to be close at hand; and Cook's
" Ne Plus Ultra," at that time the great boundary of antarctic navigation, was near the parallel of latitude to which
the schooner had:reached. Thie weather, however, continued very favourable, —and after the blow from the north.
east, the wind came from the south, chill, and attended
with flurries of snow, but sufficiently steady and not so
fresh as to compel our adventurers to carry very short sail.
The smoothness of the water would of itself have announced
the vicinity of ice: not only did Gardiner's calculations
tell him as much as this, but his eyes confirmed their results.  In the cqourse of the fifth day out, on several occasions when the weather cleared a little, glimpses were had
of the ice in long mountainous walls, resembling many of
the ridges of the Alps, though moving heavily under the
heaving and setting of the restless waters. Dense fogs,
from time to time, clouded the whole view, and the schooner
was compelled, more than once that day, to heave-to, in
order to avoid running on the sunken masses of ice, or
fields, of which many of vast size now began to make their
appearance.
Notwithstanding the dangers that surrounded our adven.
turers, they were none of them so insensible to the sublime
powers of nature as to withhold their admiration from the
many glorious objects which that lone and wild scene presented. The ice-bergs were of all the hues of the rainbow,
as the sunlight gilded their summits or sides, or they were
left shaded by the interposition of dark and murky clouds.
There were instances when certain of the huge frozen
masses even appeared to be quite black, in particular positions and under peculiar lights; while others, at the same
instant, were gorgeous in their gleams of emerald and
gold!
The aquatic birds, also, had now  become numerous
again. Penguins were swimming about, filling the air with
their discordant cries, while there was literally no end of
the cape-pigeons and petrels.  Albatrosses, too, helped to
make up the picture of animated nature, while whales were
often heard blowing in the adjacent waters. Gardiner saw
many signs of the proximity of land, and began to hope he




THE  SEA L'ION  S,:1.95
should yet actually discover the islands laid down on his
chart, as their position had.been given by Daggett.: In that high latitude a degree of longitude is necessarily
much shorter than when nearer to the middle.of our o'rb.
On the equator, a degrde of longitude measures, as is.
-known to most boarding-school young ladies, just sixty
geographical, or sixty-nine and a half English statute miles.
But, as is not known to most boarding-school young ladies,
or is understood by very few of them indeed, even when
known, in the sixty-second degree of latitude, a degree of
longitude measures but little miore than thirty-two of those
very miles.  The solution of this seeming contradiction is
so very -simple that, it may assist a certain class of our
readers if we explain it, by telling them that it arises solely
from the fact that these degrees of longitude, which are
placed sixty geographical' miles asunder at the centre or
middle of the earth, converge towards the poles, where
they all meet in a point.  According to the best observations Roswell Gardiner could obtain, he was just one of
these short degrees of longitude, or two-and-thirty miles,
to the westward of the parallel -where he wished to be,
when the wind. came from the southward. The change
was favourable, as it emboldened him to run, nearer than
he otherwise might have felt disposed to do, to the great.barrier of ice which now formed a sort of weather-shore.
Fortunately, the loose'bergs and sunken masses had drifted
off so far to the northward, that once within them the
schooner had pretty plain sailing; and Roswell, to lose
none- of the precious time of the season, ventured to run,
though under very short canvass, the whole of the short
night that succeeded. It is a great assistance to the navigation of those seas that, during the summer months, there
is scarcely any night at all, giving the adventurer sutfficient
light by which to thread his way among the difficulties of
his pathless journey.
When the sun reappeared, on the morning of the sixth
day after he had left the Horn,- Roswell Gardiner believed
lhimself.to be far enough west for his purposes. It now
remained to get a whole degree further to the south, which
was a vast distance in those seas and in that direction, and
would carry him a long way to the southward of the' Ne
17*




196            -THE SEA L.IONS.
Plus Ultra.' If there was any truth in Daggett, howeverl
that mariner had been there; and the instructions of the'owner rendered it incumbent on our young man to attempt
to follow him.  More than once, that morning, did our
hero regret he had not entered'into terms with the Vineyard men, that the effort might have been made in company. There was something so portentous in a lone vessel's venturing within the'.ice, in so remote a region, that,
to say the truth, Roswell hesitated. But pride of profes-'
sion, ambition, love of Mary, dread of the deacon, native
resolution, and the hardihood produced by experience in
dangers often encountered and escaped, nerved him to the
undertaking. i[t must be attempted, or the voyage would
be lost; and our young mariner now set about his task
witha: stern determination to achieve it.
By this time the schooner had luffed up within a cable's;ength of the ice, along the margin of which she was running under easy sail. Gardiner believed himself to be quite
as far to the westward as was necessary, and his present
object was to find an opening, by means- of which he could
enter among the floating chaos that was spread,:far and
wide, to windward.  As the breeze was driving the drifting- masses to the northward, they became loosened and
more separated, every moment; and glad enough was Gardiner to discover, at length, a clear spot that seemed to
favour his views.  Without an instant's delay, the sheets
were flattened in, a pull was taken on the braces, and away
-went the little Sea Lion into a passage that had a hundredfold more real causes of terror than the'Scylla and Charybdis of old.
One effect of the vicinity of ice, in extensive fields, is to
-produce comparatively still water.  It must blow a gale,
and- that over a considerable extent of open sea, to produce
much commotion among the' fields and bergs,.though that
heaving and setting, which has been likened to the respiration of some monster, and which seamen call the." groundswell," is never entirely wanting among the waters of an
ocean.' On the present occasion, our adventurers were
favoured in this respect, their craft gliding forward unimpeded by anything like opposing billows.  At the end of
foui hours, the schooner tacking and waring when neces



THE SEA  LIONS-.                 197
sary, had worked her way to the southward and westward,
according to her master's reckoning, some five-and-twenty
miles. It was then noon, and the atmosphere being unusually clear, though never without fog, Gardiner went aloft,
to take a look for himself at the condition of things around
him.
To the northward, and along the very passage by which
the vessel had sailed, the ice was closing,-and it was far.
easier to go on -than to return.  To the eastward, and
towards the. south-east in particular, however, did Roswell
Gardiner turn his longing eyes.  Somewhere in that quarter of the ocean, and distant now less than ten leagues, did
he expect to find the islands of which he was in quest, if,
indeed, they had ahy existence at all. In that direction
there were many passages open among the ice, the latter
being generally higher than in the particular place to which
the vessel. had reached. Once or twice, Roswell mistook.
the summits of some of these bergs for real mountains;
when, owing to the manner in which the light fell upon
them, or rather did not fall upon them directly, they appeared dark and earthy. Each time, however, the sun's
rays soon came to undeceive him; and that which had so
lately been black and frowning was, as by.the touch of
magic, suddenly illuminated, and became bright and gorgeous, throwing out its emerald hues, or perhaps a virgin
white, that filled the beholder with delight, even amid the
terrors and dangers by which, in very truth, he was surroanded. The glorious Alps themselves, those wonders of
the earth, could scarcely compete in scenery with the views
that nature lavished, in that remote sea, on a seeming
void. But the might and honour of God were there, as
well as beneath the equator.
For one whole hour did Roswell Gardiner remain in the
cross-trees, having hailed the deck, and caused the schooner's head to be turned to the south-east, pressing her
through the openings as near the wind as she could go.
The atmosphere was never without fog, though the vapour
drifted about, leaving large vacancies that were totally clear.
One spot, in particular, seemed to be a favourite restingMlace for these low clouds, which just there appeared to
light upon th% face of the ocean itself..A wide field of ice,




198             T.HE  SEA LIONS'.
or, it were better to say, a broad belt of bergs, lay betweenl
this stationary cloud.and- the schooner, though the existence of the vapour early caught Roswell's attention; and
during the hour he was aloft, conning the craft through a
very intricate and ticklish channel, not a minute.passed
that the young man did not turn a look towards that veiled
spot.  He was. in the act o.f placing a-foot on the ratlin
below him, to descend to the deck, when he half-unconsciously turned to take a last glance at this distant and
seemingly immovable object. Just then, the vapour; which
had kept rolling, and moving, like a fluid in ebullition,
while it still clung together, suddenly opened, and the bald
head of a real mountain, a thousand feet high, came unexpectedly into thee view! There could be no mistake; all
was too plain to admit of a doubt. There, beyond all question, was land; and it was doubtless the most western of
the islands described. by the dying seaman.  Everything
corroborated this conclusion.. The latitude and longitude
were right, or nearly so, and the other circumstances went
to confirm  the' conjecture, or conclusion.  Daggett had
said that one island, high, mountainous, ragged and bleak,
but'of some size, lay the most westerly in the group, while
several others were within a few miles of it. The last were
lower, much smaller, and little more than naked rocks.
One of these last, however, he insisted on it, was a volcano
in activity, and that, at intervals, it emitted flames as well
as a fierce lieat.  By, his account, however, the party to
which he belonged had never actually visited that volcafnic
cauldron, being satisfied with admiring its terrors from  a
distance.
As to the existence of' the land, Roswell got several
pretty distinct and certain views, leaving no doubt of its
character and position.  There is a theory which tells us
that the orb of day is surrounded by a luminous vapour,
the source of heat and light, and that this vapour, being in
constant motion, occasionally leaves the mass of the planet
itself to be seen, forming what it is usual to term the " spots
on the sun."  Resembling this theory, the fogs of the antarctic seas rolled about the mountain now seen, withdraw-.aig the curtain at times, and permitting a view of the
striking and majestic object within.  Well'did that lone




THE  SEA IIONS.                  199
and: nearly barren mass of earth and rock merit these ap.
pellations  The elevation has already been given; and a
rock that is nearly perpendicular, rising out of the ocean
for a thousanid feet, is ever imposing and grand. This
was rendered so.much the more so by its loneliness, its
stable and stern position amid floating and'moving mountains of ice, its brown sides arrd bald summit, the latter
then recently whitened with a fall of pure snow, and its
frowning and fixed aspect amid a scene that might otherwise be'said to be ever in motion.
Roswell Gardiner's heart beat with delight when assured
of success in discovering this, the first great. goal of his
destination. To reajh it Was now his all-absorbing desire
By this time the wind had got round to the southwest, and
was'blowing quite fresh, bringing him well to-windward
of the mountain, but causing the ice-bergs to drift in towards the land, and placing an impassable barrier along its
western shore.  Our young man, however, remembered
that Daggett had given the anchorage as on the north-eastern
side of the island, where, according to his statements, a
little haven would be found, in which a dozen craft might
he in security.  To this quarter of the island Gardiner
consequently endeavoured to get.
There was no opening to the northward, but a pretty
good channel was before the schooner to the southward of
the group. In this direction, then, the Sea Lion was steered, and by eight bells (four in the afternoon) the southern
point of the largest island was doubled. The rest of the
group were made, and to the infinite delight of all on board
her, abundance of clear water was found between the main
island and its smaller neighbours. The bergs had grounded
apparently, as they drew near the group, leaving this large
bay entirely free from ice, with the exception of a few'small
masses that were floating through it. These bodies,-whether
-field or berg, were easily avoided; and away the schooner
went, with flowitig sheets, into the-large basin formed by
the different members of the group. To render' assurance
doubly sure,' as to the information of Daggett, the smoke
of a volcano arose from  a rock to the eastward, that appeared to be sojne three or four miles in circumference,
and which: stood on the eastern side of the great basin. or




'200             THE SEA LIONS.
some four-leagues from Sealer's Land, as Daggett had at
once named the principal island. This was, in fact, about
~the breadth of the main basin,-which had two principal
passages into it, the one from the south and. the other from
the north-east.
Once withih the islands, and reasonably clear of all ice,
it was an easy thing for-the schooner to run across the
basin, or great bay; and reach the north-eastern extremity
of Sealer's Land. As the light would continue some hours
longer, there being very little night in:that high latitude in
December, the month that corresponds to our June, Roswell caused a boat to be lowered and manned, when he
pulled at once towards the spot where it struck him the
haven must be* found, if there were any such place at all
Everything turned out as-it had been described by Daggett,
and great was our young man's satisfaction when he rowed
into a cove that:was little more than two hundred yards in
diameter, and which was so completely land-locked as not
to.feel the influence of any sea outside. In general, the
great difficulty is to land on any of the antarctic rocks, the
breakers and-surf opposing it; but, in this spot, the smallest
boat could.be laid with its bows on a beach of shingles,
without the slightest risk of its being injured.  The lead
also announced good -anchorage- in about eight fathoms of
water.  In a word, this little haven was one of those small
basins that so often occur in mountainous islands, where
fragments of rock appear to have fallen from the. principal
mass as it was forced upward out of the ocean, as if purposely intended to meet the wants of mariners..Nor was the outer bay, or the large basin formed by the
entire group, by any means devoid of advantages to the
navigator. From north to south this outer bay was at least
six. leagues in length, while its breadth could not much
have fall.en short of four.  Of course it was much more
exposed to the winds and waves than the little harbour.proper, though Roswell was: struck with the great advantages
it offered in several essential particulars.  It was almost
clear of ice, while so much was floating about outside of
the circle'of islands; thus: leaving a free navigation in it
for even the smallest boat.  This was mainly owing to the
fact that the largest island had two long crescent-shaped




THE SEA LIONS.                   201.
capes, the one at its north-eastern and the other at its.south.
eastern extremity, giving to its whole eastern side the shape
of a new moon. The harbour just described was to the
southward of, or within the north-eastern cape, which our
young master at once named Cape Hazard, in honour of
hischief mate's vigilance; that officer having been the first
to point out the facilities probably offered by the formation
of the land for an anchorage.
Though rocky and broken, it was'by no means difficult
to aiscend.the rugged banks on the northern: side of the
harbour, and Gardiner'went up it, attended by Stimson,
who of late had much attached himself to the person of his
commander. The height -of this barrier above the waves
of the ocean was but a little less than a hundred feet, and
when the summit was reached, a coammon exclamation of
-surprise, not to say delight, broke from the lips of, both.
Hitherto not a seal of any sort had been seen, and Gardiner
had felt some misgivings touching the. benefits that were to
be derived from so much hardship, exposure and enterprise.
All doubts, however, vanished, the instant he got a sight of
the northern shore of the island. This shore, a reach of
several miles in extent, was fairly alive with the monsters
of which he was in search. They lay in thousands on the
low rocks that lined that entire side of the island, basking
in the sun of the antarctic seas. There they were, sure
enough! Sea Lions, Sea Elephants, huge, clumsy, fiercelooking and revolting creatures, belonging properly to neither sea nor. land. These animals.were constantly going
and coming in crowds, some waddling to the margin of the
rocks and tumbling into the ocean in search. of food, while
others scrambled out of the water, and got upon shelves
and other  convenient places to repose and enjoy the light
of day. There was very little contention or fighting among
these revolting-looking creatures, though nearly every known
species of the larger seals was among them.
"There is-famous picking for us, master Stephen," said
Roswell to his companion, fairly rubbing his hands in delight.  "One month's smart work will fill the schooner,
and we can be off before the equinox. Does it not seem to
you that yonder are the bones of sea lions, or of seals of




2012             THE SEA LIO  S'.
some sort, lying hereaway as if men had been at work on
the creatures?'"
"No doubt on't at all, Captain Gar'ner; as much out
of the way as this island is-and I never heard of thei
place afore, old a sealer as I am -but, as much out of the
way as it is, we are not the first to find it.  Somebodyohas
been here, and that within a year or two; and he has picked up a cargo, too, depend on-'t."
As all this merely corresponded with Daggett's account,f'the place, Roswell felt no surprise; on the contrary, he
saw in it a confirmation of all that Daggett had stated, and
as furnishing so much the more reason to hope for a successful termination to the voyage in all its parts. While on
the rocks, Roswvell took such a survey of the localities as
might enable himr t6 issue his orders hereafter with discretion and intelligence. The schooner was already making
short tacks to get close in with the island, in obedience to
a signal to that effect; and the second mate had pulled out
to the entrance of the little haven, with a view to act as
pilot. Before the captain had descended'from the summit
of the northern barrier, the vessel came in under her jib,
the wind being nearly aft, and she dropped two anchors in
suitable spots, making another flying moor of it.
General joy now illuminated every'face. It was, in itself,
a great point gained to get'the schooner into a perfectly
safe haven, where her people could take their natural rest
at night, or during their watches below, without feeling any
apprehension of being crushed in the ice; but here was
not only security, but the source of that wealth of which
they.wre in quest, and which had induced them all to en.
counter so many privations and so much danger.  The
crew landed to a man, each individual ascending to. the
summit of the barrier, to feast his eyes on the spectacle
that -ay spread in such affluent abundance, along the low
rocks of thle northern side of the island.'As there were yet several hours of light-remaining, Ros.
well, still attended by Stimson, each armed with a sealing.
spear cr lance, not only as a weapon of defence but as a.
leaping-staff, set out to climb as high up the central accli
vity of the island as circumstances would allow him to go.
He was deceived in the distances, however, and soon found




T H E SEA  L':I O NS-.             203
that an entire day would'be necessary to achieve such an
enterprise, could it be performed at all; but he did succeed
in reaching a low spur of the central mountain that commanded a wide and noble view of all that lay to the north
and east of it. From this height, which must have been a
few hundred feet above the level of the ocean, our adventurers got a still better view of the whole north coast, or
of what might have been called the sealing quarter of the
island. They also got a tolerably accurate idea of the
general formation of that lone fragment of rock and earth,
as wel as of the islets and islands that lay in its vicinity.
The outline of the'first was that of a rude, and of course
an irregular triangle, the three principal points of which
were the two low capes already mentioned, and a third that
lay to the northward and westward.  The whole of the
western or south-western shore seemed to be a nearly perpendicular wall df rock, that, in the main, rose some two:or three hundred feet above the ocean.  Against this side
of the island in particular, the waves of the ocean were
sullenly beating, while the ice drove up'home,' as sailors
express it; showing a vast depth of water. On the two
other sides, it was different.  The winds prevailed- most
from the solith-west, which rendered the perpendicular face
of the island its weather-wall; while the two other sides
-of the triangle were more favoured by position. The north
side, of course, lay most exposed to the sun, everything of
this nature being reversed in the southern hemisphere from:what we have it in the northern;. while the eastern or northeastern side, to be precisely accurate, was protected by the
group of islands that lay in its front. Such was the general'
character of Sealer's Land, so far as the hurried observations of its present master enabled him to ascertain.  The
-near approach of night induced him now to hasten to get
off of the somewhat dangerous acclivities to which he had
climbed, and to rejoin his people and his schooner.




204              THE  SEA  LIONS.
CHAPTER XV.
es Ye dart upon the deep, and straight is heard
A wilder roar; and men grow pale, and pray:
Ye fling its waters round you, as a bird
Flings o'er his shivering plumes the fountain's spray.
See! to the breaking mast the sailor clings!
Ye scoop the ocean to its briny springs,
And take the mountain billows on your wings,
And pile the wreck of navies round the bay."
BRYANT'S WINDS
N: unnecessary delay was permitted to interfere with the
one great purpose of the sealers. The setason was so short,
and the difficulties and dangers of entering among and of
quitting the ice were so very serious, that every soul belonging to the schooner felt the importance of activity and
industry. The very day that succeeded the vessel's arrival,
not only was great progress made in the preliminary arrangements, but a goodly number of fur-seals, of excellent
quality, were actually killed and secured.  Two noble seaelephants were also -lanced, animals- that measured near
thirty feet in length, each of which yielded a very ample
return for the risk and trouble of taking it, in oil.  The
skins of the fur-seals, however, were Roswell's principal
object; and glad enough was -he to find the creature that
pays this tribute to the wants- and luxuries of man, in numbers sufficient to promise him a speedy return to the northward. While the slaughter, and skinning, and curing, and
trying out were all in active operation, our young man paid
some. attention to' certain minor arrangements, which had
a direct bearing on the comforts of hispeople, as welli as
thB getting in of cargo.
An old store-house, of respectable size, had stood on the
deacon's wharf, while the schooner was fitting out, but it
had been taken to pieces, in order to make room for a
more eligible substitute   The materials of this building,
Rtoswell Gartliner had persuaded his owner to send on




THE  SEA LIONS.                   205
board, and they had all been received and stowed away, a
part below and a part on deck, as a provision for the possible wants of the people. As it was necessary to clear the
decks andi break out the hold, all these materials, consisting
principally of the timbers of the frame, the siding, and a
quantity of planks and boards, were now floated ashore in
the cove, and hauled up on the rocks. Roswell took a leisure moment to select a place for the site of his building,
which he intended to erect at once, in order to save the
time that would otherwise be lost in pulling between the
schooner and the shore.
It was not difficult to find the sort of spot that was desirable for the dwelling. That chosen by Gardiner was a
shelf of rock of sufficient extent, that lay perfectly exposed
to the north and north-east, or to the sunny side of the
island, while it was sheltered from the south and south-west
by. masses'of rock, that formed a complete protection
against the colder winds of the region.. These walls of
stone, however, were not sufficiently near to permit any
snows they might collect to impend over the building, but
enough space was left between them and the house, to
admit of a capacious yard, in which might be placed any
articles that were necessary to the ordinary-work, or to the
wants of the sealers.
Had it been advisable to set all hands at the business of
slaughtering, Roswell Gardiner certainly would not have
lost the time he did, in the erection of his house. But our
master was a judicious and wary commander at his calling.
The seals were now perfectly tame, and nothing was easier
than. to kill them in scores. The great difficulty was in
removing the spoils across the rocks, as it was sometimes
necessary to do so for a distance of several miles.  Means
were found, in the end, to use the boats on: this service,
though even then, at midsummer, the northern shore of the
island was frequently so closely beset by.the ice as cornpletely to block up the passage. This; too, occurred at
times when the larger bay was nearly free, and the cove,
which went by the name of the "Deacon's Bight," among
the men, was entirely so. In order to prevent a premature
panic, among the victims of this intended foray, then, Gardiner allowed no one to go out to. " kill" but the experienced




206             THE  SEA  LIONS
hands, and no more to be slain each day than could be
skinned or cut up at that particular time. In consequence
of this prudent caution, the work soon got into,a regular
train;. and it was early'found that more was done -in this
mode, than could have been effected by a less guarded as.sault on the seals.
As for the materials of the building, they were hauled
up the rocks without much difficulty. The. frame was of
sonie size, as is the case generally with most old constructions in America; but being of pine, thoroughly seasoned,
the sills and plates were not so heavy but that they might
be readily enough handled by the non-sealing portion of the
crew. Robert Smith, the landsman, was a carpenter by
trade, and it fell to his lot to put together again the materials of the old warehouse.  Had there not been' such -a
mechanic -among the crew, however, a dozen Americans
could, at any time, construct a house, the' rough and ready'
habits of the people usually teaching them, in a rude way,
a good deal of a great many other arts, besides this of the
carpenter. Mott had served a part of his time with a blacksmith, and he now set up his forge. When the frame was
ready, all hands assembled to assist in raising it; and, by
the end of the first week, the building was actually enclosed,
the labour amounting to no more than putting each portion
in its place, and securing it there, the saw being scarcely
used during the whole process. This building had two
apartmentsj one of which Gardiner appropriated to the uses
of a sitting-room, and the other to that of a dormitory
Rough bunks were constructed, arnd the mattresses of the
men were all brought ashore, and put in the house. It was
intended that everybody should sleep in the building, as it
would save a great deal of going to and fro, as well as a
great deal of time.  The cargo was to be collected on a
shelf of rock, that lay about twenty feet below that on which
the building stood; by following which, it was possible to
turn the highest point of the pass, that which formed the
southern protection of the building, and come out on the
side of the cove at another shelf, that was not, more than
fifty feet above the level of the vessel's decks. Down this
ast declivity, Roswell proposed to lower his casks by means
of a projecting derrick, the rock being sufficiently precipi.




THE:SEA LIONS-.                  207
tons to admit of this arrangement, while-his spare spars
filrnished him with the necessary means.  Thus was every
prepSaration made with judgment and foresight.
-In this manner did the first ten'days pass, every man and
boy being -as busy as bees. To own the truth, no attention
was paid to the Sabbath, which would seem to have been
left behind them by the people, among the descendants of
those Puritans who were so rigid in their observance of
that festival. At the end of the time just mentioned, a
great deal had been done. The house, such as it was, was
completed.  To be sure, it was nothing but an old storehouse re-vamped, but it was found to be of infinite service,
and greatly did all- Jands felicitate themselves at having
brought its materials along with them. Even those who
had most complained of the labour of getting the timbers
on board, had the most often cursed them for being in the
way, during the passage, and had continued the loudest to
deride the idea of' sealers turning carpenters,' were shortly
willing to allow that the possession of this dwelling was of
the greatest value to them, and that, so far from the extra
work's causing them to fall behind in their main operations,
the comfort they found, in having a home like this to go to,
after a long day's toil, refreshed. them to a degree which enabled every man to return to his labour, with a zeal and an
energy that might otherwise have been wanting. Although
it was in the warmest season of the year, and the nights
could scarcely be called nights at all, yet the sun never got
very low without leaving a chilliness in the air that would
have rendered sleeping without a cover and a. protection
from the winds, not only excessively uncomfortable, but
somewhat dangerous. Indeed, it -was often found necessary
to light a fire in the old ware-house. -This was done by
means of a capacious box-stove, that was almost. as old as
the building itself, and which had also been brought along
as an article of great necessity in that climate. Fuel could
not be wanting, as long as the'scraps' from the try-works
abounded, and there were many more of these than were
needed to' try out' the sea-elephant oil. The schooner,
however, had a very ample supply of wood to burn, that
being an article which abounded on Shelter Island, and
which the deacon had consented to lay in, in some abun,
18*               14




208             TH:E  SEA  LIONS
dance.. Gardiner got this concession out of the miserly
temperament of the old man, by persuading him that a
sealer could not work to any- advantage, unless he had the
means )f occasionally warming himself. The miserly propensities of the deacon were not so engrossing that he did
not comprehend the wisdom of making sufficient outlay to
secure the execution of his main object; and among other
things of this nature, the schooner had sailed with a very
large supply of wood, as has just been stated. Wood and
onions, indeed, were more abundant in her than any other
stores.
The arrangements described were completed by the end
of the first fortnight, during which period the business of'
sealing was also carried on with great industry and success.
So very tame were the victims, and so totally unconscious
of the danger they incurred from the presence of man, that
the crew moved round among them, seemingly but very
little observed, and not at all molested. The utmost care
was taken to give no unnecessary alarm; and when an animal was lanced, it was done in such a quiet way as to produce as little commotion as possible.  By the end of the
time named, however, the sealing had got so advanced as
to require the aid of all hands in securing the spoils. To
work, then, everybody went, with a hearty good-will; and
the shelf of rock just below- the house was soon well garnished with casks and skins. Had the labour been limited
to the mere killing, and skinning, and curing, and barreling of oil, it would have been comparatively quite light;
but the necessity of transporting the fruits of all this skill
and luck considerable distances, in some. cases several
miles, and this over broken rocks, formed the great obstacle to immediate success.  It was the opinion of Roswell
Gardiner, that he could have filled his schooner in a month,
were it possible to place her directly alongside of the rocks
frequented by the seals, and prevent all this toil in transporting., This, however, was impossible, the waves and the;ce rendering it certain destruction to lay a craft anywhere
along the northern shore of the island.  The boats might
be,. and occasionally they were used, bringing loads of skin
and oiftround the cape, quite into the cove. These little
zargoes were immediately transferred to the'hold of the




THE  SEA  LIO.NS.                -209
schooner, a ground-tier of large casks having been left in
her purposely to receive the oil, which was emptied int&
them by means of a hose.  By the end of the third week,
this ground-tier was filled, and the craft became stiff, and
was in good ballast trimn, although the spare water was now
entirely pumped out of her.
All this time the weather was very fair for so high a latitude, and every way propitious. The twenty-third day after
the schooner got in, Roswell was standing on a spur of the
hill, at no great distance from  the house, overlooking the
long reach of rocky coast over which the'sea-elephants,'.and'lions,' and'dogs,' and'bears,' were waddling in as
much seeming security as the hour when he first saw them.
The sun was just rising, and the seals were clambering up
out of the water to enjoy its warm  rays, as they placed
themselves in positions favourable to such a purpose.
"That is a pleasant sight to a true sealer, Captain Gar'ner," observed Stimson, who as usual had kept near his
officer, "and one that I can say I never before saw equalled.
I've been in this business now some five-and-twenty years,
and never before have I met with so safe a harbour for a
craft, and so large herds that have not been stirred up and
got to be skeary."
" We have certainly been very fortunate thus far, Stephen, and I am now in hopes we may fill up and be off in
good season to get clear of the ice," returned Roswell.
*" Our luck has been surprising, all things considered."
"You call it luck, Captain Gar'ner; but, in my creed,
there is a truer and a better word for it, sir."
"Ay,. know well enough what you mean, Stephen;
though I cannot fancy that Providence cares much whether
we shall take a hundred seals to-day, or none at all."
i' Such is not my idee, sir; and I'm not ashamed to own
it.: In my humble way of thinking, Captain Gar'ner, the
finger of Divine Providence is in all that comes to pass; if
not straight ahead like, as a body would receive a fall, still,;)y sartain laws that bring about everything that is to hap.
pen, just as it does happen. I believe now, sir, that Provi.
dence does not intend we shall take any seals at all to-day,
sir"




210              THE SEA  LIONS.
"Why not, Stimson?  It is the very finest day we have
"had since we have been on the island 1"' That's true enough; and it is this glorious sunny day,
glorious and sunny for sich a high latitude, that makes me
feel'and think that this day was not intended for work.
You probably forget. it is the Sabbath, Captain Gar'ner."
"Sure enough; 1 had forgotten that, Stephen; but w,
sealers seldom lie by for such a reason."
"',So much the worse for us sealers, then, sir.  This is
my seventeenth v'y'ge into these seas, sir, and I will say
that more of them have been made with officers and crews
that did not keep the Sabbath, than with officers and crews
that did.  Still I have obsarved one thing, sir, that the
man' who takes hiis rest one day in seven, and freshens his
nind, as it might be, with thinking of other matters than
nis every-day consarns, comes to his task with so much
better will, when he does set about it, as to turn off greater
~profit than if he worked night and day, Sundays and all."
Roswell Gardiner had no great reverence for the Christian. Sabbath, and this more because it was so called, than
for any sufficient reason in itself. Pride of reason rendered
him jealous of everything like a concession to the faith of
those who believed in the Son of God; and he was very
apt to dissent from all admission that had even the most
remote bearing on its truth.  Still, as a kind-hearted commander, as well as a judicious reasoner on the economy of
his fellow-creatures, he fully felt the policy of granting re-.
laxation to labour. Nor was he indisposed to believe in the
care of a Divine Providence, or in its justice, though less
believing in this respect than the illiterate but earnestminded seaman who stood at his side. He knew very well
that "' all work, and no play, inakes Jack a dull boy;" and
he understood well enough that it was good for man, at
stated seasons, to raise his mind from the cares and business of this world, to muse on those of the world that is to
come. Though inclined to Deism, Roswell worshipped in
his heart the creator of all he saw and understood, as well
as much that he could neither scan nor comprehend.
"This is not the seaman's usual way of thinking," returned our hero, after regarding his companion for a mo



THE  SEA  LIONS.                 211
ment, a little intently. " With us, there is very little
Sabbath in blue-water."
"Too little, sir; much too little. Depend on't, Captain
Gar'ner, God is on the face of the waters as well as on the
hill-tops.  His Spirit is everywhere; and it must grieve it
to see human beings, that have been created in his image,
so6 bent on gain as to set apart no time even for rest; much
less for his worship and praise!"'." I am not certain you are wrong, Stimson, and I feel
much more sure that you are right as a political economist
than in your religion. There should be seasons of rest and
reflection —yet I greatly dislike losing a day as fine as
this."
"' The better the day, the better the deed,' sir. No time
is lost to him who stops ih his work to think a little of his
God. Our crew is used to having a Sabbath; and thougl(
we work on lays, there is not a hand aboard us, Captain
Gar'ner, who would not be glad to hear the word pass
among'em which should say this is the Lord's Day, and
you've to knock off from your labour."
"As I. believe you understand the people, Stephen, and
we have had a busy time of it since we'got/in, I'll take you
at your word, and give the order. Go and tell Mr. Hazard
there'll be no duty carried on to-day beyond what is indis.
pensable. It is Sunday, and we'll make it a day of rest."
Truth compels us to say that Roswell was quite as much
influenced in giving this order, by recollecting the pleasure
it would give Mary, as by any higher consideration..
Glad enough was Stimson to hear this order, and away
he hastened to find the mate, that it might be at once coin
municated to the men. Although this well-disposed seamalt
a little overrated the motives of a portion of the.crew. at
least, he was right enough as to thd manner in which they
would receive the new regulation.  Rest and relaxation
had become, in a measure, necessary to them; and leisure
was also needed to enable the people to clean themselves;
the business in which they had been engaged being one
that accumulates oily substances,-and requiring occasional
purifications of the body in order to preserve the health.
The scurvy, that great curse of long voyages, is as much
owing to neglect of cleanliness as to diet.




212             TTHE S'EA LIONS.
No sooner was it known that this day was to be-treateao
as the Sabbath, than soap, razors, scissors, and all the usual
appliances of the sailor's toilet, were drawn out of bags arid.
chests, and' paraded about on the rocks. An hour passed
in-scrubbing, shaving, cutting hair, holding garments'up
to the light to look for holes and ascertain their condition,.
and rummaging among " properties," as the player would
term the different wardrobes that were thus brought into
view. The mates came out of the mtlUe' shaven and shorn,'
as well as neatly attired; and there was not a man on the
island who did not look like a different being from what he
had appeared an hour before, in consequence of this.pause
in the regular business of sealing, and the promised holi
(lay. A strict order was given that no one should go among
the. seals, as it was feared that some indiscretion or other
might have a tendency to create an alarm.  In all other
respects the island was placed at the disposal of the men,
if anything could be made of such a lone spot, a speck on;
the surface of the antarctic seas, and nearly encircled by
mountains of floating ice.
As for Roswell himself, after reading a chapter or two
in- Mary Pratt's bible, he determined to' make another effort
to ascend to the summit of the sterile rocks which capped.
the pile that rose vertically in the tentre of the island. The
day was nearly all before him; and, summoning Stimson
as a companion, for he had taken a great fancy to this man,
away he went, young,' active, and full of buoyancy. Almost,
at the same instant, Hazard, the chief mate, pulled out ofthe cove in one of the whale-boats, manned by volunteers
and provided with sails, with an intention to cross the Great.
Bay, and get a nearer view of the volcanic hill, out of which
smoke was constantly pouring, and occasionally flames.
The second mate and one or two of the hands remained
near the house, to keep a look-out-on the vessel and otherproperty.
The season had now advanced to the first day of January,
a month that in the southern hemisphere corresponds with
our own July. As Roswell picked his way among the broken
rocks that covered the ascent to what might be termed the
table-land of the island, if indeed -any portion of so ragged
a bit of this earth could properly be so named, his thoughta...




THE SEA LI O NS.                 213
recurred to this question of the-season, and- to the probability of his getting a cargo before it would be absolutely
necessary to go to the northward. On the whole, he fancied
his chances good; and such he found to be Stimson's
opinion, when this experienced sealer was questioned on
the.subject.
"We've begun right in all respects but one, Captain
Gar'ner," said Stephen, as he closed his remarks on the
subject; " and even in that matter in which we made a
small mistake at the outset, we are improving, and I hope
will come out right in the end. I said a small mistake, but
in this I'm wrong, as it wasP a great mistake."
l"And what was it, Stephen? Make no bones of telling
me of any blunder I may have committed, according to
your views of duty. You are so much older than myself,
that I'11 stand it."
" Why, sir, it's: not in seamanship, or in sealing; if it
was, I'd hold my tongue; but it's in not keeping the Lord's
Day from the hour when we lifted our anchor in that- bay
that bears the name of your family, Captain Gar'ner; and
which ought to be, and I make no doubt is, dear to you on
that account, if for no other reason. I rather think, from
what they tell me, that the old Lord Gar'ner of all had
much preaching of the word, and much praying to the Lord
in the old times, when he lived there."
" There never was any Lord Gardiner among us," returned Roswell, modestly, " though it was a fashion among
the east-enders to give that title to the owner of the island.
My ancestor who first got the place was Lyon Gardiner, an
engineer in the service of the colony of Connecticut."
"Well, whether he was a lion or a lamb, I'll answer for
it the Lord was not forgotten on that island, Captain Gar'ner, and he shouldn't be on this. No man ever lost anything in this world, or in that which is to come a'ter it, by
remembering once in seven days to call on his Creator to
help him on in his path. I've heard it said, sir, that you're
a:little partic'lar like in your idees of religion, and that you
do not altogether hold to the doctrines that are preached
up and down the land."'Roswell felt his cheeks warm  at this remark, and he
thought of Mary, and of her meek reliance on that Saviour




214             TH.E SEA L;IONS.
whom, in the pride of his youth, strength, and as he fancied
of his reason also, he doubted about, as being the Son of
God, The picture thus presented to his mind had its pleasant and its unpleasant features.  Strange as it may seem,,
it is certain that the young'man would have loved, would
have respected Mary less than he now did, could he imagine
that she.entertained the same notions on this very subject
as those he entertained himself! Few men relish infidelity,
in a woman, whose proper sphere would seem to be in believing and in worshipping, and not in cavilling, or in splitting straws on matters of faith.  Perhaps it is that we-are
apt to associate laxity of morals with laxity of belief, and
have a general distaste for releasing the other sex from any,
even the smallest of the restraints that the dogmas of the
church impose; but we hold it to be without dispute that,
with very few exceptions, every man would prefer that the
woman in whom' he feels an interest should err on the side
of bigotry rather than on that of what is called liberalism
in points-of religious belief.'Thus it is with most of us,
and thus was it with Roswell Gardiner. He could not
wonder at Mary's rigid notions, considering her education;
and, on the whole, he rather liked her the better-for thern,
at the very moment that he felt they might endanger his
own happiness. If women thoroughly understood how much
of their real power and influence with men arises from theii
seeming dependence, there would be very little tolerance
in their own circles for those among them who are for proclaiming their independence and their right to equality in
all things.
While our young mariner and his companion were working their way up to the table-land, which lay fully three
hundred feet above the level of the sea, there was little
opportunity for further discourse, so rough was the way,
and so. difficult the ascent. At the summit, however, there
was a short pause, ere the two undertook. the mountain
proper, and they came to a halt to take a look at the aspect
of things around them.'I'There was the boat, a mere white
speck on the water, flying away with a fresh northerly
breeze towards the volcano, while the smoke from the latter
made a conspicuous and not very distant land-mark. Nearer
at home, all appeared unusually plainTfor a region in which




rHE  SEA LIONS.                  -215
fogs were so apt to prevail.  The cove lay almost beneath
theni, and the sclooner, just then, struck the imagination
of her commander as a fearfully small craft to come so far
from home and to penetrate so deep among the mazes of
the ice. It was that ice, itself, however, that attracted
most of Roswell's attention.  Far as the eye could reach,
north, south, east and west, the ocean was brilliant and
chill with the vast floating ma-ses. The effect on the air
was always perceptible in that region,' killing the summer,'
as the sealers expressed it; but it seemed to be doubly so
at the elevation to which the two adventurers had attained.
Still, the panorama was magnificent.  The only part of the
ocean that did not seem  to be alive with ice-bergs, if one
mnay use such an expression, was the space within the group,
and that was as clear as all estuary in a mild climate.  It
really appeared as if nature had tabooed that privileged
spot, in order that the communication between the different
islands should remain open.  Of course, the presence of so
many obstacles to the billows without, and indeed even to
the rake of the winds, produced smooth water within, the
slow, breath-like heaving and setting of the ceaseless groundswell, being the only perceptible motion to the water in
side.
"'Tis a very remarkable view, Stephen," said Roswell
Gardiner, "but there will be one much finer, if we can
work our way up that cone of a mountain, and stand on its
naked cap.  I wish I had brought an old ensign and a
small spar' along, to set up the gridiron, in honour of the
States.  We're beginning to put out our feelers, old Stim
son, and shall have'em on'far better bits of territory than!this, before the earth has gone round in its track an(ther
hundred years."
" Well, to my notion, Captain Gar'ner," answered the
seaman, following his officer towards the base of the cone,
"Uncle Sam has got more land now than he knows what
to do with.  If a body could discover a bit of ocean, or a
largish sort of a sea, there might be some use in it. Whales
are getting to be skeary, and are mostly driven off their old
grounds; and as for the seals, you must bury yourself, craft
and all, up to the truck in ice, to get a smile from one of
their good-lookin' count'nances, as I always say."
19




216              THE SEA  LIONS.
"I'm afraid, Stephen, it is all over with. the discovery,
of more seas. Even the moon, they now say, is altogether
without water, having:not so much as a lake or a large pond
to take a duck in."
" Without water, sir!" exclaimed Stimson, quite aghast.
"If'tis so, sir, it must be. right, since the same hand that
made the moon made this'arth, and all it contains. - But
what can they do for seafaring folks in the moon, if what
you tell me, Captain Gar'ner, is the truth 2"
"They must do without them. I fancy oil and skins are
not very much in demand among the moonites, Stephen:
What's that, off here to the eastward, eh?  East-and-by
north-half-east, or so 2"
"I see what you mean, sir. It does look wonderfully like
a sail, and a sail pretty well surrounded by ice, too!"
There was no mistake in the matter.  The white canvass
of a vessel was plainly visible, over a vast breadth of fieldice, a little to the northward of the island'that lay directly
opposite the cove. Although the sails of this stranger were
spread, it was plain enough he was closely beset, if nriot
actually jammed. From the first instant he saw the strange
craft, Roswell had not a doubt of her character.  He felt
convinced it was his late consort, the Sea Lion of the Vine
yard, which had found her way to the group by ineans of
some hint that had fallen into Daggett's hands, if not by a
positive nautical instinct. So great had been his own suc.
cess, however, and so certain did he now feel of filling up
in due season, that he cared much less for this invasion
onuhis privacy than he would have done a fortnight earlieir.
On the contrary, it might be a good thing to have a consort
in the event of any accident occurring to his own vessel.
From the moment, then, that Gardiner felt certain of the
character. of the strange sail, his policy was settled in his
own mind.  It was to receive his old acquaintance with
good will, and to help fill him up too, as soon as he had
secured his own cargo, in order that they might sail fbo
holme in company. By his aid and advice, the other schooner
might save a week in time at that most important seaso0?
of the year; and by the experience and exertions of hii
people, a whole month in filling up might. readily bt
gained.




THEB SEA LIONS.                  21
All thoughts of climbing the peak were at once aban.
doned; and, in fifteen minutes after the sail was seen,
Roswell and Stephen both came panting down to the
house; so much easier is it to descend in this world than
to mount. A swivel was instantly loaded and fired as a
signal; and, in half an hour. a boat was manned and ready.
Roswell took command himself, leaving his second mate
to look after the schooner.  Stimson went with his captain,
and in less than one hour after he had first seen the strange
sail, our hero was actually pulling out of the cove, with ~a
view to go to her assistance.  Roswell Gardiner was as
good-hearted a fellow as ever lived. He had a sufficient
regard for his own. interests, as well as for those of others
entrusted to his care; but, these main points looked after,
he would cheerfully have worked a month to relieve the
Vineyard-men from the peril that so plainly beset them.
Setting his sails the instant the boat was clear of the rocks,
away he went, then, as fast as ash and canvass could carry
him, which was at a rate but little short of eight knots in the
hour.
As he was thus flying towards his object, our young
mnariner formed a theory in his own mind, touching the
drift of the ice in the adjacent seas.  It was simply this.
He had sounded in entering the great bay, and had ascertained that comparatively shallow water existed between
the south-eastern extremity of Sealer's Land and the nearest
island opposite. It was deep enough to admit the largest
vessel that ever floated, and a great-deal more than this;
but it was not deep enough to permit an ice-berg-to pass.
The tides, too, ran in races among the islands, which prevented the accumulation of ice at the southern entrance,
while the outer currents seemed to set everything past the
group to allow of the floating mountains to collect to the
eastward, where they appeared to be thronged. It was on
the western verge of this wilderness of ice-bergs and ice
fields that the strange sail had been seen working her way
towards the group, which must be plainly in view from her
decks, as her distance from the nearest of the islands cer
tainly did not exceed two leagues.
It required more than two hours for the whale-boat of
Roswell to oross the bay, and reach the margin of that vast




218              THE B.EA LIONB.
field of ice, which was prevented from drifting into the
open space only by encountering the stable rocks of the
first of the group. Every eye was now turned in quest of
an opening, by means of which it might be possible to get
further to the eastward.  One, at length, was discovered,
and into it Gardiner dashed, ordering his boat's crew to
stretch themselves out at their oars, though every man with
him thought they vwere plunging into possible destruction.
On the boat went, however, now sheering to starboard.
now to port, to avoid projecting spurs of ice, until she had
ploughed her way through a fearfully narrow, and a deviating passage, that sometimes barely permitted them to
go through, until a spot was reached where the two fields
which formed this strait actually Marne in close crushing
contact with each other. Roswell took a look before and
behind him, saw that his boat was safe owing to the formation of the two outlines of the respective fields, when he
sprang upon the ice itself, bidding the hoat-steerer to wait'
for him. A shout broke out of the lips of the young captain the instant he was erect on the ice. There lay the
*schooner, the Martha's Vineyard craft, within half a mile
of him, in plain sight, and in as plain jeopardy. She was
iarnmed, with every prospect, as Roswell thought, of being
crushed, ere she could get free from the danger.




THE SEA LIONS.                   219
CHAPTER XVL
":A sculler's Aotch in the stern he maae,
An oar he shaped of the bottle blade;
Then sprung to his seat with a lightsome leap
-And launched afar on the calm, blue deep."
The Culprit Fay.
ROSWELL was hardly on the ice before a sound of a most
portentous sort reached his ear. He knew at once that the
field had been rent'in twain by outward pressure, and that
some new change was to occur that might release or might
destroy the schooner. He was on the point of springing
forward in order to join Daggett, when a call-from the boat
arrested his steps.
"These here fields are cotning together, Captain Gar'ner,
and our boat will soon be crushed unless we get it out of
the water."
Sure enough, a single glance behind him sufficed to as.
sure the young master of the truth of this statement. The
field he was on was slowly swinging, bringing its western
margin in closer contact with the eastern edge of the floe
that lay within it. The movement could be seen merely
by the closing of the channel through which the boat had
come, and by the cracking and crushing of the ice on the
edges of the two fields.  So tremendous was the pressure,
however, that cakes as large as a small house were broken
off, and forced upward on the surface of the field, or ground
Into small fragments, as it might be under the vice of a
power hitherto unknown to the spectators.  Slow as was
the movement of the floe, it was too fast to allow of delay;




220             THE  SEA LI ONS.
and, finding a suitable place, the boat was hauled up, and
put in security on.the floe that lay nearest the schooner.
" This may give us a long drag to get back into the water, Stimson, and a night out of our bunks," said Roswell,
looking about him, as soon as the task was achieved.,
"I do not know that, sir," was the answer.  "It seems
to me that the floe has parted alongside of them rocks, and
if-so-be that should turn out' to be the case, the whull on
us, schooner, boat, and all hands, may drift, into the bay;
for that there is a current setting from this quarter up towards our island, I1'm sartain of, by the feel of my oar, as
we come along."
"It may be so — the currents run all manner of ways,
and field-ice may pass the shoals, though a berg never can.
I do not remember, nevertheless, to have ever seen even a
floe within the group - nothing beyond large cakes that
have got adrift by some means or other."
"I have, sir, though only once. A few days a'ter we got
in, when I was ship-keeper, and:all hancs was'down under
the rocks of the north eend, a field come in at the northern
entrance of the bay, and went out at the southern.  It
might have been a league athwart it, and it drifted, as a
body might say, as if it had'some one aboard to give it the
right sheer. Touch it did at the south cape, but just wind.
ing as handy as a craft could have done it, in a good tide's
way, out to sea it went ag'in, bound to the-south pole
for-ti-' now."
"Well, this is good news, and may be the means of
saving the Vineyard craft in the end.  We do seem: to be
setting bodily into the bay, and if we can only get clear of
that island, I do not see what is to hinder it. Here is a
famous fellow of a mountain to the northward, coming
down before the wind, as one might say, and givingeus a
cant into the passage. I should think that chap must produce some sort of a change, whether it be for better or
worse."
"Ay, ay, sir," put in Thompson, who acted as a boatsteererer at need, " he may do just that, but it is all he can
do.  Mr. Green and I sounded out from the cove for a
league or more, a: few days since, and:we found less than
twenty fathoms, as far as we'went. That chap up to the




THE  SEA  LIONS.                  221
nor'ard there, draws something like a hundred fathoms, if
he draws an inch. He shows more above water than   first.
rate's truck."
"That does he, and a good deal to spare. Thompson,
do you and Todd remain here, and, look after the boat,
while the rest of us will shape our course for the schooner.
She seems to be in a wicked berth, and'twill be no more
than. neighbourly to try to get her out.of it."
Truly enough might Roswell call the berth of the Sea
Lion, of the Vineyard, by any expressive name that implied,danger. When the party reached her, they found the situation of that vessel to be as follows.  She had been endeavouring to work he; way through a passage between two
large fields, when she found the' ice closing, and that she
was in great danger of being'nipped.' Daggett was a
man of fertile resources, and great decision of character.
Perceiving that escape was impossible, all means of getting
clear -being rendered useless by the floes soon touching,
both before and behind:him, he set about adopting the
means most, likely to save his vessel.  Selecting a spot
where a curve, in the margin of the field to leeward, pro-:mised'temporary security, at least, he got his vessel into it,
*anchored fast to the floe. Then he- commenced cutting
away the ice, by means of axes first, and of saws afterwards,
in the hope that he might make such a cavity as, by its.
size and shape, would receive the schooner's hull, and prevent her destruction.  For several hours had he and his
people been at this work, when, to their joy, as well -as to
their great astonishment, they were suddenly joined by
Roswell and his party.  The fact was,.that so intently had
every one of the'Vineyard men's faculties been absorbed
by their own danger, and so much was each individual
occupied by his own duty, that not a man among them had
seen the boat, or even any of the crew, until Gardiner called
out to Daggett as he approached, announcing his.presence
by his voice.
"This is good fortune, truly, Captain Gar'ner," said
Daggett, shaking his brother master most cordially by the
hand;' good fortune, do I call it! I was satisfied that 1.
should fall in with you, somewhere about'this group of
islands, for they lie just about where my late' uncle had




222             T H E S E A'L I O N'S.
given us. reason to suppose some good sealing glrund
might be met with; but I did not hope to see you this
morning.  You observe our position, Captain Gar'ner;
there is every prospect'of a most awful nip!"
"There is, indeed,, though I see you have been making
some provision for it. What luck have you had in digging
a slip to let the schooner into?"
"Well, we might have had worse,.though better would
have been more agreeable. It's plain sailing, so long as
we can work above water, and you see we've cleared a fine
berth for the craft, down to the water's edge; but, below
that,'t is blind work and slow. The field is some thirty
feet thick, and sawing through it is out of the question.
The most we can do is to get off pieces diagonally.  I am
not-without hopes that we have done enough of this to make
a wedge, on which the schooner will rise, if pressed hard
on her off-side. I have.heard of.such things, Captain Gar-'ner, though I cannot say I ever saw it."
"It's a ticklish business to trust to such a protector;
still, a great deal must be gained by cutting away so much
of this upper ice, and it is possible your schooner may be
lifted,: as you seem to expect.  Has anything been done to
strengthen the craft in-board?"
"Not as yet.; though I've thought of that, too  But
what is the stoutest ship that ever floated, against the pressure of such an enormous field of ice?  Had we not better
keep cutting away?"
"You can continue to work the saw and the axes, but'I
will give an eye to strengthening the craft in-board. Just
point out the spars and plank you can spare, and we'll see
what can be done.  At any rate, my lads, you can now
work with the certainty that your lives are safe. My schooner lies about six leagues from you, as safely moored as if
she lay in a dock.  Come, Captain Daggett, let me see
your spare spars and plank."
Great encouragement it certainly was to these mariners,
so far from home, and in their imminently perilous condition,
to know that a countryman and a friend was so near them, to
afford shelter and protection. The American sailor, is not
a cheering animal, like his English relative, but he quite as
clearly understands what ought to be received with congra




THE - S-: A LIO NS.             -22
tulation, as those who are apt to make more noise. The
Vineyard men, in particular, were habitually quiet and
thoughtful, there being but one seaman in the craft who
did not husband his lay, and look forward to meet the wants
of a future day. This is the result of education, men usually becoming quiet as they gain ideas, and feel that the
tongue has been given to us in order to communicate them
to our fellows. Still, the joy at receiving this unlooked-for
assistance was great among the Vineyard' men, and each
party went to work with activity and zeal.
The task of Roswell Gardiner was in-board, while that
of Daggett and his men continued to be on the ice. The
latter resumed the Jabour of cutting and sawing the field,
and of getting up fenders, or skids, to protect the inner side
of their vessel from the effects of a'nip.' As for Gardiner,
he set about his self-assumed duty with great readiness and
intelligence.  His business was to strengthen the craft, by
getting supports up in her hold. This was done without
much difficulty,'all the -upper part of the hold being clear
and easily come at. Spars were cut to the proper length,
plank were placed in the broadest part of the vessel, opposite to each other, and the spars were wedged in carefully,
extending from side to side, so as to form a great additional
support to the regular construction of the'schooner. In
little more than an hour, Roswell had his task accomplished,
while Daggett did not see that he could achieve much more
himself. They met on the ice to consult,: and to survey
the condition of things around them.
The -outer field had been steadily encroaching upon the
inner, breaking the edges of both, until the points of junction were to be traced by a long line of fragments forced
upward, and Piled high in the air. Open spaces, however,
still existed, owing to irregularities in the outlines of the
two floes; and Daggett hoped that the little bay into which
he had got his schooner might not be entirely closed, ere a
shift of wind, or a' change in the tides, might carry away
the causes of the tremendous pressure that menaced his
security.  It is not easy for those who are accustomed to
look at natural objects in their'more familiar aspects, fully
to appreciate the vast momentum of the weight thatlwas
now drifting slowly down upon the schooner. The only
15- 




-224             THE SEA LIONS.
ray of.hope was to be found in the.deficiency in one of the
two great requisites of such -a force.  Momentum being
-weight, multiplied into velocity, there were some glimpses
visible, of a nature to produce a slight degree of expectation
-that the last might yet be resisted.  The movement was
slow, but it was absolutely grand, by its steadiness and
power.  Any one who has ever stood on a lake or river
-shore, and beheld the undeviating force with which a small.cake of ice crumbles and advances before a breeze, or in a
current, may form some idea of the majesty of the movement of a field of leagues in diameter, and which was borne
upon by a gale of the ocean, as well as by currents, and by
the weight of drifting ice-bergs from without. It is true
that the impetus came principally from  a great distance,
and could scarcely be detected or observed by those around.the schooner; still, these last were fully aware of the whole
character of the danger, which each minute appeared to
-render more and more.imminent and imposing. The two
fields were obviously closing still, and that with a resistless
power that boded destruction to the unfortunate vessel.
The open water near -her was already narrowed to a space
that half an hour might suffice to close entirely.
"' Have you set that nearest island by compass, Daggett?'"
asked Roswell Gardiner, as soon as -he had taken a good
look around him.' To me it seems that it bears more to
the eastward than it did an hour since.  If this should be
true, our.inner field here must have a very considerable
westerly set."
",In which case we may still hope to drift clear," returned
Daggett, springing on board the schooner, and running aft
to the binnacle, Roswell keeping close at his side.  "B)
George! it is as you say; the bearings of that island are
altered at least two points!"
"In which case our drift has exceeded a league-Ha!
what noise is that? Can it be an eruption of the volcano?"
Daggett, at first, was inclined to believe it was a sound
produced by some of the internal convulsions of the earth,
which within, as if in mockery of the chill scene that prevailed without, was a raging volcano, the fierce heats of
which found vent at the natural chimneys produced by its%




THE  SEA  LIONS.                   225
own efforts. This opinion, -however, did n(ot last. lotng, andl
he gave expression to his new thoughts in his answer.
"'T is the ice," he said. "I do believe the pressure has
caused the fields to part on the rocks-of that isl'and. If so,
our leeward floe may float away, as fast as. the weather field
approaches."
"Hardly," said Roswell, gazing intently, towards the
nearest island; " hardly; for the most weatherly of the two
will necessarily get the force of the wind and the impetus
of those bergs first, and make the fastest drift.- It may
lessen the violence of the nip, but I do not think it will
avert it altogether."
This opinion of Gardiner's fully described all that subsequently occurred. The outer floe continued its inroads
on the inner, breaking up the margins of both, until the
channel was so nearly closed as to bring the field from
which the danger was most apprehended in absolute contact-with the side of the schooner. When the margin of
the outer floe first touched the bilge of the schooner, it was
at the precise spot where the vessel had just been fortified
within. Fenders had also been provided without, and there
was just a quarter of a minute, during which the two captains hoped that these united means of defence might enable the craft to withstand the pressure. This delusion
lasted but a moment, however, the cracking of timbers letting it be plainly seen that the force was too great to be
resisted. For another quarter of a minute, the two masters
held their breath, expecting to see the deck rise beneath
their feet, as the ice rose along the points of contact between the floes. Such, in all probability, would have been
the result, had not the pressure brought about another
change, that Ivas quite as much within the influence of the
laws of mechanical forces, though not so much expected.
Owing to the wedge-like form  of the vessel's bottom, as
well. as to the circumstance that the ice of the outer floe
had a similar shape, projecting beneath the schooner's keel,
the craft was lifted bodily, with an upward jerk, as if she
were suddenly released from  some imprisoning' power.
Released she was, indeed, and that most opportunely, for
another half-minute would have seen her ribs broken in,
xnd the schooner a mangled wreck.  As she now rose,




226              THE SEA  tIO NS.
Roswell gave vent to. his delight in. a loud cry, and all
hands felt that the occurrence might possibly save them.
The surge upward was fearful, and several of the'men were
thrown off their feet; but it effectually released the schooner from the nip, laying her gradually up in the sort' of
dock that her people had been so many hours preparing for
her reception. There she lay, inclining a little, partly on
her bilge. or sewed, as seamen term it, when a vessel gets
a list from touching the ground and being left by the tide,
neither quite upright, nor absolutely on her beam-ends.
No sooner was the vessel thus docked, than all apprehension of receiving further injury from the outer floe ceased.
It might force the schooner altogether on the inner field,
driving the vessel before it, as an avalanche of mud in the
Alps is known to force cottages and.-hamlets.in its front;
but it could no longer'nip' it..It did not appear probable
to the two masters, however, that the vessel would be forced
from its present berth, the rending and cracking of the ice
sensibly diminishing, as the two floes came closer and closer
together.  Nor was this all: it was soon very obvious that
the inner field was drifting, with an increased motion, into
the bay, while the larger, or outer floe, seemed to hang,
fromn some cause or other.  Of the fact there was soon no
doubt, the fissure beginning. to open, as slowly and steadily
as it had closed, but noiselessly, and without any rending
of the ice.
" We shall get you clear, Daggett! we shall get you
clear!" cried Roswell, with hearty good-will, forgetting, in
that moment of generous effort, all feelings of competition
and rivalry.  "I know what you are after, my good fellow
-have understood it from the first.  Yonder high land. is
the spot you seek; and along the north shore of that island
are elephants, lions, dogs, bears, and other animals, to fill
up all the craft that ever came out of the Vineyard!"
"This is hearty,.Gar'ner," returned the other, giving
his. brother master a most cordial shake of the hand, "and
it's just what I like.  Sealing is a sociable business, and a,raft should never come alone into, these high latitudes.
Accidents will happen to the most prudent man living, as
you see by what has just -befallen me; for, to own the truth.
-we've had a narrow chance of it!"




THE SEA  II.ONS.                 227
The reaaer will remember that all which Daggett now
said, was uttered by a man who saw his vessel lying on the
ice, with a list that rendered it somewhat difficult to move
about on her deck, and still in circumstances that would
have. caused half the navigators of this world to despair.
Such was not the fact with Daggett, however.  Seven
thousand miles from home, alone, in an unknown sea, and
uncertain of ever finding the place he sought, this man had
picked his way among mountains and fields of ice, with
perhaps less hesitation and reluctance than a dandy would
encounter the perils of a crossing, when the streets were a
little -moistened by rain. Even then, with his vessel literally she.lfed on the ice, certain that she had been violently
nipped, he was congratulating himself on reaching a sealing ground, from which he could never return without en.
countering all.the same dangers over again.  As for Ros.
well, he laughed a little at the other's opinion of the sealing
business, for he was morally certain the Vineyard-man
would have kept the secret, had it been in his possession
alone.
"Well, well, we'll forget the past," he said, "all but
what we've done to help one an6ther.; You stood by me
off Hatteras, and I've been of some serVice to you here.
You know how it is in our calling, Daggett;. first come,
first served. I got here first, and have had the cream of
the business for this season; though I do not by any means
wish to be understood as saying that you are too late."
"I hope not, Gar'ner.'T would be vexatious to have
all this risk and trouble for nothing. How much ile have
you stowed?"
"All my ground-tier, and a few riders. It is with the
skins that we'are doing the best business."
Daggett's eyes-fairly snapped at this announcement,
which aroused all his professional ambition, to say nothing 
of that propensity to the " root of all evil," which had become pretty thoroughly incorporated with his moral being,
by dint of example, theory, and association. We have frequently had occasion to remark how much more' enjoyable,'
for the intellectual and independent, is a country on the
decline, than a country on the advance. The one is accu.
mulating that wealth which the other has already possessed




228             T HIE S E A LIONS.
and Improved-; and men cease to dwell so much on riches.in their inmost souls, when the means of obtaining the-m
would seem to have got..beyond their reach.  This is one
of the secrets of the universal popularity of Italy with the
idle and educated; though the climate, and the monuments,
and the recollections, out of doubt, contribute largely to its
charms. Nevertheless, man, as a rule, is far more removed
from the money-getting mania in Italy, than in almost any
other portion of the Christian world; and this merely because the time of her wealth and power has gone by, leaving in its train a thousand fruits, that would seem to be the
most savoury, as the. stem on which they grew would appear
to be approaching its decay. On Martha's Vineyard, however, aud in no Part of the Great Republic, indeed, has this
waning season yet commenced, and the heart of man is still
engrossed with those desires that are to produce the means
which are to lay the foundations for the enjoyment of generations to come.
"That's luck, indeed, for a craft so early in the season,"
returned Daggett, when his eyes had done snapping. "Are
the critturs getting to be wild and skeary?"
"Not more so than the day we began upon them. 1
have taken the greatest care to send none but.my most experienced hands out to kill and skin, and their orders have
been rigid to give as little alarm as possible.  If you wish
to fill up, I would advise you to take the same precautions,
for the heel of the season is beginning to show itself."' I will winter here, but I get a full craft,". said Daggett,
with a resolute manner, if not absolutely serious in what
he said.  " Trouble enough have I had to find the group,
and we Vineyard-men don't relish the idee of being outdone."
" You would be done up, my Ifine fellow," answered
Roswell, lau.ghing,:" did you attempt to pass a winter here.
The Sea Lion of Humse's Hull would: not: herself keep you
in fuel, and you would have to raft it off:next summer on
your casks, or remain here for ever."
"I suppose a body might expect to see you:back again,
another season," observed Daggett, glancing-meaningly to.
wards his companion, as if he had seriously revolved-. so
desperate a plan in his mind. "'Tis n't often that a sealer




THE  SEA  LT 0ON:S.              229
lets a station like that you've described drop out of his recollection in a single v'y'ge."
"I may be back or I may not"T-said Roswell, just then
remembering Mary; and wondering if she would continue
to keep him any longer in suspense, should he return successful from his present adventure —" That will depend on
others more than on myself. I wish, however, now we are
-both here, and there can no. longer. be any' hide and g~c
seek' between us, that you would tell me how you. came to
know anything about this cluster of islands, or of the seals
then and there to be found?"
"You forget my uncle, who died on Oyster Pond, and
whose effects Lecrossed over to claim?"
" I remember hin; very well-saw him often while living,
and helped to bury him when dead."
"Well, our information came from him. -He threw out
several hints: consarning sealing-grounds aboard the brig.
in which he came home; and: you needn't be told, Gar'ner,
that a hint of that kind is sartain to find its way: through
all the ports down east. But hearing that there was new
sealing-ground wasn't- knowing where to find it. I should
have been at a loss, wasn't -it for the spot on my uncle's
chart that had been rubbed. over lately, as I concluded, to
get' rid. of some of his notes. You know, as well as I.do,
that the spot was in this very latitude and longitude, and
so I came here to look for the much-desired land."
"And you have undertaken such an outfit, and come this
long distance into an icy sea, on information as slight as
this!" exclaimed Roswell, astonished at this proof of sagacity and-enterprise, even in men. who are renowned for
scenting dollars from pole to pole.
"On this, with a few hints picked up, here and there,
among some of the old gentleman's papers. He was fond
of scribbling, and I have got a sort of a chart that he
scratched on a leaf of his bible, that was made to represent
this very group, as I can now see."
" Then you could have had. no occasion for the printed
shart, with the mark of obliteration on it, and did not come
here'on that authority after all."
"'There you're wrong, Captain Gar'ner. The chart of
the group had no latitude or longitude, but just placed each




230              T HE  SEA LIONS:.
island with. its bearings and distances from the other islands.
It was no help in finding the place, which might be in onehemisphere as well as inthe other."
"It was, then, the mark of the obliteration-  "
"'Marks, if you please, Captain Gar'ner,' interrupted
the other, significantly.  "My uncle -talked a good deal
aboard of that brig about other matters besides sealing.
We think several' matters have been obliterated from the
old chart, and we intend to look'em all up. It's our right,
you know, seeing that the old man was Vineyard-born, and
we are his nearest of kin."
" Certainly" - rejoined Roswell, laughing again, but
somewhat more faintly than before. "Every man for him
self in this world is a good maxim; it being pretty certaiin
if we.do not take care of ourselves, no one will take care
of us."
" Yes, sir," said Stimson, who was standing near; "there
is one to care for every hair of our heads, however forgetful
and careless we: may be ourselves. Wasn't it for this, Captain Gar'ner, there's many a craft that comes into these
seas that would never find its way out of'em; and many a
bold sailor, with. a heart boiling over with fun and frolic,
that would be frozen to an ice-cicle every year!"
Gardiner felt the justice of this remark, and easily pardoned its familiarity for its truth. In these sealers the discipline is by no means of that distant and military or naval'
chara'cter that is found in. even' an ordinary merchantman.
As every seaman has an interest in the result of the voyage,
some excuse was made for this departure from the more
general usage; and this familiarity itself never exceeded
the bounds that were necessary to the observance of duty.
"Ay, ay," returned Roswell, smiling —" in one sense you
are right enough; but Captain Daggett and myself were
speaking of human affairs, as human affairs are carried on.
-Is not this. inner field drifting fast away from the outer,
Daggett? If so, we shall go directly into the bay!"
It was as Gardiner thought. By some means that were
not apparent, the floes were now actually separating, and at
a rate of movement which much exceeded that of their
junction. All idea of further danger from the outer field
disappeared, as a matter of course.




THE. SEA LIO NS.                 231' It's so, Captain Gar'ner," said Stimson, respectfilly,
but with point; " and who and what brought it about for
our safety and the preservation of this craft? —I just ventur'
to ask that question, sir."
"It mav be the hand of Providence, my good fellow; for
I very frankly own I can see no direct physical cause.
Nevertheless, I fancy it would be found that the tides or
currents have something to do with it, if the truth could be
come at."
- "Well, sir, and who causes the tides and currents to
run, this-a-way and that-a-way?"
"There you have me, Stephen; for I never could get
hold of the clew to their movements at all," answered Roswell, laughing. "There is a reason for it all, I dare say, if
one could only find it out. Captain Daggett, it is high time
to look after the safety of your schooner. She ought to be
in the cove before night sets in, since the ice has found its
way into the bay."
This appeal produced a general movement. By this time
the two fields were a hundred fathoms asunder; the smaller,
or that on which the vessel lay, drifting.quite fast into the
bay, under the joint influences of wind and current; while
the larger floe had clearly been arrested by the islands.
This smaller field was much lessened in surface, in consequence of having been broken at the rocks, though the
fragment that was thus cut off was of more than a league
in diameter, and of a thickness that exceeded many
yards.
As for the Sea Lion of the Vineyard, she was literally
shelfed, as has been said.  So irresistible had been the
momentum of the great floe, that it lifted her out of the
water as two or three hands would run up a bark canoe on
a gravelly beach. This lifting process had, very fortunately
for the craft, been effected by an application of force from
below, in a wedge-like manner, and by bringing the strongest
defences of the vessel to meet the power. Consequently, no
essential injury had been done the vessel in thus laying her
on her screw-dock.
"If a body could get the craft off as easily as she was
got on," observed Daggett, as he and Roswell Gardiner
stood looking at the schooner's situation, "it would be bu.
20 *




232              TH-E  SEA  IIONS
alight job But, as it is, she lies on ice at least twenty feet
thick, and ice that seems as solid as flint!"
"We know it is not quite as hard as that, Daggett,".was
Roswell's reply; " for our saws and axes make great havoc
in it, when we can fairly get at it."
"If one could get fairly at it! But here you see, Gar'ner, everything is under water, and an axe is next to useless. Nor can the saws be used with much advantage on
ice so thick."
"There is no help for it but hard work and great perse.
verance. I would advise that a saw be set at work at each
end of the schooner, allowing a little room in case of accidents, and that we weaken the foundation by two deep cuts.
The weight of the: vessel will help us, and in time she will
settle back into her'native element,' as the newspapers
have it."
There was, indeed, no other process that promised success, and the advice of Gardiner was followed. In the
course of the next two hours deep cuts were made with the
saws, which were pushed so low as to -reach quite to the
bottom of the cake. This could be done only.by what the
sailors called " jury-handles," or spars secured to the plates.
The water offered the principal obstacle, for that lay on the
shelf at. least five —feet deep.  Perseverance and ingenuity,
however, finaliy achieved their aim. A cracking was heard,
the schooner slowly righted, and settled off into the sea
again, as easily and harmlessly as if scientifically launched,
The fenders protected her sides and copper, though the
movement was little molre than slowly sinking on the fraginent of the cake, which, by means of the cuts, had been
gradually so much reduced as to be unable to uphold so
great a weight. It was merely reversing the process of
breaking the camel's back, by laying the last feather on
his load.
This happy conclusion to several hours of severe toil,
occurred just as the field had drifted abreast of the cove,
and was about the centre of the bay. Hazard came up also
at that point, on his return from the volcano, altering his
course a little to speak the strangers.  The report of the
mate concerning his discoveries was simple and -brief.:there was a volcano,, and one in' activity; but it had no




THE S-EA  LIONS.                 233
thing remarkable about it.  No seal were seen, and there
was little to reward one for crossing the bay. Sterility, and
a chill grandeur, were the characteristics-of all that region;
and these were not wanting to any part of the group. Just
as the sun was setting, Gardiner piloted his companion into
the cove; and the two Sea'Lions were moored amicably
side by side, and that too at a spot where thousands of the
veal animals were to be found within a league.
CHIAPTIER XVII.
"The morning air blows fresh on him;
The waves dance gladly in his sight;
The sea-birds call, and wheel, and skim0, blessed morning light!"
THE very day succeeding the arrival of the Sea Lion of.. THE very-day succeeding the arrival of the Sea Lion of
the'Vineyard, even while his mate was -clearing the vessel,
Dauggett had a gang on. the north shore, killing and skinning. As Roswell's rules were rigidly observed, no other
change was produced by this accession to the force of the
sealers,'than additional slaughter.  Many more seals were
killed, certainly, but all was done so quietly that no great
alarm was awakened among the doomed animals them.
selves. One great advantage was obtained by the arrival
of the new party that occasioned a good deal of mirth at
first, but which, in the end, was found to be of great importance to the progress of the work.  Daggett had taken
to pieces and brought with him the running part of a common country wagon, which was soon found of vast service
In transporting the skins and blubber ac' oss the rocks.
The wheels were separated, leaving them in pairs,-and
each axle was loaded with a freight that a dozen men
would hardly have carried, when: two or three hands would:lrag in the-load, with an occasional lift from other gangs,
to, get them up a height, or over a cleft. This portion of
the operation was found to work admirably, owing, in a




,234            THE SEA LIONS.
great measure, to the smooth surfaces of the rocks.; and
unquestionably these wheels advanced the'business of the
season at least a fortnight; — Gardiner thought a month.
It rendered the crews bUtter natured, too, much diminishing their toil, and sending them to their bunks at night in
a far better condition for rest than they otherwise could
have been.
Just one month, or four weeks to a day, after the second
schooner got in, it being Sunday of course, Gardiner and
Daggett met on the platform of a perfectly even rock that
lay stretched for two hundred yards directly beneath the
house. It was in the early morning. Notwithstanding
there was a strong disposition to work night and day on
the part of the'new-comers, Roswell's rule of keeping the
Sabbath as a day of rest had prevailed, and the business
of washing, scrubbing and shaving, had just commenced.
As for the two masters, they required fewer ablutions than
their men, had risen earlier, and were already dressed for
the day.
"To-morrow will be the first day of February," said
Daggett, when the salutations of the morning were passed,
" and I was calculating my chances of getting full this sea.
son. You will be full this week, I conclude, Gar'ner?"
" We hope to be so, by the middle of it," was the answer. " I think the seal are getting to be much shyer-than
they were, and am afraid we shall demonstrate that'the
more haste is the worse speed."'
"' What is that to you?" returned Daggett quickly. "Of
course you will sail for home as soon as you can get off."
Gardiner did not like the" of course," which was indi.
rectly saying what the other would do himself under similar
circumstances. Still, it caused no difference in his own
decision, which had been made up under the influence of
much reflection, and of a great deal of good feeling.
"I shall do no such thing, Captain Daggett," was the
answer.  " I do not fancy the idea of leaving a fellow.
creature, a countryman -nay, I might-say, a neighbour,
on this lone spot, with the uncertainty of his ever getting
out of it. If you can come to some understanding with
my officers and crew, I will keep the schooner here until
we are both full, and ready to sail in company."




r HE SEA LIONS.                  235," In which case you would nat'rally ask a lay for yourself?"
" Naturally, perhaps, t might," returned Roswell, smiling, " though positively, I shall not. Not one of us in the
cabin will look for any other advantage than your good
company. I have talked this matter over with my mates,
and. they say that the advantage of having a consort in
gettinlg through the ice is sufficient to justify us in holding
on two or three weeks longer.  With the men, it will be a
little different, perhaps; and they will require some pay.
The poor fellows live by their hands, and what their hands
do they will expect to be compensated for."
"They shall have, good lays,.depend on it. As for yourself, Captain Gar'ner, I trust my owners will not forget to
do what is right, if we ever get home, and meet with luck
in the market."
"Never fear for me, Daggett.  I look for my reward in
the bright eyes and pleasant smiles of as excellent a girl as
Long Island can produce.  Mary -never fails to reward me
in that way whenever I do right. -It is right to stand by
you just now-to do as I would be done by; and I'li do it.
Set the thing down as decided, but make your bargain with
my men. And now, Daggett, what say you to-'climbing
yonder mountain to-day, by way of getting a good survey
of our territories, as well as to take' a look at the state of
the ice'?"
Daggett assented very cheerfully,'his mind being greatly
relieved by this assurance of standing by him, on the part
of Roswell; for he had been -undecided whether to remain
after the departure of the.other schooner or not.  All was
now clear to him, however, and the two masters made their
preparations to ascend the mountain as soon ai they had
breakfasted. Stimson was summoned to be of -the party,
his officer having got to be accustomed to, and desirous of,
his company.
For the first two hours after quitting the house, Gardin.er, Daggett, ahnd the boat-steerer, were busily'employed
in working their way across the broken surface of the
island, to the base of the cone-like pinnacle that formed
he apex of all. There they rested, and took a little: re.
freshment, conversing the' while on. the state of the ice in




236'T'HE  SEA  LIONS.
the offing, so far as the last could be seen from their present elevation.
"We shall have a sharp hill to climb, should we succeed
in getting up here," observed Roswell, " though the rocks
appear to be quite clear of snow just now."
"Just now, or never. This is the antarctic dog-days,
Gar'ner," answered Daggett, laughing, " and we must Mnake
the most of them. A man can move about without his peejacket at noon-day, and that is something gained; for, I
have heard of ice making in the bays, even at mid-summer."
"We are not in a high enough latitude for that, thank
heaven, though pretty well south too. This is our harvesttime here, sure 6nough, and we had better look to it."
As Gardiner said this, the eyes of all three were turned
on, the sterile scene around theln. The island was not
absolutely destitute of vegetation, as is the case a few degrees further south; but it might be said to be nearly so.
A few stunted plants were to be seen in the fissures of the
rocks, and a little soil had been made, seemingly by the
crumbling of the stones, in which a wiry grass occasionally
showed itself. As for the mountain, however, it was mostly
bare; and when our party began to climb, the ascent was
not only difficult, but in places dangerous.  Roswell had
foreseen this, and he had made a provision accordingly.
In addition to his lance, used as a leaping-staff and walk
ing-pike, each man had a small coil of ratlin-stuff thrown
over his shoulder, in order to help him in difficult places,
or enable him to help his companions. It was in the de
scent chiefly that these ropes were expected to be of service, though their utility was made apparent ere the three
reached the summit. The ascent of a mountain a thousand
feet in height is no great exploit under ordinairy circumstances.  Even when there are precipitous cliffs, gorges,
ravines and broken masses, youth, activity and courage
will commonly overcome all the difficulties,- placing the
foot of man on eminences that nature would -appear to
have intended solely for the dominion'of the goat. Thus
did' it turn. out with.thethree sealers,'all of whom stood on
the bald fcap of that mountain, after a vigorous and somewhat hazardous ascent,.that ccupied rather more than an




THE  SEA  LIONS.                   237
hour.  They had greatly aided each other ill achievinlg
their purpose, to be sure;, and the ratlin-stuff was found
of use on more than one occasion.
An extraordinary, and, considering the accessories, a
most brilliant view, rewarded the adventurers. But, after
a few minutes passed in pure admiration of what they beneld, the minds of all'.three adverted to the parts which
gave such unusual splendour to the panorama.  Icebergs
were visible on all sides of them, the great bay excepted;
and the group was surrounded by them, in a way that would'
seem to proclaim a blockade. At that season, the south
winds prevailed, though changes werefrequent and sudden,
and the vast frozen fleet was drifting north. -Gardiner saw
that the passage by'which he.had! brought in his schooner
was now completely closed, and t:h:a~t the only means of exit
from the bay was by itsnorthern outlet.  The great depth
of the bergs still prevented their.coming within the cluster
of islands, while their number and size:completely stopped
the floes from passing.
To the northward, the sea was much more open. Gardiner and Daggett both thought, as they gazed in that direction, that it would be easy enough to take a vessel
through the difficulties of the navigation, and that a good
run of eight-and-forty hours would carry her quite beyond
the crowded ice. This sight awakened some regrets in the
two inasters, that they were not then in a condition to
depart.
" I am almost sorry that we have made a holiday of the
Sunday," said Daggett, seating. himself on a point of rock,
to get a little rest after so fatiguing an ascent.  "Every
minute of time is precious to men in our situation."
"Every minute of time is precious to all men, Captain
Daggett, in another and a still. more. important sense, if
~t[ey.did i.but:know it,.' put in, Stimsqn., with a zealous free
doRpa; ad- a Christian's earnestness..I') understand you Stephe-n, land- will not, gainsay it.
Bat:a:seal!n',v'y'ge is no place; after all, for a man ta give
himself. up to Sabbaths' and religion."
"All: places,are, good, sir, and all. hours Sabbaths, when
the heart is in- the true sta.e.  God is on this nake4 rock,
as he is on the Vineyard; and a thought, or a syllable, -in




238             THE bE&A  LIONS.
his praise, on this mountain, are as pleasant to him  as
them that arise from churches and priests."
"I believe it is, at least, a mistake in policy to give the
men no day of rest," said Roswell, quietly. " Though not
prepared to carry matters as far as my friend Stephen here.
I agree with him entirely in that."
"And not in believing, sir, that the Spirit of God is on
this island?"
",In that too, certainly.  Neither Captain Daggett nor
myself will be disposed to dispute either of these two propositions, I. think, when we come to reflect on them.  A
day of rest would seem to be appointed by nature; and I
make no doubt we have filled up all the sooner for having
observed one. Seamen have so many calls on their time
which cannot be neglected, that it is unwise in them to
increase the number unnecessarily."
"' This is #not the spirit,'Captain Gar'ner, 1'm sorry to
say, in which we should keep our day of rest, though it is
well that we keep it at all. I'm no stickler for houses and
congregations, though they are good enough in their times
and seasons; for every man has a tabernacle in his own
heart, if he's disposed to worship."
"And if any place on earth can particularly incline one
to worship God, surely it'must be some such spot as this!"
exclaimed Roswell,, with a degree of fervour it was not
usual for him to-exhibit.  "Never in my life have my eyes
seen a sight as remarkable and as glorious as this!"
Well might our young mariner thus exclaim. The day
was fine for the region, but marked by the caprice and
changeful light of high latitudes. There was mist in places,
and flurries of snow were to be'seen to the southward, while
the ocean to the northward of the group was glittering
under the brightness of an unclouded sun. It was the
mixed character of this scene that rendered it so peculiar,
while its grandeur, sublimity, and even beauty, were found
in its vastness, its noble though wild accessories, its frozen
and floating mountains, glowing in prismatic light, and the
play of summer on the features of an antarctic view.
"'T is a-remarkable spot, as no one can deny," answered
DaggA; -" but I like its abundance of seal the most of al..
I cannot say I have much taste for sights, unless they bring




THE SEA LIONS.                   239
the promise of good profit with' them.  We Vineyarders
live in a small way, and are not rich enough to take delight
in landscapes."
"' Serve God, and reverence his holy name," said Stimson, earnestly, " and all places will be good to look upon.
I have been on the Vineyard in my time, and have never
found any difference as to the spot, so long as the heart is
right."
"A poor man must work," answered Daggett, dropping
his eyes from the more distant and gorgeous views of the
drifting ice-mountains, to the rocky shore, that was still
frequented by thousands of seals, some of the largest of
which might be seen, even from that elevation, waddling
about; " ay, a poor man must work, Sundays or no Sundays; and he who would mnake his hay, must do it while
the sun shines. I like meetin'-goin' at the right place, and
sealin' when sealin' ought to be done. This day is lost, I
fear, and I hope we shall not have reason to regret it."
Stimrnson did not abandon what he conceived to be his
duty, but answered this cold, worldly spirit in the best
manner his uncultivated speech enabled him to do.  But
his words were thrown away on Daggett. The lust of gold
was strong within him*; and while that has full dominion
over the heart, it is vain to expect that any purely spiritual
fruits will ripen there.'Daggett was an instance of what,
we fear, many thousands resembling him might be found, up
and; down the land, of a man energetic by temperament,
industrious by habit, and even moderate in his views, but
whose whole existence is concentrated in the accumulation
of property.  Born poor, and in a state of society in which:no one other generally recognised mode of distinction is so
universally acknowledged as that of the possession of money, it is not surprising that a man of his native disposition
should early bend all his faculties to this one great object.
He was not a miser, like Deacon Pratt, for he could spend
freely, on occasion, and perfectly understood the necessity
of making liberal outfits to insure ample returns; but he
lived for little else than for gain. "What such a man might
have become, under more'favourable auspices,' and-with
different desires instilled into his.youthful mind, it is not
easy to say; it is only-certain that, as he was, the steel-trap
21             16




240              T HE SEA -LIO NS-.
is not quicker to spring at the touch, than- he was to arouse
all his manifold energies at-the hopes or promise of profit.
As his whole life had been passed in one calling, it was but
natural that his thoughts should.most easily revert to the
returns that calling' had so often given. He never dreamed
of speculations, knew nothing of stocks, had no.concern
with manufactures in cotton or wool, nor had any other
notion of wealth than the possession of a good farm on: the
Vineyard, a reasonable amount -of money " at use," certain
interests in coasters, whalers, and sealers, and a sufficiency
of household effects, and this in a very modest way,. to
make himself-and family comfortable.  Notwithstanding
this seeming moderation, Daggett was an intensely covetous man; but his wishes were limited by his habits.
While one of the masters of the sealing crafts was -drawing these pictures,' in his imagination, of wealth after his
manner, very different were the thoughts of -the other.
Roswell's fancy carried him far across that blue and sparkl.ing ocean, northward, to Oyster Pond, and Deacon Pratt's
homestead, and to Mary. He saw the last in her singlehearted sirpplicity, her maiden modesty, her youthful beauty,
-nay, even in her unyielding piety; for,-singular as it may
seem, Gardiner valued his mistress so much the more for
that very faith to which, in his own person, he laid no claim.
Irreligious.he was not, himself, though skeptical on the one
great tenet of Christianity..  But, in Mary, it struck him it
was right that she should believe that which she had been.so sedulously taught; for he did not at all fancy those inm
quiring minds, in the other sex, that lead their possessors
in' quest of novelties and paradoxes. In- this humour, then,
the reader will not be  surprised to hear that- he imagined
the deacon's niece in her most pleasing attributes, and
bedecked her with all those charms that render maidens
pleasant to youthful lovers.  Had Mary been less devout,
less fixed in her belief that Jesus was the Son of Godd
strange as it may seem, the skeptical young man would
have loved her less.
And what was that rugged, uncultivated.seaman,: who
stood near the two officers,.thinking of, all this time? Did
he, too, bend his thoughts on love, and profit, and the pleasures of this world? Of love, most truly. was his heart fidil




THE SEA  LION S..                 241.to overflowing; but it was the love of God, with that affection for all his creatures, that benevolence and faith, which
glow as warmly in the hearts of the humblest and least educated, as in those of the great and learned. His mind was
turned towards his Creator, and it converted the extraordi.
nary view that lay before his sight into a vast, magnificent,
gorgeous, though wild temple, for his worship and honour
It might be well for all of us occasionally to pause in our
eager pursuit of worldly objects, and look around on the
world itself, considering it as but, a particle in the illimitable fields of creation, —one among the many thousands
of other known worlds, that have been set -in their places
in honouir of the haqd that made them. These brief but
vivid glances at thle immensity of the moral space which
separates man from his Deity:, have very healthful effects in
inculcating that humility which is the stepping-stone offaith and love.
After passing an hour on the bald-cap of the mountain,
sometimes conversing, at others ruminating on the scene,
a change: in the weather induced our party to move. There
had been flurries of snow visible all the morning, but it
was in the distance, and among the glittering bergs. Once
the volcano had thus been shut in from view; but now a
driving cloud passed over the mountain itself, which was
quickly as white as the pure element could make it. So
hdavy was the fall of snow, that it was soon impossible to
see a dozen yards, and of course the whole of the plain
of the island was concealed.  At this most inauspicious
moment, our adventurers undertook their descent.
It is always much less dangerous to mount an acclivity
than to go down it. The upward progress is easily enough
arrested, while that in the other direction is frequently too
iapid to be under perfect command. Roswell felt the truth
of this, and would have: proposed a delay until the atmnosphere became clear again, but' it struck him that this was
not likely to occur very soon. He followed Daggett, therefore, though reluctantly, and with due caution.  Stimson
-brought up the rear.
For the first ten minutes our adventurers got along without any great.difficulty.  They found the precise point at
which -.they had reached the summit of the mountain, and




242             TH E S E A  L lONS.
began to descend. It was soon apparent that great caution.
must be used, the' snow rendering the footing slippery.;
Daggett, however, was a bold and hot-blooded man when
In motion; and he preceded the party some little distance,
calling out to those behind him'to come on without fear..This the last did, though it was with a-good deal more
caution than was observed by their leader.  At length, all
three reached a spot where it seemed they could not overcome the difficulties. Beneath them was the smooth face
of a rock already covered: with snow, while they could not
see far enough in advance to ascertain' in what this inclined
plane terminated. Daggett, however, insisted that he knew
the spot; that they had passed up it. There was a broad
shelf a short distance below them; and once on that shelf,
it would be necessary.to make a considerable circuit in
order to reach a certain ravine, down which the path would
be reasonably easy. All remembered the shelf and. the
ravine-; the question was merely whether the first lay beneath'them, and as near as Daggett supposed. A mistaken
confidence beset the last, and he carried this feeling so far
as to decline taking an end of a line which Roswell threw
to him, but seated himself on the snow and slid downward,
passing almost immediately out of sight:' "What has become of him?" demanded Roswell, endeavouring to pierce the air by straining his eye-balls. "He
is not to be seen!"
"Hold on to the line, sir, and give me the other end of
it; I will go and see," answered Stimson.
It being obviously the most hazardous to remain- to the
last, and descend without the support of one above him,
Roswell.acquiesced in this proposal, lowering the boatsteerer down the rock, until. he too: was hid from his sight.
Bult, though out of sight in that dense snow-storm, Stimson
was not.-so distant as to be beyond the reach of the voice.
" Go more to the right, sir," called out the seaman, " and
steady me with the line along with you."
This was: done, the walking being sufficiently secure at
the elevation where Roswell was. Presently, Stimson shook
the line, and called out;gain.
"That -will do, Captain Gar'ner," he said.  "I. am'on:the shelf now, and- have pretty good footing. Lay.the line




THEL SEA  LIONS.                 213
down on the snow, sir, and slide as slowly as you can
mind and keep close at its side. I'll stand by to fetch
you:up."
Gardiner understood all this perfectly, and did as he was
desired to do. By keeping near the line he reached the
shelf precisely at-the spot where Stimson was ready to meet
him; -the latter arresting his downward movement by throwing the weight of his own body forward to meet his officer.
By such a precaution Roswell was stopped in time, else
would he have gone over the shelf, and down a declivity
that was so nearly perpendicular as to offer no means of
arresting the movement.
"And what has become of Captain Daggett?" demanded
Gardiner, as soon as on his feet again.
"I fear he has shot off the rock, sir," was the answer
"At the place where I reached this shelf, it was- so narrow
I could with great difficulty walk-could not, indeed, had
not the line been there to steady me; and, judging from
the marks in the snow, the poor man has gone down helpless!"
This was appalling intelligence to receive at such a
time, and in such a place! But, Roswell was not unmanned
by it; on the contrary, he acted coolly and with great
judgment.  Making a coil of the ratlin-stuff, he thre.w the
line down until certain it reached bottom, at the distance
of about six fathoms. Then he caused Stimson to brace
himself firmly, holding on to the line, aided by a turn
round a rise in the rock, and he boldly lowered himself
down the precipice, reaching its base at about the distance
he had calculated so to do.
It still snowed violently', the flakes'being large, and eddying round the angles of the rocks, in flurries so violent as,
at moments, to confound all the senses of the young man.
He was resolute, however, and bent on an object of
humanity, as well -as of good fellowship. Living or dead,
Daggett must be somewhere on his present level; and he
began to grope his way among the fragments of rock, eager
and solicitous. The roaring of the wind almost prevented
his hearing other sounds; though once or twice he heard,
or fancied that-he heard, the shouts of Stimson from above.
Suddenly, the wind ceased,. the snow lessened in quantity
21 *




.244             THE  SEA  LIONS.
soon clearing away altogether; and the rays of thle sunand.this in the dog-days of. that region, be it remembered
-fell bright and genial on the glittering scene. At the
next instant, the eyes of Roswell fell on the object of his
search.
Daggett had.been carried over the narrow shelf on which
Stimson landed, in consequence of his having no support,
or any means of arresting his momentum. He did thrust
forward his-lance, or leaping-staff; but its point met no.
-thing but air. The fall, however, was by no means perpendicular, several projections of the rocks helping to lessen
it; though it is probable that the life of the unfortunate
sealer was savep altogether by means of the lance. This
was beneath him as he made his final descent, and he slid
along:it the whole length, canting him into a spot where
was the only piece.of stinted vegetation that was to be seen
for: a considerable. distance. In consequence of coming
down.on.,a tolerably thick bunch of furze, the fall was
essentially broken.
When Roswell reached his unfortunate companion, the
latter was perfectly sensible, and quite cool.
"God be thanked that you have found me, Gar'ner," he
said;. " at one time I had given it up."
"Thank God, also, that you are living, my friend," answered the other.  "I expected only to find your body;
but you do not seem to be much hurt."' More than appears, Gar'ner; more than appears. My
left, leg is broken, certainly; and one of my shoulders pains
Ime a.good deal, though it is neither out. of joint or broken.
This is a sad business for a sealing v'y'ge!"
"Give yourself no concern about your craft, DaggettI will look to her, and to your voyage."
" -Will you stand by the schooner, Gar'ner? - Promise
me that, and my mind will be at peace."
"I do promise.  The two vessels shall stick together,
at all events, until we are clear of the ice."
"Ay, but that won't do. My Sea Lion must be filled up
as.well as your own.  Promise me that."
"It shall be done, God willing.  But here comes Stimwon; the first thing will be to get you out of this spot."
JDaggett'was obviously relieved by Roswell's pledges;




THE. SEA  LIONS.                  245
for, amid the anguish and apprehensions ofhis unexpected,state, his thoughts had most keenly adverted to his vessel
and her fortunes.  Now that his mind was somewhat relieved on this score, the pains of his body became more
sensibly felt. The situation of our party was sufficiently
embarrassing. The leg of Daggett was certainly broken,
a. little distance above his ancle; and various bruises in.
other places, gave notice of the existence of.other injuries.
To do anything with the poor man, lying where he was,
was out of the question, however; and the first thing was
to remove the sufferer to a more eligible position.  Fortunately it was no great distance to'the foot of the mountain,
and a low level piece of rock was accessible by means of
care and steady feet. Daggett was raised between Roswell
and Stimson in a sitting attitude, and supporting himself
by putting an arm  around,the neck of eachi The legs
hung down, the broken as well as the sound limb. To this
accidental circumstance the sufferer; was indebted to a piece
of incidental surgery that proved of infinite service to him.
While dangling in this manner the bone got into its place,
and Daggett instantly became aware; of that important fact,
which was immediately communicated to Roswell. - Of
course the future mode of proceeding was regulated by this.agreeable piece of information
Sailors are often required to act as physicians, surgeons
and priests.  It is not often that theyexcel in either capacity; but, in consequence of the many things they are called
to turn their hands to, it does generally happen that they
get to possess a certain amount of address that renders
them far more dexterous, in nearly everything they tndertake, than the generality of those who are equally strangers
to the particular act that is thus to be exercised.  Roswell
had set one or two limbs already, arid had a tolerable notion of the manner obftreating the case. Daggett was now
-seated on a rock at the base of the mountain, with his legs
still hanging down, and his back supported by another rock.
No sooner was he thus placed, than Stimson was despatched, post-haste, for assistance. His instructions were full,
and the honest fellow set off at a rate that promised as early
relief as the circumstances would at all allow.
As for our hero, he set about his most important office




246              THE  S'EA. LIONS.
the instant Stimson left him. Daggett aided with. his coun
sel, and a- little by his personal -exertions; for a seaman does
not lie down passively, when anything can be done, even
in his own case.
Baring the limb, Roswell soon satisfied'himself that the
bone' had worked itself into place. Bandages were instantly
applied to keep it there while splints were making. It was,
perhaps, a little characteristic that Daggett took out his
knife, and aided in shaving down these splints to the ne.
cessary form and thickness.  They were made out of the
staff of the broken lance, and were soon completed. Roswell manifested a good deal of dexterity and judgment in
applying the splints.  The handkerchiefs were used to relieve the pressure in places, and rope-yarns from the ratlinstuff. furnished the means of securing everything in its
place.  In half an hour, Roswell had his job completed,
and that before there was much swelling to interfere with
him. As soon as the broken limb was thus attended to, it
was carefully raised, and laid'upon the rock along with its
fellow, a horizontal position being deemed better than one
that was perpendicular.
-Not: less than four painful hours -now passed, ere the
gang of hands from the vessels reached the base of the
mountain.  It came prepared, however, to transport the
sufferer on. a hand-barrow that had been- used in conveying
the skins of seal across the rocks. On this barrow Daggett
was now carefilly placed, when four men lifted him  up,
and walked away with him for a few hundred'yards. These
were then relieved by four more; and, in this manner, was
the whole distance: to the house passed over.  The patient
was put in his bunk, and some attention was bestowed on
his bruises and other injuries.
Glad enough was the sufferer to find himself beneath a
roof, and in a' room that had its comforts; or what were
deemed comforts on a sealing voyage. As the -men were
in the-dormitory very little of: the- time except at night, he
was enabled to sleep; and Roswell had hopes, as he now
told Slimson, that a month or six weeks would set the pa.
tient on his feet again.
"He has. been a fortunate fellow, Stephen, that it was
no worse," added Roswell, on that occasion. " But for the




THE SEA LIONS.                    247
luck which turned the lance-pole beneath him, every bone
he has would have been broken."
"What you call luck, Captain Gar'ner, I call Providence," was Stephen's answer.  "The good book tells us
that not a sparrow shall fall without the eye of Divine Providence being on it."
CHAPTER XVIII.
"Now far he sweeps, where scarce a summer smiles,
On Bhering's rocks, or Greenland's naked isles;
Cold on his midnight watch the breezes blow,
From wastes that slumber in eternal snow,
And waft across the waves' tumultuous roar,
The wolf's 0long howl from Oonalaska's shore."
CAMPBELL.
ROSWELL GARDINER set about his duties, the succeeding
day, with a shade of deep reflection on his brow. A crisis
had, indeed, come in his affairs, and it behooved him to
look well to his proceedings. Daggett's presence on the
island was no longer of any moment to himself or his owner,
but there remained the secret of the Key, and-of:the buried
treasure. -Should the two schooners keep together, how
was he to acquit.himself in that part of his duty, without
admitting of a partnership, against which he knew -that
every fibre in the deacon's system, whether physical or
moral, would revolt.  Still, his word was pledged, and he
had no choice but -to remain, and help fill up the rival Sea
Lion, and trust to his own address in getting rid of her.again, as the two vessels proceeded north.
The chief mate of Daggett's craft,,.though a good sealer,
was an impetuous and reckless man, and had more than
once found fault with the great precautions used, by the
orders of Roswell. Macy, as this officer was called, wais
for-making a regular onslaught upon the animals, slaying
as many as they could at once,. and then take up the business of curing and trying-out as -a regular job,.  He had




248              TH'E  SEA  LIONS.
seen such things done with success, and: he believed it~was
the most secure mode 6f getting along.'Some of these
fine mornings,' as he expressed it,-' Captain Gar'ner would
turn out, atld find that his herd was off-gone to pasture in
some other field.' This was a view of the matter with
which Roswell did not at all agree.  His forbearing and
cautious policy had produced excellent results so far, and
he hoped it would continue so to do, until both schooners
were full. On the morning when the men next went forth,
he as leader of both crews, therefore, our young master
renewed his admonitions, pointing out to the new-comers,
in particular, the.great necessity there-was of using forbearance, and notto alarm the seals more' than the work indispensably required.-  The usual number -of "Ay,.ay's; sir!"
were given in reply, and the gangs went along the rocks,
seemingly in'a'good humour to obey these injunctions.
Circumstances, however, were by no means favourable
to giving Rosweill the same influence over the Vineyardmen as he possessed over his own crew.  He was a young
commander, and this was his first voyage in that capacity,
as:all well knew; then, there had been rivalry and competition between the two crafts, which was a feeling not:.so
easily removed; next, Macy felt, and'even intimated, that
he was the lawful commander of his own schooner, in Cases
in which'Daggett was disabled, and that the latter had no
power to transfer him and his people -to the authority of any'other individual. All these points were discussed that day,
with some freedom, particularly among' the Vineyard-men,
and especially the last.
Wisely has it been said that "the king's name is a tower
of strength."  They who have the law on their side, carry
with them a' weight of authority that it is not easy to shake
by means of pure reasoning on right or wrong. ~ Men are
much inclined to defer to those who are thus -armed, legal
k'ntrol being ordinarily quite as effective in! achieving a
victory-, as having one's " quarrel just." In a certain sense,
authority indeed becomes justice, and we look to its proper
exercise. as one of the surest means of asserting what "is
right between man and man.""The commodore says "that, the critturs are to be treated
delicately," said Macy., laughing, as he lanced his first seal




THE SEA  LIONS.                  219
that morning, a young one:of the fur species; " so take up
the pet, lads, and lay it in~ its cradle, while I go look for its
mamma."
A shout of merriment succeeded this sally, and the men
were only so much the more disposed to be rebellious and
turbulent, in consequence of hearing so much freedom of
remark in their.officer.
"The child's in its cradle, Mr. Macy," returned Jen*
kins, who was a wag as well as the mate, "In my judg.
mhent, the best mode of rocking it to sleep will be by knock.
ing over all these grim  chaps that are so plenty in our
neighbourhood.'.'
"Let'em have it,!'" cried Macy, making an onset on an
elephant, as he issued the order. In an instant, the rocks
at that point of the island were a scene of excitement and
confusion.  Hazard, who was near at hand, succeeded in:restraining his own people, but it really seemed as if the
Vineyard-men were mad. -A great many seals were killed,
it is true; but twenty were frightened to take refuge in the
ocean, where one was slain.  All animals have their alarm
cries, or, if not absolutely cries, signals that are understood
by themselves. ~ Occasionally, one sees a herd, or a flock,
take to its heels, or to its wings, without any apparent cause
but in obedience to some warning that is familiar to their
instincts.  Thus must it have been with the seals; for the
rocks were soon deserted, even at the distance of a league.from the scene of slaughter, leaving Hazard and his gang
literally with nothing to do, unless, indeed, they returned
to complete some stowage that remained to be done, on
board their: own craft.
"I suppose you know, Mr. Macy, all this is contrary to
orders," said Hazard, as he was leading his own gang back
towards the cove. "You see I am obliged to go in and
report.",' Report and welcome!" was the answer.  "I have no
commander but Captain Daggett;-'and, by the way, if you
see him, Hazard,- just tell him we have made a glorious
torning's work of it."
"Ay, ay; you will have your hands full enough to-day,
Macy; but hQw will it be to-morrow?"
" Why, just as it has been to-day. The devils must cpme




250             T-HE SEA LIONS.
up to blow, and we're sartain of eem, somewhere along tile
shore.  This day's work is worth any two that I've seen
since I came upon the island."
"Very true; but what will to-morrow's work be worth?
I will tell Captain Daggett what you wish me to say, however, and we will hear his opinion on the subject.  In my
judgment, he means to command his craft till she gets bacl
to the Hole, legs or no legs."
Hiazard went his way, shaking his head ominously as he
proceeded.  Nor was he much mistaken in what he expected from Daggett's anger.  That experienced sealer
sent for his mate, and soon gave him to understand that he
was yet his colnmander.-  Loose and.neighbourly as is usuallv the discipline of one of these partnership vessels, -there
is commonly a man on board who is every way competent
to assert the authority given him by the laws, as well as by
his contract.'Macy was sent for, rebuked, and menaced:with degradation from his station, should he again presume
to violate his orders.  As commonly happens in cases of
this nature, re, regrets were expressed by the offender, and
future obedience promised.
But the mischief was done.. Sealing was no longer the
regular, systematic pursuit it had been on that island, but
had become precarious and changeful. At times, the men
met with good success; then, days would occur in which
riot a single creature, of any of the different species, would'be taken. The Vineyard schooner was nct more than halffull, and the season was fast drawing to a close. Roswell'was quite ready to sail, and he began to chafe a little under
the extra hazards that were thus imposed on himself and
his people..In the mean time, or fully three weeks after the occurrence of the accident to Daggett, the injuries received by
the wounded man were fast healing. The bones had knit,
and the. leg promised, in another month, to become tolerably sound, if not as strong as it:had been before the hurt.
All the bruises were well, and-the captain of the Vineyard
craft was just beginning to move about a little on crutches;
-a prodigious relief to one of his habits, after the confinement to the house. By dint of great care, he could work
his-ay down.on the shelf that stretched, like a terrace, for




THE.E:S E A L'I O NS.           251
two hundred yards beneath the dwelling.  Here he ret
Roswell, on the mornihg of the Sabbath, just three weeks
after their unfortunate visit to the mountain.  Each took
his seat on a low point of rock, and they began to converse
on their respective prospects, and on the condition of their
vessels and crews.  Stephen was-near his officer, as usual.
"I believe Stimson was right in urging me to give the
men their Sabbaths," observed Gardiner, glancing round
at the -different groups, in which the men were washing,
shaving, and otherwise getting rid of the impurities created
by- another week of toil." They begin anew, after a little
rest, with a better will, and steadier hands."
"Yes, the Sabbath is a great privilege, especially to such
as are on shore," returned Daggett.  "At sea, I make no
great account of it: a craft must jog along, high days or
holidays."
" Depend on it, the same account ism kept of the day,
Captain Daggett, in the great log-book above, whether a
man is on or off soundings," put in Stephen, who was pri.
vileged ever to deliver his sentiments on such subjects.
"The Lord is God on the sea, as on the land."
There was a pause;for the solemn manner and undoubted
sincerity of the speaker produced an impression on'his
companions, little given as they were to thinking deeply
on things of that nature. Then Roswell renewed the dis.
course, turning it on a matter that had been seriously uppe~rmost in his mind for several days.
"I wish to converse with you, Captain Daggett, about
our prospects and chances," he said.  "My schooner is
full, as you know.  We could do no more, if we stayed
here another season. You are about half-full, with a greatly
diminished chance of filling up this summer. Mr. Macy's
attack on the seals has put you back a month, at least, and
every day we shall find the animals less easy to take. The
equinox is not very far off, and then, you know,-we:shall
get less and less sun,-so little,-as to be of no great use to
us. - We want day-light to get through the ice, and we
shall have a long hundred leagues of it between us and
clear:water, even were we to get under way to-morrow.
Remember what a serious thing it would be, to get caught
sIphere, in so-high a latitude, after the sun has left: us!?'
22




2:52            T:HE' SEA LIONS.
I understand you, Gar'ner," answered the other,:quietly,
though his manner denoted a sort of compelled resignation,
rather than any cordial acquiescence in that which he be.
lieved his brother master intended to propose. "You're
master of your own vessel; and I dare say Deacon Pratt
would be much rejoiced to see you coming in between
Shelter Island and Oyster Pond.  I'm but a cripple, or I
think the Vineyard craft wouldn't be many days' ru.n astarn!"
Roswell was provoked; but his pride was touched also.
Biting his lip, he was silent for a moment, when he spoke
very much to the point, but generously, and like a man.
" I'11l tell you what it: is, Daggett,"'said our hero, " goodfellowship. is gogd-fellowship, and the flag is the flag. It
is the duty of all us Yankee seamen to stand by the stripes;'and I hope I'm as ready as another to do what I ought to
do, in such a matter; but my owner is a close calculator,.and I am much inclined to think that he will care less for
this sort of feeling than you and I.. The deacon was never
in: blue water."
" So I suppose-He has a charming daughter, I believe,
Gar'ner?"
"You mean his niece, I suppose," answered Roswell,
colouring.  "The deacon never had any child himself, I
believe —at least he has none living.  Mary Pratt is his
niece.'"
"It's all the same -niece ordaughter, she's comely,
and will be rich, I hear.  Well, I am poor, and what is
more, a cripp le"
Roswell could have knocked his companion down, for
he perfectly understood the character of the allusion; but.he had sufficient self-command to forbear saying anything
that: might betray how much he. felt.
It is always easier to work upon the sensitiveness of a.spirited.and generous-minded man, than to influence him
by force.or apprehensions.  Roswell had never liked the
idea of leaving Daggett behind him, at that season, and in
that latitude;' and he relished it- still less,. now. that he saw
a false reason might be attributed to his conduct.
"You certainly do not dream of wintering here, Captain
Daggett?" he said, after a pause.
"Not if I can help it.  But the: schooner can never go




THE SEA,:LIO'NS.                253
back to the Vineyard without a ful hold. The very women
would: make the. island too1hot for us-in such a case. Do
your duty by Deacon Pratt,? Gar'ner, and leave me here to
get along as well as I can..I shall be able to walk a little
in a fortnight; and, in a month, I hope to be well enough
to get out among the people, and regulate their sealing a
little myself.  Mr. Macy will be more moderate with my
eve on him."
"A month!  He who stays here another month may
a most make up his mind to stay eight-more of them; if,
indeed, he ever- get away from the group at all!"
"A late start i; better than a -half-empty vessel.  When
you get in to Oyster Pond, Gar'ner, I hope you will.send a
line across to the Vineyard,: and tell'em.all about us."
Another long and brooding pause succeeded, during
which Roswell's mind was made up.
"I will do this with you,- Daggett," he said, speaking
like one who had fully decided on his course. ". Twenty
days longer will I remain herei and help to make out your
cargo; after which I sail, whether you get another skin or
a thousand. This will be remaining as long as any prudent
man ought to stay in so high a latitude."
"Give me your hand, Gar'ner.  I knew you had the
clear stuff in you, and that it would make itself seen at the
proper moment. I trust that Providence will favour us -
it's really a pity to lose as fine a day as this; especially as
the crittur's are coming up on the rocks to bask, something
like old times!"
"You'll gain Flo great help from that Providence you
just spoke of, Captain Daggett, by forgetting to keep'Holy the Sabbath,' said Stimson, earnestly.  "Try forbearance a little, and find the good that will come of it."' He is right,':said.Roswell, "-as I know from having
done as he advises. Well, our bargain is made. For twenty
days longer I stay here, helping. you to fill up. That will
bring us close upon the equinox, whenI shall get to the
northward as fast as I can. In that time, too, I think you
will be able to return to duty."
This, then, was the settled arrangement.. Roswell felt
that he conceded more than he ought to do; but the feel.




254             THE S.E A LIONS.
ing of good-fellowship'was active within him, and he was
strongly averse to doing anything that might wear the appearance of abandoning a companion in his difficulties.
All this time our hero was fully aware that he was befriending a competitor; and he was not without his suspi.
cions that Daggett wished to keep him within his view
until the visit had been paid to the Key.  Nevertheless,
Roswell's mind was made up.  He would remain the
twenty days, and do all he could in that time to help along
the voyage of the Vineyarders.
The sealing was now continued with more order and
method than had been observed under Macy's control.
The old caution w4as respected, and the work prospered in
proportion.  Each night, on his return to the house, Gardiner had'a good report to make; and that peculiar snapping of the eye, that denoted Daggett's interest in his
calling, was to be again traced in the expression of the
Vineyarder's features; a certain pr6of that he was fast
falling into his old train'of thought and feeling. Daggett
was never happier than when' listening to some account
of the manner in which an old elephant or lion had been
taken, or a number of fur-seals had been made to pay their
tribute to the enterprise and address of his people.
As for Roswell, though he complied with his promise,
and carried on the duty with industry and success, his eye
was constantly turned on those signs that denote the advance of the' seasons. Now he scanned the ocean to the
northward, and noted the diminished number as well as
lessened size of the floating bergs; proofs that the summer
and the waves had' been at work on their sides  Next, his
look was on the sun, which was making his daily course,
lower and lower, each time that he appeared, settling
rapidly away towards the north, as if in haste to quit a
hemisphere that was. so little congenial to his character.
The nights, always cool in that region, began to menace
frost; and the signhs of the decline of the year that come
so much later in more'temperate climates, began to make
themselves apparent here.'It is true, that of vegetation
there was so little, and that little so meagre and of so hardy
a nature, that in this respect the progress of the seasons
was not to be particularly noted; but in all others, Roswell




THE  SEA  LIONS.'255
saw with growing uneasiness:that the latest hour of his
departure was fast drawing near.
The sealing went on the while, and with reasonable returns, though the golden days of the business had been
seriously interrupted by Macy's indiscretion and disobedience. The men worked hard, for they too foresaw the
approach of the long night of the antarctic circle, and all
the risk of remaining too long.  As we have had frequent
occasion to use the term' antarctic,' it may be well.here
to:say a few words in explanation. It is not our wish to
be understood that these sealers had penetrated literally
within that belt of eternal snows and ice, but approximatively.  Few navigators, so far as our knowledge extends,
have absolutely gont  as far south as this.  Wilkes did it,
it is true; and others among the late explorers have been
equally enterprising and'successful. The group visited by
Gardiner on this occ.asion was quite near to this imaginary
line; but we do not feel at liberty precisely to give its
latitude and longitude.  To this hour it remains a species
of private property; and in this age of anti-rentism  and
other audacious innovations on long-received and venerable
rules of conduct, we do not choose to be parties to any_
inroads on the rights of individuals when invaded by the
cupidity and ruthless power of numbers. Those who wish
to imitate Roswell must find the islands by bold adventure
as he reached them; for we are tongue-tied on the subject..t is enough, therefore, that we say the group is near the
antarctic circle; whether a little north or a little south of
it, is a matter of no moment. As those seas -have a general
character, we shall continue to call them the antarctic
seas; with the understanding that, included in. the term,
are the nearest waters without as well as within the circle.
Glad enough was Roswell Gardiner when his twenty
days were up.  March was now far advanced, and the aporoach of the long nights was near.  The Vineyard craft,vas not full, nor was Daggett yet able to walk without a
crutch; but orders were issued by Gardiner, on the evening
of the last day, for his own crew to " knock off sealing,"
and to prepare to get under way for home.
"Your mind is *made up, Gar'ner," said Daggett, in a
deprecating -sort of way, as if he still had latent hopes of
22 *           17




256             THE SEA L IONS.
persuading his brother-master to remain a little. longer
"Another week would almost fill us up."
"Not another day," was the answer. " I have stayed too
-long already, and shall' be off in the morning. If you will
take my advice, Captain Daggett, you will do the' same
thing.  Winter comes in this latitude very much as:spring
appears in our own;- or-with a hop, skip, and a jump.  I
heave no fancy to be groping about among the ice, after the
nights get to be longer than the days!"
"All true enough, Gar'ner; all quite true -but it has
such a look to take a craft home, and she not full!"
"-You have a great abundance of provisions; stop and
whale awhile on the False Banks, as you -go north. I
would much rather stick by you there a whole month, than
remain here another day."
"You -make me narvous, talking of the group in this
way!  I'm sartain that this bay must remain clear of ice
several weeks longer."
"Perhaps it may; it is more likely to be so than to freeze
up.  But this will. not lengthen the days and carry us safe
through the fields and bergs that we know are drifting about
out here to the northward. There's a hundred leagues of
ocean thereaway, Daggett, that I care for more just now,
than for all the sealt that are left on these)islands..But,
talking is,useless; I go to-morrow; if you are wise, you
will sail in company.".
This settled the matter. Daggett well knew it would be
useless to remain without the aid of Roswell's counsel, and
that of his crew's hands; for Macy was not to be trusted
any more as the leader of a gang of sealers. The man had
got to be provoked and reckless, and had called down upon
himself latterly more than one:rebuke. It was necessary,
therefore, that one of the Sea Lions should accompany the
other. The necessary orders were issued accordingly, and
"hey for home!" were the words that now cheerfully passed from mouth to mouth.   That- pleasant idea of " home,"
in which is concentrated all that is blessed in this life, the
pale of the Christian duties and charities excepted, brings
to -each mind its particular forms of happiness and good
Ythe weather-beaten seaman, the foot-worn soldier, the
weary traveller, the adventurer in whatever lands interest




THE SEA -LIONS..257
or pleasure. may lead-, equally feels: a' throtnb fat his'heart as
he hears the welcome sounds of " hey for home."- Never
were craft prepared for sea with" greater rapidity than was
the case now with our -two. Sea Lions.. It is true that the
Oyster-Ponders were nearly ready,- and had been quite so,.for a fortnight; but a good deal remained to- be:done among
the Vineyarders. The last set themselves to their task with
a hearty good-will, however, and with corresponding results.
"'-We will leave the house standing for them that come,
after us," said- Roswell, when the last article belonging to his
schooner was taken out of it:. "" The d(eacon. has crammed
us so full of wood that I shall be. tempted to throw half of it
~overboard, now we have so much cargo.  Let all stand,
Hazard, hunks, planks and all; for really we have no room'for the materials.  Even this wood," pointing to a pile of
several cords that had been~ landed- already to make room
for skins and casks that had been brought out in shocks,
" must go to the next comer. Perhaps it may be one of
o'urselves;- for we sailors never, know what port will next':fetch us up."
"I hope it, will be old Sag, sir," answered Hazard, cheerfully; " for,: though no great matter -of a seaport, it is near
every man's hore, and may be called a sort of door-way to'go in:and out of theicountry through."
"A side-door, at the best," answered Roswell.  "With
you,- I trust it will be the next haven that we enter; though
I shall- take the schooner at once in behind Shelter- Island,
and tie her up to the deacon's wharf."
What images of the past and future did these few jocular
words awaken in the mind of our young sealer! - He fancied that he saw Mary standing in the porch of her uncle's
habitation, a- witness of the approach of the schooner, looking wistfully at the still indistinct images of those who were
io -be seen on her decks.  Mary had often done this in her
dreams; again and again had she beheld the-white sails
-of the Sea Lion driving across Gardiner's Bay, and enterIig Peconic; and often had she thus gazed in the weatherworn countenance of him who occupied so much of her
thoughts —so many of her prayers-picturing through the




.58              T HE. S E A L I O N.S.
mysterious images of sleep the. object she so well loved
when waking.
And where was.Mary Pratt at that day and hour when
Roswell was thus issuing his last.orders at Sealer's Land.;
and what was her occupation, and what her thought,?I The
difference in longitude between the group and Montauk
was so trifling that the hour might be almost called identical. Literally so, it was not; but mainly so, it was. There
were not the five degrees in difference that make the twenty
minutes in time.  More than this we are not permitted to
say on this subject; and this is quite enough to give the
navigator a pretty near notion of the position of the group.
As a degree of. longitude measures less than twenty-eight
statute miles at the polar circles, this is coming within a
day's run of the spot, so far as longitude is concerned; and
nearer than that we do not intend to carry the over-anxious
reader, let his curiosity. be as lively as it may.
And where, then, was Mary Pratt? Safe, well, and reasonably happy, in the house- of her uncle, where she had
passed most of her time since infancy. The female friends
of mariners have always fruitful sources of uneasiness in
the pursuit itself; but Mary had no other cause for concern
of this nature than what was inseparable from so long a
voyage, and the sea into which Roswell had gone. She
well knew that the time was arrived when he was expected
to be on his way home; and as hope is an active and beguiling. feeling, she already fancied him to be much- advanced on his return. But a dialogue which took place
that very day-nay, that very hour - between her and the
deacon, will best explain her views and opinions, and ex.
pectations.
"It's very extr'or'nary, Mary," commenced the uncle,
"that Gar'ner doesn't write! If he only know'd how a
man feels when his property is:ten thousand miles off, I'm
sartain he would write, and not leave me with so many
misgivings in the matter."
"By whom is he to write, uncle?" answered the more
considerate and reasonable niece.  "There are no postoffices in the antarctic seas, nor any travellers to bring letters by private hands."'




THE SEA LIONS..                  259
";But he did write once; and plaguy good news was it
that he sent us in that letter!"
"He did write from Rio, for there he had the means.
By my calculations, Roswell has left his sealing ground
soiie three or-four weeks, and must now be as many thou
sand miles on his way home."
"-D'ye think so, gal??-d'ye think so?" exclaimed the
deacon, his eyes fairly twinkling with pleasure.  "That
would be good news; and if he doesn't stop too long by the
way, Fve might look for him home in less than ninety days
from this moment!"
Mary smiled pensively, and a richer colour stole into her
cheeks, slowly but- distinctly.
" I do -not think, uncle, that Roswell Gardiner will be
very likely to stop on his way to us here, on Oyster Pond,"
was the answer she made.
" I should be sorry to think that. The best part of his
v'y'ge may be made in the West Ingees, and I hope he is
not a man to overlook his instructions."
" Will Roswell be obliged to stop in the West Indies,
uncle?"'
" Sartain-if he obeys his orders; and I think the young
man will do that. But the business there will not detain
him long,"-Mary's countenance brightened again, at this
remark,-" and, should you be right, we may still look for
him in the next ninety days."
Mary remained silent for a short time, but her charming
face was illuminated by an expression of heartfelt happiness,
which, however, the next remark of her uncle's had an obvious tendency to disturb.
"Should Gar'ner come home successful, Mary," inquired
the deacon,'" successful in all things —successful in sealing,
and successful in that other matter-the West Ingee busi,
ness, I mean-but successful in all, as I daily pray he may
be,-I want to know if you would then have him; always
Supposing that he got back himself unchanged?"
" Unchanged, I shall never be his wife," answered Mary,
tremulously, but:firmly.
The deacon looked at her in surprise; for he had never
comprehended but one reason why the orphan and penni.
less Mary should refuse so pertinaciously to become the




260             THE: SEA LIONS.
wife of Roswell Gardiner; and: that was his own want of
means. Now the deacon. loved Mary more than he was
aware of himself, but he had never actually made up his
mind to leave her the heiress of his estate.'The idea of
parting with property at all, was too painful for him to think
of making a will; and without such an instrument, there
were others who would have come in for a part of the assets,
" share and share alike," as the legal men express it. Of
all this was the deacon fully aware and it occasionally
troubled him: more of late than formerly, since he felt in
his system the unerring signs of decay.  Once had he got
so far as to write on a page of foolscap," In the name of
God, Amen;" but the effort proved too great for him, and
he abandoned the undertaking. Still Deacon Pratt loved
his niece, and was well inclined to see her become the wife
of" young Gar'ner," more especially should the last return
successful.
"Unchanged!" repeated the uncle, slowly; "you sartainly would not wish to marry him, Mary, if he was
changed!"
"I do not mean changed, in the sense you are thinking
of, uncle.  But we: will not talk of this now. Why should:Roswell: stop in the West Iridies at all? It is not usual foi
our vessels to stop there."
"' No, it is not.  If Gar'ner stop at all, it will be on a
very unusual business, and one that may make all our for.
turies —your'n, as well as his'n and mine, Mary."
-" I hope that sealers never meddle with the transporta.
tion of slaves, uncle!" the girl exclaimed, with a face filled
with apprehension.  "I would rather live and die poor,
than have anything to do with them!"
"I see no such great harm  in the trade, gal; but such
is not Roswell's ar'nd in the-West Ingees.  It's a great
secret, the reason of his call there; and I will venture to
foretell that, should he make it, and should it turn out successful, you will marry him, gal."
Mary made no reply.  Well was she assured that Roswell had an advocate in her own heart, that:was pleading
for him, night and day; but firm was her determination not
to unite herself with one, however dear to her, Who set up his
own feeble understanding:of- the natutre: of the mediation be



THE  SEA'LIO'NS.                261
tween God and man, in opposition to the plainest language
of revelation, as well as to the prevalent belief of the church,
since the ages that immediately succeeded the Christian
era
CHAPTER XIX.'Poor child of danger, nursling of the storm,
Sad are the woes that wreck thy manly form!
Rocks, waves, bnd winds the shatter'd bark delay;
Thy heart is sad, thy home is far away."
CAMPBELL.
IT was about midday, when the two Sea Lions opened
their canvass, at the same moment, and prepared to quit
Sealer's Land. All hands were on- board, every article was
shipped for which there was room, and nothing remained
that denoted the former presence of man on that dreary
island, but the deserted house, and three or four piles of
cord-wood, that had grown on Shelter Island and Martha's
Vineyard, and which was now abandoned on the rocks of
the antarctic circle.  As the topsails were sheeted home,
and the heavy fore-and-aft mainsails were hoisted, the songs
of the men sounded cheerful and animating.' Home' was
in every tone, each movement, all the orders. Daggett
was on deck, in fill:command, though still careful of Iis
limb, while Roswell appeared to be everywhere.  Mary
Pratt was before his mind's eye all that morning; nor did
he even once think how pleasant it would be to meet her
uncle, with a "Therej deacon, is your schooner, with a
good cargo of elephant-oil, well chucked off with: fur-seal
skins."
The Oyster Pond'craft was the first clear of the ground
The breeze was little felt in that cove, where usually it did
not" seem to blow at all, but there was wind enough to serve
to cast the schooner, and she went slowly out of the rocky
basin, under her-mainsail, foretopsail, and jib.:  The wind
wvds at south-west,-the nor-wester of that hemisphere.-.
and it was fresh and howling enough, on the other side of




262             TH-E SEA LIONS.
the island. After Roswell had made a stretch out into the
bay of about a mile, he laid his foretopsail flat a Jack, hauled
over h;s jib-sheet, and. put his helm hard down, in waiting
for the other schooner to come out and join him.  In a
quarter of an hour, Daggett got within hail.
" Well," called out the last, "you see I was right, Gar'ner; wind enough out here, and more, still further from
the land. We have only to push in among them berg
while it is light, pick out a clear spot, and heave-to durin
the night. It will hardly do for us to travel among so much
ice in the dark.".
" I wish we had got out earlier, that we might: have made
a run of it by day-light," answered Roswell. "Ten hours
of such a wind, in my judgment, would carry us well
towards clear water."
"The delay could not be helped.  I had so many traps
ashore, it took time to gather them  together. -Come, fill
away, and let us be moving. Now we are under way, I'm
in as great haste as you are yourself."
Roswell complied, and away the two schooners went,
keeping quite near to each other, having smooth water, and
still something of a moderated gale, in consequence of the
proximity and weatherly position of the island. The course
was towards a spot to leeward, where the largest opening
appeared in the ice, and where it was hoped a passage to
the northward would be found.  The further the two vessels got from the land, the more they felt the power of the
wipd, and the greater was their rate of running. Daggett
soon found that'he could spare his consort a good deal of
canvass, a c.onsequence of his not being full, and he took
in his topsail, though, running nearly before the wind, his.
spar would have stood even a more severe strain.
As the.oldelst mariner, it had been agreed between the
two masters that Daggett should lead the way. This -he
did for an.hour, when both vessels were fairly out of the
great bay, clear of the group altogether, and running off
north-easterly, at a rate of nearly ten knots in the hour.
The sea got up as they receded from the iand, and everything indicated a gale, though one of no great violenceNight was approaching, and an Alpine-like range of ioebergs was glowing, to the northward, under the oblique.




THE  SEA  LIONS.                  263
rays of the.setting sun... For a considerable space around
the vessels, the water was clear, not even a cake of any sort
being to be seen; and:the question arose in Daggett's mind
whether he ought to stand on, or to heaye-to and'pass the
night well to windward of the bergs. Time was precious
the wind was fair, the heavens clear, and the moon would
make its appearance about nine, and might be expected to
emain above the horizon- until the return.of day.  This
was one side of the picture.  The other presented less
agreeable points. The climate was so fickle, that the clearness of the skies was not to be depended on, especially with
a strong south-west wind —a little gale, in fact; and a
change in this particular might be produced at any moment.
Then it was certain that floes, and fragments of bergs,
would be found near; if not absolutely.among the sublime
mountain-like piles that were floating about, in a species
of. grand fleet, some twenty miles to leeward. Both of our.masters, indeed all on board of each schooner, very well
understood that the magnificent array of icy islands which
lay. before them, was owing to the currents, for which it is.not -always easy to account.  The. clear space was to be
attributed to the same cause, though there was -little doubt
that the wind, which had now beep to the southward fully
eightand-forty hours, had contributed to drive the icy fleet
to.the northward..As a consequence of these facts, the
field-ice must be in the vicinity.of the bergs, and the embarrassment from that source was.known always to be very
great..It required a good deal of nerve for a.mariner to run in
among. dangers of the character just.described, as the sun.was setting.  Nevertheless,: Daggett did it; and Roswell
Gardiner followed the movement, at the distance of about
a cable's length.  To prevent separation, each schooner.showed a light at the.lower yard-arm, just as the day was
giving out its last glimmerings.  As yet, however, no difficulty was.encountered;. the alpine-looking range being yet
quite two hours'. run still to leeward. Those two hours
must,be passed in darkness.; and Daggett shortened sail
in order not to. reach the' ice before the.moon rose. He
had.endeavoured to profit by the light as.long as it remainad,.to nfind a place at which he might venture to enter
23




.264             THE SE A LIONS.
amrnong the bergs, but had met with no great success. Tie
opening first seen now appeared to be closed, either oy
means of the drift or' by means of the change in the position of the vessels; and he no longer thought of that.
Fortune must be trusted to, in some measure; and on he
went, Roswell'always closely following.
The early hours of that eventful night were intensely
dark. Nevertheless, Daggett stood down towards the icy
range, using no other precautions than shortening sail and
keeping a sharp look-out. Every five minutes the call from
the quarter-deck of each schooner to " keep a bright lookout" was heard, unless, indeed, Daggett or Roswell was on
his own forecastle, thus occupied in -person. No one on
board of either vessel thought of sleep. - The watch had
been called, as is usual at sea, and one half of the crew
was at liberty to go below and turn in.  What was more,
those small fore-and-aft rigged craft were readily enough
handled by a single watch; and this so much the more
easily, now that their top-sails were in. Still, not a man
left the' deck. Anxiety was too prevalent for this, the least
experienced hand in either crew being well aware that the
next ffour-and-twenty hours would, in all human probability,
be decisive of the fate of the voyage.
Both Daggett and Gardiner grew more and more uneasy
as the time for the moon to rise drew near, without the orb
of night making its appearance. A few clouds were driving
athwart the heavens, though the stars twinkled as usual,
in their diminutive but sublime splendour.  It was not so
dark that objects could not be seen at a considerable distance; and the people of the schooners had no difficulty in
very distinctly tracing, and that not very far ahead, the
broken outlines of the chain of floating mountains. No
alpine pile, in very fact, could present a more regular or
setter defined range, and in some respects more fantastic
outlines. When the bergs first break away from their- native moorings, their forms are ordinarily somewhat regular;
the summits commonly resembling table-land.  This regularity of shape, however, is soon lost under the rays of the
summer sun, the wash of the ocean, and most of all by the
wear of the torrents that gush out of their. own frozen
bosoms. A distinguished navigator of our own time has




THE SEA LIOaNS.                  265
compared' the appearance of these bergs, after their regularity of shape is lost, and they begin to assume the fan-:tastic outlines that uniformly succeed, to that of a deserted
town, built of the purest alabaster, with its edifices crumbling under the seasons, and its countless unpeopled streets,
avenues and alleys. All who have seen the sight unite in
describing it as one of the most remarkable that comes
from the lavish hand of nature.'About nine o'clock on the memorable night in question,
there was a good deal of fog driving over the ocean to increase the obscurity.'This rendered Daggett doubly cautious, and he actually, hauled up close to the wind, heading
off well to the westward, in order to avoid running in among
the bergs, in greater uncertainty than the circumstances
would seem to require. Of course Roswell followed the
movement; and when the moon first diffused its mild rays
on the extraordinary scene, the two schooners were pitching into a heavy sea, within less than a mile of the weatherline of the range of bergs. It was soon apparent that floes
or field ice accompanied the floating mountains, and extended so far to the southward of them as to be already
within an inconvenient if not hazardous proximity to the
two vessels. These floes, however, unlike those previously
encountered, were much broken by the undulations of the
w'aves, and seldom exceeded a quarter of a mile in diameter; while thousands of them were no larger than the ordi
nary drift ice of our own principal rivers in the time of a
freshet. Their vicinity to the track of the schooners, indeed, was first ascertained by the noise they produced in
grinding against each other, which soon made itself audible
even above the roaring of the gale.
Both of our masters now began to be exceedingly uncomlfortable. It was soon quite apparent that Daggett had
been too bold, and had led down towards the ice without.sufficient caution and foresight. As the moon rose, higher
and higher, the difficulties and dangers to leeward.became
at each minute more and more apparent. Nothing could
have been more magnificent than the scene which lay be
fore the eyes of the mariners, or would have produced a
deeper feeling of delight, had it not been for the lively:onsciousness of the risk the two schooners and all. who




2,66'      THE SEA  LIONS.
were in them  unavoidably ran, by being so near and to
windward of such an icy coast, if one may use the expression as relates to floating bodies. By that light it was very
easy to imagine Wilkes' picture of a ruined town of alabaster. There were arches of all sizes and orders. pinna.
cles without number; towers, and even statues and columns.
To these were to be added long lines of perpendicular wall-s,
that it was easy enough to liken to fortresses, dungeons and
temples.. In a word, even theAlps, with all their pecuI.iar grandeur, and certainly.on a.scale so vastly more enlarged, possess no one aspect that is so remarkable for its
resemblance to the labours of man, composed of a material
of the most beautiful transparency, and considered as the
results of human ingenuity, on a scale so gigantic. The
glaciers have'often been likened, and not unjustly, to a
frozen sea; but here were congealed mountains seemingly
hewed into all the forms.of art, not by the chisel it is true,
but by the action of the unerring laws which produced
them.
Perhaps Roswell Gardiner was the only individual in
those two vessels that night who was fully alive to all the
extraordinary magnificence of its unusual pictures.  Ste.
phen -may, in some degree, have been an exception to the
rule; though he saw the hand of God in nearly all things.
" It's wonderful to look at, Captain Gar'ner, isn't it?" said
this worthy seaman, about the time the light of the moon
began.. to tell on the view; ".wonderful, truly, did we not
know who made it all!"  These few and simple -words had
a cheering influence on Roswell, and served to increase
his confidence in eventual success.  God did produce all
things, either directly or indirectly; this even his sceptical
notions could allow; and that which came from  divine
wisdom must be intended for good. lie would take courage,
and for once in his life trust to Providence. The most resolute man by nature feels his courage augmented by such
r resolution.
The gales of the antarctic sea are said to be short, though
violent. They seldom  last six-and-thirty hours, and fol
about a third of that time they blow with their greatest
violence.  As a matter of course, the danger amid the ice
is much increased by' a tempest; though a good working




T'HE SEA LIONS.                   267
breeze, or small gale of wind, perhaps, adds to a vessel's
security, by rendering it easier to handle her, and-to avoid
floes and bergs.  If the ice is sufficient to make a' lee,
smooth water is sometimes a consequence; though it
oftener happens that the turbulence produced in clear water
is partially co0hmunicated over a vast surface, causing the
fields and mountains to grind against each other'under the
resistless power of the. waves. On the present occasion,
however, the schooners were still in open water, where the
wind had along and unobstructed rake, and a sea had got
up that caused both of the little craft to bury nearly to their
gunwales. What rendered their situation still more unpleasant was the fact that all the water which came aboard of
them now soon froze. To this, however, the men were
accustomed, it frequently happening that the moisture deposited on their rigging and spars by the fogs froze during
the nights of the autumn.  Indeed, it has been thought by
some speculators on the subject, that the bergs themselves
are formed in part by a: similar process, though snows undoubtedly are the principal element in their compositioni.
This it is which gives the berg its stratified appearance,
no geological formation being more apparent or regular in
ihis particular than most of these floating mountains.
About ten, the moon was well above the' horizon; the
fog had been precipitated in dew upon the ice, where it
congealed, and helped to arrest the progress of dissolution;
while the ocean became luminous for the hour, and objects
comparatively distinct.  Thenr it was that the seamen first
got a clear insight into the awkwardness of their situation.
The bold are apt to be reckless in the dark; but when
danger is visible, their movements become more wary and
better calculated than those of the timnid.  When Daggett
got this first good look at the enormous masses of the fieldice, that, stirred by the unquiet ocean, were grinding each
other, and raising an unceasing rushing sound like that the
surf produces on'a beach, though far louder, and with a
harshness ~in it that denoted the collision of substances
harder than water, he almost instinctively ordered every
sheet to be flattened down, and the schooner's head brought
as near the wind as her construction permitted. Roswell
observed the change in his consort's line of sailing, slight
23 *




26'8             TH E  SEA  LIONS.
as it was, and imitated the manmuvre.  The sea was too
heavy to dream of tacking, and there was not room to ware.
So close, indeed, were some of the cakes, those that might
be called the stragglers of the grand array, that repeatedly
each vessel brushed along so near them as actually to receive slight shocks from collisions with projecting portions.
It was obvious that the vessels were setting down upon the
ice, and that Daggett did not haul his wind a moment too
-soon.
The half-hour that succeeded was one of engrossing interest. It settled the point whether the schooners could or
could not eat their way into the wind sufficiently t6 weather
the danger. Fragment after fragment was passed; blow
after blow was received; until suddenly the field-ice appeared directly in front. It was in vast quantities, extending to the southward far as the eye could reach.  There
remained no alternative but to attempt to ware.  Without
waiting longer than to assure himself of the facts, Daggett
ordered his helm put up and the main gaff lowered.  At
that moment both the schooners were under their jibs and
foresails, each without its bonnet, and double-reefed main.
sails. This was not canvass very favourable for waring,
there being too much after-sail; but the sheets were attended to, and both vessels were soon driving dead to leeward, amid the foam of a large wave; the next instant, ice
was heard grinding along their sides.
It was not possible to haul up on the other tack ere the
schooners would be surrounded by the floes; and seeing a
comparatively open passage a short distance ahead, Daggett
stood in boldly, followed closely by Roswell.  In ten minutes they were fully a mile within the field, rendering all
attempts to get out of it to windward so hopeless as to be
almost desperate.  The manceuvre of Daggett was begun
under circumstances that scarcely admitted of any alternative, though it might be questioned if it were not the best
expedient that offered. Now that the schooners were so far
within the field-ice, the water was much less broken, though
the undulations of the restless ocean were still considerable, and the grinding of ice occasioned by them was really
terrific. So loud was the noise produced by these constant
and violent collisions, indeed, that the roaring of the wind




THE SEA LIONS.                   269
was barely audible, and that only at intervals. The'sound
was rushing, -like that of an incessant avalanche, attended
by cracking noises that resembled the rending of a glacier.
The schooners now took in their foresails, for the double
purpose of diminishing their velocity and of being in a
better condition to change their course, in order to avoid
dangers ahead. These changes of course were necessarily:frequent; but, by dint of boldness, perseverance and skill.
Daggett worked his way into the comparatively open passage already mentioned. It was a sort of river amid the
floes, caused doubtless by some of the inexplicable currents, and was fully a quarter of a mile in width, straight
as an air-line, and of considerable length; though how
long could not be s4een by moonlight.  It led, moreover,
lirectly down towards the bergs, then distant less than a
mile.  Without stopping to ascertain more, Daggett stood
-on, Roswell keeping close on his quarter. In ten minutes
they drew quite near to that wild and magnificent ruined
city of alabaster that was floating about in the antarctic
sea!
Notwithstanding the imminent peril that now most seriously menaced the two schooners, it was not possible to
approach that scene of natural grandeur without feelings
of awe, that were allied quite as much to admiration as to
dread. Apprehension certainly weighed on every heart;
but curiosity, wonder, even delight, were all mingled in
the breasts of the crews. As the vessels came driving down
into the midst of the bergs, everything contributed to
render the movements imposing in all senses, appalling in
one. There lay the vast maze of floating mountains,
generally of a spectral wAite at that hour, though many of
the masses emitted hues more pleasing, while some were
black as night  The passages between the bergs, or what
might be termed the streets and lanes of this mysteriouslooking, fantastical, yet sublime city of the ocean, were
numerous, and of every variety. Some were broad, straight
avenues, a league in length; others winding and narrow;
while a good many were little more than fissures, that might
be fancried lanes.
The schooners had not run a league within the bergs
before they felt much less of the power of the gale, and the




-270             THE  SEA -LIO NS.
heaving-and setting of the seas were sensibly diminislhed,
What was, perhaps, not to be expected, the field-ice had
disappeared entirely within the passages of the bergs, and
the only difficulty in navigating was to keep in such channels as had outlets, and which did' not appear to be closing.
The rate of sailing of the: two schooners was now greatly
lessened, the mountains usually intercepting the wind,
though it was occasionally heard howling and scuffling in
the ravines, as if in a hurry to escape, and pass on to the
more open seas. ~ The grinding of the ice, too, came down
in the currents of air, furnishing fearful evidence of dangers that were not yet distant.  As the water was now
sufficiently smooth, and the wind, except at the mouths of
particular ravines, was light, there was nothing to prevent
tihe schooners- from  approaching each other.  This was
done, and the two masters held a discourse together on the
subject of their present situation.
"You're a bold fellow, Daggett, and' one I should not
like to'follow in a voyage round the world," commenced
Roswell.  "Here we are, in the midst of some hundreds
of ice-bergs; a glorious sight to behold, I must confessbut are we ever to get out again?"
"It is much better to be here, Gar'ner," returned the
-other, " than to be among the floes. I'm always afraid of
miy starn and my'rudder when among the field-ice;'whereas there is no danger hereabouts that cannot be seen before
a vessel is on it. Give me my eyes, and [ feel that I have
a chance''" There is some truth in that; but I wish these channels
were a good deal wider than thejoare.  A man mayfeel a
berg as well as see it.  Were two of these fellows to take
if into their'heads to close upon us, our little craft would
be crushed like nuts.in the crackers!"
" We must keep a good look-out for that.  Here seems
-'o be a long bit of open passage ahead- of us, and it leads
as near north as we can wish to run.  If we can only get
to the other end of it, I shall feel as if half our passage
back to Ameriky was made."
The citizen of the United States calls his country "America" par excellence, never using the addition of'North,
"as is practised by most European people.  Daggett meant




THE SEA LIONS.                   271'home,' therefore, by his'Ameriky,' in which he'saw nao
other than the east end of Long-Island,-Gardiner's Island,
and Martha's Vineyard.  Roswell understood him, of
course; so no breath was lost.
" In my judgment," returned Gardiner, " we shall not
get clear of this ice for a thousand miles.  Not that I expect to be in a wilderness of it, as we are to-night; but
after such a summer, you may rely on it, -Daggett, that the
ice will get as far north as 45~, if not a few degrees further."
"It is possible: I have seen, it in 42~ myself; and in 400
to the nor'ardof the equator.  If it get as far as 50~, however, in this part of the world, it will do pretty well. That
will be play to what we have just here   In the name of
Divine Providence, what is that, Gar'ner!"
Not a voice was heard in either vessel; scarcely a breath
was drawn! A heavy, groaning sound had been instantly
succeeded by such a plunge into the water, as might be
imagined-to succeed the fall of a fragment from another
planet.  Then all the bergs near by began to rock as if
agitated by an earthquake.  This part of the picture was
both grand and frightful. Many of those masses rose above
the sea more than two hundred feet perpendicularly, and
showed wall-like surfaces of half a league in length. At
the point where the schooners happened to' be just at that
moment, the ice-islands were not so large, but quite as
high, and consequently were more easily agitated. While
the whole panorama was bowing and rocking, pinnacles,
arches, walls and all, seeming about to totter from theim
bases, there came a wave sweeping down the passage that
lifted them high in the air, some fifty feet at least, and bore
them along like pieces of cork, fully a hundred yards.
Other waves succeeded, though of less height and force;
when, gradually, the water regained its former and more
natural movement, and subsided.
"This has been an earthquake'!" exclaimed Daggett.
"That volcano has been pent up, and the gas is stirring
up the rocks beneath the sea."
"No, sir," answered Stimson, from the forecastle of his
own schooner, "it's not that, Captain Daggett. One cf
18




272              TUE SEA. LIONS.
them bergs has turned over, like a whale wallowing, and i,
has set all the others a-rocking."
This was the true-explanation; one that did not occur
to the less experienced sealers.  It is a danger, however,
of no rare occurrence in the ice, and one that ever needs
to be looked to.  The bergs, when they first break loose
from their native moorings, which is, done by the agency
of frosts, as well as by: the action of the seasons in.the
warm months, are usually tabular, and of regular outlines;
but this shape is. soon lost by the action of the waves on
ice of very different degrees of consistency; some being
composed of frozen snow; some of the moisture precipitated from the atmosphere in the shape of fogs; and some
of pure frozen Ewater. The first melts soonest; and a berg
that drifts for any length of time with one particular face
exposed to the sun's rays, soon loses its equilibrium, and
is canted with an inclination to the horizon. Finally, the
centre of gravity gets outside of the base, when the Still
monstrous mass rolls over in the ocean, coming literally
bottom upwards. There are all degrees and varieties of these
ice-slips, if one may so term them, and they bring in their
train the many different commotions that such accidents
would naturally produce. That which had just alarmed
and astonished our navigators was of the following character.  A mass of ice that was about a quarter of a mile in
length, and of fully half that breadth, which floated quite
two hundred feet above the surface of the water, and twice
that thickness beneath it, was the cause of the disturbance.
It had preserved its outlines unusually well, and stood upright to the last moment; though,' owing to numerous strata
of snow-ice, its base had melted much more on one of its
sides than on the other.  When the precise moment arrived
that would have carried a perpendicular line from the cehtre of gravity without this base, the monster turned leisurely
in its lair, producing some such effect as would have been
wrought by the falling of a portion of a Swiss mountain
into a lake; a sort of accident of which there have been
many and remarkable instances.
Stimson's explanation, while it raised the curtain from
all that was mysterious, did.not serve very much to quiet
apprehensions.  If one berg had performed such an evolu



THE SEA  LIONS                   27. 3
tion, it was reasonable to suppose that others might do the
same thing; and the commotion made by this, which was
at a distance, gave some insight into what might be expected fiom' a similar change in another nearer by. Both
Daggett and Gardliner were of opinion that the fall of a
berg of equal size within a cable's length of the schooners
might seriously endanger the vessels by dashing themn
against some wall of ice, if in no other manner. It was
too late, however, to retreat, and the vessels stood on gallantly.
The passage between the bergs now  became quite
straight, reasonably broad,,and was so situated as regarded
the gale, as to receive a full current of its force.  It was
-computed that the schooners ran quite three marine leagues
in the hour that succeeded the overturning of the berg.
There were moments when the wind blew furiously; and,
taking all the accessories of that remarkable-view into the
account, the scene resembled one that the imagination
might present to the mind in its highest flights,' but which
few could ever hope to see with their proper eyes. -The
moon-light, the crowd of ice-bergs of all shapes and dimensions, seeming to flit past by the rapid movements of the
vessels; the'variety of hues, from spectral white to tints
of orange and emerald, pale at that hour yet distinct;
streets and lanes that were scarce opened ere they were
passed; together with all the fantastic images that such
objects conjured to the thoughts; contributed to make that
_hour much the most wonderful that Roswell Gardiner had
ever passed. To add to the excitement, a couple of-whales
came blowing up the passage, coming within a hundred
yards of the schooners. They were fin-backs, which are
-rarely if ever taken, and were suffered to pass unharmed.
To capture a whale, however, amid so many bergs, would
be next to impossible, unless the animal were killed by the
blow of the harpoon, without requiring the keener thrust:of the lance.
At the end of the hour mentioned, the Sea Lion of the
Vineyard rapidly changed her course, hauling up by a sudden movement to the westward.  The passage before her
was closed, and there remained but one visible outlet, towards which the schooner slowly made her way, having




'274            THE  SEA  LIONS.
got rather too much to leeward of it, in consequence of
not earlier seeing the necessity for the change of course in
that dim and deceptive light. Roswell, being to windward,
had less difficulty, but, notwithstanding, he kept his station
on his consort's quarter, declining to lead. The passage into
which Daggett barely succeeded in carrying his schooner
was fearfully narrow, and appeared to be fast closing;
though it was much wider further ahead, could the schooners
but get through the first dangerous strait.  Roswell remonstrated ere the leading vessel entered, and pointed out
to Daggett the fact that the bergs were evidently closing,
each instant increasing their'movement, most probably
through the forge of attraction? It is known that ships are
thus brought in contact in calms, and it is thought a similart influence is exercised on the ice-bergs. At all events,
the wind, the current, or attraction, was fast closing the
passage through which the schooners had now to go.
Scarcely was Daggett within the channel, when an enormous mass fell from the summit of one of the bergs, literally
closing the passage in his wake, while it compelled Gardirner to put his helm down, and to tack ship, standing off
from. the tottering berg.  The scene that followed was
frightful!  The cries on board the leading craft denoted
her peril, but it was not possible for Roswell to penetrate
to her with his vessel. All he could do was to heave-to his
own schooner, lower a boat, and pull back towards the
point of danger. This he did at once, manfully, but with
an anxious mind and throbbing heart. He actually urged
his boat into the chasm beneath an arch in the fallen frag.ment, and made his way to the very side of Daggett's vessel.
The last was nipped again, and that badly, but was not
absolutely lost. The falling fragment from the berg alone
prevented her and all in her from being ground into powder.
This block, of enormous size, kept the two bergs asunder;
and now that they could not absolutely come together, they
began slowly to turn in the current, gradually opening and
separating, at the very point where they had so lately seem.
ed attracted to a closer union. In an hour the way was
clear, and the boats towed the schooner stern foremost into
the broader passage.




THE  SEA  LIONS.                 275
CHAPTER XX
"A voice upon the prairies,
A cry of woman's woe,
That mingleth with the autumn blast
All fitfilly and low."
MRS. SIGOURNEY.
THrE accident to the Sea Lion of the Vineyard occurred
very near the close of the month of March, which, in t.ie
southern hemisphlere, corresponds to our month of September. This was somewhat late for a"vessel to remain in so
high a latitude, though it was not absolutely dangerous to
be found there several weeks longer. We have given a
glance at Mary Pratt and her uncle, about this time; but:it has now become expedient to carry the reader forward
for a considerable period, and take another look at our heroine and her miserly uncle, some seven months later. In
that interval a great change had come over the deacon and
his niece; and hope had nearly deserted all those who had
friends on board the Sea Lion of Oyster Pond, as the following explanation will show was reasonable, and to be
expected.
When Captain Gardiner sailed, it was understood that
his absence would not extend beyond a single season. All
who had friends and connections on board his schooner,
had been assured of this; and great was the anxiety, and
deep the disappointment, when'the. first of our own summer
months -failed to bring back the adventurers.  As. week
succeeded week, and the vessel did not return, the concern
increased, until hope began to be lost in apprehension.
Deacon Pratt groaned in spirit over his loss, finding little'consolation in the gains secured by means of the oil sent
home, as is apt to be the case with the avaricious, when
their hearts are once set on gain.  As for Mary, the load
on her heart increased in weight, as it might be, day by
day, until those smiles, which had caused her sweet countenance to be radiant with innocent joy, entirely disappeared.nd she was seen to smile no.more. Still, complaints neve]
24




27..~6' T:II:E  SEA:LIONS.
passed her lips. She prayed much, and found all her relief
in such pursuits as comported with her feelings, but she
seldom spoke of her grief; never, except at weak moments,
when her querulous kinsman introduced the subject, in his
frequent lanmentations over his losses.
The month of November is apt to be stormy on the At.
1.antic coasts of the republic.  It is true that the heaviest
gales do not then occur, but the weather is generally stern
andl wintry, and the winds are apt to be high and boisterous. At a place like Oyster Pond, the gales from the
ocean are felt with almost as much power as on board a
vessel at sea; and Mary became keenly sensible of the
change from the bland breezes of summer to the sterner
blasts of autumn. As for the'deacon, his health was actually giving way before'anxiety, until the result was getting
to be a matter of doubt.  Premature old- age appeared to
have settled on him, and his niece had privately consulted
Dr. Sage on his case.  Thie excellent girl was grieved to
find that the mind of her uncle grew more worldly, his desires for wealth more grasping, as he was losing his hold
on life, and was approaching nearer to that hour when time
is succeeded by eternity.  All this while, however, Deacon
Pratt " kept abcut," as he expressed it himself, and struggled to look after his interests, as had been his practice
through life.'He collected his debts, foreclosed his mortgages when necessary, drove tight bargains for his wood
and other saleable articles, and neglected nothing that he
thought would tend to increase his gains.  Still, his heart
was with his schooner; for he had expected much from
that adventure, and the disappointment was in proportion
to the former hopes.
One day, near the close of November, the deacon and his
niece were alone together in the "keeping-room,"-as it
was, if it be not still, the custom among persons of New
England origin to call the ordinary sitting-apartment,-he
bolstered up in an easy-chair, on account of increasing infirmities, and she plying the needle in her customary way.
The chairs of both were so placed that it was easy for either
to look out upon that bay, now of a wintry aspect, where
Roswell had last anchored, previously to sailing.
What a pleasant sight it would be, uncle," Mary, al



THE SEA LI-ONS.                  277
most unconsciously to herself, zemarked, as, with tearful
eyes, she sat gazing. intently on the water, "could we only
awake and find the Sea Lion at anchor, under the point of
Gardiner's Island  I often fancy that such amay be —lay;
must be the case yet; but it never comes to pass! I would
not tell you yesterday, for you did not seem to be as well
as common, but I have got an answer, by Baiting Joe, to
my letter sent across to the Vineyard.".T.he.deacon started, and half-turned -his body towards
his niece, on whose face his own sunken eyes were now
-fastened with almost ferocious interest. It was the love of
Mammon, stirring within him the lingering remains of covetousness. He thought of his property, while Mary thought
of those whose lives had been endangered, if not lost, by
the unhappy adventure.  The latter. understood the look,
however, so far as to answer its inquiry, in her usual gentle,
feminine voice.
"I am sorry to say, sir, that no news has been heard
from Captain Daggett, or any. of his people," was the sad
reply to this silent interrogatory.  "No one on the island
has heard a word from the Vineyard vessel since the day
before she sailed from Rio. There is the same uneasiness
felt, among Captain Daggett's friends, as we feel for poor
Roswell.  They think, however, that the two vessels have
kept together, and believe that the same fate has befallen
both."
"'Heaven forbid!" exclaimed the deacon, as sharply as
wasting lungs would allow-," Heaven forbid! If Gar'ner
has let that Daggett keep in his. company an hour longer
than was necessary, he has deserved to meet with shipwreck,
though the loss always falls heaviest on the owners."
" Surely, uncle, it is more cheering-to think that the two
schooners are together in those dangerous seas, than to
Imagine one, alone, left to meet the risks, without a companion!"
"You talk idly, gal-as women always talk. If you
know'd all, you wouldn't think of such a thifg."
" So you have said often, uncle, and I fear there is some
mystery preying all this time on your spirits. Why not
relieve your mind, by telling your troubles to me?  I am
your child in affection, if not by birth."




278             THE  SEA  LIONS.
"You're a good gal, Mary," answered the deacon, a
good deal softened by the plaintive tcnes of one of the geintlest voices that ever fell on human ear, "an excellent crea.
tur' it the bottom —but of course you know nothing of the
sealing business, and next to nothing about taking care of
property."
" I hope you do not think me wasteful, sir? That is a
character I should not like to possess."
"No, not wasteful; on the contrary, curful (so the deacon pronounced the word) and considerate enough, as to
keeping, but awfully indifferent as to getting. Had I been
as indifferent as you are yourself, your fuitur' days would
not be so comfortable and happy as they are now likely to
be, a'ter my departure —if depart I must."
",My future'life happy and comfortable!" thought Mary;
then she struggled to be satisfied with her lot, and contented
with the decrees of Providence.  "It is but a few hours
that we live in this state of trials, compared to the endless
existence that is to succeed it."
".I wish I knew all about this voyage of Roswell's," she
added, aloud; for she was perfectly certain that there was
something to be told that, as yet, the deacon had concealed
from her.  "It might relieve your mind, and lighten your
spirits of a burthen, to make me a confidant."
The deacon mused in silence for more than five minutes
Seldom had his thoughts gone over so wide a reach of in
terests and events in so short a space of time; but the conclusion was clear and decided.
"You ought to know all, Mary, and you shall know ail,'.
he answered, in the manner of a man who had made up his
mind beyond appeal. " Gar'ner has gone a'ter seal to some
islands that the Daggett who died here, about a year and
a half ago, told me of; islands of which nobody know'd
anything, according to his account, but himself. His ship
mates, that saw the place when he saw it, were all dead,
afore he let rne into the secret."
"I have long suspected something of the.sort, sir, and
have also supposed that the people on Martha's Vineyard
had got some news of this place, by the manner in which
Captain Daggett has acted."
"Isu't it wonderfil, gal?  Islands, they tell me, where




THE SEA LIONS.                   279
a schooner can fill up with' ile and skins, in the shortesi
season in which the sun ever shone upon an antarctic summer I Wonderful! wonderful!"
"Very extraordinary, perhaps; but we should remember,
uncle, at how much risk the young men of the country go
on these distant voyages, and how dearly their profits are
sometimes bought."
"Bought!  If the schooner would only come back, 1
should think nothing of all that. It's the cost of the vessel
and outfit, Mary, that weighs so much.on my spirits.: Well,
Gar'ner's first business is' with them  islands, which are at
an awful distance for one to trust his property; but,' no.
thing ventured, notlting got,' they say. By my calculations,
the schooner has had to go a good-five hundred miles among
the ice, to get to the spot; not such ice as a body falls in
with, in going and coming between England and Ameriky,
as we read of in the papers, but ice that covers the sea as
we sometimes see it piled up in Gar'ner's Bay, only a hundred times higher, and deeper, and broader, and colder!
It's desperate. cold ice, the sealers' all tell me, that of the
antarctic seas. Some on'em think it's colder down south
than it is the other way, up towards Greenland and Iceland
itself.  It's extr'or'nary, Mary, that the weather should
grow cold as a' body journeys south; but so it is, by all
accounts.  1 never could understand it, and it isn't so in
Ameriky, I'm  sartain.  I suppose it must come of their
turning the months round and having their winter in the
midst of the dog-days. I never could understand it, though
Gar'ner has tried, more than once, to reason me into it. [
believe, but I don't understand."
"It is -all told in my geography here," answered Mary,
mechanically taking down the book, for her thoughts were
far away in those icy seas that her uncle had been so graphically describing. "I dare say we can find it all explained
in the elementary parts of this book."
"They do mak!e their geographies useful, now-a-days,"
said -the deacon, with rather more animation than he had
shown before, that morning. "They've got'em to be,
nlow, almost as useful as almanacs. Read what it says
about the seasons, child."
"It says, sir, that the changes in the seasons are owing
24 ~




280             THE SE A LIONS.
to' the inclination of the earth's axis to the plane of its
orbit.' I do not exactly understand what that means, uncle.'
"No —it's not as clear as it might be.-The declination-"
"Inclination, sir, is what is printed here."
"Ay, inclination. I do not see why any one should have
much inclination for winter, but so it must be, I suppose.
The "arth's orbit has an inclination towards changes,' you
say."
" The changes in the seasons, sir, are owing to' the inclination of the earth's axis to the plane of its orbit.' It
does not say that the orbit has an inclination in any particular way."
Thus was it w4th Mary Pratt, and thus was it with her
uncle, the deacon. One of the plainest problems in natural philosophy was Hebrew to both, simply because the capacity that Providence had so freely bestowed on each had
never been turned to the consideration of such useful studies.. But, while the mind of Mary Pratt was thus obscured
on this simple, and, to such as choose to give it aan hour of
reflection, perfectly intelligible proposition, it was radiant
as the day on another mystery, and one that has confounded
thousands of the learned, as well as of the unlearned. To
her intellect, nothing was clearer, no moral truth more
vivid, no physical fact more certain, than the incarnation
of the Son of God. She had the " evidence of things not
seen," in the fulness of Divine grace; and was profound
on this, the greatest concern of human life, while unable
even to comprehend how the " inclination of the earth's
axis to the plane of its orbit"' could be the cause of the
change of the seasons. And was it thus with her uncle?he who was a pillar of the "meeting," whose name was
often in men's mouths as a " shining light," and who had
got to be identified with religion in his own neighbourhood,
to a degree that caused most persons to think of Deacon
Pratt, when they should be thinking of #he Saviour?  We
are afraid he knew as little of one of these propositions as
of the other.
"It's very extr'or'nary," resumed the deacon, after ruminating on the matter for a few moments, " but I suppose
it is so.  Wasn't it for this' inclination' to cold,,eather,




THE S E'A LIONS.                 281
our vessels might go and seal: trander as pleasant skies as we
have here in June.  But, Mary, I suppose that wasn't to
be, or it would be."
"There would have been no seals, most likely, uncle, if
there was no ice. They tell me that such creatures love
the cold and the ice, and the frozen oceans. Too much
warm weather would not suit them."' "But, Mary, it might suit other folks! Gar'ner's whole
ar'nd isn't among the ice, or a'ter them seals."
"I do not know that I understand you, sir  Surely
Rinswell has gone on a sealing voyage."
"Sartain; there's no mistake about that.'But there
may be many stopping-places in so long a road.";' Do you mean, sir, that he is to use any of these stopping-places, as you call them?" asked Mary, eagerly, halfbreathless with her anxiety to hear all. "You said something about the West Indies once."
" Harkee, Mary-just look out into the entry and see if
the kitchen door is shut.  And: now come nearer to me,
child, so that there may be no need of bawling what I've
got to say all over Oyster Pond. There, sit down, my dear,
and don't look so eager, as if you wanted to eat me, or my
mind may misgive me, and then I couldn't tell you, a'ter
all. Perhaps it would be best, if I was to keep my own
secret."' Not if it has anything to do with. Roswell, dear uncle;
not if it has anything to do with him! You.have often
advised me to marry him, and I ought to know all about
the man you wish me to marry."
" Yes, Gar'ner will make a right good husband for any
young woman, and I do advise you to have him.  You are
my brother's da'ghter, Mary, and I give you this advice,
which I should give you all the same, had you been my
own child, instead of his'n."
"Yes, sir, I know that. —But what about Roswell, and
his having to stop, on his way home?"
"Why, you must know, Mary, that this v'y'ge came al
together out of that seaman who died among us, last year
I was kind to him, as you may remember, and helped him
to many little odd comforts,"-odd enough were they, of a
verity,-" and he was grateful.: Of all virtues, give me




282             THE  SEA  LIO'NS
gratitude, say I!.lt is the noblest, as it is the most oncom
mon of all our good qualities. How little have I' met with.
in my day! Of all the presents I have made, and gifts bestowed, and good acts done, not one in ten has ever met
with any gratitude."
Mary sighed; for well did she know how little he had
given, of his abundance, to relieve the wants of. his fellowcreatures.  She sighed, too, with a sort of mild impatience
that the information she sought with so much eagerness,
was so long and needlessly delayed.  But the deacon had
made up his mind to tell her all.
"Yes, Gar'ner has got something to do, beside sealing,"
he resumed of pimself, when his regret at the prevalence
of ingratitude among men had exhausted itself. " Suthin'"
-for this was the way he pronounced that word —" that is
of more importance than the schooner's hold full of ile. lle
is ile, I know, child; but gold is gold. What do you think
of that?"
"Is Roswell, then, to stop at Rio again, in order to sell
his oil, and send the receipts home in gold?"
"Better than that- much better than that, if he gets
back at all." Mary felt a chill at her heart. " Yes, that is
the p'int —if he gets back at all. If Gar'ner ever does
come home, child, I shall expect to see him return with a
considerable sized keg-almost a barrel, by all accountsfilled with gold!"
The deacon stared about him as he made this announce.
ment, like a man who was afraid that he was telling too
much. Nevertheless, it was to his own niece, his brother's
daughter, that he had confided thus much of his great secret —- and reflection re-assured him.
" How is Roswell to get all this gold, uncle, unless he
sells his cargo?" Mary asked, with obvious solicitude.
"That's another p'int.  I'll tell you all about it, gal,
and you'11 see the importance of keeping the secret. This
Daggett- not the one who is out in another schooner, another Sea Lion, as it might be, but his uncle, who died
down here at the Widow White's-well, that Daggett told
more than the latitude and longitude of the sealing islands
-he told me of a buried treasure 




1'HE SEA LiONS.                  283
".Buried treasure! —Buried by whom, and consisting of
what, uncle?"
"'Buried by seamen who make free with the goods of
others oi the. high seas, ag'in the time when they might
come back and dig it up, and carry it away to be used.
Consisting of what, indeed! Consisting principally, accordir' to Daggett's account, of heavy doubloons; though
there was' a lot of old English guineas among'em. Yes, I
remember that he spoke of them' guineas —three thousand
anri odd, and nearly as many doubloons!"
" Was Daggett, then, a pirate, sir? —for they who make
free with the goods of others on the high seas are neither
more nor less than pirates."
" No; not he, himself.. He got this secret from one who
was a pirate, however, and who was a prisoner in a gaol
where he.was himself confined for smuggling. Yes; that
man told him all about the buried treasure, in return for
some acts of kindness shown him by Daggett. It'.s well
to be kind sometimes, Mary."
" It is well to be kind always, sir; even when it is misunderstood, and the kindness is abused.  What was the
redemption but kindness and love, and. god-like compassion
on those who neither understood -it nor felt it? But money
collected and buried by pirates can never become yours,
uncle; nor can it ever become the property of Roswell
Gardiner."
"Whose is it, then, gal?" demanded the-deacon, sharply.
"Gar'ner had some such silly notion in his head when I
first told him of this treasure; but I- soon brought him to
hear reason."
"I think Roswell must always have seen that a treasure
obtained by robbery -can never justly belong to any but its
rightful owner."
"And who is this rightful owner, pray? or owners, I
might say; for the gold was picked up, here and there, out
of all question, from many hands. Now, supposing Gar'ner
gets this treasure, as I still hope he may, though he is an
awful time about it —but suppose he gets it, how is he to
find the rightful owners?' There it is, a bag of doubloons,
say-all looking just alike, with the head of a king, a Don
Somebody, and the date, and the Latin and Greek —now




284             THE  SEA LIONS.
who can say that'this is my doubloon; I lost it at sucn a
time —it was taken from me by such a pirate, in such sea;
and I was whipped till I told the thieves where I had hid
the gold?' No, no, Mary; depend on't, no action.of'plevy
-Would lie ag'in a single one of all them pieces. They -are
lost, one and all, to their former owners, and will belong
to the man that succeeds in getting hold on'etn ag'in; who
will become a rightful owner in his turn. All property
comes from law; and if the law won't'plevy money got in
this way, nobody can mnIiDtain a claim to it."
"I should be very, very sorry, my dear uncle, to have
Roswell enrich himself in this way."
" You talk like a silly young woman, and one that doesn't
know her own rights. We had no hand in robbing the folks
of their gold. They lost it years ago, and may be deadprobably are, or they would make some stir about it - or
have forgotten it, and couldn't for their lives tell a single
one of the coins they once had in their possession; and
don't know whether what they lost was thrown into. the
sea, or buried in the sand on a key-Mary, child; you
must never mention anything I tell you on this subject!"
"You need fear nothing, sir, from me.  But I do most
earnestly hope Roswell will have nothing to do with any
such ill-gotten wealth. He is too noble-hearted and generous to get rich in this way.".
" Well, well, say no more about it, child; you're romantic
and notional. Just pour out my drops; for all this talking
makes me breathe thick. I'm not what I was, Mary, and
cannot last long; but was it the last breath I drew, I would
stand to it, that treasure desarted and found in this way
belongs to the last holder.  I go by the law, however; let
Gar'ner only find it -well, well, I'll say no more about it
now; for it' distresses you, and that I don't like to see.
Go anad hunt up the Spectator, child, and look for the
whaling news-perhaps there may be suthin' about the
sealers too."
Mary did not require to be told twice to do as her uncle
requested. The paper was soon found, and the column
that contained the marine intelligence consulted.  The
niece read a long account of whalers spoken, with so many
hundred or so many thousand barrels of oil on board, but




rHE SEA LIONS.                   285
could discover no allusion -to any sealer.  At length she
turned her, eyes into the body of the journal, which being
semi-weekly, or tri-weekly, was crowded with matter, and
started at seeing a paragraph to the following effect:"By the arrival of the Twin Sisters at Stonington, we
learn that the ice has been found farther north in the
southern hemisphere this season, than it has been known
to be for many years. The sealers have had a great deal
of difficulty in making their way through it; and even
vessels bound round the Cape of Good Hope have been
much embarrassed by its presence."
"That's it!-Yes, Mary, that.'s just it!" exclaimed the
deacon.  "It's tha# awful ice. If'twasn't for the ice,
sealin' would be as pleasant a calling as preachin' the gos.:
pel! It is possible that this ice has turned Gar'ner back.
when he has been on his way home, and that he has been
waiting for a better time to come north. There's one good
p'int in this news-they tell me that when the ice is seen
drifting about in low latitudes, it's a sign there's less of it
in the higher."
" The Cape of Good Hope is certainly, in one sense, in
a low latitude," uncle; if I remember right, it.is not as far
south as we are north; and, as you say, it is a good sign
if the ice has come anywhere near it."
"I don't say it has, child; I don't say it has. But it may
have come to the northward of Cape Horn, and that will
be a great matter; for all the ice that is drifting about
thEre comes from the polar seas, and is so much taken out:of Gar'ner's track."
"Still he must come through it to get home," returned
Mary, in her sweet, melancholy tones. "Ah! why cannot
men be content with the blessings that Providence places
within our immediate reach, that they must make distant
voyages to accumulate others!'"
"You like your tea,- I fancy, Mary Pratt-and the sugat
in it, and your silks and ribbons that I've seen you wear;
how are you to get such matters if there's to be no going
on v'y'ges?  Tea and sugar, and silks and satins don't
grow along with the clams on' Yster Pond' "-for so the
deacon uniformly pronounced the word' oyster.'
Mary acknowledged the truth of what was said, but




286             THE SEA LIONS.
changed the subject. The journal contained no more thai
related' to sealing or sealers, and'it was soon laid aside.
" It may be that Gar'ner is digging for the buried trea.
sure all this time," the deacon at length resumed. " That
may be the reason he is so late. If so, he has nothing to
dread from ice."
"I understand you, sir, that this -money is supposed tobe buried on a key-in the West Indies, of course."
"Don't speak so loud, Mary-there's no need of letting
all'Yster Pond know where the treasure is. It may be- in
the West Ingees, or it may not; there's keys all over the'arth, I take it."
" Do you not think, uncle, that Roswell would write, if
detained long among those keys?"
"You wouldn't hear to post-offices in the antarctic
ocean, and now you want to put them on the sand-keys of
the West Ingees! Woman's always a sailin' ag'in wind
and tide."
"I do not think so, sir, in this case, at least. There
must be many vessels passing among the keys of the West
Indies, and nothing seems to me to be easier than to send
letters by them. I am quite sure Roswell would write, if
in a part of the world where he thought what he wrote
would reach us."
"Not he-not he-Gar'ner's not the man I take him for,
if he let any one know what he is about in them keys, until
he had done up all his business there. No, no, Mary. We
shall never hear from him in that quarter of the world. It
may be that Gar'ner is a digging about, and has difficulty
in finding.the place; for Daggett's account had some weak
spots in it."
Mary made no reply, though. she thought.it very little
likely that Roswell would pass months in the West Indies
employed in such a pursuit, without finding the means of
letting her know where he was, and what he was about.
The intercourse between these young people was somewhat
peculiar, and ever had been.  In listening to the suit of
Roswell, Mary had yielded to her heart; in hesitating about
accepting him, she deferred to her principles.  Usually, a
mother-not a managing, match-making, interested parent,
but a prudent, feminine, well-pmincipled mother —is of the




THE  SEA  LIONS.                 287
last importance to the character and well-being of a young
woman.  It sometimes happens, however, that a female
who has no parent of her own sex, and who is early made
to be dependent on herself, if the bias of her mind is good,
becomes as careful and prudent of herself and her conduct
as the advice and solicitude of the most tender mother
could make her. Such had been the case with Mary Pratt.
Perfectly conscious of her own deserted situation, high
principled, and early awake to the defects in her uncle's
character, she had laid down severe rules for the government of her own conduct;. and from these rules she never
departed. Thus it was that she permitted Roswell to write.
though she never answered his letters. She permitted him
to write, because she had promised not to shut her ears to
his suit, so long as he practised towards her his native and
manly candour;'concealing none of his opinions, and confessing his deficiency on the one great point that formed
the only obstacle to their union.
A young woman who has no mother, if she escape the
ills attendant on the privation while her character is formning, is very apt to acquire qualities that are of great use in
her future life.  She learns to rely on herself, gets- accustomed to think and act like an accountable being, and is
far more likely to become a reasoning and useful head of a
family, than if brought up in dependence, and under the
control of even the best maternal government. In a word,
the bias of the mind is sooner obtained in such circumrnstances than when others do so much of the thinking:
whether that bias be in a right or in a wrong direction.
But Mary Pratt had early taken the true direction in all
that relates to opinion and character, and had never been
wanting to herself in any of the distinctive and discreet
deportment of her sex.
Our heroine hardly knew whether or not to seek for
consolation in her uncle's suggestion of Roswell's being
detained among the keys, in order to look for the hidden
treasure. The more she reflected on this subject, the more
did it embarrass her. Few persons who knew of the existence of such a deposit would hesitate about taking possession of it; and, once reclaimed, in what way were the best
intentions to he satisfied with the disposition of the gold?
25             19




288             THE SEA LIONS.
To find the owners would probably be impossible; and a
question in casuistry remained.  Mary pondered much on
this subject, and came to the-conclusion that, were she the
person to whom such a treasure were committed, she would
set aside a certain period for advertising; and failing to
discover those who had the best claim to the money, that
she would appropriate every dollar to a charity.
Alas! Little did Mary understand the world. The fact
hat mioney was thus advertised would probably have brought
forward a multitude of dishonest pretenders to having been
robbed by pirates; and scarce a doubloon would have found
its way into the pocket of its right owner, even had she
yielded all to the statements of such claimants.
All this, however, did not bring back the missing Roswell. Another winter was fast approaching, with its chilling storms and gales, to awaken apprehensions by keeping
the turbulence of the ocean, as it might be, constantly before the senses. Not a week now passed that the deacon
did not get a letter from some wife, or parent, or sister, or
perhaps from one who hesitated to avow her relations to
the absent mariner; all inquiring after the fate of those
who had sailed in the Sea Lion of Oyster Pond, under the
orders of Captain Roswell Gardiner.
Even those of the.Vineyard sent across questions, and
betrayed anxiety and dread, in the very manner of putting
their interrogatories.  Each day did the deacon's apprehensions increase, until it was obvious to all around him
that this cause, united to others that were more purely
physical, perhaps, was seriously undermining his health,
and menacing his existence.  It is a sad commentary on
the greediness for gain, manifested by this person, that ere
the adventure he had undertaken on the strength of Daggett's reluctant. communications was brought to any apparent result, he himself was nearly in the condition of that
diseased seaman, with as little prospect of being benefited
bly his secrets as was the man himself who first communicated their existence.  Mary' saw all this. clearly, and
mourned almost as much over the blindness and worldli.
ness of her uncle as she did over the now nearly assured
fate of him whorn she had so profoundly loved in her heart's
-core.




THE  SEA  LIONS.                  28i
Day by day did time roll on, without bringing any tidings
of either of the Sea Lions. The deacon grew weak fast,
until he seldom left his room, and still more rarely the
house. It was now that he was induced to make his will,
and this by an agency.so singufar as to deserve  being mentioned.  The Rev. Mr. Whittle broached the subject one
day, not with any interested motive ot course, but simply
because the "meeting-house" wanted some material repairs, and there was a debt on the congregation that it
might be a pleasure to one who had long stood in the relation to it that Deacon Pratt filled, to pay off, when he no
longer had any occasion for the money for himself  It is
probable the deacon at' length felt the justice of this remark;.for he sent to Riverhead for a lawyer, and made a
will that would have.stood even the petulant and envious
justice of the present day; a justice that inclines to divide
a man's estate infinitesimally, lest some heir become a
little richer than his neighbours. After all, no small portion of that which struts about under the aspects of right,
and liberty, and benevolence, is in truth derived from some
of the most sneaking propensities of human nature!
CHAPTER XXI.
"I, too, have seen thee on thy surging path
When the night-tempest met thee; thou didst dash
Thy white arms high in heaven, as if in wrath,
Threatening the angry sky;- thy waves did lash
The labouring vessel, and with deadening crash
Rush madly forth to scourge its groaning sides;
Onward thy billows came, to meet and clash
In a wild warfare, till the lifted tides
Mingled their yesty tops, where: the dark storm-cloud rides."
PERCIVAL.
THE first movement of the mariner, when his vessel has
been brought in' collision with any-hard substance, is to
sound the pumps. This very necessary duty was in the act
of performance by-Daggett, in person, even while the boats




290             THE SEA LIONS.
of Roswell Gardiner were towing his strained and roughly
treated craft into the open water. The result of this ex:amination was waited for by all on board, including Roswell,
with the deepest anxiety. The last held the lantern by
which the height of the water in the well was to be ascertained; the light of the moon scarce sufficing for such a
purpose.  Daggett stood on the top of the pump himself,
while Gardiner and Macy were at its side.  At length the
sounding-rod came up, and its lower end was held out, in
order to ascertain bow high up it was wet.
"Well, what do you make of it, Gar'ner?" Daggett demnanded,.a little impatiently.  "Water there must be; for
no craft that floats could have stood such a squeeze, and
not have her sides open."
"There must be nealt three feet of water in your hold,"
answered Roswell, shaking his head: "If this goes on,
Captain Daggett, it will be hard work to keep your schooner
afloat!"
"Afloat she shall be, while a pump-break can work.
Here, rig this larboard pump at once, and get it in motion."
"It is possible that your seams opened under the nip, and
have closed again, as.soon as the schooner got free. In such
a case, ten minutes at the pump will let us know it."
Although there is no duty to which seamen are so averse
as pumping-none, perhaps, that is actually so exhausting
and laborious-it often happens that they have recourse to
it with eagerness, as the only available means of saving
their lives. Such was now the case, the harsh but familiar
strokes of the pump-break being audible amid the more
solemn and grand sounds of the grating of ice-bergs, the
rushing of floes, and the occasional scuffling and howling
of the winds. The last appeared to have changed in their
direction, however; a circumstance that was soon noted,
there being much less of biting cold in the blasts than had
been felt in the earlier hours of the night.
"I do believe that the wind has got round here to the
north-east," said Roswell, as he paced the quarter-deck
with Daggett, still holding in his hand the well wiped and
dried sounding-rod, in readiness for another trial.  "That
last puff was right in our teeth!"




THE  SEA LIONS.                  291
"Not in our teeth, Gar'ner; no,. not in my teeth," an
swered Daggett, " whatever. it may be in your'n.  I shall
try to get back to the island, where I shall endeavour to
beach the schooner, and get a look at her leaks. This is
the most I can hope for. It would never do to think of
carrying a craft, after such a nip, as far as Rio, pumping
every foot of the way!"
"That will cause a great delay, Captain Daggett," said
Roswell, doubtingly.  "We' are now well in among the
first great body of the ice; it may be as easy to work oui
way to the northward of it, as to get back into clear water
to the southward."
" I dare say it would: but, back I go. I do not ask you
to accompany us, Gar'ner; by no means. A'ter the handsome manner in which you've waited for us so long, I
couldn't think of such. a thing! If the wind has r'ally got
round to nothe-east, and I begin to think it has, I shall get
the schooner: into the cove in four-and-twenty hours; and
there's as pretty a spot to beach her, just under the shelf
where we kept our spare casks, as a body can wish.  In a
fortnight we'll have her leaks all stopped, and be jogging
along in your wake. You'll tell the folks on Oyster Pond
that we're a-coming, and they'll be sure to send the news
across to the Vineyard."
This was touching Roswell on a point of honour, ana
Daggett knew it very well. Generous and determined, the
young man was much more easily influenced by a silent
and indirect appeal to his liberal qualities, than he could
possibly have been by any other consideration. The idea
of deserting'a companion in distress, in asea like that in
which he was, caused him to shrink from what, under other
circumstances, he would regard as an imperative duty;
The deacon, and still more, Mary, called him north; but
the necessities of the Vineyarders would seem to chain him
to their fate.
"Let us see what the pump tells us now," cried Roswell
impatiently. "Perhaps the report may make matters bettei
ihan we have dared to hope for. If the pump gains on the
leak, all may yet be well."
"It's encouraging and hearty to hear you say this; but
no one who was in that nip, as a body might say, can ever
25 *




29-2            THE SEA LIONS.
expect the schooner to make a run of two thousand miles
without repairs. To my eye, Gar'ner, these bergs are separating, leaving us a clearer passage back to the open
water."
"I do believe you are right; but it seems a sad loss of
time, and a great risk, to go through these mountains again,"
returned Roswell. "The wind has shifted; and the nearest
bergs, from some cause or other, are slowly opening; but
recollect what a mass of floe-ice there is outside. Let us
sound again."
The process was renewed this time much easier than
before, the boxes being already removed. The result was
soon known.
"Well, whiat news, Gar'ner?" demanded Daggett, leaning down, in a vain endeavour to perceive the almost imperceptible marks that distinguished the wet part of the
rod from that which was dry.. "Do we gain on the leak,
or does the leak gain on us?  God send it may be the
first!"
"God has so sent it, sir," answered Stimson, reverently;
for he was holding the lantern, having remained on board
the damaged vessel by the order of his officer. "It is He
alone, Captain Daggett, who could do this much to seamen
in distress."
"Then to God be thanks, as is due! If we can but
keep the leak under, the schooner may yet be saved."
"I think it may be done, Daggett," added Roswell.
"That one pump has brought the water down more than
two inches; and, in my judgment, the two together would
clear her entirely."
" We'11 pump her till she sucks!" cried Daggett. " Rig
the other pump, men, and go to the work heartily."
This was done, though not until Roswell ordered fully
half of his own crew to come tb the assistance of his consort. By this time the two vessels had filled away, made
more sail, and were running off before the new wind, retracing their steps, so far as one might judge of the position
of the great passage. Daggett's vessel led, and Hazard
followed; Roswell still'remaining on board the injured
craft. Thus passed the next few hours. The pumps soon
sucked, and it was satisfactorily ascertained that the




THE SEA LIONS.                   293
schooner could be freed from the water by working at them
about one-fourth -of the time. This was a bad leak, and
one that would have caused any crew to become exhausted
in the course of a few days. As Roswell ascertained the
facts more clearly, he became better satisfied with a decision that, in a degree, had been forced on.him.  He was
passively content to return with Daggett, convinced that
taking the inrjured vessel to Rio was out of the question,
until some attention had been paid to her damages.
Fortune-or as Stimson would' say, Providence-favoured our mariners greatly in the remainder of their run among
the bergs. There were several avalanches of snow quite
near to them, and one more berg performed a revolution
at no great distance; but no injury was sustained by either
vessel.: As the schooners got once more near to the fieldice, Roswell went on board his own craft; and all the boats,
which had been towing in the open passage' were run up
and secured.  Gardiner now led, leaving his -consort to
follow as closely in his wake as she could keep.
Much greater difficulty; and dangers indeed, were encountered among the broken and grating floes, than had
been' expected, or previously met with. Notwithstanding
fenders were got out on all sides, many a' rude shock was
sustained, and the copper suffered in several places. Once
or twice, Roswell apprehended that the schooners would
be crushed by the pressure on their sides.  The hazards
were in some measure increased by the bold manner in
which our navigators felt themselves called on to push
ahead; for time was very precious in every sense, not only
on account of'the waning season, but actually on account
of the fatigue undergone by men who were compelled to
toil at the pumps one minute in every four.
At -the return of day, now getting to be later than it had
been during the early months. of their visit to these seas,
our adventurers found themselves in the centre of vast fields
of floating ice, driving away from the bergs, which, influenced by under-currents, were'still floating north, while
the7 floes drove to the southward.  It was very desirable to
get clear of all this cake-ice, though the grinding among it
was by no means as formidable as when the seas were running high, and the whole of the frozen expanse was in




294             THE SEA LIONS.
violent commotion. Motion, however, soon became nearly
impossible, except as the schooners drifted in the midst of
the mass, which was floating south at the rate of about two
knots.
Thus passed an entire day and night.  So compact was
the ice around them, that the mariners passed from one
vessel to the other on it, with the utmost confidence.  No
apprehension was felt so long as the wind'stood in its present quarter, the fleet of bergs actually forming as good a
lee as-if they had been so much land. On the morning of
the second'day, all this suddenly changed. The ice began
to open; why, was matter of conjecture, though it was attributed to a variance between the wind and the currents.
This, in some measure, liberated the schooners, and they
began to move independently of the floes. About noon,
the smoke of the volcano became once more visible; and
before the sun went down the cap of the highest elevation
in the group was seen, amid flurries of snow.
Every one was glad to see these familiar land-marks,
dreary and remote'from the haunts of men as they were
known to, be; for there was a promise in them of a tempo.
rary termination of their labours.  Incessant pumpingone minute in four being thus employed on board the Vineyard craft — was producing its customary effect; and the
men looked jaded and exhausted. No one who has not stood
at a pump-break on board a vessel, can form any notion of
the nature of the toil, or of the extreme dislike with which
seamen regard it. The tread-mill, as we conceive-for our
experience extends to the first, though not to the last of
these occupations -is the nearest approach to the pain of
such toil, though the convict does not work for his life.
On the morning of the fourth day, our mariners founid
themselves in the great bay, in clear water, about a league
from the cove, and nearly dead to windward of their port.
The helms were put up, and the schooners were soon within
the well-known shelter.  As they ran in, Roswell gazed
around him, in regret, awe, and admiration. He could not
but regret being compelled to lose so much precious time,
at that particular season. Short as had been his absence
from the group, sensible changes in the aspect of things
had already occurred. Every sign of summer - and they




THE  SEA  LION.S.                295
had ever been few and meagre —was now lost; a chill and
dreary autumn having succeeded. As a matter of course,
nothing wa3 altered about the dwelling; the piles of wood,
and other objects. placed there by the hands of man, remaining just as they had been left; but even these looked
less cheering, more unavailable, than when last seen. To
the surprise of all, not a seal was visible. From some cause
unknown to the men, all of these animals had disappeared,
thereby defeating one of Daggett's secret calculations; this
provident master having determined, in his own mind, to
profit by his accident, and seize the occasion to fill up.
Some said that the creatures had gone north to winter;
others asserted that they had been alarmed, and had taken
refilge on one of the other islands; but all agreed in saying
that they wdre gone.
It is known that a seal will occasionally wander a great
distance from what may be considered his native waters;
but we are not at all aware that they are to be considered
as migratory animals. The larger species usually take a
wide range of climate to dwell in, and even the little furseal'sometimes gets astray, and is found on coasts that do
not usually come within his haunts. As respects the animals
that so lately abounded on Sealer's Land, we shall hazard
no theory, our business being principally with facts; but a
Conversation that took place between the two chief mates
on this occasion may possibly assist some inquiring mind
in its speculations.
"Well, Macy," said Hazard, pointing along the deserted
rocks, " what do you think of that?  Not an animal to be
seen, where there were lately thousands!"
i" What do I think of it.? -Why, I think they are off,
and I've know'd such things to happen afore"-The
sealers of 1819 were not very particular about their English, even among their officers -" Any man who watches
for signs and symptoms, may know how to take this."
"'I should like to hear it explained; to me it is quite
flew."
"The seals are off, and that is a sign we should be off,
too.' There's my explanation, and you may make what
you please of it.  Naeur' gives sich hints, and no prudent




2926            THE SEA LIONS.
seaman ought to overlook'em.  I say, that when the seale
go, the sealers should go likewise."
"And you set this down as a hint from natur', as you
call it?'"'
"I do; and a useful hint it is. If we was in sailing
trim, I'd ha'nt the old man, but I'd get him off this blessed
night. Now, mark my words, Hazard-no good will come
of that nip, and of this return into port ag'in; and of all
this veering and hauling upon cargo."
The other mate laughed; but a call from his command
ing officer put a stop to the dialogue. Hazard was wanted
to help secure the schooner of Daggett in the berth in
which she was now placed.  The tides do not appear to
rise and fall in' very high latitudes, by any means, as much
as it does in about 50~. In the antarctic sea they are reported to be but of medium elevation and force. This fact
our navigators had noted; and Daggett had, at once, carried
his schooner on the only thing like a beach that was to be
found on any part of that wild coast. His craft was snug
within the cove, and quite handy for discharging and taking
in.  Beach, in a proper sense, it was not; being, with a
very.trifling exception, nothing but a shelf of rock that was
a little inclined, and which admitted of a vessel's being
placed upon it, as on the floor of a dock.
Into this berth Daggett took his schooner, while the
other vessel anchored. There was nearly a whole day be..
fore them, and all the men were at once set to work to dis.
charge the cargo of the injured vessel.  To get.rid of the
pumps, they would cheerfully have worked the twenty-four
hours without intermission.  As fast as the vessel was
lightened, she was hove fuirther and further on the. rock,
until she was got so high as to be perfectly safe from sinking, or from injuring anything on board her; when the
pumps were abandoned.  Before night came, however, the
schooner was so secured by means of shores, and purchases
aloft that were carried out to the rocks, as to stand perfectly upright on her keel.  She was thus protected when
the tide left her. At low water it was found that she want.
ed eight feet of being high and dry, having already been
lightened four feet.  A good deal of cargo was still in, on
this the first night after her return.




THE SEA LIONS.                  297
The crew of Daggett's vessel carried their mattresses
ashore, took possession of the bunks, lighted a fire in the
stove, and made their preparations to get the camboose
ashore next day, and do their cooking in the house, as had
been practised previously to' quitting the island.  Roswell,
and all his people; remained on board their own vessel.
The succeeding day the injured schooner was cleared of
everything, even to her spars, the lower masts and bowsprit
excepted. Two large sealing crews made quick work with
so small a craft. Empty casks were got under her, and at
the top of the tide she was floated quite up to the small
beach that was composed of the debris of rock, already
mentioned. As the ivater left her, she fell over a little, of
course; and at half-tide her keel lay high and dry.
The prying eyes of all hands were now busy looking out
for the leaks. As might have been expected, none were
found near the garboard streak, a fact that was clearly
enough proved by a quantity of the water remaining in the
vessel after she lay, entirely bare, nearly on her bilge.
"Her seams have opened a few streaks below the bends,'
said Roswell, as he and Daggett went under the vessel's
bottom, looking out for injuries; " and you had better set
about getting off the copper at once. Has there been an
examination made inside?"
None had yet been made, and our two masters clambered up to the main hatch, and got as good a look at the
state of things in the hold as could be thus obtained.  So
tremendous had been the pressure, that three of the deck
beams were broken. They would have been driven quite
clear of their fastenings, had not the wall of ice at each
end prevented the possibility of such a thing.  As it was,
the top-timbers had slightly given way, and the seams must
have opened just below the water-line. When the tide
came in again, the schooner righted of course; and the
opportunity was taken to pump her dry. There was then
no leak; another proof that the defective places must be
sought above the present water-line.
With the knowledge thus obtained, the copper was removed, and several of the seams examined. The condition
of the pitch and oakum pointed out the precise spots that
needed attention, and the caulking-irons were immediately




298             THE SEA LIO-NS.
set at work.  In about a week the job was completed, as
was fancied, the copper re-placed, and the schooner was
got afloat again. Great was the anxiety to learn the effect
of what had been done, and quite as great the disappoint
ment, when it was found that there was still a serious leak
that admitted too much water to think of going to sea until
it was stopped.  A little head-work, however, and that on
the part of Roswell, speedily gave a direction, to the search
that was immediately set on foot.
" This leak is not. as low down as the vessel's bilge," he
said; "for the water did not run out of her, nor into her,
until we got her afloat. It is somewhere, then, between
her light-water load-line and her bilge. Now we have had
all the copper off, and the seams examined in the wake of
this section of the vessel's bottom, from the fore-chains to
the main; and, in my judgment, it will be found that something is wrong about her stem, or her stern-post. Perhaps
one of her wood-ends has started. Such a thing might very
well have happened under so close a squeeze."
"In which case we shall have to lay the craft ashore
again, and go to work anew," answered Daggett.  "I see
how it is; you do not like the delay, and are thinking of
Deacon Pratt and Oyster Pond. I do not blame you, Gar'ner; and shall never whisper a syllable ag'in you, or your
people, if you sail for home this very a'ternoon; leaving
me.and mine to look out for ourselves.. You've stood by
us nobly thus far, and I am too thankful for what you have
done already, to ask for more."
Was Daggett sincere in these professions? To a certain
point he was; while he was only artful on others.  He
wished to appear just and magnanimous; while, in secret,
it was his aim to work on the better feelings, as well as on
the pride of Gardiner, and thus secure his services in getting'his own schooner ready, as well as keep him in'sight until
a certain key had been examined, in the proceeds of which
he'conceived he had a share, as well as in those of Sealer's
Land. Strange as it may seem, even in the strait in which.ie was now placed, with so desperate a prospect of ever
getting his vessel home again, this man clung like a leech
to the remotest chance of obtaining property. There is a
bull-dog tenacity on this subject, among a certain portion




THE SEA LIONS.                   299
of the great American family-the god-like Anglo-Saxon —
that certainly leads to great results in one respect; but
which it is often painful to regard, -and never agreeable to
any but themselves, to be subject to.  Of this school was
Daggett, whom no dangers, no toil, no thoughts of a future,
could divert from a purpose that was coloured by gold. We
do not mean to say that other nations are not just as mercenary; many are more so; those, in particular that have
long been corrupted by vicious governments. You may
buy half a dozen Frenchmen, for instance, more easily
than one Yankee; but let the last actually get his teeth
into a dollar, and the muzzle of the ox fares worse in the
jaws of the bull-dog,
Roswell was deeply reluctant to protract his stay in the
group; but professional pride would have prevented him
from deserting a consort under such circumstances, had
not a better feeling inclined him to remain and assist Daggett. It is true the last had, in a manner, thrust himself
on him, and the connection had been strangely continued
down to that moment; but this he viewed as a dispensation
of Providence, to which he was bound to submit. The
result was a declaration of a design to stand by his companion as long as there was any hope of getting the injured
craft home.
This decision pointed at once to the delay of another
week. No time was lost in vain regrets, however; but all
hands went to work to get the schooner into shallow water
again, and to look further for the principal leak. Accurate
trimming and pumping showed that a good deal of the
water was already stopped out; but too much still entered
to render it prudent to think of sailing until the injury was
repaired. This time the schooner was not suffered to lie
on her bilge at all. She was taken into water just deep
enough to permit her to stand upright, sustained by shores,
while the tide left two or three streaks dry forward; it being the intention to wind her, should the examination for
ward not be successful.
On stripping off the copper, it was found that a wood.
end had indeed started, the inner edge of the plank having
got as far from.its bed as where the outer had been originally placed. This opened a crack through which a small
26




300             THE SEA LIONS.
stream of water must constantly pour, each hour rendering
the leak more dangerous by loosening the oakum, and
raising the plank from its curvature.  Once discovered,
however, nothing was easier than -to repair the damage. It
remained merely to butt-bolt anew the wood-end, drive a
few spikes, cork, and replace the copper. Roswell, who
was getting each moment more and more impatient to sail,
was much vexed at a delay that really seemed unavoidable.~
as it arose from the particular position of the leak. Placed
as it was, in.a manner, between wind and water, it was not
possible to work at it more than an hour each tide; and the
staging permitted but two hands to be busy at the same
time.  As a consequence of these embarrassments, no less
than six tides came in and went out, before the stem was.
pronounced tight again. The'schooner was then pumped
out, and the vessel was once more taken into deep water.
This time it was found that the patience and industry of
our sealers were rewarded with success; no leak of any
account existing.
"-She's as tight as a bottle with a sealed cork, Gar'ner,"
cried Daggett, a few hours after his craft was at her anchor, meeting his brother-master at his own gangway, and
shaking hands with him'cordially.' "I owe much of this
to you, as all on the Vineyard shall know, if we ever get
home ag'in."
"I am rejoiced that it turns out so, Captain Daggett,"
was Roswell's reply; "for to own the truth to you, the
fortnight we have lost, or shall lose, before we get you
stowed and ready to sail again, has made a great change
in our weather. The days are shortening with frightful
rapidity, and the great bay was actually covered with a
skim of ice this very morning.. The wind has sent in a sea
that has broke it up; but look about you, in the cove herea boy might walk on that ice near the rocks."
"'rhere'11 be none of it left by night, and the two crews
will fill me up in twenty-four hours. Keep a good heart
Gar'ner; I "I take you clear of the bergs in the course of
lie week."
"I have less fear of the bergs now, than of the new ice
and the floes. The islands must have got pretty -well to
the northward by this time; but each night gets colder,




THE SEA LION S.                  301
and the fields seem to be setting back towards the group,
instead of away from it."
Daggett cheered his companion by a good deal of confident talkl; but Roswell was heartily rejoiced when, at the
end of four-and-twenty hours more, the Vineyard craft was
pronounced entirely ready. It was near the close of the
day, and- Gardiner was for sailing, or moving at once; but
Daggett offered several very reasonable objections  In the
first place, there was no wind; and Roswell's proposition
to tow the schooners out into the middle of the bay, was
met by the objection that the people had been hard at work
for several days, and that they needed some rest. All that
could be gained by moving the schooners then, was to get
them outside of the skim of ice that now regularly formed
every still night near the land, but which was as.regularly
broken and dispersed by the waves, as soon as the wind
returned. Roswell, however, did not like the appearances
of things; and he determined to take his own craft outside,
let Daggett do as he might. After discussing the matter
in vain, therefore, and finding that the people of the other
schooner had eaten their suppers and turned in, he called
all hands, and made a short address to his own crew,
leaving it to their discretion whether to man the boats or
not.. As Roswell had pointed out the perfect absence of
wind, the smoothness of the water, and the appearances of
a severe frost, or cold, for frost.there was now, almost at
mid-day, the men came'reluctantly over to his view of the
matter, and consented to work instead of sleeping.  The
toil, however, could be much lessened, by dividing the
crew into the customary watches. All that Roswell aimed
at was to get his schooner about a league from the cove,
which would be taking her without a line drawn from cape
to cape, the greatest danger of new ice *being within the
curvature of the crescent. This he thought might easily
be done inr the course of a few hours; and, should there
come any wind, much sooner. On explaining this to the
crew, the men were satisfied.
Roswell Gardiner felt as if a load were taken off his
spirits, when his schooner was clear of the ground, and his
mnainsail was hoisted. A boat was got ahead, and the craft
was slowly towed out of the cove, the canvass doing neithei




302             THE  SEA  LIONS.
good nor harm.  As the vessel passed that of Daggetl the
last was on deck; the only person visible in the Vineyard
craft. He wished his brother-master a good night, promising to be out as soon as there was any light next
morning.
It would not be easy to imagine a more dreary scene
than that in which Deacon Pratt's schooner moved out into
the waters that separated the different islands of this remote
and sterile group. Roswell could just discern the frowning
mass of the rocks that crowned the centre of Sealer's Land;
and that was soon lost in the increasing obscurity.  The
cold was getting to be severe, and the men soon complained
that ice was forming on the blades of their oars.  Then it
was that a thoughit occurred to our young mariner, which
had hitherto escaped him. Of what use would it be for his
vessel to be beyond the ice, if that of Daggett should be
shut in the succeeding day?  So sensible did he become
to the importance of this idea, that he called in his boat,
and pulled back into the cove, in order to make one more
effort to persuade Daggett to follow him out.
Gardiner found all of the Vineyarders turned in, even to
their officers. The fatigue they had lately undergone,
united to the cold, rendered the berths very agreeable; and
even Daggett begged his visiter would excuse him for. not
rising to receive his guest. Argument with a man thus
circumstanced and so disposed, was absolutely useless.
After remaining a short time with Daggett, Roswell re.
turned to his own schooner. As he pulled back, he ascer.
tained that ice was fast making; and the boat actually cut
its way through a thin skim, ere it reached the vessel.
Our hero was now greatly concerned lest he should be
frozen in himself, ere he could get into the more open
water of the bay. Fortunately a light air sprung up from
thle northward, and trimming his sails, Gardiner succeeded
in carrying his craft to a point where the undulations of
the ground-swell gave the assurance of her being outside
the segment of the crescent. Then he brailed his foresail,
hauled the jib-sheet over, lowered his gaff, and put his helm
hard down. After this, all the men were permitted to seek
their berths; the officers looking out for the craft in turns.
It wanted about an hour of day, when the second mate




THE  SEA  LIONS.                 303
gave Roswell a call, according to orders. The young
master found no wind, but an intensely cold morning, on
going on deck. Ice had formed on every part of the rigging and sides of the schooner where water had touched
them; though the stillness of the night, by preventing the
spray from flying, was much in favour of the navigators in
this respect. On thrusting a boat-hook down, Roswell
ascertained that the bay around him had a skim of ice
nearly an inch in thickness. This caused.him great uneasiness; and he waited with the greatest anxiety for the return of light, in order to observe the condition of Daggett.
Sure enough, when the day came out distinctly, it was
seen that ice of suficient thickness to bear men on it,
covered the entire surface within the crescent.  Daggett
and his people were already at work on -it, using the saw.
They must have taken the alarm before the return of day,
for the schooner was not only free from the'ground, but
had been brought fully a cable's length without.the cove.
Gardiner watched the movements of Daggett and his crew
with a glass for a short time, when he, ordered all hands
called.  The cook was already in the: galley, and a warm
breakfast was soon prepared.  After eating this, the two
whale-boats were lowered; and Roswell and Hazard both
rowed as far as -the ice would permit them,.when they
walked the rest of the way to the imprisoned craft, taking
with them most of their hands, together with the saw.
It was perhaps. fortunate for Daggett that it soon.began
to blow fresh' from the northward, sending into the bay a
considerable sea, which soon broke up the ice, and enabled
the Vineyard craft to force her way through the fragments,
and join her consort about noon.
Glad enough was Roswell to regain his own vessel; and
he made sail on a wind, determined to beat out of the narrow waters at every hazard, the experience of -that night
having told him that they had remained in the cove too
long  Daggett followed willingly, but not like a man who
had escaped by the skin of his teeth, from wintering near
the antarctic circle
26             20
20.




"304            THE  SEA  LIONS.
CHAPTER XXII.
"Beside the Moldau's rushing stream,
With the wan moon overhead,
There stood, as in an awful dream,
The army of the dead."
LONG1?EL.OW.
MOST of our readers will understand what was meant by
Mary Pratt's " inclination of the, earth's axis to the plane
of its orbit;" but as there may be a few who do not, and
as the consequences of this great physical fact are materially connected with the succeeding events of the narrative, we propose to give such a homely explanation of the
phenomenon as we humbly trust will render it clear to the
most clouded mind.  The orbit of the earth is the path
which it follows in space in its annual revolution around
the sun. To a planet there is no up or down, except as
ascent and descent are estimated from and towards itself.
In. all other respects it floats in vacuum, or what. is so
nearly so as to be thus termed. Now, let the uninstructed
reader imagine a large circular table, with a light on its
surface, and near to its centre.  The light shall represent
the sun, the outer edge of the circle of the table the earth's
orbit, and its surface the plane of that orbit. In nature
there is no such thing as a plane at all, the space within
the orbit being vacant; but the surface of the table gives a
distinct notion of the general position of the earth as it
travels round the sun.  It if scarcely necessary to say that
the axis of the earth is an imaginary line drawn through
the planet, from one pole to the other; the name being
derived from the supposition'that our daily revolution is
made on this axis.
Now, the first thing that the student is to fix in. his mind,
in order to comprehend the phenomenon of the seasons, is
the leading fact that the earth does not change its attitude
in space, if we may so express it, when it changes its posi.




THE SEA LIONS.                   305
tion. If the axis were perpendicular to the plane of the
orbit, this circumstance would not affect the temperature,
as the simplest experimentwill show. Putting the equator
of a globe on the outer edge of the table, and holding it
perfectly upright, causing it to turn on its axis as it passes
round the circle, it would be found that the light from the
centre of the table would illumine just one half of the globe,
at all times and in all positions, cutting the two poles. Did
this movement correspond with that of nature, the days and
nights would be always of the same length, and there would
-be no changes of the seasons, the warmest weather being
nearest to the equator, and the cold increasing as the poles
were approached.  No where, however, would the cold be
so intense as it now is, nor would the heat be as great as at
present, except at or quite near to'the equator.  The first
fact would be owing to the regular return of the sun, once
in twenty-four hours; the last to the. oblique manner in
which its rays struck this orb, in all places but near its
centre.
But the globe ought not tobe made to move around the
table with its axis perpendicular to its surface, or to the
"plane of the earth's orbit."  In point of fact, the earth is
inclined to this plane, and the globe should be placed at a
corresponding inclination. Let the globe be brought to
the edge of the table, at its.south side, and with its upper
or north pole inclining to the sun, and then commence the
circuit, taking care always to keep this north poleof the
globe pointing in the same direction, or to keep the globe
itself in what we have termed a fixed attitude.. As one
half of the globe must always be in light, and the other
half in darkness, this inclination from the perpendicular
will bring the circle of light some distance -beyond the
north pole, when the globe is due-south from the light, and
will leave an equal space around the opposite pole without
any light at all, or any light directly received. Now it is
that what we. have termed the fixed attitude of the globe
begins to tell. If the north pole inclined towards the orbit
facing the rim of the table, the light would still cut the
poles, the days and nights would still be equal, and there
would be no changes in the seasons, though there would
be a rival revolution of the globe, by causing it to turn once




306             THE SEA LIONS.
a year, shifting the poles end for end. The inclination be
ing to the surface of the table, or to the plane of the orbit,
the phenomena that are known to exist are a consequence
Thus it is, that the change in the seasons is as much owing
to the fixed attitude of the earth in space, as we have
chosen to term its polar directions, as to the inclination of
its axis. Neither would produce the phenomena without
the assistance of the other, as our experiment with the
table will show.
Place, then, the globe at the south side of the rim of the
table, with its axis inclining towards its surface, and Its
poles always pointing in the sarne general direction, net
following the circuit of the orbit, and set it in motion to.
wards the east, tevolving rapidly on its axis as it moves.
While directly south of the light, it would be found that
the north pole would be illuminated, while no revolution
on the axis would bring the south pole within the circle of
the light. This is when a line drawn from the axis of the
globe would cut the lamp, were the inclination brought as
low as the surface of the table. Next set the globe in motion, following the rim of the table, and proceeding to the
east or right hand, keeping its axis always looking in the
same general direction, or in an attitude that would be
parallel to -a north and south line drawn through the sun,
were the inclination as low as the surface of the table.
This movement would be, in one sense, sideways, the circle
of light gradually lessening around the north pole, and extending towards the'south, as the globe proceeded east and
north, diminishing the length of the days in the northern
hemisphere, and increasing them in the southern.  When
at east, the most direct rays of the light would fall on the
~quator, and the light would cut the two poles, rendering
the days and nights equal. As the globe moved north, the
circle of light would be found to increase around the south
pole, while none at all touched the north. When on the
north side of the table, the northern pole of the globe would
incline so far from the sun as to leave a space around it in
shadow that would be of precisely the same size as had
been the space of light when it was placed on the opposite
side of the table. Going round the circle west, the same
thenoniena would be seen, until coming directly south of




THE SEA LI ONS                   307
the lamp, the north pole would again come into light altogether, and the south equally into shadow.
Owing to this very simple but very wonderful provision
of divine power and wisdom, this earth enjoys the relief of
the changes in the seasons, as well asthe variations in the
length of the days.  For one half of the year, or from
equinox to equinox, from the time when the globe is at a
due-west point of the table until it reaches the east, the
north pole would always receive the light, in a circle around
it, that would gradually increase and diminish; and for the
other half, the same would be true of the other hemisphere.
Of course there is a precise point on the earth where this
polar illumination ceases.  The shape of the illuminated
part is circular; and placing the point of a pencil on the
globe at the extremest spot on the circle, holding it there
while the globe is turned on its axis, the lines made wouldjust include the portions of the. earth around the globe that.thus receives the rays of the sun at midsummer.  These
lines compose what are termed the arctic and antarctic
circles, with the last of which our legend has now a most
serious connection. After all, we are by no means certain
that we have made our meaning as obvious as we could wish,
it being very difficult to explain phenomena of this nature
clearly, without actually experimenting.
It is usual to say that there are six months day and six
months night in the polar basins.  This is true, literally,
at the poles only; but, approximatively, it is true as a whole.
We apprehend that few persons-none, perhaps, bu.t those
who are in habits of study — form correct notions of the
extent of what may be termed the icy seas. As the polar
circles are in 230 28", a line drawn through the south pole,
for instance, commencing on one side of the earth- at theantarctic circle, and extending to the other, would traverse
a distance materially exceeding that between New York
and Lisbon. This would make those frozen regions cover
a portion of this globe that is almost as large as the whole
of the Atlantic Ocean, as far south as the' equator.  Any
one can imagine what must be the influence of frost over
so vast a surface, in reproducing itself, since the presence
of ice-bergs is thought to.affect our climate, when many
of them drift far south in summer.. As power produces




308             THE SEA LIONS.
power, riches wealth, so does cold produce cold.  Fi.),
then, in a certain degree, a space as large as the North
Atlantic Ocean with ice in all its varieties, fixed, mountain
and field, berg and floe, and one may get a tolerably accurate notion of the severity of its winters, when the sun is
scarce seen above the horizon at all, and then only to shed
its rays so obliquely as to be little better than a chill-look.
ing orb of light, placed in the heavens simply to divide the
da~y from the night.
This, then, was the region that Roswell Gardiner was so
very anxious to leave; the winter he so much dreaded.
Mary Pratt was before him, to say nothing of his duty to
the deacon; whi4e behind him was the vast polar ocean
just described, about to be veiled in the freezing obscurity
of its long and gloomy twilight, if not, of absolute night.
No wonder, therefore, that when he trimmed his sails that
evening, to beat out of the great bay, that it was done with
the earnestness with which we all perform duties of the
highest import, when they are known to affect our wellbeing, visibly and directly.
"Keep her a good full, Mr. Hazard," said Roswell, as
he was leaving the deck, to take the first sleep in which he
had indulged for four-and-twenty hours; "and let her go
through the water. We are behind our time, and must
keep.in motion.  Give me a call if anything like ice appears in a serious way."
Hazard' ay-ay'd' this order, as usual, buttoned his peejacket tighter than ever, and saw his young superior-the
transcendental delicacy of the day is causing the difference
in rank to be termed " senior andjunior"-but Hazard saw
his superior go below, with a feeling allied to; envy, so
heavy were his eye-lids with the want of rest.  Stimson
was in the first-mate's watch, and the latter approached
that old sea-dog with a wish to keep himself awake by con.
versing.
"You seem as wide awake, king' Stephen," the mate
remarked, " as if you never felt drowsy!"
"This is not a part of the world for hammocks'and
berths, Mr. Hazard," was the reply.  "I can get along,
and must get along, with a quarter part of the sleep in
these seas as would sarve me in a low latitude."




THE  SEA  LIONS.                 309
"'And I feel as if I wanted all I can get. Them fellows
look up well into our wake, Stephen."
"They do indeed, sir, and they ought to do it; for we
have been longer than is for our good, in the'ir'n."
"Well, now we have got a fresh start,'I hope we may
make a clear run of it. I saw no ice worth speaking of,
to the nor'ard here, before we made sail."
":Because you see'd none, Mr. Hazard, is no proof there
is none. Floe-ice can't be seen at any great distance,
though its blink may. But, it seems to me, it's all blink
in these here seas!'
"There you're' quite right, Stephen; for turn which
way.you will, the horizon has a show of that sort —— "
" Starboard"- called out the look-out forward -" keep
her away-keep her away-there is ice ahead."
"Ice in here!" exclaimed Hazard, springing forward"That it more than we bargained for!  Where away is
your ice, Smith?"
" Off here', sir, on our weather bow - and a mortal big
field of it -jist sich a chap as-nipp'd the Vineyard Lion,
when she first came in to join us. Sich a fellow as that
would take the sap out of our bends, as a squeezer takes
the juice from a lemon!".
Smith was a carpenter by trade, which was probably the
reason why he introduced this figure. Hazard.saw the ice
with regret; for he had hoped to work the schooner fairly
out to sea in his watch; but the field was getting down
through the passage in a way that threatened to cut off the
exit of the two schooners from  the bay.  Daggett kept
close in his wake, a proof- that this experienced navigator
in such waters saw no means to turn farther to windward.
As the wind was now abeam, both vessels drove rapidly'
ahead; and in half an hour the northern point of the land
they had so lately left came into view close aboard of them.
Just then the moon rose, and objects became more clearly
visible.
Hazard hailed the Vineyard Lion, and demanded what
was to' be done. It was possible, by hauling close on a
wind, to pass the cape a short distance to windward of it,
and seemingly thus clear the floe. Unless this were done,
both vessels would be compelled to ware, and run for the




310             THE SEA LIONS.
southern passage, which would carry them many miles to
leeward, and might place them a long distance on the
wrong side of the group.
" Is Captain Gar'ner on deck 1" asked Daggett, who had
Row drawn close up on the lee-quarter of his consort,
Hazard having brailed his foresail and laid his topsail sharp
aback, to enable him to do so -" If he isn't, I'd advise
you to give him a call at once."
This was done immefdiately; and while it was doing,
the Vineyard Lion swept past the Oyster Pond schooner.
Roswell announced his presence on deck just as the other
vessel cleared his bows.
" There's notime to consult, Gar'ner," answered Daggett. "There's our road before us. Go through it we
must, or stay where we are until that field-ice gives us a
jam down yonder in the crescent. I will. lead, and you
can follow as soon as your. eyes are open."
One glance let Roswell into the secret of' his situation.
He liked it little, but he.did not hesitate.
"Fill the topsail, and haul aft the foresheet," were the
quiet orders that proclaimed what he intended to do.
BQoth vessels stood on.  By some secret process, every
man on board the two craft became aware of what was
going on, and appeared on deck. All hands were not
called, nor was there any particular noise to attract attention; but the word had been whispered below that there
was a great risk to run. A risk it was, of a verity! It was
necessary to stand close along that iron-bound coast where
the seals had so lately resorted, for a distance of several
miles. The wind would not admit of the schooners steering much more than a cable's length from the rocks for
quite a league; after which the shore trended to the south.
ward, and. a little sea-room would be gained. But on those
rocks the waves were then beating heavily, and their bellowings as they rolled into the cavities were at almost all
times terrific. There was some relief, however, in the
knowledge obtained of the shore, by. having frequently
passed up and down it in the boats.  It was known that
the water was deep close to the visible rocks, and that
there was no danger as long as a vessel could keep off
them.




THE  SEA  LIONS.                 311
No one spoke. Every eye was strained to discern objects
ahead, or was looking astern to trace the expected collision
between the floe-ice and the low promontory of the cape.
The ear -soon gave notice that this meeting had already
taken place; for the frightfill sound that attended the
cracking and rending of the field might have been heard
-fully a league. Now it was that each schooner did her
best! Yards were braced up, sheets flattened, and the
helm tended. The close proximity of the rocks on the one
side, and the secret presentiment of there being more fieldice: on the other, kept every one wide awake. The two
masters, in particular, were all eyes and ears. It was
getting to be very cold; and the sort of shelter aloft that
goes by the quaint name of " crow's-nest," had been fitted
up in each vessel.  A mate was now sent into each, to
ascertain what might be discovered to windward. Almost
at the same instant, these young seamen hailed their respective decks, and gave notice that a wide field was
coming in upon them, and must eventually crush them,
unless avoided.  This startling intelligence reached the
two commanders in the very same moment. The emergency demanded decision, and each man acted for himself.
Roswell ordered his helm.put down, and his schooner
tacked. The water was not rough enough to prevent the
success of the manceuvre. On the other hand, Daggett
kept a rap full, and stood on. Roswell manifested the most
judgment and seamanship.  He was now far enough from
the cape to beat to windward; and, by going nearer to the
enemy, he might always run along its southern boundary,
profit by any opening, and would be by as much as he could
thus gain, to windward of the coast.  Daggett had. one
advantage. By standing on, in the event of a return becoming necessary, he would gain in time. In ten minutes
the two schooners were a mile asunder. We shall first
follow that of Roswell Gardiner's, in his attempt to escape.
The first floe, which was ripping and tearing one of its
angles- into fragments, as it came grinding down on the
cape, soon compelled the vessel to tack. Making short
reaches, Roswell ere long found himself fully a mile to
windward of the rocks, and sufficiently-near to the new
floe to discern its shape, drift, and general character. Its
27




312             THE S EA L I ONS.
eastern end had lodged upon the field that first came in,
and was adding to the vast momentum with which that
enormous floe was pressing down upon the cape. Large
as was that first visiter to the bay, this was of at least twice
if not of thrice its dimensions. What gave Roswell the
most concern was the great distance that this field extended
to the westward. He went up into the crow's-nest himself,
and, aided by the light of a most brilliant moon, and a sky
without a cloud, he could perceive the blink of ice in that
direction, as he fancied, for fully two leagues. What was
unusual, perhaps, at that early season of the year,-these
floes did not consist of a vast collection of numberless
cakes of ice; but the whole field, so far as could then be
ascertained, was firm and united. The nights were now
so cold that ice made fast wherever there was water; and
it occurred to our young master that, possibly, fragments
that had once been separated and broken by the waves,
might have become re-united by the agency of the frost.
Roswell descended from the crow's-nest half chilled by a
cutting wind, though it blew from a warm quarter. Summoning his mates, he asked their advice.
"' It seems to me, Captain Gar'ner," Hazard replied,
"there's very little choice. -Here we are, so far as I can
make it out, embayed, and we have only to box about until
day-light comes, when some chance may turn up to help
us. If so, we' must turn it to account; if not, we must
make up our minds to winter here."
This was coolly and calmly said; though it was clear
enough that Hazard was quite in earnest.
" You forget there may be an open passage to the westward, Mr. Hazard," Roswell rejoined, "and that we may
yet pass out to sea by it. Captain Daggett is already out
of sight in the western board, and we may do well to stand
on after him."
L"Ay, ay, sir -I know all that, Captain Gar'ner, and it
may be as you say, but when I was aloft, half an hour
since, if there wasn't the blink of ice in that direction,
quite round to the back of the island, there wasn't the
blink of ice nowhere hereabouts. I'm used to the sight
of it, and can't well be mistaken."
"There is always ice on that side of the land, Hazard,




THE SEA LION'S.                    313
and you may have seen the blink of the bergs which have
hugged the cliffs in that quarter all summer.  Still, that is
not proving we shall find no outlet.  This craft can go
through a very small passage, and we must take care and
find one in proper time.   Wintering here is out of the:
question. A hundred reasons tell us not to think of such
a thing, besides the interests of our owners. We are walk.
ing along this floe pretty fast, though I think the vessel is
too much by the head; don't it strike you so, Hazard?"
"Lord, sir, it's nothing but the ice that has'made, and
is making for'ard! Before we got so near the field as to
find a better lee, the little lipper that came athwart our
bows froze almost as soon as it wet us. I do Suppose, sir,
-there are now several tons of ice on our bows, counting
fiom channel to channel, forward."
On.an examination this proved to be true, and the knowledge of the circumstance did -not at all contribute to Gardiner's feeling of security..He saw there was no time to
be lost, and he crowded sail with a view of forcing thevessel past the dangers if possible, and of getting her into
a milder climate   But even a fast-sailing schooner will
scarcely equal our wishes under such circumstances. There
was no doubt that the Sea:Lion's speed was getting to be
affected by the manner in which her bows were weighed
down by ice, in addition. to the discomfort produced by
cold, damp, and the presence of. a slippery substance on
the deck and rigging. Fortunately there was not much
spray-flying, or matters would have been much worse. As
it was, they were bad enough, and very ominous of future
evil.
While the Sea Lion of Oyster Pond was running along
the margin of the ice in the manner.just described, and
after the blink to the westward had changed to a visible
field,. making it very uncertain whett er any egress was to
be found in that quarter or not, an:opening suddenly appeared trending to the northward,- aid sufficiently wide, as
Roswell thought, to enable him to beat through it. Putting
his helm down, his schooner camne heavily round, and was
filled on a course that soon carried -her half a mile into
this passage.  At first, everything seemed propitious, the
channel rather opening than otherwise, while the course




614             THE SEA LIONS.
was such-north-north-west-as enabled the vessel to niake
very long legs on one tack, and that the best. After going
about four or five times, however, all these flattering symptoms suddenly changed, by the passage's terminating in a
cut de sac. Almost at the same instant the ice:closed
rapidly in the schooner's wake. An effort was made-*to
run back, but-it failed in consequence of an enormous
floe's turning on its centre, having met resistance from a'field closer in, that was, in its turn, stopped by the rocks.
Roswell saw at once that nothing could be done at the
moment. He took in all his canvass, as well as the frozen
cloth could be handled, got out ice-anchors, and hauled
his vessel into a species of cove where there would be the
least danger of a nip, shoutld the fields continue to close.
All this time Daggett was as busy a's a bee. He rounded
the headland, and flattered himself that he was about to
slip past all the rocks, and get out into open water, when
the vast fields of which the blink had been seen even by
those in the other vessel, suddenly stretched themselves
across his course in a way that set at defiance all attempts
to go any further in that direction. Daggett wore round,
and endeavoured to return. This was by no means as easy
as it was to go down before the wind, and his bows were
also much encumbered with ice; more so, indeed, than
those of the other schooner. Once or twice his craft missed
stays in consequence of getting so much by the head, and
it was deemed necessary to heave-to, and take to the axes.
A great deal of extra and cumbrous weight was gotten rid
of, but an hour of most precious time was lost.
By the time Daggett was ready to make sail again, he
found his return round the headland was entirely cut off,
by the field's having come in absolute contact with the
rocks!
It was now midnight, and the men on board both vessels
required rest.  A watch was set in each, and most of the
people were permitted to turn in. Of course, proper look.
outs were had, but the light of the moon was not sufficiently
distinct to render it safe to make any final efforts under its
favour.  No great alarm was felt, there being nothing unusual in a vessel's being embayed in the ice; and so long.s she was not nipped or pressed upon by actual contact;




T HE  SEA  LIONS.                31-5
the position was thought safe rather than the reverse. It.
was desirable, moreover, for the schooners to communicate
with each other; for some advantage might be known to
one of the masters that was concealed by distance from his
companion.  Without concert, therefore, Roswell and
Daggett came to the same general conclusions, and waited
patiently.
The day came at last, cold and dreary, though not alto*gether without the relief of an air that blew from regions
far warmer than the ocean over which it was now travel-ling. Then the two schooners became visible from each
other, and Roswell saw the jeopardy of Daggett, and Daggett saw the jeopardy of Roswell.  The vessels were little
more than a mileapart, but the situation of the Vineyard
Lion was much the most critical. She had made fast to
the floe, but her support itself was in a steady and most
imposing motion.  As soon as Roswell saw the manner in
which his consort was surrounded, and the very threatening
aspect of the danger that pressed upon him, his first impulse
was to hasten to him, with a party of his own people, to
offer any assistance he could give. After looking at the
ice immediately around his own craft, where all seemed to
be right, he called over the names of six of his men, orderAd them to eat a warmn breakfast, and to prepare to accomIany him.
In twenty minutes Roswell was leading his little party
across the ice, each man carrying an axe, or some other
implement that it was supposed might be of use. It was
by no means difficult to proceed; for the surface of the
floe, one seemingly more than a league in extent, was quite
smooth, and the snow on it was crusted to a strength that
would have borne a team.
"The water between the ice and the rocks is a much
larrower strip than I had thought," said Roswell, to his
constant attendant, Stimson., "Here, it does not appear to
be a hundred yards in width!"
"Nor is it, sir-whew-this trotting in so cold a climate
makes a man puff like a whale blowing-but, Captain
Gar'ner, that schooner will be cut in two before we can
get to her. Look, sir; the floe has reached the rocks
27 *




:316             THE SEA LIONS.
already, quite near her; and it does not stop the drift at
all, seemingly."'
Roswell made no reply; the state of the Villeyard Lion
did appear to be much more critical than he hadl previously
imagined. Until he came nearer to the land, he had formed
no notion of the steady power with which the field. was
setting down on the rocks on which the broken fragments
were now creeping like creatures endowed with life. Occasionally, there would be loud disruptions, and the movement of the floe would become more rapid; then, again, a
sort of pause would succeed, and for a moment the approaching party felt a gleam of hope. But all expectations
of this sort were doomed to be disappointed.
"Look, sir!" exclaimed Stimson- " she went down afore
it twenty fathoms'at that one set. She must be awful near
the rocks, sir!"
All the men now stopped. They knew they were powerless; and intense anxiety rendered them averse to move.
Attention appeared to interfere with their walking on the
ice; and each held his breath in expectation.  They saw
that the schooner, then less than a cable's length from them,
was close to the rocks; and the next shock, if anything
like the last, must overwhelm her. To their astonishment,
instead of being nipped, the: schooner rose by a stately
movement that was not without grandeur, upheld by broken
cakes that'had got beneath her-bottom, and fairly reached
the shelf of rocks almost unharmed.  Not a man had left
her; but there she was, placed on the shore, some twenty
feet above the surface of the sea, on rocks worn smooth by
the action of the waves! Had the season been propitious,
and did the injury stop here, it might have been possible to
get the craft into the water again, and still carry her to
America.
But the floe was not yet arrested. Cake succeeded cake,
one riding over another, until a wall of ice rose along the
shore, that Roswell and his companions, with all their
activity and courage, had great difficulty in crossing. They
succeeded in getting over it,- however; but when they
reached the unfortunate schooner, she la as literally buried.
The masts were broken, the sails'torn, rigging scattered,
and sides stove.  The Sea Lion of Martha's Vineyard was




THE  SEA  LIONS.                  317
a worthless wreck —worthless as to all purposes but that
of being converted into materials for a smaller craft, or to
be used as fuel.
All this'had been done in ten minutes!  Then it was
that. the vast superiority of nature over the resources of
man made itself apparent. The people of the two vessels
stood aghast with this sad picture of their own insignificance before their eyes. The crew of the wreck, it is true,
had escaped without difficulty; the movement having been
as slow and steady as it was irresistible. But there they
were, in the clothes they'had on, with all their effects
buried under piles of ice that were already thirty or forty
feet in height.
"She -looks as if she was built there, Gar'ner!" Daggett
coolly observed, as he stood regarding the scene with eyes
as intently riveted on the wreck as human organs were
ever. fixed on any object.  "Had a man told me this could
happen, I would not have believed him!"
" HIad she been a three-decker, this ice would have treated her in the same way.  There is a force in such a field
that walls of stone could not withstand."
"Captain Gar'ner-Captain Gar'ner," called out Stimson, hastily; " we'd better go back, sir; our own.craft is
in danger. She is drifting fast in towards the cape, and
may reach it afore we can get to her!"
Sure enough, it was so. In one of the changes that are
so unaccountable among the ice, the floe had taken a sudden and powerful direction.towards the entrance of the
Great Bay.  It was probably owing to the circumstance
that the inner field had forced its way past the cape, and
made room for its neighbour to follow. A few of Daggett's
people, with Daggett himself, remained to see what might
yet be saved from the -wreck; but all the rest of the men
started for the cape, towards' which the Oyster Pond craft
was now directly setting.  The distance was less than' a
league; and, as-yet, there was not much snow on the rocks.
By taking an upper shelf, it was possible to make pretty
good progress; and such was the manner of Roswell's present march.
It was an extraordinary sight to see the coast along which
our party was hastening, just at that moment. As the cakes




318              THE  SEA  LIONS.
of ice were broken from  the field, they were driven upward by the vast pressure from without, and the whole fine
of the shore seemed as if alive with creatures that-were
issuing from the ocean to clamber on the rocks.  Roswell
had often seen that very coast peopled with seals, as it.now
appeared to be in activity with fragments of ice, that were
writhing, and. turning, and rising, one upon another, as if
possessed of the -vital principle.
In half an hour Roswell and his party reached the house.
The schooner was then less than half a mile from the spot,
still setting in, along with the outer field, but not nipped.
So far from being in danger of such a calamity, the little
basin in which she lay had expanded, instead of closing;
and it would have been possible to handle a quick-working
craft in it, under her canvass. An exit, however, was quite
out of the question; there being no sign of any passage to
or from that icy dock. There the craft still lay, anchored
to the weather-floe, while the portion of her crew which
remained on board was as anxiously watching the coast as
those who were on the coast watched her. At first, Roswell gave his schooner up; but on closer examination found
reason to hope that she might pass the rocks, and enter the
inner, rather than the Great, Bay.
CHAPTER XXIII.
"To prayer; —for the glorious sun is gone,
And the gathering darkness of night comes on;
Like a curtain from-God's kind hand it flows,
To shade the couch where his children repose.
Then kneel, while the watching stars are bright,
And give your last thoughts to the guardian of night."
WARE.
DESOLATE, indeed, and nearly devoid of hope, had the,ituation of our sealers now become. It was mid-day, and
it was freezing everywhere in the shade. A bright genial.
sun was shedding its glorious rays on the icy panorama;




THE  SEA. LIONS-.                319
but- lt was. so obliquely as to be of hardly any use in dispelling the frosts. Far as the eye could see, even from the
elevation of the cape, there was nothing but ice, with the
exception of that part of the Great Bay into which the floe
had not yet penetrated. To the southward, there stood
clustering around the passage a line of gigantic bergs,
placed like sentinels, as if purposely to stop all egress in
that direction.  The water had lost its motion in the shift
of wind, and new ice had formed over the whole bay, as
-was evident by a white sparkling line that preceded the
irresistible march of the floe.
As Roswell gazed on this scene, serious doubts darkened; his mind as to hig escaping from this frozen chain until
the:return of another summer. It is true that a'south wind
might possibly produce a change, and carry away the
blockading mass; but every moment rendered this so much
the less;probable. Winter, or what would be deemed winter in most regions, was already setting in; and should the
ice really become stationary in and around the group, all
hope of its moving, must vanish for the next eight months.
Daggett reached the house about an hour before sunset.
Hle had succeeded in cutting a passage through the ice as
far as the cabin-door of his unfortunate schooner, when
there was no difficulty in descending into the interior parts
of the vessel.  The whole party came in staggering under
heavy loads. Pretty much as a matter of course, each man
brought his own effects. Clothes, tobacco, rum, smallstores, bedding, quadrants, and similar property, was that
first attended to. At that moment, little was thought of the
skins and oil. The cargo was neglected, while the minor
articles had been eagerly souglit.
Roswell was on board his own schooner, now again in
dangerous proximity to the cape.  She was steadily setting
in, when Daggett rejoined him. The crew of the lost vessel
remained in the house, where they lighted a fire and depo.
sited their goods, returning to the wreck -for another load,
taking the double sets of wheels along with them. When the
two masters met, they conferred together earnestly, receiv
ing into their councils such of the officers as were on board
The security of the remaining vessel was now all-important I!
and it was not to be concealed that she was in imminent
21




320             THE SEA LIONS.
jeopardy.  The course taken' by -the floe was directly
towards the most rugged part of Cape Hazard; and the
rate of the movement such as to threaten a very speedy
termination of the matter.  There was one. circumstance,
however, and only that one, which offered a single chance
of' escape. The opening around the schooner still- existed
in part, about half of it havinfg been lost in the collision
with the outermost point of the rocks.  It was this species
of vacuum that,. by removing all resistance at that particular spot,' indeed, which had given the-field its most dangerous cant, turning the movement of the vessel towards- the
rocks.  The chance, therefore, existed in the possibilityand it was little more than a bare possibility- of moving
the schooner in that small area of open water, and of taking
her far enough south to clear the most southern extremity
of the wall of stone that protected the cove.  As yet, this
open water did not extend far enough to admit of the
schooner's'being -taken to the point in question; but it was
slowly tending in that direction,. and did not the basin
close altogether ere that desirable object was achieved, thie'vessel might yet be saved.  In order, however, to do this,:it would. be necessary to cut a sort of dock or slip in the
ice of the cove, into which the craft might shoot, as a place
of refuge. Once within the cove, fairly behind the point
of the rocks, there would be perfect safety; if suffered to
drift to the southward of that shelter, this schooner' would
probably be lost like her consort, and very- much in the
same'manner.
Gardiner now sent a gang of hands to the desired p6int,
armed: with saws, and the slip was conimenced. The ice
in the cove was still only two or three inches thick, and the
work went bravely on. Instead of satisfying himself with'cutting a passage merely behind the point of rock, Hazard
opened one quite up into' the cove, to the precise place
where the schooner had been so long at anchor.'Just as
the sun was setting, the crisis arrived. So heavy had -beer
the- movement'towards the rocks, that Roswell -saw he
could delay no longer.  Were he to continue where he
was, a projection on the cape would prevent his passage to
the entrance of the cove; he would be shut in, and he
might be certain that the -Sea Lion would be crushed. if




THE  SEA  LIO NS.                321
the floe pressed home upon the shore.  The ice-anchors
were cut out accordingly, the jib was hoisted, and the
schooner wore short round on her heel.  The space between ~the floe. and the projection in the rocks just named,
did not now exceed a hundred feet; and it was lessening
fast. Much more room existed on each side of this particular excrescence in the rugged coast, the space north
being still considerable, while that to. the southward might
be a hundred yards in width; the former of these areas
being owing to the form of the basin, and the latter to the
shape of the shore.
In the first of.the basins named, the schooner wore short
round on her heel, her foresail being set to help her.  A
breathless moment passed as she ran down towards the
narrow strait. It was quickly reached, and that none too
soon; the opening now not exceeding sixty feet. The yards
of the vessel almost brushed the rocks in passing; but'she
went clear.  As soon as in the lower basin,- as one might
call it, the jib and foresail were taken in, and the head of
the mainsail was got on the craft. This helped her to luff
up'towards the slip, which she reached under sufficient
head-way fairly to enter it. Lines were thrown to the people
on the ice, who soon hauled the schooner up to the head
of her frozen dock. Three cheers broke spontaneously out
of the throats of the men, as they thus achieved the step
which assured:them of the safety of the vessel, so far as the
ice was concerned! In this way do we estimate our advantages and disadvantages, by comparison.  In the. abstract,
the situation of the sealers was still sufficiently painful;
though compared with what it would have been with the
other schooner wrecked, it was security itself.
By this time it was quite dark; and a day of excitement
and fatigue required a' night of rest.  After supping, the
men turned in; the Vineyarders mostly in the house, where
they occupied their old bunks. When the moon rose, the
party from the wreck arrived, with their carts well loaded,
and themselves half frozen, notwithstanding their toil. In
a short time, all were buried in sleep.
When Roswell Gardiner came on deck next morning,
his first glance told him how little was the chance of his
varty's returning north that season. The strange floe had




322              TRE SEA  LIONS.
driven into the Great Bay, completely covering.its surface,
lining the shores far and near with broken and glittering!
cakes of ice; and, as it were, hermetically sealing the place
against all egress. New ice, an inch or two thick, or even
six or eight inches thick, might have been sawed through,
and a passage cut even for a league, should it be necessary.
Such things were sometimes done, and great as would have
been the-toil, our sealers would have attempted it, in pre.
ference to running the risk of passing a winter in that
region.  But almost desperate as would have been even
that source of refuge, the party was completely cut off from
its possession. To think of sawing through ice as thick as
that of the floe, for any material distance, would be like a
project to tunnel the Alps.
Melancholy was the meeting between Roswell and Daggett that morning. The former was too manly and generous
to indulge in reproaches, else might he well have told the
last that all this was owing to him.  There is a singular
propensity in us all to throw:the burthen of our own blunders on the shoulders of other folk.  Roswell had a little
of this weakness, overlooking the fact that he was his own
master; and as he had come to the group by himself, he
ought to have left it in the same manner, as soon as his
own particular task was accomplished.  But Roswell did
not see this quite as distinctly as he saw the fact that Daggett's detentions and indirect appeals to his better feelings
had involved him in all these difficulties.  Still, while thus
he felt, he made no complaint.
All hope of getting north that season now depended on
the field-ice's drifting away firom the Great Bay before'it
got fairly frozen in.  So jammed and crammed with it did
every part of the bay appear to be, however, that little.could be expected from that source of relief. This Daggett admitted in the conversation he held with Roswell, as
soon as the latter joined him on the rocky terrace beneath
the house.
"The wisest thing we can do, then," replied our hero,'" will be to make as early preparations as possible to meet
the winter.  If we are to remain here, a day gained now
will be worth a week a month hence. If we should happily
escape,.the labour thus expended will not kill us."




THE  SEA  LIONS.                 323
"Quite true-very much as you say, certainly," answer,
ed Daggett, musing. "I was thinking as you came ashore,
Gar'ner, if a lucky turn might not be made in this wise:I have a good many skins in the wreck, you see, and you
have a good ~deal of ile in your hold-now, by starting some
of. that ile, and pumping it out, and shooking the casks,
room might be made aboard of you for all my skins. I
think we could run all of the last over on themn wheels in
the course of a week."
" Captain Daggett, it is by yielding so much to your
skins that we have got into all this trouble."
" Skins, measure for, measure, in the way of tonnage,
will bring a great deal more than ile."
Roswell smiled, and muttered something to himself, a
little bitterly; He was thinking of the grievous disappointrnent and prolonged anxiety that it pained him to believe
Mary would feel at his failure to return home at the appointed time; though it would probably have pained him
more to b6lieve she would not thus be disappointed and
anxious. Here his displeasure, or its manifestation, ceased;
and the young man turned his thoughts on the present necessities of his situation.
Daggett appearing very earnest on the subject of removing his skins before the snows came to impede the
path, Roswell could urge no objection that would be likely
to prevail,; but his acquiescence was obtained by means
of a hint from Stimson, who by this time had gained his
officer's ear.
"Let him do it, Captain Gar'ner," said the boat-steerer,
in an aside, speaking respectfully, but earnestly.  "He?11
never stow'em in our hold, this season at least; but they'11
make excellent filling-in for the sides of this hut."
"You think then, Stephen, that we are likely to pass
the winter here?"' We are in the hands of Divine Providence, sir, which
will do with us as seems the best in the eyes of never-failing wisdom. At all events, Captain Gar'ner, I think'twill
be safest to act at once as if we had the winter afore us.
In my judgment, this house might be made a good deal.
more comfortable for us all, in such a case, than our craft;
for we should not only have more room, but might have as
28




324             THE- SEA LIONS
many fires as we want, and more than we can find fuel
for."'Ay, there's the difficulty, Stephen.  Where are we to
find wood, throughout a polar winter, for even one fire?"
": We must be saving', sir, and thoughtful, and keep ourselves warm as much as we can by exercise. I have had a
taste of this once, in'a small way, already; and know what
ought to be done, in many partic'lars. In the first place,
the men must keep themselves as clean as water will make
them-dirt is a great helper of cold - and the water must
be just as frosty as human natur' can bear it. This will set
everything into actyve movement inside, and bring out
warmth from the heart, as it might be. That's my principie of keeping warm, Captain Gar'ner."
"1 dare say it may be a pretty good one, Stephen," answered Roswell, " arid we'll bear it in mind. As for stoves
we are well enough off, for there is one in the house, and a
good large one it is; then, there is a stove in.each cabin,
and there are the two cambooses. If we had fuel for them
all, I should feel no concern-on the score of warmth."
"There's the wrack, sir.  By cutting her up at once,
we should get wood enough, in my judgment, to see it
out."
Roswell made no reply; but he looked intently at the
boat-steerer for half a minute. The idea was new to him;
and the more he thought on the subject, the greater was
the confidence' it gave him in the result. Daggett, he well
knew, would not consent to the mutilation of his schooner,
wreck as it was, so long as the most remote hope existed
of getting her again into the water. The tenacity with
which this man clung to property was like that which is
imputed to the life of the cat; and it was idle to expect
any concessions from -him on a subject like that. Nevertheless,'necessity is a hard master; and if the question
were narrowed down to one of burning the' materials. of a
vessel that was in the water, and in good condition, and
of burning those of one that was out of the water, with
holes cut through her bottom in, several places, and otherwise so situated as to render repairs extremely difficult, if
not impossible, even Daggett would be compelled to submit
to circumstances.



THE SEA LIONS.                   325
It was accordingly suggested to the people of the Vineyard Lion that they could do no better than to begin at:
once to remove everything they could come at, and which
could -be transported from the wreck to the house.  As
there was little to do on board the vessel afloat, her crew
cheerfully offered to assist in this labour. The days were
shortening sensibly and fast, and no time was to be lost,
the distance being so great as to make two trips a day a
matter of great labour.  No sooner was the plan adopted,
therefore, than steps were taken to set about its execution.
tt is.unnecessary for us to dwell minutely on everything
that -occurred during the succeeding week or ten days.
The wind shifted td south-west the very day that the Sea
Lion got back into her little harbour; and this seemed to
put a sudden check on the pressure of the vast floe. Nevertheless, there was no counter-movement, the ice remaining in the Great Bay seemingly as firmly fastened as if it
had originally been made there. Notwithstanding this shift
of the wind to a cold point of the compass, the thermometer
rose, and it thawed freely about the middle of the day, in
all places to which the rays of the sun had access. This
enabled the men to work with more comfort than they
could have done in the excessively severe weather; as it
was found that respiration became difficult when it was so
very cold.Access was now obtained to the wreck by cutting a regilar passage to the main hatch through the ice..The
schooner stood nearly upright, sustained by fragments o'
the floe; and there were extensive caverns all around her
produced' by the random manner in which the cakes had
come up out of their proper element like so many living
things. Among these caverns one might have wandered
for miles without once coming out into the open air, though
they were cold and cheerless, and had little to attract the
adventurer -after the novelty was abated. In rising from
the water, the schooner had been roughly treated; but
once sustained by the ice, her transit had been easy and
tolerably safe.  Several large cakes lay on or over her,
sustained more by other cakes that rested on the rocks
than by the timbers of the vessel herself. These cakes
formed a sort of roof, and as they did not drip, they served




326              THEE SEA' L.IONS.
so make a shelter against the wind; for, at the point where
the wreck lay, the south-west gales came howling round
the base of the mountain, piercing the marrow itself in the
bones. At the hut it was very different. There the heights
made a lee that extended all over the cape, and for some
distance to the westward; while the whole power the sun
possessed in that high latitude was cast, very obliquely it
is true, but clearly, and without any other drawback than
its position in the ecliptic,, fairly on the terrace, the hut
above, and the rocks around it.  On the natural terrace,
indeed, it was still pleasant to walk and work, and even to
sit for a few hours in the middle of the day; for winter was
not yet come ineearnest in that frozen world.
One of Roswell's first -objects was to transport most of
the eatables from the wreck; for he foresaw the need there
would be for everything of the sort.  Neither-vessel had
laid in a stock of provisions for a longer period than about
twelve months, of which nearly half were now gone. This
allowance applied to salted meats and bread, which are
usually regarded as the base of a ship's stores. There were
several barrels of flour, a few potatoes, a large quantity of
onions, a few barrels of corn-meal, or' injin,' as it is usually
termed in American parlance, an entire barrel of pickled
cucumbers, another about half full of cabbage preserved ill
the same way, and an entire barrel of molasses.  In addition., there was a cask of whiskey, a little wine and brandy
to he used medicinally, sugar, brown, whitey-brown aipd
browny-white, and a pretty fair allowance of tea and coffee;
the former being a Hyson-skin, and the latter San Domingo
of no very high quality. Most of these articles were transported from  the wreck to the house, in the course of the
few days that succeeded, though Daggett insisted on a cer
tain portion of the supplies being left in his stranded craft
Not until this was done would Roswell listen to any proposal of Daggett's to transfer the skins.  Twice during
these few days, indeed, did the Vineyard master come to a
pause in his proceedings, as the weather grew milder, and
gleams of a hope of being able yet to get away that season
crossed his mind. On the last of the'se occasions of misgiving, Roswell was compelled to lead his brother master
up on the plain of the island, to an elevation of some threo




TH E SEA LIONS.                  327
hundred feet above the level of the ocean, and more than
half that distance higher than the house, and point out to
him a panorama of field-ice that the eye could not comnmand. Until that vast plain opened, or became riven by
the.joint action of the agitated ocean and the warmth of a
sun: from which the rays did not glance away from the
frozen surface, like light obliquely received, and as obliquely reflected from a mirror, it was useless to think of
releasing even the uninjured vessel; much less that which
lay riven and crushed on the rocks.
"Were every cake of this ice melted into water, Daggett," Roswell continued,' it would not float off your
schooner.  The best supplied ship-yard in America could
hardly fiurnish the materials for ways to launch her; and I
never knew of a vessel's being dropped into the water some
twenty feet nearly perpendicular."
"I don't know that," answered Daggett, stoutly. "See
what they're doing now-a-days, and think nothing of it.
I have seen a whole row of brick houses turned round by
the: use of jack-screws; and one building actually taken
down a hill much higher than the distance you name.
Commodore Rodgers has just hauled a heavy frigate out
of the water, and means to put her back again, when he
has done with her. What has been done once can be done
twice.  I do not like giving up'till I'm forced to it."
" That is plain enough, Captain Daggett," returned Roswell, smiling. "That you are game, no one can deny; but
it will all come to nothing. Neither Commodore Rodgers
nor Commodore anybody else could put your craft into the
water again without something to do it with."
"You think it would be asking too much to take your
schooner, and go across to the main next season a'ter timber
to make ways?" put in Daggett, inquiringly. " She stands
up like a church, and nothing would be easier than to lay
down ways under her bottom."
"'Or more difficult than to make them of any use, after
you had put ihem there. No, no, my good sir, you must
think no more of this;.though it may be possible to make
a cover for the cargo,? and return and recover it all, by
freighting a craft from Rio, on our way north."
Daggett gave a quick, inquisitive glance at his compa28 *




328             T-HE  SEA  LIONS.
nion, and Roswell's colour mounted to his cheeks;'- for.
while he really thought-the plan just mentioned quite feasible, he was conscious of foreseeing that it might be made
the means of throwing off his troublesome companion, as
he himself drew near to the West Indies and their kevs.
This terminated the discussion for the time. Both of the
masters busied themselves in carrying on the duty which
had now fallen into a regular train. As much of the interest of what is to be related will depend on what was
done in these few days, it may be well- to be a little more
explicit in stating the particulars.
The reader will understand that the house, of which so
much had already been made by our mariners, was nothing
but a shell. It had a close roof, one that effectually turned
water, and its siding, though rough, was tight and rather
thicker than is usual; being made of common inch boards,
roughly planed, and originally painted red. There were
four- very tolerable windows, and a decent substantial floor
of planed plank. All this had been well put together, rather
more attention than is often bestowed on such structures
having been paid by the carpenter to the cracks- and joints
on account of the known sharpness of the climate, even in
the warm months. Still, all this made a mere shell.  The
marrow-freezing winds which would soon come - had indeed come-might be arrested by such -a covering, it is
true; but the little needle-like particles.of the frost would
penetrate such a shelter, as their counterparts of steel
pierce ctoth. It was a matter of life and death, therefore,
to devise means to exclude the cold, in order that the vital
heat might be kept in circulation during the tremendous
season that was known to be approaching.
Stimson had much to say on the subject of the arrangements taken. He was the oldest man in the two crews,
and the most experienced sealer. It happened that he had
once passed a winter at Orange Harbour, in the immediate
vicinity of Cape Horn.  It is true, that is an inhabited
country, if the poor degraded creatures who dwell there
can be termed inhabitants; and has its trees and vegetation, such as they are.  The difference between Orange
qarbour and Sealer's Land, in this respect, must be some..hing like that which all the travelling world knows to exist




THE'SEA'LI ONS.                  329
between a winter's residence at the Hospital of the. Great
St. Bernard, and a winter's residence at one of the villages
a few leagues lower down the mountain. At Sealer's Land,
if there was literally no vegetation, there was so little as
scarcely to deserve the name. Of fuel there was none, with
the exception of that which had been brought there. Nevertheless, the experience of a winter passed at such a place
as Orange Harbodr, must count for a great deal.  Cape
Horn:is in nearly 560, and Sealer's Land —we may as well
admit this much - is, by no means, 100 to the southward
of that.  There must be a certain general resemblance in
the climates of the two places; and he who had gone
through a winter at one of them, must have had a very
tolerable foretaste -of what was to be suffered at the
other. This particular experience, therefore, added to his
general knowledge, as well as to his character, contributed
largely to Stephen's influence in the consultations that took
place between the two masters, at which he was usually
present.
"'It's useless to be playing off, in an affair like this,
Captain'Gar'ner," said Stephen, on one occasion. "A-way
from this spot all the navies of the'arth could not now
carry us, until God's sun comes back in his course, to drive
the winter away afore it. I have my misgivin's, gentlemen,
touching this great floe that has got jammed in among these
islands, whether it will ever move ag'in; for I don't think
its coming in here is a c6mmon matter."
"In  which  case, what would  become of us, Stephen?"
"Why, sir, we should be at God's, marcy, then, jist as
we be now; or would be, was we on the east eend itself.
I won't say that two resolute and strong arms might not cut
a way through for one little craft like ourn, if they had
summer fully afore'em, and know'd they was a-workin' towards a. fri'nd instead of towards an inimy.  There's a
great deal in the last; every nian is encouraged when he
thinks he's nearer to the eend of his journey a'ter a hard
day's work, than he was when he set. out in the mornin'.
But to undertake sich an expedition at this season, would
be sartain destruction. No, sir; all we can do, now, is to
lay up for the winter, and that with great care and pru



330             THE  SEA LIONS.
dence.  We must turn ourselves into so many ants, and
show their forethought and care."
"What would you recommend as our first step, Stim.
~son?" asked Daggett, who' had been an attentive listener.
".I would advise, sir, to begin hardening the men as
soon as I could. We have too much fire in the stove, both
for our stock of wood and for the good of the people. Make
the men sleep under fewer clothes, and don't let any on'em
hang about the galley fire, as some dn'em love to do, even
now, most desperately. Them'ere men will be good for
nothin' ten weeks hence, unless they're taken off the fires,
as a body would take off a pot or a kettle, and are set out
to: harden."
" This is a process that may be easier advised than performed, perhaps," Roswell quietly observed.
"Don't you believe that, Captain Gar'ner.  I've known
the most shiverin', smoke-dried hands in a large crew,
hardened and brought to an edge, a'ter a little trouble, as
a body would temper an axe with steel. The first thing to
be done is to make'em  scrub one another every mornin'
in cold water. This gives a life to the skin that acts much
the same as a suit of clothes. Yes, gentlemen; put a fellow in a tub for a minute or two of a mornin', and you may
do almost anything you please with him all day a'terwards.
One pail of water is. as-good as a pee-jacket. And above
all things, keep the' stoves clear. The cooks should betold
not to drive their fires so hard; and we can do without the
stove in the sleeping-room a great deal better now than
most on us think. It will help to save much wood, if we
begin at once to caulk and thicken our siding, and make
the house warr,~,l. Was the hut in a good state, we might
do without any other fire than that in the camboose for two
months yet."
Such was the general character of Stephen's counsel,
and very good advice it was. Not only did Roswell adopt
the scrubbing process, which enabled him to throw aside a
great many. clothes in the course of a week, but he kept
aloof from the fires,'to harden, as Stimson had called it.
That which was thus enforced by example was additionally
enjoined by precept. Several large, hulking, idle fellows,
who greatly loved the fire, were driven away from. it by




THE SEA LIONS. 3 1
shame; and the heat was allowed to diffuse itself more
equally through the building.
Any one who has ever had occasion to be a witness of
the effect of the water-cure process in esnabling even delicate women to resist cold and damp, may form some notion
of the great improvement that was made among our sealers,
by adopting and rigidly adhering to Stimson's cold water
and no-fire system.  Those who had shivered at the very
thoughts of ice-water, soon dabbled in it like young ducks;
and there was scarcely an hour in the day when the halfhogshead, that was used as a bath, had not its tenant. This
tub was placed on the ice of the cove, with a tent over it;
and a well was madq through which the water Was drawn.
Of course, the axe was in great request, a new hole being
required each morning, and sometimes two or three times
in the course of the day. The effect of these ablutions was
very soon apparent. The men began to throw aside their
pee-jackets, and worked in their ordinary clothing, which
was warm and suited to a high latitude, with a spirit and
vigour at which they were themselves surprised. The fire
in the camboose sufficed as yet; and, at evening, the peejacket, with the shelter of the building, the crowded rooms,
and the warm meals, for a long time enabled them to get
on without-consuming anything in the largest stove. Stimson's plans for the protection of the hut, moreover, soon
began to tell. The skins, sails, and much of the rigging,
were brought over from the wreck; by means of the carts,
so long as there was no snow, and by means of sledges
when the snow fell and rendered wheeling difficult. Luckily,
the position of the road along the rocks caused the upper
snow to melt a little at noon-day, while it froze again,
firmer and firmer, each night.  The crust soon bore, and
it was found that the sledges furnished even better means
of transportation than the wheels.
There was a little controversy about the use of the skins,
Daggett continuing to regard -them as cargo. Necessity
and numbers prevailed in the end, and the whole building
was lined with them, four or five deep, by placing them
inside of beckets made of the smaller rigging. By stuffing
these skins compactly, within ropes so placed: as to keep
all snug, a very material defence against the entrance of




332             1H E  S EA  LIO N S.
cold was interposed. But this was not all. Inside of the
skins Stimson got up hangings of canvass, using the sails
of the wreck for that purpose. It was not necessary to cut
these sails-Daggett would not have suffered it-hut they
were suspended, and crammed into openings, and otherwise so arranged as completely to conceal and shelter every
side, as well as the ceilings of both rooms. Portions were
fitted with such address as to fall before the windows, to
which they formed very warm if not very ornamental curtains. Stephen, however, induced Roswell to order outside shutters to be made and hung; maintaining that one
such shutter would soon count as a dozen cords of wood.
Much ofthe wood, too, was brought over from the wreck;
and that which had been carelessly abandoned on the rocks
was all collected and piled carefully and conveniently near
the outer door of the hut; which door, by the way, looked
inward, or towards the rocks in the rear of the building,
where it opened on a sort of yard, that Roswell hoped to
be able to keep clear of ice and snow throughout the winter.  He might as well have expected to melt the glaciers
of Grindewald by lighting a fire on the meadows at their
base!
Stephen had another project to protect the house, and to
give facilities for moving outside, when the winter should
be at the hardest. In his experience at Orange Harbour,
he had found that great inconvenience was sustained in
consequence of the snow's melting around the building he
inhabited, which came from the warmth of the fire within.
To avoid this, a very serious evil, he had spare sails of
heavy canvass laid across the roof of the warehouse, a
building of no great height, and secured them to the rocks
below by means of anchors, kedges, and various other devices; in some instances, by lashings to projectidns in the
cliffs.  Spare spars, leaning from the roof,.supported this
ent-like covering, and props beneath sustained the spars.
This arrangement was made on only two sides of the build.
ing, one end, and the side which looked to the north;
materials failing before the whole place was- surrounded.
The necessity for admitting light, too, admonished the
sealers of the inexpediency of.thus shrouding all their windows. The bottom of this tent was only ten feet from. the




THE  SEA  LIONS.                  333
side of the house, which gave it greater security than if it
had been more horizontal, while it made a species of
verandah in which exercise could be taken with greater
freedom  than in the rooms.  Everything was done to
strengthen the building in all its parts that the ingenuity
of seamen could sugges.  and particularly to prevent the
tent-verandah from caving in.
Stephen intimated that their situation possessed one
great advantage, as well as disadvantage.  In consequence
of standing on a shelf with a' lower terrace so close as-to
be within the cast of a shovel, the snow might be thrown
below, and the hut relieved. The melted snow, too, would
be apt to take the samne direction, under the law that governs the course'of all fluids. The disadvantage was in the
barrier of rock behind the hut, which, while it served admirably to break the piercing south winds, would very
naturally tend to make high snow-banks in drifting storms
CHAPTER XXIV.
My foot on the ice-berg has lighted,
When hoarse the wild winds veer-about;
My eye when the bark is benighted,
Sees the lamp of the light-house go out.
I'm the sea-bird; sea-bird, sea-bird,
Lotie looker on despair;
The sea-bird, sea-bird, sea-bird,
The only witness there."
BRAINARD.
Two months passed rapidly away in the.excitement and
novelty of the situation and pursuits of the men. In that
time, all was done that the season would allow; the. house
being considered as complete, and far from uncomfortable.
The days. had rapidly lessened in length, and the nights
increased proportionably, until the sun was visible only for
a few hours at a time, and then merely passing low along
the northern horizon. The cold increased in proportion,




334             T:HE -SEA  LIO-NS-.
though the weather varied almost as much in that high
latitude as it does in our own. It had ceased to thaw much,
however; and the mean of the thermometer was not many
degrees above zero.  Notwithstanding this low range of
the mercury, the men found that they were fast getting
acclimated, and that they could endure a much greater
intensity of cold than they had previously supposed possible. As yet, there had been nothing to'surprise natives of
New York and New England, there rarely occurring
winter in which weather quite as cold as any they had yet
experienced in the antarctic sea, does not set in, and last
for some little time. Even while writing this very chapter
of our legend, here in the mountains of Otsego, one of these
Siberian visits has been paid to our valley.  For the last
three days the thermometer has ranged, at sunrise, between
170 and 22~ below zero; though there is every appearance
of a thaw, and we may have the mercury up to 40~ above,
in the course of the next twenty-four hours.  Men accustomed to such transitions, and such- extreme cold, are not
easily laid up or intimidated.
A great deal of snow fell about this particular portion
of the year; more, indeed, than at a later period. This
snow produced the greatest inconvenience: for it soon be..
came so deep as to form high banks around the house, and
to fill all'the customary haunts of the men.  Still, there
were places that were in a great measure exempt from this
white mantle. The terrace immediately below the hut,
which has so often been mentioned, was one of these bare
spots. It was so placed as to be swept by both the east and
the west winds, which generally cleared it of everything
like snow, as fast as it fell; and this more effectually than
could be done by a thousand brooms. The level of rock
usually travelled in going to or from the wreck, was another of these.clear places.  It was a sort of shelf,- too
narrow to admit of the snow's banking, and too much
raked by the winds that commonly accompanied snow, to
suffer the last to lodge to any great depth. Snow there"
was, with a hard crust, as has already been mentioned; but
it was not snow ten or fifteen feet deep, as occurred in mnany
other places. There were several points, however, where
banks had formed, even on this ledge, through which the




THE SEA LIONS.                   335
men were compelled to cut their way by the use of shovels:
an occupation that gave them exercise, and contributed to
keep them in health, if it was of no other service.  It was
found that the human frame could not endure one-half the
toil, in that low state of the -mercury, that it could bear in
one a few degrees higher.
Daggett had not, by any means, abandoned his craft, as
much as he had permitted her to be dismantled. Every
day or, two he had some new expedient for getting the
schooner off in the spring; though all who heard them
were perfectly convinced of their impracticableness. This
ifeeling induced him to cause his own men to keep open
the communication; and. scarce a day passed in which he
did:not visit the poor unfortunate craft. Nor was the. place
without aft interest of a very peculiar sort.  It has been
~said that the fragments of ice, some of which were more
than a hundred feet in diameter, and all of which were
eight or ten feet in thickness, had been left on their edges,
inclining in a way to form caverns that extended a great
distance. Now, it so happened, that: just around the wreck'
the cakes were so distributed as to intercept the first snows
which filled the: outer passages, got to be hardened, and
covered anew by fresh storms,:thus interposed an effectual
barrier to the admission of any more of the.frozen element
within the ice. The effect was to, form a vast range of
natural galleries amid the. cakes, that were quite clear of
any snow but that which had adhered to their surfaces, and
which offered little or no impediment to motion - nay,
which rather aided it, by rendering.the walking less slippery.  As the deck of the schooner had been cleared,
leaving an easy access to all its entrances, cabin, hold, and.
forecastle,.this put the Vineyard Lion under cover, while
it admitted of all her accommodations -being used. A portion of her wood had been left in her, it will be remembered,
as well as her camboose. The last was got into the cabin,
and Daggett, attended by two or three of his hands, would
pass a'good deal of his time there.  One reason given for
this distribution of the. forces, was the greater room it
allowed those who remained at the hut fbr motion.  The
deck of this vessel being quite clear, it offered a.very
favourable spot for exercise;. better, in fact, than -the ter29             22




336             THE SEA  LI O N S.
race bineath the hut, being quite sheltered from the winds,
and much warmer than it had been originally, or ever since
the heavy fall of snows commenced.  Daggett paced his
quarter-deck hour after hour, almost deluding himself withthe expectation of sailing for home as soon as the return
of summer would permit him to depart.
Around the hut the snow early made vast embankments.
Every one accustomed to the action of this. particular condition of one of the great elements, will understand that a
bend in the rocks outward, or a curve inward, must necessarily affect the manner in which these banks were formed.
The wind did not, by any means, blow from any one point
of the compass; though the south-western cliffs might be
almost termed the weather-side of the island, so much more
frequently did the gales come from that quarter than from
any other. The cape where the cove lay, and where the
house had been set up, being at the north-eastern point,
and much protected by the high table-land in its rear, it
occupied the warmest situation in the whole region. The
winds that swept most of the north shore, but which, owing
to a curvature in its formation, did not often blow home to
the hut, even when they whistled along the terrace only a
hundred feet beneath and more salient, were ordinarily
from the south-west outside; though they got a more westerly inclination by following the land under the cliffs.
A bank of snow may be either a cause of destruction or
a source of comfort. Of course, a certain degree of cold
must exist wherever snow is to be found; but, unless -in
absolute contact with the human body, it does not usually
affect the system beyond a certain point. On the other
hand, it often breaks the wind, and it has been known to
form a covering to flocks, houses, &c., that has contributed
essentially to their warmth. We incline to the opinion that
if one slept in a cavern formed in the snow, provided he
could keep himself dry, and did not come in absolute contact with the element, he would not find his quarters very
uncomfortable, so long as he had sufficient clothing to con.
qine the-animal warmth near his person. Now, our sealers
enjoyed some such advantage as this; though not literally
in the. same degree.  Their house was not covered with
snow, though a vast bank was already formed quite near it




THE SEA  LIONS.                  337
and a good deal had begun to pile against the tent.  Singular as it may seem, on the east end of the building, and
on the south front, which looked in towards the cliff next
the cove, there was scarcely any snow at all. This was in
part owing to the constant use of the shovel and broom,
but more so to the currents of air, which usually carried
everything of so light a nature as a flake to more quiet
spots, before it was suffered to settle on the ground.
Roswell early found, what his experience as an American might have taught him, that the melting of the snow,
in consequence of the warmth of the fires, caused much
more inconvenience than- the snow itself. The latter, when
dry, was easily got Along with; but, when melted in the
day, and converted into icicles at night, it became a most
unpleasant and not altogether a safe neighbour; inasmuch
as there was really danger from the sort of damp atmosphere
it produced.
The' greatest ground of RoswelH Gardiner's apprehensions, however, was for the supply 6f fuel. Much of that
brought from home had been fairly used in the carmboose,
and in the stove originally set up in the hut. Large as that
stock had been, a very sensible inroad had been made upon
it; and, according to a calculation he had made, the wood
regularly laid in would not hold out mnuch more than half
the time that it would' be indispensable to remain on the
island. This was a grave circumstance, and one that de.
manded very serious consideration. Without fuel it would
be impossible to survive; no hardening process being sufficient to fortify the human frame to a- degree that would
resist the influence of an antarctic winter.
From the moment it was probable the party would be
obliged to pass the winter at Sealer's Land, therefore, Roswell had kept a vigilant eye on the wood.  Stimson had
more than once, spoken to him on the subject, and with
great prudence.
"Warmth. must be kept among us," said the old boatsteerer, " or there will be no hope for the stoutest man in
either crew.  We've a pretty good stock of coffee, and
that is better, any day, than all the rum and whiskey that
was-ever distilled.  Good hot coffee of a morning will put




338             THE SEA LIONS.
tife into us the coldest day that ever come out of eithei
pole; and they do say the south is colder than the north,
though I never could understand why it should be so."'' "You surely understand the reason why it grows warmer
as we approach the equator, and colder as we go from it,
whether we go north or south?"
Stimson assented; though had the truth been said, he
would have been obliged to confess that he knew no more
than the facts.
"All sailors know sich things, Captain Gar'ner; though
they know it with very different degrees of exper'ence.
But few get as far south as I have been, to.pass a winter.
A good pot of hot coffee of a morning will go as far as a
second pee-jacket, if a man has to go out into the open air
when the weather is at the hardest."
"Luckily, our small stores are quite abundant, and we
are better off for coffee and sugar than for anything else.
I laid, in of both liberally when.we were at Rio."
" Yes, Rio is a good place for the articles. But coffee
must be hot to do a fellow much good in one of these highlatitude winters;:and to be hot there must be fuel to heat
it."
"I am afraid the wood will. not hold out much more
than half the time we shall be here. Fortunately, we haa
a large supply; but the other schooner was by no means
as well furnished with fuel as she ought to have been for
such a voyage."
"Well, sir, I suppose, you know what must be done next
in such a case. Without warm food, men can no more live
through one of these winters, than they can. live without.food at all. If the Vineyard craft has no proper ful aboard
her, we must make fuel.of her."
Roswell regarded Stephen with fixed attention for some
time.. The idea was presented to his mind for the second
time, and he greatly liked it.
"That.might do," he said; "'though it will not be an
easy matter to make Captain Dagget consent to such a
thing."
"Let him go two-or three mornings without his warm
meal and hot coffee," answered Stimson, shaking his head,' and he will be glad enough to come into the scheme. A




T'HE SEA  L IONS".                33!'
man soon gets willing to set fire t.o anything that will burn
in such a climate.'A notion has been floating about in my
mind, Captain Gar'ner, that've several, times thought I
would mention to you.  D'ye think, sir, any benefit could
be made of that volcano over the bay, should the worst get
to the worst with us?"
"I have thought of the same thing, Stephen; though I
fear in vain. I suppose no useful heat can be:given out
there, until one gets too near the bad air to breathe it.
What you say about breaking up the other schooner, however, is wvorthy of consideration;  and I will speak to Cap~ain Daggett about it."
Roswell was as -good as his word; and the Vineyard
mariner met the proposal as one-repels' an injury.- Never
were our two masters so near a serious misunderstanding,
as when Roswell suggested to Daggett the expediency of
breaking up the wreck, now that the weather was endurarable, and the men could work with reasonable comfort
and tolerable advantage.
"The man who puts an. axe or a saw into that unfortunate craft," said Daggett, firmly, "I shall regard as an
enemy.'It is a hard enough bed that she lies on, without
having her ribs and sides torn to pieces by hands."
This was the strange spirit in which.Daggett continued
to look at the condition of the' wreck! It was true that the
ice prevented his actually seeing the impossibility of his
ever getting his schooner into the water again; but no man
at all acquainted with mechanics, and who knew the paucity
of means that existed on the island, could for a moment
entertain the idle expectation that seemed to have got:into
the' Vineyard-master's mind, unless subject to a species of
one-idea infatuation.  This'infatuation, however, existed
not only in Daggett's mind, but in some degree in those
of his men.  It is said that " in a multitude of counsellors
there is wisdom;" and the axiom comes from an authority
too venerable to be disputed. But it might, almost with
equal justice, be said, that " in a multitude of counsellors
there is folly;" for men are quite as apt to sustain each
other in the wrong as in the right. The individual who
Aould hesitate about advancing his fallacies and mistakes
with' a single voice, does not scruple to proclaim them on
29 *




340             THE  SEA  LIONS.
the hill-tops, when he finds other tongues to liepeat his
errors.  Divine wisdom, foreseeing this consequence of
*human weakness, has provided a church-catholic, and proceeding directly from its Great Head on earth, as the repository of those principles, facts, and laws, that it has deemed
essential to the furtherance of its own scheme of moral
government on earth; and yet we see audacious imitators
starting up on every side, presuming  in their ignorance,
longing in their ambition, and envious in these longings,
who do not scruple to shout out upon the house-tops
crudities over which knowledge wonders as it smiles, and
humility weeps as it wonders. Such is man, when sustained
by his fellows, ip every interest of life; from religion, the
highest of all, down to the most insignificant of his temporal concerns.
In this spirit did Daggett and his crew now feel and act.
Roswell had early seen, with regret, that something like a
feeling of party was getting up among- the Vineyarders,
who had all along regarded the better fortune of their
neighbours with an ill-concealed jealousy. Ever since the
shipwreck, however, this rivalry had taken a new and even
less pleasant aspect. It was slightly hostile, and remarks
had been occasionally made that sounded equivocally; as
if the Vineyarders had an intention of separating from the
other crew, and of living by themselves. It is probable,
however, that all this was the fruit of disappointment;. and
that, at the bottom, nothing very serious was in contemplation.,Daggett had permitted his people to aid in transporting most of the'stores. to the house; though a considerable
supply had been left in the' wreck. This last arrangement
was made seemingly without any hostile design, but rather
in furtherance of a plan to pass as much time as circumstances would allow, on board the stranded vessel.'I'here
was, in truth, a certain convenience in this scheme, that
commended it to the good sense of all. So long as any
portion of the Vineyarders could be made comfortable in
the wreck, it was best they should remain. there; for it
saved the labour of transporting all the provisions, and
made more room to circulate in and about the house. The
nfcessity of putting so miiany casks, barrels and boxes withwP doors, had materially circumscribed the limits; and space




THE  SEA LIONS.                   341
was a greaf desideratum for several reasons, nealth in par.
tlcular.
Roswell was glad, therefore, when any of the Vineyarders
expressed a wish to go to the wreck, and to pass a few days
there.  With a view to encourage-this disposition, as well
as to ascertain how those fared who chose that abode, lie
paid Daggett a visit, and passed a night or two himself in
the cabin of the craft. This experiment told him that it
was very possible to exist there when the thermometer stood
at zero; but, how it would do when ranging a great deal
lower, he had his doubts. The cabin was small, and a very
moderate fire in the camboose served to keep it reasonably
warm; though Daggett, at all times a reasonable and reasoning man, when the " root of all evil" did not sorely beset him, came fully into his own views as to the necessity
of husbanding the fuel, and of hardening the men.  None
of that close stewing over stoves, which is so common in
America, and which causes one-half of the winter diseases
of the climate, was tolerated in either gang.  Daggett saw
the prudence of Roswell's, or rather of Stimson's system,
and fell into it freely, and with hearty good-will.  It was
during'Gardiner's visit to the wreck that our two masters
talked over their plans for the winter, while taking their
exercise on the schooner's deck, each well muffled up, to
prevent the frost from taking hold of the more exposed
parts.  Every one had a seal-skin cap, made in a way to
protect the ears and most of the face; and our two masters
were thus provided, in common with their men.
" I suppose that we are to consider this as pleasant winter weather," Roswell remarked, "the thermometer being
down only at zero.'Stimson tells me that even at Orange
Harbour, the season he was -there, they paid out mercury.
until it all got into the ball.  A month or two hence, we
may look out for the season Qf frosts, as the Injins call it.
You will hardly think of staying out here, when the really
hard weather sets in."
"I do not believe we shall feel the cold much more than
we do now. This daily washing is a capital stove; for 1
find all hands. say that, when it is once over, they feel like
new men. As for me, I shall stick by my craft while there
is a timber left in her to float!"




342            VTHE SEA LIONS.
Ros~Well thought how absurd it was to cling thus to a
useless mass of wood, and iron, and copper; but he said
nothing on that subject.
"I amn now sorry that we took over to the house so many
of:ur supplies," Daggett continued, after a short pause.
"I am afraid that many of them will have to be brought
back again."
"That would hardly quit cost, Daggett; it. would be
better to come over and pass the heel of the winter with
us, when the supplies get to be short here. As we eat, we
make room in the hut, you know; and you will be so much
the more comfortable.  An empty pork-barrel was broken
up for the cambroose yesterday morning."
" We shall see - we shall see, Gar'ner. My men' have
got a notion that your people intend to break up this
schooner for fuel, should they not keep an anchor-watch
aboard her."
"Anchor-watch!" repeated Roswell, smiling.  "It is
well named-if there ever was an anchor-watch, you keep
it here; for no ground-tackle will ever hold like this."
" We still think the schooner may be got off," Daggett
said, regarding his companion inquiringly.
While the Vineyard-man had a certain distrust of his
I)rother-master,; he had also a high respect for his fair-dealing propensities, and a strong disposition to put confidence
in his good faith.  The look that he now gave was, if.possible, to read the real opinion of the other, in a countenance
that seldom deceived.
"I shall be grateful to God, Captain Daggett,' returned
Roswell, after a short pause, "if we get through the long
winter of this latitude, without' burning too much of both
craft, than will be for our gcod. Surely' it were better to
begin on that which is in the least serviceable condition'?"
"I have thought this matter over, Gar'ner, with all my
mind-have dreamt of it-slept on it- had it before me at
all hours, and in all weathers; and, look at it as I will, it
is full of difficulties. Will you agree to take in a half-cargo
of my skins and iles next season, and make in all, respects
a joint v'y'ge of it, from home,' home ag'in, if we'll -consent
to let this craft be burned?"
"It exceeds my power to make any such: bargain.




THE SEA LIONS.                   34 3
have an owner who looks sharply after his property, and
my crew are upon lays, like the people of all sealers. You
ask too much; and you forget that, should I assume.the
*same power over my own craft, as you still claim  in this
wreck, you might never find the means of getting away
from the group at all.  We are not obliged to receive you
on board our schooner."
"I know you: think, Gar'ner, that it will be impossible
for us ever to get our craft off; but you overlook one thing
thatwe may do-what is there to prevent our breaking her
up, and of using the materials to make a smaller vessel;
one of sixty tons say -in which we might get home, besides taking most of our skins?"
" I will not say' that will be impossible; but I do say it
will be very difficult. It would be wiser for you, in my
judgment, to leave your cargo in the house, under the
keeping of a few hands if you see fit, and go off with me.
I will land you at Rio, where you can almost always find
some small American craft to come south in, and pick up
your leavings.  If you choose that the men left behind
should. amuse themselves in your absence, by building a
small craft, I am certain they will meet with no opposition
from me. There is but one place where a vessel can be
launched, and that is the spot in the cove where we beached
your schooner.  There it might possibly be done, though
I think not without a great deal of trouble, and possibly not
without more means. than are to be picked up along shore
in this group. But there is a very important fact that you
overlook, Daggett, which it may be as well to mention
here, as to delay it.  Your craft, or mine, must be used as
fuel this winter, or we shall freeze to..death'to a man.  i
have made the calculations closely; and, certain as our
existence, there is no alternative between such a death' and
the use of the fuel I have mentioned."
"Not a timber of mine shall be touched. I do not believe one-half of these stories about the antarctic winter,
which cannot be much worse than what a body meets with
up in the Bay of Fundy."
"A winter in the Bay of Fundy, without fuel, must be
tad enough; but it is a mere circumstance to one here. I
should think that a man who has tasted an antarctic sum



344             THE- SEA LION.S.
met and autumn, must get a pretty lively notion of what is
to come -after them."
"The men can keep in their berths much of the tinie,
and save wood. There are many other ways of getting
througn a winter than burning a vessel. I shall never consent to a stick of this good craft's going into the galley-fire
as long as I can see my way clear to prevent it. I would
burn cargo before I would burn my craft."
Roswell wondered at this pertinacity; but he trusted to
the pressure of the coming season, and changed the subject.
Certainly the thought of breaking up his own craft did not
cross his mind; though he could see no sufficient objection
-to the other side of the proposition. As discussion was useless, however, he continued to converse with Daggett on
various practical subjects, on which his companion was
rational and disposed to learn.
It. had been ascertained by experiment that the water,
at a considerable depth, was essentially warmer beneath the
ice, than at its surface. A plan had been devised by which
the lower currents of the water could be pumped up for the
purposes of the bath; thus rendering the process far more
tolerable than it had previously been. Bathing in extremely
cold weather, however, is not as formidable a thing as is
generally supposed, the air being at a lower temperature
than the water.  As the greatest importance was attached
to these daily ablutions, the subject was gone over between
the two masters in all its bearings. There were no conveniences for the operation at the wreck; and this was one
reason why Roswell suggested that a residence there ought
to be abandoned. Daggett dissented, and invited his com..
panion to take a walk in his caverns.
A promenade in a succession of caves formed of ice,
with the thermometer at zero, would naturally strike one
as a somewhat chilling amusement. Gardiner did not find
it so.  He was quite protected from the wind, which gives.
so much pungency to bitter cold, rendering it insupportable. Completely protected from this, and warmed by the
exertion of clambering among the cakes, Roswell's blood
was soon in a healthful glow; and, to own the truth, when
he left the wreck, it was with a much better opinion of it,




THE. SEA  LIONS.                 345
as a place of residence, than when he ha'd arrived to pay
his visit.
As there was now nothing for the then to do in the way
of preparation, modes of amusement were devised that
might unite activity of body with that of tile mind. The
snows ceased to fall as the season advanced; and there
were. but few places on which heavy burthens might not
have been transported over their crusts. ~It was, indeed,
easier moving about on the surface of the frozen snow,
than it had been on the naked rocks; the latter offering
obstacles that no longer showed themselves. Sliding down
the declivities, and even skating, were practised; few
northern Americans being ignorant of the latter art.  Various other sources of amusement were resorted to; but it
was found, generally, that very little exercise in the'open
air exhausted the frame, and that a great difficulty of
breathing ocdurred.  Still, it was thought necessary to
health that the men should remain as much as possible out
of the crowded house; and various projects were adopted
to'keep up the vital warmth while exposed. Ere the month
of July had passed, which corresponds to our January, it
had been found expedient to make dresses of skins; for
which fortunately the materials abounded.
As the season advanced, the idea of preserving more
than the li-ves of his men was gradually abandoned by Gardiner; though Daggett still clung to his wreck, and actually
had wood transported back to it, that h-lie might stay as much
as possible near his property. There was no longer any
thawing, though there were very material gradations in the
intensity of the frosts.  Occasionally, it was quite possible
to remain in the open air an hour or two at a time; then,
again, there were days in which it exceeded the powers of
human endurance to remain more than a few minutes removed to any distance from heat artificially procured. On
the whole, however, it was found that the comparatively
moderate.weather predominated; and it was rare indeed
that all the people did not pursue their avocations and
amusements outside, at what was called the middle of the
dav.'
And what a meridian it was!  The shortest day had
passed some time, when Roswell and Stimson were walk.




346             THE SEA LIONS.
ing together on the terrace, then, as usual, as clear from
snow as if swept by a broom; but otherwise wearing the
aspect of interminable winter, in common with all around
it.. They were conversing, as had been much their wont
of late, and were watching the passage of the sun as he
stole along the northern horizon; even at high noon rising
but a very few degrees above it!
" It has a cold look, sir, but it does give out some -heat,"
said Stephen, as he faced the luminary, in one of his turns.' "I can feel a little' warmth from' it just now, sheltered as
we are here under the cliffs, and with' a back-ground of
naked rock to throw back what reaches us. To me, all
these changes in the movements of the sun seem: very
strange, Captain Gar'ner; buf.I know I'm  ignorant, and
that others may well know all about what I do not understand."
Here Gardiner undertook to explain the phenomena that
have been slightly treated on in our own pages. There -are
few Americans so ignorant as not to be fully aware that the
sun has no sensible motion, or any -motion that has an apuarent influence on our own planet; but fewer still clearly
comprehend the, reasons of those very changes that are oc~curring constantly before their eyes.- We cannot say that
Captain Gardiner succeeded very well in his undertaking,
though he imprinted- on the old boat-steerer's mind the
fact that the sun w/ould not be -seen at all were they only a
few degrees farther south than they actually were.
"And now, sir, I suppose he'll-get higher and higher
every day," put in Stephen, " until he comes quite up above
our heads?"
"Not exactly that at noon;, though a;beam, as it might
be, mornings and evenings."
"Stil!, the coldest of our weather is yet to come, or 1
have no experience in-such things. Why does not the heat
come back with' the sun -or what seems -to be the sun
coming back? though, as you tell me, Captain Gar'ner,
it's only the'arth sheering this-a-way and that-a-way in her
course."
"One may well ask such a question-but cold produces
cold, and it takes time to wear it out. February is commonly the coldest month in the year, even in America;




THE SEA LIONS.                    347
though days occur in other months that may be colder: than
any one in February. March, and even April, are months
I dread here; and that so inuch the more, Stephen,.because
our fuel goes a good deal faster than I could wish.'
" What you say is very true, sir.: Still, the people must
have fire.  I turned out this morning, while all hands were
still in their berths:, and looked to the stove, and it was as
much as human natur' could bear to be about without my
cap and skin-covering; though in-doors the whole time.
If the weather goes on as it has begun, we shall have to
keep a watch at the stove; nor do I think one stove will
answer us much longer.  We shall want another in the
sleeping-room."
" Heaven knows where the wood is to come from! Unless Captain Daggett gives up the wreck, we shall certainly
be-out long before the mild season returns."
W'   e must keep ourselves warnm, sir, by reading the
bible," answered Stimson, smiling; though the glance he
cast at his officer was earnestl and anxious.'"You must
not forget, Captain.Gar'ner, that you've promised one who
is praying for you daily, to go through the chapters she has
marked;and give the matter a piatient and attentive thou'ght.
No sealin', sir, can be half as important as this reading of
the good' book in the right spirit."
" So yott believe that Jesus was the Son of God'!" exclaimed Roswell, half inquiringly, and half in a modified
sort of levity.
"As much as I believe that we:are here, sir. I' wish 1
was half as certain of our ever getting away."
"What has caused you to believe this, Stimson?- reason, or'-the talk of your mother and of. the parson'?"
" My mother died afore I could listen t5& her-talk, sir:
and very little have I had to0 do'with "parsons, for.the want
of being where they are to be found.  Faith- tells me to
believe this; -and Faith comes from God."'And I could believe it, too, were Faith imparted to me
fiom the same source. As it is, I fear I shall never believe
in what appears to me to be an impossibility."
~ Then followed a long discussion, in which ingenuity, considerable command of language, human pride'and worldly
sentiments,-contended with -that clear, intuitive, deep aon30




348              THE SEA LIONS
viction, which it is the pleasure of the Deity often to bestow
on those who would otherwise seem to be unfitted to become the repositories of so great a gift.  As we shall have
to deal with this part of our subject more particularly: hereafter, we shall not enlarge on it here; but pursue the narrative as it is connected with the advance of the season,
end the influence the latter exerted over the whole.party
of. the lost sealers
CHAPTER XXV.
"Beyond the Jewish ruler, banded close,
A company fuill glorious, I saw
The twelve apostles stand. 0, with what looks
Of ravishment and joy, what rapturous tears;
What hearts of ecstacy, they gazed again
On their beloved Master"Hilltouse's Judgment.'IT has become necessary to advance the season to the
beginning of the month of October, which corresponds to
our own April. In a temperate climate; this would mark
the opening of spring; and the reviving hopes of a new and
genial season would find a place in every bosom. Not so
at Sealer's Land.  So long as the winter was at its height,
and the clear, steady cold continued, by falling into a sys.
tem so prepared as to meet the wants of such a region,
matters had gone on regularly, if not with comfort; and,
as yet, the personal disasters were confined to a few frozen
cheeks and noses, the results of carelessness and wanton
exposure, rather:than of absolute necessity.  But one who
had seen the place in July, and who examined it now,
would find many marks of change, not to say of deterioration.
In the first place, a vast deal of snow had fallen; fallen,
indeed, to such a degree, as even to cover the terrace,
block up the path that communicated with the wreck, and
nearly to smother the house and all around it. The winds
were high and piercing, rendering the cold doubly pene.




THE SEA LIONS.                  349
trating. The thermometer now varied essentially, sometimes rising considerably above zero, though oftener falling
far below it. There had been many storms in September,
and October was opening with a most blustering and wintry
aspect. In one sense, however, the character of the season
had changed; the dry, equal cold, that was generally supportable, having been succeeded by tempests that were
sometimes a little moist, but oftener of intense frigidity.
Of course the equinox was past, and there were more thai
twelve hours of sun. The great luminary showed himself
well above the northern horizon; and though his circuit
described an arch that did not promise soon to bring him
near the zenith at meridian, it was a circuit that seemed
about to enclose Sealer's Land, by carrying the orb of day
so far south, morning and evening, as to give it an air of
travelling round the spot.
These changes had not occurred without suffering and
danger. Enormous icicles were suspended from the roof
of the house, reaching to the ground, the third and fourth
successions of these signs of heat and cold united, the
earlier formations having been knocked down and thrown
away. Mountains of drifted snow were to be seen in places,
all along-the shore; and wreaths that threatened fearfiul
avalanches were suspended from the cliffs, waiting only for
the increase of the warmth, to come down upon the rocks
beneath.  Once already had one of these masses fallen on
the wreck; and the Oyster Pond men had been busy for a
week digging into the pile, in order to go to the rescue.of
the Vineyarders. - There was much generosity and charitable feeling displayed in this act; for, owing to the obstinate
adherence of Daggett and his-people to what they deemed
their rights, Roswell had finally been compelled to cut to
pieces the upper works of his own schooner to obtain fuel
that might prevent his own party from freezing to death.
The position of the Sea Lion of Oyster Pond was to be
traced only by a high mound of snow, which had been
arrested by the obstacle she presented to its drift; but. her
bulwarks, planks, deck, top-timbers, stern-frame-in short,
nearly all of the vessel above water, had actually been taken
to pieces, and carried within the covering of the verandah
mentioned, in readiness for the stoves!




350             THE  SEA LIONS
To render the obstinacy of the other crew more apparent, Daggett had been obliged to do the same! Much of
his beloved craft had already disappeared in the camboose,
and more was likely to follow. This compelled destruction,
however, rather increased t.han lessened his pertinacity.
He clung to the last chip; and, no terms of compromise
would. he now listen to at all. The stranded wreck was
his, and his people's; while the other wreck belonged to
the men from Oyster Pond. Let each party act for. itself,
and take'care of its own. Such were his expressed opinions,
and on them.he acted.'l'his state of things had not been brought about in' a
day.  Months bhad passed; Roswell had seen his last billet
of wood put in the camboose; had tried various experiments
for producing heat by means of oil,;which so far succeeded
as to enable the ordinary boiling to be done, thereby saving
wood; but, when a cold. turn set in, it was quickly found
that the schooner must go, or all hands perish.'When this
decree went forth, every one understood that the final preservation  of the-party depended on that of the boats.  For
one entire day the question had been up in general council
whether or not the two whale-boats should.be burnt, wi h.
their oars and appurtenances, before the attack: was made
on the schooner itself.  Stimson settled this point, as he
did-so many others, Roswell listening to all he said with a
constantly increasing attention.
",If we burn the boats first," said the boat-steerer, " and
then have to come to the schooner a'ter all, how are we
ever to get away from this group?  Them  boats wouldn't
last us a week, even in.' our best weather; but they'rnay
answer to take'us to some Christian land, when ervery rib
and splinter of the Sea Lion is turned into ashes. I would
begin on the upper works of the schooner first, Captain
Gar'ner. resarvin" the spars, though they would burn the
freest.  Then I would saw away the top-timbers, beams,
decks, transoms, and everything down within a foot of the
water; but' I wouldn't touch anything below the copper,
for this here reason: unless Captain Daggett sets to work
on his craft and burns her up altogether, we may find
mater'als enough in the spring to' deck over ag'in the poor
thinog down there in the cove, and fit her out a'ter a fashion,




THE  SEA  LIONS.                 351
and make much better weather of: it in her than ill our
boats. That's my opinion, sir."
It was decided that this line of 6onduct should be pursued. The upper works of the schooner were all taken out
of her as soon as the weather permitted, and the wood; was
carried up and stored in the house. Even with this supply,
it was soon seen that great economy was to be used, and
that there might be the necessity of getting at the vessel's
bottom.- As for the schooner,'as the people still affectionately called the hull, or what was left of the hull, everything
had been taken out of her.'I'he frozen oil was carried up
to the house in chunks, and used for fuel and lights.  A
good deal of heat was. obtained by making large wicks of
canvass, and placing them  in vessels that contained' oil;
though it was very far from sufficing to keep life in the
men during the hardest of the weather.  The utmost
economy in the use of the fuel that had been so dearly obtained, was still deemed all-essential to eventual preservation. Happily, the season advanced- all this time, and the
month of October was reached. The intercourse between
the crews had by no means been great during the two solemn and critical- months that were just past. A few visits
had: been exchanged at noon-day, and when the thermometer was a little above zero; but the snow was filling the
path, and as yet there were no thaws to- produce a crust on
Which the men might walk.
About a month previously to the'precise time'to which
it is our intention now to advance the more regular action
of the legend, Macy had come over to the house, attended
by one man, with a proposal on the part of Daggetrt for the
two crews to occupy his craft, as he still persisted in calling
the wreck, and of using the house as fuel'.' This was previously to. beginning to break up either vessel.  Gardiner
had thought of this plan in- connection with his own
schooner, a scheme that would have been much more feasible than that now proposed, on account of the-difference
in distance; but it had soon been abandoned.  All the
material of the. building was of pine, and that well seasoned; a wood that burns like tinder. No doubt there would.have been a tolerably comfortable fortnight or three weeks
30 *         23




352             THE SEA LIONS.
by making these sacrifices; then would have come certain
destruction.
As to the proposal of Daggett, there were many objections to it.  A want of room'would be one; want of provisions another; and there would be the necessity of trans.
porting stores, bedding, and a hundred things that were
almost as necessary to the people as warmth.; and which
indeed contributed largely to their warmth.  In addition
was the objection just mentioned, of the insufficiency of
the materials of the building; an objection which was just
as applicable to a residence in one vessel as a residence in
the other. Of course the proposition was declined.
Macy remained a night with the Oyster Ponders, and
left the house after breakfast next morning; knowing that
Daggett only waited for his return with a negative, to. cornmence breaking up the wreck. The mate was attended by
the seaman, returning as he had arrived.  Two days later,
there having been a slight yielding of the snow under the
warmth of the noon-day sun, and a consequent hardening
of its.crust in the succeeding night, Roswell and Stimson.
undertook to return this visit, with a view to make a last
effort to persuade Daggett to.quit the wreck and come over
to the house altogether.  When -they had got about halfway between the two places, they found the body of the
seaman, stiff, frozen hard, and dead. A quarter of a mile
further on, the reckless Macy, who it was supposed greatly
sustained Daggett in his obstinacy, was found in precisely
the same state.  Both had fallen in the path, and stiffened
under the terrible power of the climate. It was not without difficulty that Roswell reached the wreck, and reported
what he had seen. Even this terrible admonition did not
change Daggett's purpose. He had begun to.. burn his
vessel, for there was now no alternative; but he.was doing
it on a system which, as he explained it to Roswell, was
not only to leave him materials with which to construct a
smaller craft in the spring, but which would allow of his
inhabiting the steerage and cabin as long as he pleased.
In some respects the wreck certainly had its advantages
over the house.  There was more room  for exercise, the
caverns of the ice being extensive, while they completely
excluded the wind, which was now the great danger of the




THE SEA LIONt.                   353
season. It was doubtless owing to the wind that Macy and'
his companion had perished. As the spring approached,
these winds increased in violence; though there had been
slight symptoms of their coming more blandly,'even at.the
time when their colder currents were really frightful.
A whole month succeeded this visit of Roswell's, during
which there was no intercourse.. It was September, the
March of the antarctic circle, and the weather had been
terrific during most of the period.  It was. during these
terrible four weeks that Roswell completed his examination
of the all-important subject Mary had marked out for him,
and which Stirnson had so earnestly and so often. placed
before his mind. The sudden fate of Macy and his coinpanion, the condition of his crew, and all the serious circumstances with which he was surrounded, conspired to
predispose him to inquiry; and what was equally important
in such an investigation, to humility.  Man is a very different being in high prosperity from what he becomes when
the blows of an evil fortune, or the visitations of Divine
Providence alight upon him.  The skepticism  of Roswell
was more the result of human pride, of confidence in himself, than in any precept derived from others, or of any
deep reasoning process whatever.  He conceived that the
theory of the incarnation of the Son of God was opposed
to philosophy and experience, it is true; and, thus far, he
may be said to have reasoned in the matter, though it was
in his own way, and with a very contracted view of the
subject; but pride had much more to do with even this
conclusion, than a knowledge of physics or philosophy. It
did not comport with the respect he entertained for his
own powers, to- lend his faith to an account that.conflicted
with so many.of the opinions he had formed on evidence
and practice. Credulous women might have their convictions on the truth of this history, but it was not necessary
or men to be as easily duped. There was something even
amiable and attractive in this weakness of the other sex,
that would ill comport, however, with the greater sternness,tf masculine judgment. ~ Roswell, as -he once told Stimson,
hesitated to believe in anything that he' could not comprehend.  His God must be worshipped for the obvious truth
of his attributes and existence.  He wished to speak with




354             THE SEA LIONS.
respect of things that so many worthy people reverenced;
but- he could not forget that Providence had made him a
reasoning creature; and his reason must be convinced.
Stephen was no great logician, as the reader will easily
understand; but Newton possessed no clearer demonstration of any of his problerns:than this simple, nay ignorant,
man enjoyed in his religious faith, through the divine illumination it had received in the: visit of the Holy Spirit.
That gloomy month, however, had not been thrown away.
All the men were disposed to be serious; and the reading
of the bible, openly and aloud, soon became a favourite
occupation with every one of them. Although Roswell's
reading was directed by. the marks of Mary, all of which
had reference to those passages that touched on the Divinity
of the. Saviour, he made no comments that betrayed his incredulity.  There is a simple earnestness in the narrative
portions of the Gospel that commends its truth to every
mind, and it had its effect on that of Roswell Gardiner;
though it failed to remove doubts'that had so long been
cherished, and which had their existence in pride of reason,; or what passes for such, with those who merely skim
the surface of things, as they seem to exist around them.
On: the evening of that particular day in October, to
which we desire now to advance the time, and after the
most pleasant and cheerfill afternoon and sunset that any
on the island had seen for many months, Roswell and Stimson; ventured to continue their exercise on the terrace, then
again clear of impediments, even after the day had closed.
The night promised to be cold, but the weather was not
yet so keen as to drive them to a shelter.. Both fancied
there was. a feeling of spring in the wind, which was from
the north-east, a quarter that brought the blandest currents
of air into those seas,. if any air of that region deserved
such a term at all.
"It is high time we had some communications with the
Vineyarders," said Roswell,:as they turned at that end of
the terrace which was nearest to the Wreck. "A full month
has passed since we have seen any of them, or have heard
a syllable of their doings or welfare."
"It's a bad business this separation, Captain Gar'ner,"
returned the boat-steerer; "and every -hour makes it worse




THE  SEA  LIONS.                 350
Think how much good might have been done them young
men had they only been with us while we've been reading
the book of books, night and morning, sir!"
"That good book seeins to fill most of your thoughts,
Stephiern-I wish I could have your faith."
".It will come in time, sir, if you will only strive for it.
I'm sure no heart could have been harder than mine was,
until within the last five years. I was far worse as a Christian, Captain Gar'ner, than I consider you to be; for while
you have doubts consarning the Divinity of our Blessed
Lord, I had no thought of any one of the Trinity.  My
only God was the world; and sich a world, too, as a poor
sailor knows.  It was being but little better than the
brutes."
"Of all the men with me,. you seem to be the most contented and happy. I cannot say I have seen even a sign
of fear about you, when thirrgs have been at the worst."
- It would be very ungrateful, sir, to mistrust a Providence that has done so much for me."' I devoutly wish I could believe-with you that Jesus was
the Son of God!"
"Excuse me, Captain Gar'ner; it's jist because you do —
not devoutly wish this, that you do not believe.  I think J
understand the natur' of your feelin's, sir. I had some
sich once, myself; though it was. only in a small way.  I
was too ignorant to feel much pride in my own judgment-,
and soon gave up every notion that went ag'in Scriptur'.
I own it is not accordin' to natur', as we know natur', to
believe in this doctrine; but we know too little of a thousand things to set up our weak judgments in the very face
of revelation."
"I am quite willing to believe all I can understand,
Stephen;: but I find it difficult to credit accounts that are
irreconcilable with all that my experience has taught me to
be true."
"They who are of your way of thinkin', sir, do not deny
that Christ was a good man and a prophet; and that the
apostles were good men. and prophets; and that they all
worked miracles."
"This much I am willing enough to believe; but the
other doctrine seems- contrary to what is possible."




356             THE SEA LIONS.
"Yet you have seen, sir, that these apostles believed
what you refuse. One thing has crossed my mind, Captairn
Gar'ner,. which 1 wish to say to you.  I know I'm but an
ignorant man, and my idees may be hardly worth your notice; but sich as they be, I want to lay'em afore you. We
are told that these apostles were all men from a humble
class in life, with little l'arnin', chosen, as it might be, to
show men that faith stood in need of no riches, or'edication, or worldly greatness, of anlly sort. To me, sir, there
is a wholesome idee in that one thing."
" It gives us all a useful lesson, Stephen, and has often
beenl mentioned, I believe, in connection with the doctrines
of Christianity4"
" Yes, sir-so I should think; though I don't remember
ever to have heard it named from any pulpit. Well, Captain Gar'ner, it does not agree with'our notions to suppose
that God himself, a part of the Ruler and Master of the
Universe, should be born of a woman, and- come among
sinners in order to save'em from'his own just judgments."
" That is just the difficulty that I have in believing what
are called the dogmas of Christianity on that one point.
To me, it has ever seemed the most improbable thing in'the world."
"Just so, sir- I had some sort of feelin of that natur'
myself once. - When God, in his goodness, put it into my
heart to believe, however, as he was pleased to do in a fit
of sickness fiom which I never expected to rise, and in
which I was led to pray to him for assistance, I began to'think over all' these matters in my own foolish manner.
Among other thin. s,' I said to myself,' is it likely that any
mortal man would dream of calling Christ the Son of God,
unless it was put into his mind to say so?' Then comes
the characters of them  men, who all admit were upright
and religious. How can we suppose that they would agree
in giving the same account of sich a thing, unless what
they said had been told to them by some tongue that they
believed?"
Roswell smiled at Stephen's reasoning, which was not
without a certain point, but which an ingenious man might
ind the means of answering in various ways.
"There is another thing, sir, that I've read in a book,"




THE SEA LIONS.                   357
resumed the boat-steerer, " which goes a great way -with
mne.  Jesus allowed others to call him the Son of God,
without rebuking them for doing so. It does really seem
that they who believe he was a good man, as I understand
is the case with you, Captain Gar'ner, must consider this
as a strong fact.  We are to remember what a sin idolatry
is; how much all ra'al worshippers abhor it; and then set
that feelin' side by side with the fact that the Son did not
think it robbery to be called the equal of the Father. To
me, that looks like.a proof that our belief has a solid foundation."
Roswell did not reply.  He was aware that it would not
be just to hold any preed responsible for the manner in
which a person like Stimson defended it. Still, he was
struck with both of this man's facts. The last, he had often
met in books;. but the first was new to him.  Of the two,
this novel idea of the improbability of the apostles' inventing that which would seem to be opposed to all men's notions and prejudices, struck hirh more forcibly than the
argument adduced from the acquiescence of the Redeemer
in his own divinity. The last might be subject to verbal
criticism, and could possibly be explained- away, as he
imagined; but the first appeared to be intimately incorporated with the entire history of Christ's ministrations on
earth.  These were the declarations of John the Baptist,
the simple and unpretending histories of the Gospels, the
commentaries of St. Paul, and the venerable teachings of
the church-through so many centuries of varying degrees
of faith and contention, each and, all going to corroborate
a doctrine that, in his eyes, had appeared to be so repugnant to philosophy and reason. Wishing to be alone, Roswell gave an order to Stimson to- execute some duty that
fell to his share, and continued walking up and down the
terrace alone for quite an hour longer.
The night was coming in cold and still. It was one of
those last efforts of winter in which all the terrible force
or the season was concentrated; and it really appeared as
if nature, wearied with its struggle to return to a more
genial temperature, yielded in despair, and was literally
returning backwards through the coldest of her months.
The moon was young, but the stars gave forth a brightness




358             THE  SEA  LIONS.
that is rarely seen, except in the clear cold nights of a high
latitude.  Each and all of these sublime emblems of the
power of God were twinkling like bright torches glowing.
in space; and the mind had only to endow each with its
probable or known dimensions, its conjectural and reasonable uses, to form a.picture of the truest sublimity in which
man is made to occupy his real position.  In this world,
where, in a certain sense, he is master, where all things
are apparently under -his influence, if not absolutely subjec
to his control; where little that is distinctly visible is to be
met.with that does seem to be created to meet his wants,
or to be wholly at his disposal, one gets a mistaken and
frequently a fatal notion of his true place in the scale of
the beings who'are intended to throng around the footstool
of the Almighty.  As the animalculm of the atmospheric
air bear a proportion to things visible, so would this throng
seem to bear a proportion to our vague estimates of the
spiritual hosts. All this Roswell' was very capable of feeling, and in some measure of appreciating; and never before had he been made so conscious of his own insignificance, as he became while looking on the firmament that
night, glowing with its bright worlds and suns, doubtless
the centres of other systems in which distance swallowed
up the.lesser orbs.
Almost every one has heard or read of that collection
of stars which goes by the name of the Southern Cross.
The resemblance to the tree on which. Christ suffered is
not particularly striking, though all who navigate the.southern hemisphere know it, and recognize it by its imputed appellation. It now attracted Roswell's gaze; and
coming as it did after so much reading, so many conversations with Stephen, and addressing itself to one whose heart
was softened by the fearful circumstances that had so long
environed the sealers, it is not surprising that it brought
our.young master. to meditate seriously on his true condition in.connection with' the atonement that he was willing
to admit had been made for him, in common with all of
earth, at the very moment' he hesitated to believe that the
sufferer was, in any other than a metaphorical sense, the
~Son of God.
It is not our intention to describe more of the religious




THE  S-E:A  LIONS.,359
feelings.of Mary and her suitor, or to enter farther into
any- disquisition on subjects. of this nature, than may _be
absolutely necessary to elucidate the facts of our history
In order to do the last distinctly, howeve'r, we shall endea.
vour to make a very brief analysis of the process of reasoning, and we may add of feeling, too, that was at: work in
Roswell. Gardiner's mind and heart, as he paced the terrace
that night, after.Stimson had left him.
We suppose that a sense of humility: is the first.healthfill
symptom that shows itself in every man's moral regeneration. A meek appreciation of his own station and character
disposes him to receive.revelation with respect, and to have
faith in things that are not seen.  Perhaps no one ovei
whom the sword of fate was not actually suspended by a.hair, was ever better placed to admit the lessons of humility
than was Roswell Gardiner at that very moment.  Modest
he always was, in the ordinary acceptation of the term, and
this without professions,or grimaces; but he had a high
idea of: the human understanding, and revolted at believing
that which did violence to all his experience and preconceived. opinions. This.wa s the weak.spot in:his character,
which time, with an:increasing. knowledge of men and
things, or some mercifuill teaching of Divine Providence,
could alone remove.
Roswell certainly did not converse with Stimson in the
expectation of being much instructed-; but the humble and
Uneducated boat-steerer had been. at a school that raises
the dullest intellect.far above all the.inferences of philosophy. He. had faith, without which no man is. truly wise;
no man learned, in the highest interest of his being. Under
the guidance of this leader, Stephen occasionally threw out
an idea that struck the mind of his officer by its simplicity
and force, and helped to complete. that change for which
circumstances, reading,.and reflection had now been many
months preparing the way.  The day preceding this walk
on the terrace, Roswell observed to Stimson that he had
difficulty in believing in a Deity he could. not comprehend;
meaning merely that his reason must be satisfied in a doctrine.like that of the incarnation.
"Well,) sir, that's not my feelin'," answered Stephen,
earnestly.. "A Deity I could understand would be pno God
31




360             THE SEA LIONS.
for me. Where there is the same knowledge, there is ton
much companionship, like, for worship and reverence."
"'But we are told that man was created after the image
of God."
"In his likeness, Captain Gar'ner -with some of'the
Divine Spirit, but not with all. That makes him different
from the brutes, and immortal.  I have convarsed with a
clergyman who thinks that the angels, and archangels, and
other heavenly beings, are far before even the Saints in
Heaven, such as have been only men on'arth."
The idea of not having a Deity that he could not
comprehend had long been one of Roswell Gardiner's
favourite rules of faith. He did not understand by this
pretending dogmna, that he was, in any respect, of capacity
equal to comprehend with that of the Divine Being, but
simply that he was not to be expected or required to believe in any theory which manifestly conflicted with his
knowledge and experience, as both were controlled by the
poers of induction he had derived directly from  his
Creator.  In a word, his exception was one of the most
obvious of the suggestions of the pride of reason, and just
so much in direct opposition to the great law of regeneration, which has its very gist in the'converse of this feeling
-Faith.
As our young master paced the terrace alone, that idea
of the necessity of the Creator's being incomprehensible. to
the created, recurred to him. The hour that succeeded
was probably the most important in Roswell Gardiner's
life. So intense were his feelings, so active the workings
of his mind, that he was quite insensible to the intensity
of the cold; and his body keeping equal motion with his
thoughts, if one may so express it, his frame actually set at
defiance a temperature that might otherwise have chilled it
warmly and carefully as it was clad.
Truly there were many causes existing at that time and
place, to bring any man to a just sense of his real position
in the scale of created beings. The vault above Roswell
was sparkling with orbs floating in space, most of them far
more vast than this earth, and each of them doubtless
having its present or destined use. What was that light,
0o brilliant and pervading throughout space, that converted




THE SEA LIONS.                   361
each of'those masses of dark matter irlto globes clothed
with a glorious brightness?  Roswell had seen chemical
experiments that produced wonderful illuminations; but
faint, indeed, were the most glowing of those artificial
torches, to the floods of light that came streaming out of
the void, on' missions of millions and millions of miles.
Who, and what was the Dread Being-dread in his Majesty
and Justice, but inexhaustible in Love and Mercy — who
used these exceeding means as mere instruments of his
pleasure? and what was he himself, that he should presume
to set up his miserable pride of reason, in opposition to a
revelation supported by miracles that must be admitted to
come through men inspired by the Deity, or rejected altogether?
"!In this- frame of mind Roswell was made to see that
Christianity admitted of no half-way belief; it was all true,
or it was wholly false.' And why should not Christ be: the Son of God, as the
Fathers of the Church had perseveringly, but so simply
proclaimed, and as that church had continued to teach for
eighteen centuries? Roswell believed himself to have been
created in the image of God; and his much-prized reason
told him that he could perpetuate himself in successors;
and that which the Creat6r had given him the power to
achieve, could he not in his own person perform?  For
the first time, an inference to the contrary seemed to be
illogical.
Then the necessity for the great expiation occurred to
his mind. This had always been a stumbling-block to
Roswell's faith.  He could not see it; and that which he
could not see he was indisposed to believe.  Here was the
besetting -weakness of his character; a weakness which did
not suffer- him to perceive -that could he comprehend so
profound a mystery, he would be raised far above that very
n'ature in which he took so much pride.  As he reflected
on this branch of the subject, a thousand mysteries, physical and moral, floated before his.'mind; and he became
aware of the little probability that he should have been
endowed with the faculties to comprehend this, the grc atest
of them  all. HIad not science gradually discovered the
chemical processes by which gases could be concentrated




362             TH E SEA L O N.
and disengaged, the formation of one of those glittering
orbs above his head would have been quite as unintelligible
a: mystery to him, as the iincarnation of the Saviour.. The
fact was, that phenomena that were just as mysterious tc
the human mind as.any that the dogmas of Christianity
required-to be believed, exist hourly before our eyes with.
out awakening skepticism, or exciting discussion'; finding
their impunity in their familiarity.  Many of: these phenomena were strictly incomprehensible to human understandings, which could: reason up to a fountain-head in each
case; and there -it was obliged to abandon the inductive
process, purely for the want of power to grapple with the
premises which control the whole demonstration.
Could Mary Pratt have known what was going on in
Roswell Gardiner's:soul that:night, her happiness would
have been as boundless as her gratitude to God. She would
have seen the barrier that had so long interposed itself to
her wishes broken down; not by any rude hand, but: by the
influence of those whisperings of the Divine Spirit, which
open the way to men to fit themselves for the presence of
God.
CHAPTER XXVI.
6'Let winter come! let polar spirits sweep
The. darkening world, and tempest-troubled deep!"
CAMPBELL.
WHILE the bosom of Roswell was thus warming with
the new-born faith, of which the germ was just opening in
his heart, Stimson came out upon the terrace to see what
had become.of his officer. It was much past the hour when
the mnen got beneath the coverings of their mattresses; and
the honest:boat-steerer, who had performed the duty on
which he had been sent,-was anxious about Roswell's remaining so long in the open air, on this positively the severest night of the whole season.
"You: Stand the Cold well, Captain Gar'ner," -said Ste



TH E SEA;ON 0 S.'303
phen,! as he joined his officer, " but'it -might be prudent
-now, to get -under -cover."'. I do not feel it. cold, Stephen" - returned'!Roswell -'on the contrary, I'm  in a pleasant glow. My mind has
*been busy, while my frame has kept in motion. When such
are the facts, the body seldom:suffers. But,' hearken-does
it not seem that some one is calling to us-from the direction
of: the wreck?"
The great distance to which sounds are conveyed in intensely cold and clear weather, is a fact known to most
-persons.  Conversations in the ordinary tone had been.heard by the sealers when the speakers were nearly a mile
off; and, on several occasions, attempts had been made to
hold communications, by means of: the voice, between the
wreck and the hut. Certain words had been understood;
but it was found impossible to hold anything that could be
termed conversation. Still, the voice had been often heard,
and a fancy had come over the mind of Roswell that he
heard-a cry like a call for assistance, just as Stimson joined him.
" It is so late, sir, that I should hardly think any of the
Vineyarders would be up," observed the boat-steerer, after
listening some little tine in the desire to catch the sound
mentioned. "Then it is so cold, that most men would like
to get: beneath their blankets as soon as they could."
" I do not find it so very cold, Stephen. Have you looked
at the thermometer lately?'"
" I gave it a look in coming out, sir; and it tells a terrible story to-night! -The marcury- is all down in the ball,
which is' like'givin' the matter up, I do suppose, Captain
Gar'ner."
"'Tis strange! I do not feel it so very cold! The wind
seems to be getting round to north-east, too; give us enough.of that, and we shall have a thaw. Hark! there'is the cry
again."
This time there could be no mistake. A human voice
had certainly been raised amid the'stillness of that almost
polar night, clearly appealing to human ears, for succour.
The only word heard or comprehended was that of " help;"
one well enough adapted to' carry the sound far and distinctly:.  There was a strain of agony in the cry, as if ha
31'




:364            T:H E SEA LION S.
who made it uttered: it in despair. Roswell's blood seemed
to flow back to his heart; never had he before felt so-ap.
palling a sense of the dependence of man on a Divine Providence, as at that moment.
" You heard it?" he said, inquiringly, to Stephen, after
an instant of silent attention, to make sure that no more
was to reach his ears just then.
" Sartain, sir —no man could mistake that. It was the
voice of the nigger, Joe; him that Captain Daggett:has for
a cook."
"Think you so, Stephen?  The fellow has good lungs,
and they may have set him to call upon us in their distress.
What can be the nature of the assistance they ask?"
"I've been' thinking of that, Captain Gar'ner; and a
difficult p'int it is to answer. Food they must have still;
and was they in want of their rations, hands would have
been sent across to get'em. They may have let their fire
go out, and be without the means to re-light it.'I can
think of nothing else that is likely to happen to men so
sarcumstanced."
The; last suggestion struck Roswell as possible.  From
the instant he felt certain that he was called on -for aid, he
had determined to proceed to the wreck, notwithstanding
the lateness of the hour, and the intense severity of the
weather. As he had intimated to Stephen, he was not at
all conscious how very cold it was; exercise and the active
workings of his mind having brought him to an excellent
condition to resist the sternness of the season. The appeal
had been so sudden and unexpected, however, that he was
at first somewhat at a loss how to proceed. This matter
was now discussed between him and Stimson, when the
following plan was adopted:The mates were to be called, and made acquainted with
what had- occurred, and put on their guard as to what might
possibly be required of them. It was not thought necessary
to call any of the rest of the men. There was always one
hand on the watch in the house, whose duty it was to look
to the fires, for the double purpose of security against, a
conflagration, and to prevent the warmth within from sink,
ing too near to the cold without. It had often occurred to
Roswell's mind that a conflagration would prove quick- deo



THE  SEA  LIONS.                365
structlon to his party. fn the first place, most of the pro.
visions would be lost; and it was certain that, without a
covering and the-means of keeping warm within it, the
men could not resist the climate eight-and-forty hours.
The burning of the hut would be certain death.
Roswell took no one with him but Stimson. Two were
as good as a hundred, if all that was asked were merely
the. means to re-light the fire. These means were provided,
and a loaded'pistol was taken also, to enable a signal-shot
to be fired, should ocircumstances seem to require further:aid. One or two modes of communicating leading facts
were concerted, when our hero and his companion set forth
on their momentous journey.
Taking the hour, the weather, and the object before him
into the account, Roswell Gardiner felt that he was now
enlisted in the most important undertaking of his whole
life, as he and Stephen shook hands with the two mates,
and left the point. The drifts rendered a somewhat circuitous path necessary at first; but the moon and stars shed
so much of their radiaqce on the frozen covering of the
earth, that the night was quite as light as many a London
day. Excitement and motion kept the -blood of our two
adventurers in a brisk circulation, and prevented their becoming immediately conscious of the chill intensity of the
cold to which they were exposed.
"It is good to think of Almighty God, and of his many
marcies," said Stephen, when a short distance from the
house, "as a body goes forth on an expedition as serious
as this. We may not live to reach the wrack, for it seems,to me to grow colder and colder!"
"I wonder we hear no more of the cries," remarked
Roswell, who was thinking of the distress he was bent on
relieving.  "One would think that a man who could call
so stoutly would give us another cry."
"A body can never calcilate on a nigger," answered
Stephen, who had the popular American prejudice against
the caste that has so long been held in servitude in the
land. "T'hey call out easily, and shut up oncommon quick,
if there's nothin' gained by yelling. Black blood won't
stand cold like white blood, Captain Gar'ner, any more
than white blood will stand heat like black blood."




366              THE SEA  LIO'N'S.
"I have heard this before, Stephen; and it has surprised
me that Captain Daggett's cook should be the only one of
that party who seems to have had any voice to-night."
Stimson had a good deal to say now, as the two picked
their way across the field of snow, always walling on the
crust, which in most places would  Iave upheld  -' loaded
vehicle; the. subject of his remarks being the difference
between the two faces as respects-their ability to endure
hardships.  The worthy boat-steerer had several' tales to
relate of cases in which he had knwvn negroes freeze
when whites have escaped.  As the fact is one pretty well
established, Roswell listened complacently enough, being
much -too earnes in pressing forward toward his object, to
debate any of his companion's theories just then.  It was
while thus employed that Roswell fancied he heard one
more cry, resembling those which had brought him on this
dangerous undertaking, on a night so fearful.  This time,
however, the cry was quite faint; and what was not so
easily explained, it did not appear to come from the precise
direction in which the wreck was known to lie, but from
one that diverged considerably from that particular quarter.
Of course, the officer mentioned this circumstance to the
boat-steerer; and. the extraordinary part of the information
caused some particular discussion between them.
"To me that last call seemed to come from up yonder,
nearer to the cliffs than the place where we are, and not at
all from down there, near to the sea, where the wrack is,'
said' Stmson, in the course of his remarks.  "'So sartain
am I ot this, ttait I feel anxious to change our course a
little, to see if it be not possible that one of the Vineyarders
has got into some difficulty in trying to come across to us."
Roswell had the same desire, for' he had made the same
conjecture; though he did not believe the black would be
the person chosen to be the messenger on such ah occasion.
" Ithink Captain Daggett would have come himself or
have sent one of his best men, he observed, " in preference to trusting a negro with a duty so important."
"'We do niot know, sir, that it was the. nigger we heard,
Mise ry makes much' the same cries, whether it comes froinl
the throat of white or black. Let us work upward, niia cr




T HE S EA LI0 NS.                 367
to the cliffs, sir; I: see something- dark on the sfow ifhereaway, as it might be on our larboard -bow."
Roswell caught a glimpse of the same object, a nd thither
our: adventurers now bent their steps, walking on the crust
without any difficulty, so long as they kept out of the drifts.
One does not find itas easy to make any physical effort in
an intensely cold atmosphere, as he does when the weather
is more moderate.  This prevented Roswell and his companion from moving as fast as they otherwise might have
done; but they got along with sufficient:rapidity to reach.
the dark spot on the snow in less than five minutes after
they had changed their course.
"You are right, _tephen," said Gardiner, as he came
up to this speck, amid the: immensity of the white mantle
that covered. both'sea and land, far as the eye could reach;
"it is the cook! The poor fellow has given out here, about
half-way between the two stations."
"There must be life in him yet, sir - nigger as he is.
It's not yet twenty minutes since he gave that last cry.
Help me to: turn him over, Captain Gar'ner, and we will
rub him, and give him a swallow of brandy.  A little hot
coffee, now, might bring the life back to his heart."
Roswell complied, first firing his pistol as a signal to
those left behind. The negro was not dead, but so near it,
that a very few more minutes would have sealed his fate.
The applications and frictions used by Glrdiner and the
boat-steerer had an effect.' A swallow of the brandy probably saved the poor fellow's life. While working. on his
patient, Captain Gardiner found a piece of frozen pork,
which, on examination, he ascertained had' never been
cooked.  It at once explained the nature of the calamity
that had befallen the crew of the wreck.
So intent were the two on their benevolent duty, that a
party arrived from the house in obedience to the signal, in
much less time than they could have hoped for. It was led
by the mate, and came provided with a lamp burning beneath a tin vessel filled with sweetened coffee.  This hot
drink answered an excellent purpose with both well and
sick. After a swallow or two, aided by a vigorous-friction,
and closely surrounded by so many human bodies, the black
began to revive;-and the sort of drowsy stupor which is
24




J68             THE  SE.& LIONS.
jinown to precede. death in those who die by freezing,
having been in a degree shaken off, he was enabled -to;stand alone, and by means of assistance to walk. The hot
coffee was of the greatest service, every swallow that he
got down appearing to set the engine of life into new motion. Ihe compelled exercise contributed its part; and by
the time the mate, to use his own expression,' had run the
nigger into dock," which meant when he had got him safe
within the hut, his senses and faculties had so far revived
as to enable him to think and to speak.  As Gardiner and
Stimson returned with him, everybody was up and listen.
ing, wherthe black told his story.
It would seem that, during the terrible month which had
just passed, DMggett had compelled his crew to use more
exercise than had been their practice of late.  Some new
apprehension had come over him on the subject of fuel, and
his orders to be saving in that article were most stringent,
and very rigidly enforced.  The consequence was, that the
camboose was not as well attended to as it had been previously, and as circumstances required, indeed, that it
should be. At night, the men were told to keep themselves
warm with bed-clothes, and by huddling together; and the
cabin being small, so many persons crowded together in it,
did not fail to produce an impression on its atmosphere.
Such was the state of things, when, on going to his camboose, in. order to cook the breakfast, this very black found
the fire totally extinguished! -Not a spark could he. discover, even among the ashes; and, what was even worse,
the tinder-box had disappeared.  As respects the last, it
may be well to state here, that it was afterwards discovered
carefully bestowed between two of the timbers of the wreck,
with a view to a particular safe-keeping; the person who
had made this disposition of it, forgetting what he had done.
The loss of the tinder-box, under the circumstances, was
almost as great.a calamity as could have befallen mee, in
the situation of the Vineyarders.  As against the cold, by
means of bed-clothes, exercise, and other precautions, it
might have been possible to'exist for some time, provided
warm food could be obtained; but the frost penetrated the
cabin, and every one soon became sensitively alive to the
awkwardness, not to say danger, of their condition.  A



THE SEA  LI ONS.                 369
whole day was passed in fruitless attempts to obtain fire
by.yarious processes.  Friction did not succeed; it probably never does with the thermometer at zero.  Sparks
could be obtained, but by this time everything was stiff
With the frost. The food already cooked was soon as hard
as bullets, and it was found, that, on the second night,
brandy that was exposed was converted into a-lump of ice.
Not.only did the intensity of the cold increase, but everything, even to the human system, seemed to be gradually
congealing, and preparing to become converted into receptacles-for frost. Several of the men began to suffer in their
ears, noses, feet and other extremities, and the bunks were
soon the only places in which it was found possible to exist
in anything like comfort.  No less than three men had
been sent, at intervals of a few hours, across to the house,
with a view to obtain fire, or the means of lighting one,
along with other articles that were considered necessary to
the safety of the people. The cook had been the third
and last of these messengers. He had passed his two shipmates, each lying dead on the snow, -or, as he supposed,
lifeless; for neither gave the smallest sign of vitality, on
an examination.  It was in the agony of alarm produced
by these appalling spectacles, that the negro had cried
aloud for help, sending the sounds far enough to reach the
ears of Roswell. Still he had persevered; until chilled, as
much with terror, as with the cold and the want of warm
nourishment, the cook had sunk into what would have soon
proved to be his last long sleep, when the timely succour
arrived.
It was some two hours after the black had been got into
the hut, and was strengthened with a good hot supper, ere
he had communicated all the facts just related.  Roswell
succeeded, however, in getting a little at a time from him;
and when no more remained to be related, the plan was,already arranged for future proceedings. It was quite clear
no unnecessary delay should be permitted to take place.
The cold continued to increase in intensity, notwithstanding it was the opinion of the most experienced among the
men that a thaw, and a great spring thaw, was approaching.
It often happens, in climates of an exaggerated character,




370             TH'E SEA LIONS
that these extremes almost touch each other, as they are
said to meet in man.
Roswell left the house, for the second time that eventfu.
night, just at the hour of twelve.  He now went accomparnied by the second mate and a foremast-hand, as we'll as
by his old companion, the boat-steerer.  Each individual
drank a bowl of hot coffee before he set out, and a good
wvarm supper had also been taken in the interval between
the return and this new sortie.  Experience shows that
there is no such protector against the effect of cold as a
full stomach, more especially if the food be warm and nou:
rishing.  This was understood by Roswell;'ad'not only
did he cause the'whole party that set forfh with him at that
late and menacing hour to-receive this sustenance, but he
ordered the kettle of boiling coffee to be carried with them,
and kept two lamps burning, for the double purp6se of
maintaining the heat, and of having a fire ready on reaching the wreck.  The oil of the sea-elephant, together with
pieces of canvass prepared for the purpose,' supplied the
necessary materials.
So intensely severe was the weather, that Roswell had
serious thoughts of returning when he. reached,the spot
where the black had been found. But the picture of Daggett's situation that occurred to his mind, urged him on,
and he proceeded.  Every precaution had been taken to
exclude the cold, as it is usually termed, which, as it respects the body, means little else than keeping the vital
heat in, and very useful were these'provisions found to be.
Skins formed the principal defence, though the men had
long adopted the very simple but excellent expedient of
wearing two shirts.  Owing to this, and to the other measures taken, neither of the four was struck with a chill, and
they all continued on.
At the place mentioned by the black, the body of one of
Daggett's best men, a boat-steerer, was found.  The man
was dead, of course, and the corpse was as rigid as a billet
of wood.  Every'particle of moisture in it had congealed,
until the whole of what had been a very fine and manly
frame, lay: little mnore than a senseless lump of ice. A few
degrees to the southward of the spot where it was now seen.
it is probable that this relic of humanity would have re



THE SEA LIONS.                   371
tained its form and impression, until the trump sounded to
summon it to meet its former tenant.the spirit, in'. judgment.
No time was lost in useless lamentations over the' body
of this:man, who' was' much of a' favdurite among the
Oyster Ponders.- Twenty'min'uteslater, the second corp'se
was found; both the bodies lying in what was the custornary
track between the house and the wreck.  It was the last
that had died; -but, like that of'the unfortunate man just
described, it was in-a state to be preserved ten thousand
years, without the occurrence of'athaw.'  Merely glancing
at the'rigid features of the face, in order to identify the
person, Roswell' passed on, the chill feelings of every'individua!l' of his party now admonishing the'm all of. the necessity ofget.ting as soon as possible to some place where
they could feel the influence of a fire.  In ten minutes
more, the whole were in the caverns of the ice, and, presently, the cabin of the' wreck was entered. Without turn-.
"ing to the right' hand or to the left, without looking for one
of'the' inmates of the place, every man among the newcomers turned his attention instantly "to getting-'the:fire
-lighted'.  The camboose had been' filled with'w'ood, and'i
was evident that many efforts had been made to produce a'blaze, by those who had put it there.  Splinters of pine
"had been inserted among the oak'of the vessel, and nothing'was wanting. but the means of kindling:' These, most
forntunately for themselves, the partyr of Roswell' had, and
eagerly did they now have recourse to their use.
T"'he're was not.a man among the'Oyster Ponders Who did
not, just at that moment, feel his whole being concentrated
in that one desire.to obtain warmth.' The cold had slowly,
but surely,. insinuated itself among their garments, and
slight chills were.now felt even by Roswell, whose frame
had' been most wonderfully sustained that' night, through
the. force of moral' feeling.  Stimnson was the individual,who was put forward at'the camboose, others holding'the
lamps, canvass saturated with oii-,'and some p.repaed
epaper.  It was found to be perceptibly, warmer within the
cabin, with its doors closed, and.the external coverings of
sails, &c., that had'been made to' exclude' the air,' than
without; nevertheless, when Roswell glanced at a ther32




372             THE SEA LIONS.
mometer that was hanging against the bulk-head, he saw
that all the mercury was still in the ball!
The interest with which our party now watched the pro.
ceedings of Stephen, had much of that intensity that is
known to attend.any exhibition of vital importance  Life
and death were, however, to be dependent on the issue;
and the manner in which every eye was turned on the
wood, and Stephen's mode of dealing with it, denoted how
completely the dread of freezing had got possession of the
minds of even these robust and generous men. Roswell
alone ventured, for a single moment, to look around the
cabin. Three of the Vineyarders only were visible in it;
though it struck him that others lay in the berths, under
piles of clothes. Of the three who were up, one was so
near the lamp he held in his hand, that its light illumined
his face, and all that could be seen of a form enveloped in
skins. This man sat leaning against a transom. His eyes
were open, and glared on the party around the camboose;
the lips were slightly parted, and, at first, Roswell expected
to hear him speak. The immovable features, rigid muscles, and wild expression of the eyeballs, however, soon
told him the melancholy truth. The man was dead. The
current of life had actually frozen at his heart. Shuddering, as much with horror as with a sharp chill that just
then passed through his own stout frame, our young master
turned anxiously to note the success of Stimson, in getting
the wood of the camboose in a blaze.
Every one, in the least accustomed to a very severe
climate, must have had frequent occasions to observe the
reluctance with which all sorts of fuel burn, in.exceedingly
cold weather.  The billet of wood that shall blaze merrily,
on a mild day, moulders and simmers, and seems indisposed to give out any heat at all, with the thermometer at
zero.  In a word, all inanimate substances that contain the
elements of caloric appear to sympathize with the prevailing state of the atmosphere, and to contribute to render
that which is already too cold for comfort, even colder.
So it was now; notwithstanding the preparations that had
been made.  Baffled twice in his expectations of procuring
a blaze, Stephen stopped and took a drink of the hot coffee.




THE  SEA  LIONS..-3.73
As he swallowed the beverage, it struck him  that it was
fast losing its warmth.
A considerable collection of canvass, saturated with oil,
was now put beneath the pite, in the midst of splinters of
pine, and.one of the lamps was forced into the centre of
the combustibles. This expedient succeeded; the frosts
were slowly chased out of the kindling materials; a sickly
but gradually increasing flame strove through the kindling
stuff and.soon began to play among the -billets of the oak,
the only fuel that could be relied on for available heat.
Still there was great danger that the lighter wood would
all be consumed ere this main dependence could be aroused
from its dull inactivity. Frost appeared to be in possession
of the whole pile; aind it was expelled so slowly, clung to
its dominion with so much power, as really to render the
result doubtful, for a moment or two.  Fortunately, there
was found a'pair of bellows; and by means of a judicious
use of this very useful implement, the. oak wood was got
into a bright blaze, and warmth.began to be given out
from the fire. Then came the shiverings and chills, with
which intense cold consents..even to abandon the human
frame; and, by their number and force, Roswell was made
to understand how near he and his companions had been
to death. As the young man saw the fire slowly kindle to
a cheerful blaze, a glow of gratitude flowed towards his
heart, and mentally he returned thanks to God.  The
cabin was so small, had been made so tight by artificial
means, and the camboose was so large, that a sensible
influence was produced on the temperature, as soon as the
wood began to burn a little freely.  As none of the heat
was lost, the effect was not only apparent, but most grateful.
Roswell had looked into the vessels of the camboose while
the fire was gathering head.  One, the largest, was filled,
or nearly so, with coffee frozen to a solid mass!  In the
other,'beef and pork had been set over to boil, and there
the pieces now were, embedded in ice, and frozen to
olocks.  It was when these two distinct masses of ice
began to melt, that it was known the fire was beginning to
prevail, and hope revived in the bosoms of the Oyster
Ponders.  On. taking another look at the thermometer, it
was found that the mercury had so far expanded as to be




374              T'H-E' -' E A- LI O N'S
leaving the ball.  It'soon after ascended so highl as to de.
note only forty degrees below zero!'Every thing, even to life, de.pending on maintaining and
increasing the power of the fire, the rien' now looked'about
them  for more fuel.  There was an ample stock in the
cabin, however, the fire having become extinguished, not
for want of wood, but in the usual way.-' It weire needless
to describe the manner in which those who stood'around
the stove watched'the flames, or how profound was their
satisfaction when they saw that Stimson had finally succeeded.' God be praised for this' and for all his mercies!" exclaimed Stephen2 laying aside the bellows, at last.  "I can
feel "warmth from the fire, and that will save such of us as
have not yet been!taken away."  HHe then lifted the lids,
and looked into the different vessels that were on.  The
ice was melting fast, and the steams of coffee became apparent to the senses.  It'was at this-instant that a feeble
voice was heard issuing from beneath the coverings of a
berth.'Gar'ner," it said, imploringly, "if you have any feelin'
for a fellow-creatur''in distress, warm  me up''with: one
swallow of' that coffee!' Oh'! how pleasantly it smells, and
how good it must be for the stomach!  For three days
have I tasted nothing- not even water."
a'This. was Daggett:, the long-tried sealer; the man oi iron
nerves and golden longings; he.who had so lately c'oncentr.ated within himself all that was necessary to form a per.
tinacious,'resolute', and grasping seeker after gain.  How
changed, now, in all this!  He asked for the means of
preserving life, and thought no more of skins, and oils, and
treasures on desert keys.
Roswell was no sooner apprised. of the situation: of hi's
brother-master, than he bestowed the necessary Care on his
wants.  Fortunately, the. coffee broughit' by the Oyster'Ponders, and which retained some of- its original warmth,
had been set'before'the fire, and was now as hot as the
human stomach could bear it.  Two'or three swallows of
this grateful fluid were given, to Daggett, and: his' voice
almost instanltaheously showed'the effect theyv produced.
"I'm  in a bad way, Gar ner," resumed. the vineyard




T II E  SEA LIONS.                375
master; "I'fear we're all in a bad way, that are here.  i
held out ag'in the cold as long as human natur' could'bear
it,' but was forced to give in at last."
"''How many of your people still remain, Daggett? tell
us, that we may look for' them, and attend to their wants."'" I'm afraid, Gar'ner, they'll never want anything more
in this'life!' The second' mate' and two of the hands were
sitting'in the cabin when I got into this berth,.and I fear'.t will be found that they're dead.  I urged them  to turn
in, too, as the'berths were the only place where anything
like warmth was to be found; but drowsiness had come on'em,.and, when that is the case, freezin" soon follows."-'"'The three men in the cabin are past our assistance,
being actually frozen into logs; but there must be several
more of you. I se'e the signs of two others ih the berths —
ah! what do you say to that poor fellow', Stephen?"'' The spirit is still in the body, sir, but about to depart.
If we can get him  to swallow a little of the coffee, the
angel of death may yet loosen his hold on him."
The coffee was got down this man's throat, and he in,
stantlv: revived.  He was a young man named Lee, and
was one of the finest physical specimens of strength and
youth in the whole crew.  On examining his limbs, none
were found absolutely frozen, thoughi the circulation of the
blood was so near being checked that another hour -of the
great cold which had reigned in the cabin, and which was
slowly increasing in intensity, must have destroyed him.
On applying a similar process:to Daggett, Roswell was
startled at the discovery he made.  The feet, legs, and
forearms-of the unfortunate Vineyarder were all as stiff and
rigid*as icicles.  In these particulars. there. could be no
mistake, and men were immediately sent for snow, in order
to extract the frost by the only safe'process known to the
sealers.  The dead bodies were carried from the cabin,
and, laid decently on the ice, outside, the increasing warmth
within rendering the removal advisable.  On glancing
again at the thermometer, now suspefided'in a reremote part
of the cabin, the'mercury was'found risen to two above
zero.  This was a very tolerable'degre6e of cold, and the
men began to la'y aside some of their extra defences against
32 *




376             THE SEA LIONS.
the weather, which would otherwise be of no service to
them when exposed outside.
The crew of the Vineyard Lion had consisted of fifteen
souls, one less than that of'her consort. Of these men,
four had lost their lives between the wreck and the house;
two on a former, and two on the present occasion. Three
bodies were found sitting in the cabin, and two more were
taken out of the berths, dead. The captain, the cook and
Lee, added to these, made a dozen, leaving but three. of
the crew to.be accounted for.' When questioned on the
subject, Lee said that one of those three had frozen to
death in.the caverns, several days before, and the other two
had set'out for the hut in the last snow-storm, unable to
endure the cold at the wreck any longer.  As these two
men had not arrived at the house when Gardiner and his
companions left it, they had perished, out of all aoubt.
Thus, of the fifteen human beings who had sailed together
from Martha's Vineyard, ready to encounter every' hazard
in order to secure wealth, or what in their estimation was
wealth, but three remained; and of these, two might be
considered in a critical condition.  Lee was the only man
of the entire crew who was sound and fit for service.
CHAPTER XXVII.
"Bid him bow down to that which is above him, —.The overruling Infinite, —the Maker,Who made him not for worship,-let him kneel,
And we will kneel together."
BYRON.
WHEN the bodies had been removed from the cabin,
and the limbs of Daggett were covered with snow, Roswell Gardiner took another look at the thermometer. It
had risen already to twenty degrees above zero. This was
absolutely warmth, compared with the temperature front
which the men had just escaped, and it was felt to be so,




THE SEA LIONS.                   377
ini their persons.  The fire, however, was not the only
cause of this most acceptable change.  One of the met
who had been outside soon came back and reported a
decided improvement in the weather. The wind, which
-had been coquetting with the north-east point of ihe compass for several hours, now blew steadily from that quarter.
An hour later it was found, on examination, that a second
thermometer, which was outside, actually indicated tena
above: zero! This. sudden and great change came alto-.gether from the wind, which was now in the warm quarter.
The  men stripped themselves of most of their skins, and
the. fire was suffered to go down, though care was taken
that it should not again be totally extinguished.. We have little pleasure in exhibiting pictures of human
suffering; and shall say but little of the groans and pains
that Daggett uttered and endured, while undergoing that
most agonizing process of.having the frost taken out of his
system by cold applications. -It was the only safe way of
treating his case,. however,-.and as he knew it, he. bore his
-sufferings.as well as man could bear them.  Long ere the.return of day he was released from his agony, and was put
back into his berth, which had been comfortably arranged
for him, having the almost unheard-of luxury of sheets,
with an additional mattress.
As Stephen remarked, when: the men were told to try
and get a little sleep, "There's plenty of berths empty,
and each on.us can have as many clothes and as warm a
bed as he can ask for, now that so many have hastened
away to their great account, as. it might be, in the pride
of their youth and strength."
Activity, the resp'onsibility.of command, and the great
necessity there had been for exertion, prevented Roswell
from reflecting much on what had happened, until he lay
down to catch a little sleep.  Then, indeed, the whole of
thepast came over him, in one sombre, terrible picture,
and he had the most lively perception of the dangers from
which he, had escaped, as well as of the mercy of God's
Providence.  Surrounded by the. dead, as it might be, and
still uncertain. of the fate of the living, his views of the past
and filture became much lessened in confidence and hope
The majesty and judgment of God assumed a -higher place




378             T HE SEA LIONS.
than common in his thoughts,'while his estimate of hitmn.
self.was fast getting to be humble and searching.  In the
midst of all these changes of Views aid fielings, however,
there was one image unaltered in the young man's imagi
nation.  Mary occupied the back-ground of every pictlue,,
with her meek, gentle, but blooming countenance.  If he
thought of God, her eyes were elevated in prayer; if the
voyage home was in his mind, and the chances of success
were calculated, her smiles and anxious watchfulness sUiniulated him to adventure; if arrived and safe, her downcast
but joyful looks betrayed the modest happiness of' her inmost heart.  It was in, the midst of some such- pictures'that Roswell now fell asleep.
When the party turned out in the morning, a still more
decided change had occurred in the weather.  The wind
had increased to a gale, bringing with it torrents of rain.
Coming from the warm quarter,: a thaw had set in with a
character quite as decided as The previous frost.  In that
region, the weather is usually exaggerated in its features,
and the change from winter to spring is quite as sudden as
that from autumn to winter.  We use the terms "spring"
and" autumn" out'of complaisance to thb usages of meh;
but, in fact, these two seasons have scarcely any existence
at all in the antarctic seas. The change, commonly, is
from winter to summer, such as summer is, and from summer back to winter.
Notwithstanding the favourable appearances of things,
when Roswell walked out into the open air nfext morning,
he well knew that summer had not yet come. Many weeks
must go by ere the ice could quit the bay, and even a boat
could put to sea. There were considerations: of prudence,
therefore,.that should not be neglected, connected with the
continuance of the supplies and the means of subsistence.
-In one respect the party now on the island had been gainers
by the: terrible losses it had sustained in Daggett's crew.
The provisions of the two vessels might now, virtually, be
appropriated to the crew of one;::and RIoswell, when he
came to'reflect on the cir'cumrstances, saw that a Providen.
tial interference had probably saved the survivors from great
privations, if not -from absolute want.
Still there was a thaw, and one' of that decided character




THE SEA  L I ON. Se                379
which marks;aa climate of great extremes.  The snows, on
the' mountain soon began to.descend upon the plain, in
foaming torrents; and, increased by the tribute receive.
from the last,. the whole came tumbling over the cliffs in va-:rious places ini rich water-falls..There was about a mile of
rock that was one continuous cataract, the sheet being nearly
unbroken' for the-whole: distance. The effect of this deluge
-from the plain above was as startling as it. was grand.,. All
the snow along the rocky shore soon disappeared; and the
fragments of ice began rapidly to diminish' in size, and.to
crumble.  At first, Roswell felt much concern on account
of the security of the'wreck; his original apprehension
being thit it would be washed away.  This ground of fear
was soon: succeeded ty another of scarcely less serious import -  that of its being crushed bythe enormous cakes of
ice that made the caverns in which, it lay, and which now
ibegan to settle and change their positions, as the water
washed away their bases.,At'one time Roswell thought
of setting the storm  at defiance, and of carrying Daggett
across to the house:. by means of the. hand-barrow; but
when he came to lok, at the torrents of water that were
crossing the rocks, so many raging rivulets, the idea was
abandoned as impracti'able...'Another night was, therefore
passed in the,midst of the tempest.
The north-east wind, the rain, and the thaw, were all at
work in concert, when our adventurers. came abroad to
look upon the second day of.their sojourn in the wreck.
By this time the caverns. were dripping with a thousand
little streams, and every sign denoted a most: rapid melting
of the ice. On carrying the thermometer into the open air
it stood at sixty-two; and the lmen found it necessary to lay
aside their second.shirt, and all the extraordinary defences
of their attire. Nor was this all;the wind that crosses the
salt water is known to have more than the usual influence
on the snows'and -ice; and such was the effect, now pro.
duced by it- on Sealer's.Land.  The snow,' indeed, had
mostly disappeared from all. places but the drifts?; while the
ice was; much diminished in  its size and outlines.  So
grateful was the change. from  the extreme:cold that they
had so lately endured, that the men thought nothingof the
rain at all; they went about in it just' as if it did not stream




38,            THE  SEA LIONh.
down upon them in little torrents. Some of them clamber
ed up the cliffs, and reached a point whence it Was known
that they could command a view of the house. The return
of this party, which Roswell did not accompany, was waited
for with a good deal of interest.  When it got back, it
brought a report that was deemed- important in several
particulars. The snow had gone from the plain, and fromn
the mountain, with the exception of a few spots w-here there
had been unusual accumulations of it. As respected the
house, it was standing, and the snow had entirely disappeared from its vicinity.  Trhe men could be seen walking
about on the bare rocks, and every symptom was that of
settled spring.
This was cheering news; and the torrents having much
diminished in size, some having disappeared altogether,
Roswell set out for the cape, leaving the second mate in
charge of the wreck. Lee, the young Vineyarder, who had
been rescued from freezing' by the timely arrival of our
hero, accompanied the latter, having joined his fortunes to
those of the Oyster Ponders. The two reached the house
before dark, where they found Hazard and his companions
in a good deal of concern touching the fate of the -party
that was out.  A deep impression was made by the report
of what had befallen the other crew; and that night Roswell read prayers to as attentive a congregation as was
ever assembled around a domestic hearth. As for fire,
none was now needed, except for culinary purposes, though
all the preparations to meet cold weather were maintained,
it being well known that a shift of wind might bring back
the fury of the winter.
The following morning it was clear, though the wind
continued warm and balmy from the north. No such weather, indeed, had been felt by the sealers since they reached the gloup; and the effect on them was highly cheering
and enlivening.  Before he had breakfasted, Roswell was
down in the cove, examining into the condition of his
vessel, or what remained of her.' A good deal of frozen
snow still lay heaped on the mass, and he set the hands at
work to shovel it off. Before noon the craft was clear, and
most of the snow was.melted, it requiring little more than
exposure to the air in order to get rid of it.




THE SEA LIONS.                   381
As soon as the hulk was clear, Roswell directed his men
to take everything out of it; the remains of cargo, watercasks, and some frozen provisions, in order that it might
float as light as possible. The ice was frozen close to every
part of the vessel's bottom to a depth of several feet, following her mould, a circumstance that would necessarily
prevent her settling in the water below her timbers; but,
as there was no telling when this ice might begin to recede
by melting, it was deemed prudent to use this precaution.
It was found that the experiment succeeded, the hulk ace
tually rising, when relieved from the weight in it, no less
than four inches.
A consultation was,held that night, between Gardiner,
his officers, and the oldest of the seamen.. The question
presented was whether the party should attempt to quit the
group in the boats, or whether they-should build a little on
the hulk, deck her over, and make use of this altered craft,
to return to the northward. There was a good deal to be
said on both sides. If the boats were used, the party might
leave as soon as the weather became settled, and the season
a little more advanced, by dragging the boats on sledges
across the ice to'the open water, which was supposed to
be some ten or twenty miles to the northward, and a large
dmount of provisions might thus be saved.  On the other
hand, however, as it regarded the provisions, the boats
would hold so little, that no great gain would be made by
going early in them, and leaving a sufficient supply behind
to keep all hands two or three months. This was a consideration that presented itself, and it had its weight in the
decision. Then there was the chance of the winter's retirning, bringing with it the absolute necessity of using a
great deal more fuel. This was a matter of life and death.
Comparatively pleasant as the weather had become, there
was no security for its so continuing. One entire spring
month was before the sealers, and a shift of wind might
convert the weather into a wintry temperature. Should
such be the case, it might become indispensable to burn
the very materials that would be required to build up and
deck over the hulk. There were, therefore, many things
to be taken into the account; nor was the question settled
without a great deal of debate and reflection.




38'2             THE SEA LIONS.
After discussing all these points, the decision was. as
-ollows.' It was at least a month too soon to think of trustinog themselves in that stormy ocean, on the high seas- andl
in the open boats; and this so much the more because: nature, as if expressly to send back a reasonable amount of
warm'air into the- polar regions, with a view to preserve
the'i'distinction of the seasons, caused the wind to blow
most of the time from the northward.  As this month, in
all prudence, must be passed on the island, it might as well
be occupied with building upon the hulk, as in any other
Occupation. Shoiuld tI-he cold weather'returil the materials
would still: be there, and might' be burned, in the last extremity, just as well, or even with greater-facility, after being
brought over td the cove, as if left where they then were,
or at the wreck.' Should'the winter not return, the work
done on the vessel would be so much gained, and they
would be ready for'an earlier start, when the ice'should
move.
On this last plan the duty was commenced, very;little
interrupted by' the weather.  For quite three weeks the
wind: held from- points favourable to the progress of spring,
veering'from east to. west, but not once getting any southing in it.  Occasionally it blew. in gales, sending down
upon the group a swell that made great havoc with the
outer edges of the field-ice.  Every day or two -a couple of
hands were sent up the mountain' to take a look-out, and
to report the state of matters in. the adjacent seas.  The
fleet of bergs had not yet come out of port, though it was
i'n'motion to the southward, like three-de'cker' dropping
down to outer anchorages, in roadsteads and bays.  As'Roswell intended to be off before these formidable cruisers'put:tosea, their smallest movement or change was watchted
and noted. As for the field-ice, it was broken up, miles at
at a'time, until there remained very little of it, witb the
exception of the portion that was wedged in and janmed'among the islands of the group.  From  some cause'that
could not. be ascertained, the waves of the ocean, which
~came tumbling in before'the northern gales, failed to roll
home' upon this ice, which lost.its margin, now it',was
reduced to-the limits of the group, slowly and with great
resistance.  Some of the'sealers ascribed this obstinacy in




THE' SEA  LIONS.                  383
the bay-ice to its'greater thickness; believing that the
shallowness. of the water had favoured a frozen formation
below, that did not so much prevail off soundings.  This
theory may have, been true, though there was quite as much
against it, as in its favour, for polar ice usually increases
above and not from below. The sea is much warmer than
the atmosphere, in the cold months, and the ice is made
by deposites of snow, moisture and sleet, on the surfaces of
the fields, and bergs.
In those three weeks, which carried forward the season
to within ten days of summer, a great deal of useful work
was done. Daggett was brought over to the house, on a
handbarrow, for the second time, and made as comfortable
as circumstances would allow.  From- the first, Roswell
saw that his state was very precarious, the frozen legs, in
particular, being threatened with mortification.  All the
expedients known to a sealer's materia medica were resorted to, in order to avert consequences so serious, but
without success.. The circulation could not be restored,
as nature required it to be done, andj failing of the support
derived from a healthful condition of the vital current, the
fatal symptoms slowly supervened. This change, however,
was so gradual, that it scarce affected the regular course
of the duty.
It.was a work of great labour to transport the remaining
timbers and plank of the wreck to the cove.  Without the
wheels, indeed, it inay be questioned whether it could have
been done at all, in a reasonable time. The breaking up of
the schooner was, in itself, no trifling job, for fully one half.of the frame remained to be pulled to pieces. In preparing
the materials for use, again, a good deal of embarrassment
was experienced in consequence of the portions of the twc,
vessels that were left being respectively their lower bodies
all the upper works of each having been burned, with the
exception, of the after part of Daggett's craft, which had
been preserved on account of the cabin.  This occasioned
a good deal of trouble in moulding and fitting the new upper
works on the hulk in the cove.  Roswell had no idea of
rebuilding his schooner strictly in her old form and pro.
portions; he did not, indeed, possess: the materials for such
a reconstruction. His- plan'was, simply, to raise on the
33             25




384              THE  SEEA' LIONS.
hulk as much -as was necessary to render her safe and con.
venient, and then to get as good and secure a deck over all
as circumstances would allow.
Fortunately for the progress. of the.work, Lee, the Vineyard man, was a ship-carpenter, and his skill essentially
surpassed that of Smith,; who filled the same station on
board the Oyster Pond craft.. These two men were now
of the greatest service; for, though neither understood
drafting, each was skilful in the use of tools, and had a
certain readiness that enabled him to do a hundred things
that he had never found it necessary to attempt on any
former occasion. If the upper frame that was now got on
the Sea Lion wbas not of faultless mould, it was securely
fastened, and rendered'the craft even stronger than it had
been originally.  Some regard was had to resisting the
pressure of ice, and experience had taught all the sealers
where the principal defences against the effects of a'' nip"
ought to be placed.  The lines were not perfect, it is true
but this was of less moment, as the bottom  of the craf
which alone had any material influence on her sailing, was
Just as it had come from the hands of the artizan who had
originally moulded her.
By the end of a fortnight, the new top-timbers were all
in their places, and secured, while a complete set of bends
were brought to them, and were well bolted.  The'caulking-irons were put in requisition as soon as a streak was
on, the whole work advancing, asfit might be,-pari passu.
Planks for the decks were much wanted, for, in the terrible
strait for fuel which had caused the original assault on the
schooner, this portion of the vessel had been the first burned,.
as of the most combustible materials.  The quarter-deck
of the Vineyard craft, luckily, was entire, and its planks so
far answered an excellent purpose. They served to make
a new quarter-deck for the repairs, but the whole of the
main-deck and. forecastle remained to be provided for.
Materials were gleaned from different parts of the two vessels, until a reasonably convenient,.and a perfectly safe
deck was laid over the whole craft, the coamings for the
hatches! being taken from Daggett's.schooner, which had
not been broken up in those parts.  It is scarcely necessary to say that the ice had early melted from the rocks of




THE -SEA  LIONS.                 385
the coast.' The caverns all disappeared within the first
week of- the thaw, the attitudes into which the cakes had
been thrown greatly favouring the melting process, by exposing so much surface to the joint action of wind, rain
and sun. What was viewed as a favourable augury, the
seals began to reappear.  There was a remote portion of
the coast, from which the ice had been driven by the
windsaround the north-west cape, that'was already alive
with them. Alas! these animals no longer awakened cupidity'in' the breasts of the ~sealers. The last no longer
thought of gain, but simply of saving their lives, and of
restoring themselves to the humble places they had held in
the world, previously tq having come on this ill-fated voyage.
This re-appearance of the seals produced a deep impression on' Roswell Gardiner.  His mind had been much inclined of late t'o dwell more and more on religious subjects,
and his conversations with Stephen were still more frequent than formerly.  Not that the boat-steerer could
enlighten him on the great subject, by any learned lore, for
in this' Stimson' was quite deficient; but his officer found
encouragement in the depth and heartiness of his companion's faith, which seemed to be raised above all doubts
and misgivings whatever. During the gloomiest moments
of that' fearful winter, Stephen had been unifbrmly confid-.
ing and cheerful.  Not once had he been seen to waver,
thoungh all around him were desponding and. anticipating
the worst.  His heart was light exactly in proportion as
his faith was strong.
"We shall neither freeze nor starve," he used to say,
"unless it be God's will; and, when. it is his pleasure,
depend on it, friends, it will be for our good."  As for.Daggett, he had finally given up his hold on the wreck;
and it seemed no longer to fill- his thoughts.  When he
was told that the seals had come back, his eye brightened,
and his nature betrayed some of its ardent longings.  But
it'was no more than a gleaming of the former-spirit of the
man, now becoming dim  under the darkness that was fast
encircling all his views of this world.
" It's a pity, Gar'ner, that we have no craft ready for the
work," he said, under the first impulse of the intelligence.




386             THE SE A L IONS.
"' At this early time.in the season, a large ship might be
filled!"
"We. have other matters on our -hands, Captain Dag-.
gett," was the answer; " they must be looked to first. - If
we can. get off the island at, all and return safe to. those
who, I much fear, are now mnourning us as dead, we shall
have great reason to thank God.". "A few skins would do. no great harm,.Gar'ner,. even to
a craft cut down and reduced."
*"' We have more cargo' now, than we shall be able to
take with us. Quite one half of all our skins must be left
behind us, and all of the oil.  The hold of the schooner is
too shallow to carry.enough of anything to make out a
voyage. I shall ballast'.with water and provisions, and fill
up all the spare room with'the best -of our skins. The re'st
of-the property must be abandoned."
" Why abandoned?  Leave a -hand, or two to take care
of it, and send a craft out to look for it, as soon as you get
home.  Leave me, Gar'ner, I am..Willing to stay."
Roswell thought. that the poor man would be. left,
whetherz he wished tb.remain or not, for.the symptoms that
are known to be so fatal.in cases like that of Daggett's,
were making themselves so apparent as to leave little doubt
of. the result..What rendered this display of the masterpassion somewhat remarkable, was the fact that our hero
had, on several occasions, conversed'with the invalid, concealing no material feature' of his.case, and the latter had
expressed his expectation of a fatal termination, if not an:
absolute willingness to die. Stimson had frequently prayed
with Daggett, and Roswell had often read particular chapters of the bible to -him, at his own request, creating an
impression that the Vineyarder was. thinking more of his
end -than of any interests connected with this life.  Such'might. have been, probably was, the case, until the seeming
return of what had once been.deemed good luck awakened
old desires, and brought out traits of character that were
about to be lost in the near views of a future weld. Ali
this Roswell saw and noted, and the reflections produced
by his own perilous condition, the certain loss of Eo matny
companions, the probable death of Daggett, and the humble but impressive example and sympathy of Stimson, were




TH E S-E A.LT 0oNS.:387
such as would have delighted. the: tender spirit- of- Mary
Pratt, could she have known of their. existence
But the great consideration of the moment, the centle
of all the hopes and fears of our sealers, was the rebuilding
of the mutilated Sea Lion. -. Although the - long thaw did
so- much for them, the reader is not to regard it as such a
spell of warm  weather as one enjoys in May within the
temperate zone. There were no flowers, no signs of vegetation, and whenevex the wind ceased to blow smartly from
the northward, there was frost.  At. two or-three intervals
cold snaps set in that rooked seriously like a return to
winter, and, at the end of the'third week of pleasant
weather mentioned, it beganto blow a gale from the southward, to' snow, and'to freeze.  The storm  commenced
about ten in. the forenoon; ere the sun went down, the
days then being.of great length, every passage around the
dwelling' was already blocked up with banks of snow.
Several times had the men asked permission.to remove the
sails from the house, to admit air and light; -but it was-now
found that the tent-like verandah they formed was of as
much use as it had been at any time during the —season-.
Without it, indeed, it would'not have been.possible for the
people to quit their dwelling during three entire days.
Everything like work was, of course, suspended during this
tempest, which. seriously menaced the. unfortunate sealers
with the necessity of again breaking' up'their schooner,
now nearly completed, with a view again to keep themselves from  freezing.  The weather was. not so intensely
cold as it had been, continuously, for months during the
past winter; but, coming as it did, after so long a spell of
what- might be considered as' a balmy- atmosphere in thatregion, it found the people unbraced.and little prepared: for
it.  At no time was the thermometer lower than twenty
degrees below zero'; this'was near morning, after a sharp
and stinging night; nor was it for any, succession of hours
much below zero.  But zero. was now hard to bear,, and
fires, and good fires too, were absolutely necessary to keep
the men from suffering, as well as -fromrn despondency. Perhaps:the spectacle of Daggett, dying from the effects of
frost before their eyes, served to increase the uneasinessof
the people, and to cause them to be less sparing of the fuel
33 *




388              THE   SEA LIONS.
than persons in their situation ought to have' been.  It is
certain that a report was brought to Roswell, in,. the height
of the tempest,-and when the thermometer was at the lowest,
that there was not wood enough left from the plunder of
the two vessels,:exclusively of that which had been worked
up in the repairs, to keep the fires going eight-and-forty
hours longer! It was true, a little wood, intended to be
used in the homeward passage, enough to last as far as Rio
possibly, had been used in stowing the hold; and that might
be got at first,- if it ever ceased to snow. Without that addition to the stock in the. house, it would not be within the
limits of probability to suppose the people could hold out
against the severity of such weather a great while longer.
Every expedient that could be devised to save wood, and
to obtain warmth from other sources, was resorted to, of
course, by Roswell's orders. Lamps were burned with great
freedom; not little vessels invented to give light, but such
torches as one sees at the lighting up of a princely court.
yard on the occasion of' a ftte, in which wicks are made.by the pound, and unctuois matter is-used by the gallon.
Old canvass and elephants' oil supplied the materials; and
the spare camboose, which had~ been brought over to the
house to be set up there, while the other galley was being
placed on board,' very well answered the purpose of a lamp.
Some warmth was obtained by these means, but much more
of a glaring and unpleasant light.
It was during th'e height of this tempest that the soul of
Daggett took its' flight towards the place of departed spirits,
in. preparation for the hour when it was to be summoned
before the judgment-seat of God.  Previously to his death,
the unfortunate Vineyarder held a frank and confidential
discourse with Roswell.'As'his last hour approached, his
errors and mistakes became more distinctly apparent, as is
usual with men, while his sins of omission seemed to crowd
the'vista of by-gone days. Then it was that the whole
earth did not contain that which, in his dying eyes, would
prove an equivalent. for one hour passed in a sincere, devout, and humble service of the Deity!
"I'm  afraid that I've loved money most too well," he
said to Roswell, not an hour before-he drew his last breath;'but I hope it was not so much for myself, as for others.




THE SEA LIONS.                   389
A wife and children, Gar'ner, tie a mail to'arth in a most
unaccountable manner. Sealers' companions are used to
hearing of misfortunes, and the Vineyard women know
that few on'em live to see a husband at their side in ol.d
age. Still, it is hard on a mother and wife, to I'arn that
her chosen friend has been cut off in the pride of his days
*and in a distant land. Poor Betsey! It would have been
better for us both, had we been satisfied with the little we
had; for now the good woman will have to look to all
matters for herself."
Daggett now remained silent for some time, though his
lips moved, most probably in prayer. It was a melancholy
sight to see a man in the vigour of his manhood, whose
voice was strong, an'd whose heart was still beating with
vigour and vitality, standing; as it were, on the brink of a
precipice, down which all knew he was to be so speedily
hurled. But.the decree had gone forth, and no human
-skill could. arrest it.  Shortly after the confession and
lamentation we have recorded, the decay reached the
vitals, and the machine of clay stopped. To.avoid the un-.
pleasant consequences of keeping the body in -so warm a
place,'it *as- buried in the snow at a short distance from
the house, within an hour after it had ceased to breath.e.
When Roswell Gardiner saw this man, who had so long
adhered't him, like a leech, in the pursuit of gold,.laid a
senseless corpse among the frozen flakes of the antarctic
seas, he felt that a lively admonition of the vanity of the
world was administered to himself. Row little had he.
been able to foresee all that had happened, and how mistaken -had been his own calculations and hopes!  What,
then, was that intellect of which he had been so proud, and
what reason had he to rely on himself in those matters that
lay equally beyond the cradle and the grave-that incomprehensible past, and the unforeseen future, towards which
all those in existence were hastening! Roswell had received.
m'any lessons in humility, the most useful of all the lessons
that man can receive in connection with the relation that
eally exists between the Deity and himself. Often had he
wondered, while reading the Bible Mary Pratt had put into
his hand, at the stubborn manner in which the chosen
people of God had returned to their "idols," and their




~390'T HE SEA  I ONS..
"groves,"' and their "high places;"! but he was, now made
to understand that others still erred in this great particular,
and that of all the idols men worship, that of self was per
haps the most objectionable.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Long swoln in drenching rains, seeds, germs, and, buds
Start at the touch of vivifying beams.
Moved by thleir secret force, the vital lymph.
Diffusive runs, and spreads o'er wood and field
*A flood of verdure."
ILCOX..
AT length it came to be rumoured among the sealers
that the fires must be permitted to go out, or that the materials used for making the berths, and various other fixtures.f the house, must be taken to supply the stove.  It was
when it got to be known that the party was reduted"to this
sad. dilemma, that Roswell broke through the bank of snow
that almost covered the house, and got so far into the open
air as to be able to form some estimate of the probable contin'uance of the present cold weather.  The thermometer,
Within the bank of snow, but outside of the building, then
stood at twenty below iero; but it was much colder in the
unobstructed currents of'as keen and biting a south wind
as ever came howling across the vast fields of ice that
covered the polar basin.  The snow had long ceased, but
not until an immense quantity had fallen; nearly. twice as
much, Roswell and Hazard thought, as they had seen on
the rocks at any time that winter.
"I: see no signs of a change, Mr. Hazard," Roswell remarked, shivering with the intensity of the cold.  ".We
had better go..back into the house -before we get- chilled,
for we have no.fire now to go to, to warm ourselves,  It is
much warmer within doors, than.it is in the open air, fire
or no fire."
"There are many- reasons for that, Captain Gar'ner.'




T H E S E A  LIONS.             3291
answered the mate. "So many bodies in so small a.space.
the shelter from the wind and outer air, and the wsnow
banks, all help us. I. think we shall filed the thermometer
indoors at a pretty comfortable figure this morning."'.
On examining it, it was found to stand at only fifteen
below zero, making a difference of five degrees in favour
of the house,- as compared with the sort of covered gallery
under the tent, and probably of five more, as compared with
the open air.
On a-consultation, it was decided that all hands should
eat a hearty meal, remove most of their clothes, and get
within the coverings of their berths, to see if it would not
be possible to wear out the cold spell, in some tolerable
comfort, beneath rugs and blankets. On the whole, it was
thought that the berths might be made more serviceable
by this expedient, than by putting their. materials into the
stoves. Accordingly, within an hour after Roswell. and his
mate had returned fromn their- brief out-door excursion, the
whole party was snugly bestowed under piles of, rugs,
clothes, sails, and whatever else might be used to retain
the animal heat near the body, and exclude cold. In this
manner, six-and-thirty-hqurs were passed, not a man of
them  all having the courage to rise from his lair, and encounter the severity of the climate, now unrelieved -by anything-like a fire.
Roswell had slept most of the time, during the last ten
hours, and in this he was much like all around him.  A
general feeling of drowsiness had come over the men, and
the legs and feet of many among them, notwithstanding
the quantity of bed-clothes that were, in particular, piled
on that part of their person, were sensitively alive to the
cold.  No one ever knew how low the thermometer went
that. fearful night; but a sort of common consciousness prevailed, that nothing the men had yet seen, or felt, equalled
its chill horrors.  The cold had got'into the house, converting every article it contained into a.mass of frost. The
berths:ceased to be warm, and the smallest exposure of a
shoulder, hand, or ears, soon produced pain.  The heads
of very many of the party were. affected, and breathing became difficult and troubled.  A numbness began to steal
~ver the lower limbs; and this was the last unpleasant sen



392             THE S EA LIONS.
sation remembered by Roswell, when he fell into anotheT
short and disturbed slumber. The propensity -to sleep was
very general now, though many struggled against it, knowing it.was the usual precursor of death by freezing.
()ur hero never knew how long he slept in the last nap
he took on that memorable occasion. When he awoke, he
found a bright light blazing in the hut, and heard some one
moving about the camboose.  Then his-thoughts reverted
to himself, and to the condition of his limbs. On trying to
rub his feet together, he found them so nearly without sensation as to make the consciousness of their touching each
other almost out of the question. Taking the alarm at once,
lie commenced a violent friction, until by slow degrees he
could feel that the nearly stagnant blood was getting again
into'notion.  So great had been Roswell's alarm, and so
intent his occupation, that he took no heed of the person
who was busy at the camboose, until the man appeared at
the side of his berth, holding a tin pot in his hand. It'was
Stimson, up and dressed, without his skins, and seemingly
in perfect preservation.
"Here's some' hot coffee, Captain Gar'ner," said the
provident boat-steerer, " and then turn out. The wind has
shifted, by the marcy of God, and it has-begun to rain.
Now, I think we may have summer in'arnest, as summer
comes among these sealin' islands."
Roswell took six or eight swallows of the coffee, which
was smoking hot, and instantly felt the genial influence
diffused over his whole frame.  Sending Stiephen to the
other berths with this timely beverage, he now sat up in his
berth, and rubbed his feet and legs with his hands. The
-exercise, friction, and hot coffee, soon brought him' round;
and he sprang out of his berth, and was quickly dressed.
Stimson had lighted a~fire in the camboose, using the.very
last of the wood, and the warmth was beginninglto diffuse
itself through the building. But the change in the wind,
and the consequent melioration of the temperature, probably-alone saved. the whole of the Oyster Pond crew from
-experiencing the dire fate of that of the Vineyard craft.
Stephen got man after man out of his berth, by doses of
the steaming coffee; and the blood being thus stimulated,'bV the aid of friction, everybody was soon' up and stirrinig.




THE SEA LIONS.                   393
It was found, on inquiry, that all three of the blacks had
toes. or ears frozen, and with them the usual application of
snow became necessary; but the temperature of the house
soon got to be so high as to render the place quite comfortable.- Warm -food being deemed very essential, Stephen
had put a supply of beans and pork into his coppers; and
the frost having been extracted from  a quantity of the
bread by soaking it in cold water, a hearty meal of good,
hot, and; most nourishing food, was made by all hands.
This set our sealers up, no more complaints of the frost
being heard.
It was, indeed, no longer very cold. The thermometer
was up to twenty-six above zero in the house wh'en Roswell
turned out; and the cooking process, together with Stephen's fires and the shift of wind' soon brought the mercury up to forty. This was a cheering temperature for
those who had been breathing the polar air; and the influence of the north-east gale continued -to increase.  The
rain and -thaw produced another deluge; and the cliffs presented, for several hours, a sight that might have caused
Niagara to hide her head: in mortification. These sublime
scenes are of frequent occurrence amid the solitudes of the
earth; the occasional phenomena of nature often surpassing in sublimity and beauty her rarest continued efforts.
The succeeding day the rain ceased,'and summer appeared to' have come in reality. It is true that at mid-day
the thermometer in the sfiade stood at only forty-eight; but
in the sun it actually rose to seventy. Let those who have
ever experienced the extremes of heat and cold imagine
the delight with which our sealers moved about under such
a sun!  All excess -of clothing was thrown aside; and
ina'ny of the men actually pursued their work in their shirtsleeves.'As the snow had vanished quite as suddenly as it came,
everything and everybody was now in active motion. Not
a'man of the crew was disposed to -run the risk of encountering any more cold on Sealer's Land. Roswell -himself
was of opinion that the late severe weather was the dying
effort of the winter, and that- no more cold was to be expected; and Stimson agreed with him in this notion, The'
sails were taken down from around the house, and those




394              THE  SEA  LIONS.
articles it was intended to carry away were transferred t~
the schooner. as fast as the difficulties of the road would
allow.  While his mates were carrying on this duty~ our
young master took an early occasion to examine the state
of matters generally on the island. With this view he
ascended to the plain, and went half-way up the mountain,
desiring to get a good look into the offing.
It was soon ascertained that the recent deluge had swept
all the ice and every trace of the dead: into the sea.  The
body of Daggett had disappeared, with the snow-bank in
which it had been buried; and all the carcases of the seals
had been washed away. In a word, the rocks were as
naked and'as clean as if man's foot had never passed over
them.  From  the' facts that skeletons of seals had been
found strewed along the north shore, and the present void,
Roswell was led to infer that the late storm had been one
of unusual intensity, and most probably of a character to
occur only at long intervals.
But:the state of the ice was the point of greatest interest.
The schooner could now.be got ready for sea in a week,
and: that easily; but there she lay, imbedded in a field of
ice that still covered nearly the whole of the waters within
the group. As.Roswell stood on the cliffs which overlooked
the cove, he calculated the distance it would be necessary
to take the schooner through the ice by sawing and cutting,
and that through a field known to be some four feet thick,
at five good miles at least. So Herculean did this task appe:ar to be, that he even thought of abandoning his vessel
altogether, and of setting out in the boats, as soon as the
summer was fairly commenced.  On reflection, however,
this last plan was reserved as a dernier ressort, the danger
of encountering the tempests of those seas in a whale-boat,
without covering or fire, being much too great to be thought
of, so long as any reasonable alternative offered.
The bergs to — the southward were in motion, and a large
fleet of them wvas nuttinig to sea, as it might be, coming in
from those remote and then unknown regions in which
they were formed.  From' the mountain, our hero counted'
at least a hundred, all regularly shaped; with tops like that
of table-land, and with even, regular sides, and upright att'itudes.  It was very desirable to get ahead of these new




T-HE. SEA. LIONS.                39)5
maritime Alps, for the ocean to the northward was unusually clear of ice of all kinds, that lodged between the
islands excepted.
So long as it was safe to calculate on the regular changes
of the seasons, Roswell knew that patience and vigilance
would serve his turn, by bringing everything round in its
proper time and place.- But it was:by no means certain
that it was a usual occurrence for the Great Bay to be
crammed with field-ice, as had happened the past winter;
if the actual state of the surrounding Waters were.an exception instead of the rule.  On examining the shores,
however, it was found that the rain and melted snow had
created.a sort of margin, and that the strong winds which
had been blowing, an'd which in fact were still blowing,
had produced a gradually increasing attrition, until a space
existed between the weather-side of.the field and the rocks
that was some thirty fathoms wide. This was an important
discovery, and brought up a most grave question for decision...
Owing to the shape:of the surrounding land, it would not
be possible for- the ice to float out in a body, for two or
three months to come; or until so much had melted as to
leave room for the field to pass the capes and head-lands.
It: never could have entered the -bay for the same reason,
but.for the resistless power of a' field that extended leagues
out into the ocean, where, acted on jointly by wind and
title, it came down with a momentumn that:was resistless,
ripping.-and tearing the edges of the field as if they. had
been so much freshly turned up mould. It was, then, a
question how toget.the schooner out of her present bed,
and into clear water.
The'reader will probably remember that, on her first
arrival at the group, the Sea Lion —had entered the Great
Bay from the southward; while, in her subsequent effort to
get-north, she had gone out by the opposite passage. Now,
it occurred to IRoswell that he might escape by the former
of these -routes more-readily than- by the latter, and for the
following reasons: -No field-ice had ever blocked up the
southern passage, which was now quite clear, though the
approach to it just then, was choked by'the manner in
which the north-east gale that was still blowing, pressed
34




.396            -THE SEA bIONS.
home against the rocks the field that.so nearly filled the
bay. A shift of wind, however, must soon come; and
when that change occurred, it was certain that this field
would'move in an opposite direction, leaving tile margin
of open water, that has already been mentioned, all along
the rocks. The distance was considerable, it is true —. not
less than fifteen miles-and the whole of it was to be made
quite close to sharp angular rocks that would penetrate the
schooner's sides almost as readily as an axe, in the event.
of a nip-; but this danger might be avoided by foresight,
and a timely attention to the necessities of the case. Seeing no. more available plan to get the vessel out of her present duresse, the mates came readily into this scheme, and
preparations were made to carry it out. As the cove was
so near the north-east end of Sealer's Land, it may be well
to explain that the reason this same mode of proceeding
could not be carried out in a northern direction, was the
breadth of the field seaward, and the danger of following
the north shore when the solid ice did leave it, on account
of the quantities. of broken fragments that were tossing and
churning in its front, far as the eye could reach.from the
cliffs themselves.
The third day after the commencement of the thaw, the
wind came round again from the south-west, blowing heavily. As was expected, this soon began to set.the field in
motion, driving it over towards the volcano, and at the
same time northerly. About six in the morning, Hazard
brought a report to Roswell that a margin of open water
was beginning to form all along under the cliffs, while
there was great danger that the channel which had been
cut from the schooner to the nearest point beneath the.
rocks, in readiness for this very contingency, might be
closed by the pressure of the ice without, on that within
the cove.  No time was to be lost, therefore, if it was intended to move the craft on this shift of wind.  The distance that had been sawed through to make the channel
just named, did not exceed a hundred yards. The passage
was not much wider than the schooner's breadth; and it
will be easily understood that it was to the last degree important to carry her through this strait as soon. as possible
Although many useful articles were scattered about on the




THE  SEA  LIENS.                 397
ce, and several remained- to be brought over the rocks
froin the house, the order was given to get out lines, and
to move the vessel at once, the men set to work with hearty
good will, another glimpse of home rising before their imaginations-; and, in five minutes after Hazard had made his
communication, the Sea Lion had gone six or eight times
her length towards the cliffs. Then came the pinch! H1Tad
not the ice been solid between the cape and the berth just
before occupied- by the schooner, she would htave been
hopelessly nipped by the closing of the artificial channel.
As it was, she was caught, and her progress was airrested,
but the field took a cant, in consequence of the resistance
of the solid ice that *filled the whole cove to the eastward
of the channel; and, before any damage was done, the
latter began to open even faster than it had come together.
The instant the craft was released the sealers manned their
hauling lines igain, and ran her up to the rocks with a
hurrah!  The margin of water was just opening, but so
prompt had been the movement of the men that it wag not
yet wide enough to permit the vessel to go any further;
and it was found necessary to wait until the passage was
sufficiently wide to enable her to move ahead. The intervening time was occupied in bringing to the craft the articles left behind.
By nine o'clock everything was on board; the winding
channel thlat followed the sinuosities of the coast could be
traced *far as the eye could see; the lines were manned;
and the word was again given to move. Roswell now felt
that he was engaged -in much the most delicate of all his
duties. The desperate run through the fleet of bergs, and
the second attempt -to get to sea, were.not in certain particulars as hazardous' as this. The field had been setting
back and forth now, for several weeks; the margin of cleai
water increasing by the attrition at each return' to the
rocks; and it was known by observation that these changes
often occurred at very short notices. Should'the wind haul
round with the sun, or one of the unaccountable currents
(i' those seas intervene before the south-east cape was
reached, the schooner would probably be broken into splinters, or ground into powder, in the course of some-two or




398             TH:E SEA  LIONS.
three hours.  It was all-important, therefore, to lose not a
moment.-.
Several times -in the course of the first hour, the move.
ment of the schooner was arrested by the want of sufficient
room to pass between projecting points in the cliffs and the
edge of the ice.  On two of these occasions passages were
cut with the saw, the movement of the field not answering
to the'impatience of.the sealers.  At the end of that most
momentous hour, however, the craft had been hauled ahead
a mile and a half, and had reached a curvature in the coast
where the margin of open water was more than fifty fathoms
wide, and the tracking of the vessel. became easy and rapid.
By two' o'oiock the Sea Lion was at what might be called
the bottom of tlhe Great Bay, some three or four leagues
from the cove, and at'the place where the long low cape
began to run ourt in a south-easterly:direction.  As the
wind could now be felt over: the rocks, the foretopsail was
set, as well as the lower sails, the latter being mainly becalmred, however, by the land; when -the. people were all
taken on board, the craft moving faster under her.canvass
than by means of tbhe hauling lines.. The wind was very
fresh, ard in half an hour more the south-east cape came
in sight, close as were,the navigators, to the rocks.  Ter
minutes later, the Sea Lion was under reefed sails, stretch.
ing:off to the southward and eastward, in perfectly clear
water,!
At, first, Roswell Gardiner was disposed to rejoice, under
the. impression that his greatest labour had been achieved.
A better look at the state of things around hinm, however,
taught, the disieartening lesson of humility, by demonstrating that they had. in truth but just commenced.
Although. there was scarcely any field-ice to the southward of the' group, and in its immediate neighbourhood,
there was a countless number of bergs.  It is true, these
floating mouhntains did not come very near the passage, for
the depth of water just there usually brought them up ere
they could get into it; nevertheless, a large fleet of them
was blockading the entire group, far as the eye could reach,
looking east, west: and south, or along the whole line of the
southern coast.. It was at first questionable whether, and
soon after it became certain, that the schooner could never




TH:EE SEA  LIONLS.              399
beat through such:dangers. - Had the wind been fair, the
difficulty would have been insurmountable; but ahead, and
blowing a little gale, the matter was out.of the'question.
Some other course must be adopted.
There was a choice of alternatives.  One was to go en..
tirely round the whole group, passing to the eastward of
the volcano, where no one of the party had ever been; and
the other was to follow the eastern margin of the bay, keeping inside-of it, and trusting to finding some opening by
which the schooner could force her way into clear water
to the northward. After a very brief consultation with his
mates, Roswell decided on attempting the last.
As the course now to- be steered was almost dead before
the wind, the little craft, lightened of so much of her upper
worksfalmost flew through the -water.  The great source
of apprehension felt by our young men in attempting this
*new expedient, was in the probability that the field would
drift home to the rocks in the north-east quarter of the
bay, which, with a south-west wind, was necessarily a quarter to leeward.  Should this prove to be the case, it might
be' found impossible to pass ahead, and the schooner would
be caught' in a cul de sac; since it Would not be in the
power of her people to track her back again in the teeth of
so strong a wind.' Notwithstanding these probabilities, on
Roswell went; for he saw plain enough that at such a moment almost anything was better than indecision.
The rate at which the little craft was flying before a
fresh:gale, in perfectly smooth water,-soon put. our sealers
in a better condition to form  closer estimates of their
chances. The look-outs aloft, one of whom was: Hazard,
the first officer, sent down on deck constant reports of what
they could see.'How does it look ahead, now, Mr. Hazard?" demanded
Roswell, about five in the afternoon, just as his schooner
was coming close under the smoking sides of the volcano,
which had always been an object of interest to him, though
he had never found time to visit it before.  "Is -there no
danger of our touching the ground, close in as we are to
this island?"
" I think not, sir; when I landed here, we kept the lead
going -the whole time, and we got,two fathoms quite up to
34'            26




400             THE SEA LIO:NS.
the shore. In my judgment, Captain Gar'ner, we may run
flown along this land as bold as lions."
"And'how does it look ahead?  I ve no wish to get
jammed here, close aboard of a volcano, which may be
choking us all with its smoke before we know where we
are."
"Not much danger of that, sir, with this wind. These
volcanoes are' n6thin' but playthings, a'ter'all. The vapour
is driving off towards the north-east -That was a-crack,with a vengeance!"
Just as Hazard was boasting of the innocuous character
of a volcano, that near them fired a gun, as the men afterwards called it, casting into the air a large flight of cinders
and stones, acc'ompanied by a sharp flash of flame. All
the lighter materials drove away to leeward, but the heavier followed the law of projectiles, and scattered irr all
directions.  Several stones of some size fell quite close to
the schooner, and a few smaller actually came down on her
decks.
"It will -never do to stop here' to boil our pot," cried
Roswell to the mate.  "' We must get away from this, Mr.
Hazard, as fast as the good craft can travel!"
"Get away it is, sir.  There is nothing very-near ahead
to stop us; though it does look more toward the east cape
as if the field was jammed in that quarter."
"Keep all your eyes about you, sir; and look out especially for any opening among the smaller islands ahead. I
am not without hope that the currents which run among
them may give us a clear passage in that'quarter."
rThese words explain precisely that which did actually.occur. On went the schooner, almost brushing the base of
the volcano, causing Roswell many a bound of the heart,
when he fancied she must strike; but she went clear. All
this time, it was crack, crack, crack, from the crater, rumbling sounds and heavy explosions; the last attended by
flames, and smoke of a pitchy darkness. A dozen times the
Sea ILion had very narrow escapes when nearest to the
danger, stones of a weight'to pass through her decks and
bottom falling even on the ice outside of her; but that hand
which had so benevolently stayed various other evils, was
stretched forth to save, and nothing touched the schoner




THE  SEA LIONS.                  401
of a size to:do any injury.  These escapes made a deep
impiessi,ii on Roswell. Until the past winter he had been
accust, lued to look upon.things and events as matters of
course. This vacant indifference, so common to men.in
prosperity, was extended even to the sublimest exhibition
of the Almighty power; our hero. seeing nothing in the
firmament of heaven, of a. clear:night, but the twinkling
lights that seemed to him to be placed there merely to garnish and illumine the darkness of this globe.  Now, how
differently di'd he look upon natural objects, and their
origin! If it were only an insect, his mind presented its
wonderful mechanism, its'*beauty, its uses. No star seemed
less than what science has taught us that it is; and. the
power of the Dread Being who hid: created all, who governed all, and who was judge of all, became an inseparable subject. of contemplation, as he looked upon the least
of his works.: Feelings, thus softened and tempered by
humility, easily led their subject to the reception of those
leading articles of the Christian faith which have been consecrated by the belief of the church catholic since the ages
of miraculous guidance, and which are now venerable by
time.  Bold and presuming is he who fancies that his intellect can rectify errors of this magnitude and antiquity,:and that. the church of God' has been permitted to wallow
on in a most fatal idolatry for centuries, to be extricated
by the pretending syllogisms of his one-sided and narrow
philosophy!
The people of the Sea Lion were less affected by what
they saw than their young commander..  Their hearts were
light-with the prospect of a -speedy release from the hardships and dangers they had undergone; and, at each. explosion of the.volcano, as soon as out of reach of the falling
stones, they laughed,. and asserted that the. mountain was
firing a salute in honour of their departure. Such is the
difference between men whose hearts and spirits have submitted to. the law of faith, and those who live on in the
recklessness of the passing events of life!
The schooner was' racing past a rocky.islet, beginnirg
to haul more on a wind, as she.made the circuit of the
bay, just as Hazard came to.the conclusion that the field
had drifted home on the outer island of the group, and




40'2            THE SEA  LIONS.
that it would be impossible to pass into clear water by
going on. Turning his head in quest of some ba3, or other
secure place in which the craft might wait for a favourable
change, he'saw a narrow opening to leeward of the islet he
had passed but a minute before; and, so far as he coula
perceive, one that led directly out to sea.
It was too late to keep away for the entrance of the
passage, the ice being too close at hand to leeward; but
most fortunately, there was room to tack.  A call to Ros.
well soon Caused the schooner to be close on a wind; down
went her helm, and round she came like a top.  Sail was
shortened in stays, and by the time the little craft was
ready to fall off for the passage, she had nothing on her
but a foretopsall, jib, and a close-reefed mainsail. Under
this canvass she glided along, almost brushing the rocks
of the islet, but without touching. In twenty- minutes
more she was' clear of the group altogether, and in open
water I
That night some embarrassment was encountered from
broken field-ice, of which the ocean was pretty full; but
by exercising great vigilance, no serious thump occurred.
Fortunately the period of darkness was quite short, the
twilight being of great length -both mornings and evenings;
and the re-appearance of the sun cast a cheerful glow on
the face of the troubled waters.
The wind held at south-west for three days, blowing
heavily the whole time. By the second night-fall the sea
was clear of ice, and everything was carried on the schooner
that she could bear. About nine o'clock, on the morning
of the fourth day out, a speck was seen rising above the
ragged outline of the rolling waves; and each minute it
became higher and more distinct. An hour or two later,
the Sea Lion was staggering along before a westerly gale,
with the HIermit of Cape Horn on her larboard beam, d(istant three leagues. How many trying scenes and bitter
moments crowded on the mind of young Roswell Gardiner, as he recalled all that had passed in the ten months
which intervened since he had come out from  behind the
shelter of those wild rocks! Stormy as was that sea, and
terrible as was its name among mariners, coming, as he
did, from one still more stormy and terrible, he now re



THE  SEA  LIONS.                  403
garded it as a sort of place of refuge.  A winter there, he
well:kn-ew, would be no.trifling undertaking, but he had
just passed a winter in a region where even fuel was not
to be found, unless. carried there.- Twenty days later the
Sea Lion sailed again from Rio, having sold all the seaelephant oil that remained, and bought stores; of which,
by this tinie, the vessel was much in want.. Most of tihe
portions of the provisions that were left had been damaged
by-the thawing process; and food vwas getting to be absolutely necessary to her-people, when the schooner went
again into the noble harbour of the. capital-of Brazil.
Then: succeeded the lassitude and calms that reign about
the imaginary line tlhat marks the circuit of the earth, at
that point which is ever central as regards the sun, and
where the days and nights-are always equal.. No inclination of the earth's axis to the plane of its orbit affected the
climate there,/.which knewl not the distinctions of summer
and winter; or which, if they did exist at all, were so
faintly marked as to be nearly imperceptible.
Twenty days later the schooner was standing among
some low sandy keys, under short canvass, and in the
south-east trades.  By her- movements an anchorage was
sought; and one was found; at last, where the craft was
brought up, boats were hoisted out, and Roswell Gardiner
landed.
CHAPTER XXIX.
"If every ducat in six thousand ducats
Were in six parts, and every part a ducat,
I would not draw themn; I would have my bond.
SHAKSPEARI.
THiE earth had not stopped in its swift race round the
sun at Oyster Pond, while all these events were in the
course of occurrence in the antarctic seas, The -summter
had passed, that summer which was to have brought back
the.sealers; and autumn had come to chill the hopes as
well as the body. Winter did not bring any change.: No,




404              THeE:8'.:    LION S.
thing was heard of Roswell and his companions, nor could
anything have been heard of them short of the intervention
of a miracle.
Mary Pratt no longer mentioned Roswell in her prayers.
She fully believed him to be dead; and her puritanical
creed taught her that this, the sweetest and most endearing
of all the rites of Christianity, was allied to a belief that it
was sacrilege to entertain. We pretend not to any distinct
impressions on this subject-ourselves, beyond a sturdy protestant disinclination to put any faith in the abuses of purgatory at least; but, most devoutly do we wish that such
petitions could have the efficacy that so large a portion of
the Christian wprld impute to them.  But Mary Pratt, so
much better than we can lay any claim to be in all essentials, was less. liberal than ourselves on this great point of
doctrine.  Roswell Gardiner's name now never passed her
lips in prayer, therefore; though scarce a minute went by
without his manly person being present to her imagination.  He still lived in her heart, a shrine from which she
made no effort to expel him.
As for the deacon, age, disease, and distress of-mind,
had brought him to his last hours. The passions which had
so engrossed him when in health, now turned upon his nature, and -preyed upon his vitals, like an ill-ornened bird.
It is more than probable that he would have lived some.
months, possibly some years longer, had not the evil spirit
of covetousness conspired to heighten the malady that
wasted his physical frame.  As it was, the sands of life
were running low; and the skilful Dr. Sage, himself, had
admitted to Mary the.improbability that her uncle and protector could long survive..
It is wonderful how-the interest in a rich man suddenly
revives among his relatives and possible heirs, as his last
hour draws near.  Deacon Pratt was known to be wealthy
in a small way; was thought to possess his thirty or forty
thousand dollars, which was regarded as wealth among the
east-enders thirty years since; and every human being in
Old Suffolk, whether of its overwhelmrning.majority or of its
more select and wiser minority-, who could by legal possibility claim any right to be remembered by the dying man,
crowded around his bed-side. At that moment, Mary Pratt,




THE SEA  LIONS.                  405
who had so long nursed his diseases and mitigated his sufferings, was compelled to appear as a very insignificant and
secondary person. Others who stood in the same degree:
of consanguinity to the dying man, and two, a brother and
sister, who were even one-degree closer, had their claims,
and were by no means disposed to suffer them to be forgotten. Gladly would poor Mary have prayed by her uncle's
bed-side; but Parson Whittle had assumed this solemn
duty, i't being deemed proper that one who had so long
filled the office of deacon, should depart with a proper attention to the usages of his meeting. Some of the relatives
who had lately appeared, and who were not so conversant
with the state of thinigs between the, deacon and his divine,
complained among themselves that the latter made too
many ill-timed allusions to the pecuniary wants of the congregation; and that he had, in particular,. almost as much
as asked the deacon to make a legacy that would enable
those who were to stay behind, to paint the meeting-house,
erect a new horse-shed, purchase some improved stoves,
and reseat the body of the building. These modest requests, it was whispered-for all passed in whispers thenwould consume not less than a thousand dollars of the deacon's. hard earnings; and the thing was mentioned as a
wrong done him who was about to descend into the grave,
where nought of earth.could avail him in any way.
Close was the siege that was laid to Deacon -Pratt, during
the last week of his life. Many were the hints given of the
necessity of his making a: will, though the brother and
sister, estimating their rights as the law established them,
said but little on the subject, and that little was rather
against the propriety of annoying a man, in their brother's
condition, with business of so perplexing a nature.. The
fact that these important personages set their faces against
the scheme had due weight, and most of the relatives began
to calculate the probable amount of their respective shares
under the law of distribution, as it stood in that day. This
excellent and surpassingly wise community of New York
had not then reached the pass of exceeding liberality to —
wards which it is. now'so rapidly tending. In that day, the
debtor was not yet thought of, as the creditor's next heir,
and that plausible and impracticable desire of a false phi



406             TRH.E- SE A,   O:NS.
lanthropy, which, is termed the Homestead Exemption La:
-impracticable as to anything like a just and, equitable
exemption of.equal amount in all cases of indebtedness —
was'not yet dreamed of../New York was then. a sound and
healthful community; making its mistakes, doubtless, as
men ever will err; but the control of things had not yet
passed into the hands of sheer political empirics, whose
ignorance and quackery were stimulated by the lowest. passion for. majorities. Among other things that were then
respected, were wills; but: it was not known to a'single
individual, among all, those who thronged the dwelling;of
Deacon.Pratt, that the dying man had ever nmustered the
self-command necessary to make such an instrument.  He
was free to act, but did not choose to avail himself of his
freedom.  Had he survived a few years, he would have
found himself in the enjoyment of a liberty so sublimated,
that he could not lease, or rent a farm, or collect a common
debt, without coming under the harrow of the tiller of the
political soil.
The season had advanced to the early part of April, and
that is usually a soft and balmy month on.the sea-shore,
though liable to considerable and sudden changes of temn.
perature.  On the day to which we now desire to transfer
the scene, the windows of the deacon's bed-room  were
open, and the soft south wind fanned his hollow and pallid
cheek. Death was near, though the principle of life struggled hard with the King of Terrors. It was now that that
bewildered and Pharasaical faith which had so long held
this professor of.religion in a bondage even more oppressive
than open and announced sins, most felt the insufficiency
of the creed in which he had rather been speculating than
trusting all his life, to render the passing hour composed
and: secure.  There had always been too much of self in
Deacon Pratt's moral temperament, to render his belief as
humble and devout as it should be. It availed him not a
hair, now, that he was a deacon, or that he had made long
prayers in the market-places, where men, could see him, or
that he had done so much, as he was wont to proclaim, for
example's sake.  All had not sufficed to cleanse his heart
of worldly-mindeatness, and he now groped about him. in




THE  SEA  LIONS.                 407
the darkness of a faith obscured, for the true light that was
to illumine his path to another world.
The doctor had ordered the room cleared of all, but two
or three of the dying man's nearest -relatives.  Among
these last, however, was the gentle and tender-hearted
Mary, who loved to be near her uncle, in this his greatest
need. She no longer thought of his covetousness, of his
griping usury, of his living so much for self and so little
for God. While hovering about the bed, a message reached
her that Baiting Joe wished to see her, in the passage that
led to the bed-room.  She went to this old fisherman, and
found him standing near a window that looked towards the
east, and which cons equently faced the waters of Gardiner's
Bay.
"There she: is; Miss -Mary," -said Joe, pointing out of
the window, his whole face in a glow, between joy and
whiskey.  "It should be told to the deacon at once, that
his last hours might be happier than some, that he has
passed' lately. That's she- though, at first, I did not.
know her."
Mary sa-w a vessel standing in towards Oyster Pond, and
her-farniliarity with objects of that nature was such, as to
tell her at once that it was a schooner; but so completely
had she given up the Sea Lion, that it did not occur to her
that this could be the long-missing craft.
"At what are you' pointing, Joe?" the wondering girl
asked, with perfect innocence.
" At that craft-at the Sea Lion of Sterling, which has
been so long set down as missing, but which has turned
up, just as her owner is about to cast off from this'arth,
altogether,"
Joe might have talked for an hour: he did chatter away
for two or three minutes, with his head and half his body
out of the window, uninterrupted by Mary, who sank into
a chair, to prevent- falling on the floor. At length the dear
girl commanded herself, and spoke.
"You cannot possibly be certain, Joe," she said; " that
schooner does not look, to me, like the Sea Lion."
"Nor to me, in some things, while in other some she
does.  Her upper works seem strangely out of shape, and
there's- precious little on'em. But no other fore-taw-sail
35




408             THE SEA. LIONS.
schooner ever comes in this-a-way, and I know of none
likely to do it. Ay, by Jupiter, there goes the very blue
peter I helped to make with my own hands, and it was
agreed to set it, as the deacon's signal. There's no,mistake, now!"
Joe might have talked half an hour longer without any
fear of interruption, for Mary had vanished to her own
room, leaving him with his head and body still out of the
window, making his strictures and conjectures for some
time longer; while the person to whom he fancied he was
speaking, was, in truth, on her knees, rendering thanks to
God! An hour later, all doubt was removed, the schooner
coming in between Oyster Pond and Shelter Island, and
making the best of her way to the well-known wharf.' Is n't it wonderful, Mary," exclaimed the deacon, in a
hollow voice, it is true, but with an animation and force
that did not appear to have any immediate connection with
death —" is n't it wonderful that Gar'ner should come back,
after all! If he has only done his duty by me, this will
be the greatest ventur' of my whole life; it will make the
evening of my days comfortable. I hope I've always been
grateful for blessings, and I'm sure I'm grateful, from the
bottom of my heart, for this. Give me prosperity, and I'm
not apt to forget it.  They've been asking me to make a
will, but I told'em I was too poor to think of any such
thing; and, now my schooner has got back, I s'pose I shall
get more hints of the same sort.  Should anything happen
to. me, Mary, you can bring out the sealed paper I gave
you to keep, and that must satisfy'em all. You'll remem.
ber, it is addressed to Gar'rier.  There isn't much in it,
and it won't be much thought of, 1 fancy; but, such as it
is,'tis the last instrument I sign, unless I get better. To
think of Gar'ner's coming back, after all! It has put new
life in me, and I shall be about, ag'in, in a week, if he has
only not forgotten the key, and the hidden treasure!"
Mary Pratt's heart had not been so light for many a
weary day, but it grieved her to be a witness of this linger.
ing longing after the things of the world. She knew that
not only her uncle's days, but that his veiy hours, were
numbered; and that, notwithstanding this momentary
flickering of the lamp in consequence of fresh oil being




THE SE.A LIONS.                  409
poured into it, the wick was nearly consumed, and that it
must shortly go out, let Roswell's success be what it might.
The news of the sudden and unlooked-for return of a vessel
so long believed to be lost, spread like wildfire over'the
whole point, and greatly did it increase the interest of the
relatives in the condition of the dying man.  If he was a
subject of great concern before, doubly diddhe become so
now. A  vessel freighted with furs would have caused
much excitement of itself;' but, by some means or other,
the deacon's great secret of the buried treasure had leaked
out, most probably by means of some of his lamentations
during his illness, and, though but imperfectly known, it
added largely to the 4expectations connected with the un-looked-for return of the schooner.  In short, it would not
have been easy to devise a circumstance that should_ serve
to increase the liveliness of feeling that, just then, prevailed
on the subject of Deacon Pratt and his assets, than the
arrival of the Sea Lion, at that precise moment.
And arrive she did, that tempest-tossed, crippled, ice.
bound, and half-burned little craft, after roaming over an
extent of ocean that would have made up half a dozen ordinary sea voyages. It was, in truth, the schooner so well
known to the reader, that was now settling away her mainsail and jib, as she kept off, under her fore-topsail alone,
towards the wharf, on which every human being who could,
with any show of propriety, be there at such a moment,
was now collected, in a curious and excited crowd.  Altogether, including' boys and females, there must have been
not less than a hundred persons on that wharf; and among
them were most of the anxious relatives-who were in attendance on the vessel's owner, in his last hours.  By a
transition that was natural enough, perhaps, under the circurnstances, they had transferred their interest in the dea.
con to this schooner, which they looked upon as an inanimateportion of an investment that would-soon have little'
that was animate about it.
Baiting Joe was a'sort of oracle, in such circumstances.
I-e had passed his youth at sea, having often doubled the
Horn, and was known to possess a very respectable amo rnt
of knowledge on the subject of vessels of. all sorts and sizes,
rig and qualities. He was now consulted by all who could
17




110             THE  SEA  LIONS.
get near him, as a matter of course, and his opinions were
received as res adjudicata, as the lawyers have it.
"That's the boat," said Joe, affecting.to call the Sea
Lion by a diminutive, as a proof of regard;' "yes, that's
the craft, herself; but she.is wonderfully deep in the water!
I never seed a schooner of her tonnage, come in from a
v'y'ge, with her scuppers so near awash. Don't you think,
Jim, there must be suthin' heavier than skins, in her hold,
to bring her down so low in the water?"
Jim was another loafer, who lived by taking clams, oysters, fish, and the other treasures of the surrounding bays.
He was by'no means as high authority as Baiting Joe;
still he was always authority on a wharf.
"I never seed the: like on't," answered Jim.  "That
schooner must ha' made most of her passage under water.
She's as deep: as one of our coasters comin'- in with a load
o' brick!"
" She's deep; but not as deep as a craft I once made a
cruise in. I was aboard of the first of Uncle Sam's gun.
boats, that crossed the -pond to Gibraltar.  When we got
in, it made the Mediterranean stare, I can tell:-you-! We
had furrin officers aboard us, the whull time, lookin' about,
and wonderin', as they called it, if we was n't amphibbies."
"XWhat's that?" demanded Jim, rather hastily. " There's
no sich rope in the ship.".
"' I know that well enough; but an amphibby, as I un.
derstand it, is a new sort of whale, that comes up to breathe,
like all of that family, as old Dr. Mitchell, of Cow Neck,
calls the critturs.  So the furrin officers thought we must
be of the amphibby family, to live so much under water,
as it seemed to them.' It was wet work, I can tell you,
boys; I don't think I got a good breath more than once an
hour,.the whull -of the first.day we was out. One of the
fiurrin officers asked our captain how the gun-boat steered.
He wasn't a captain, at all-only a master, you see, and
we all called- him Jumpin' Billy.  So. Jumpin' Billy says,'Don't know, sir.''What! crossed the Atlantic in her,.
and don't know how your craft steers!' says the fuirrin officer, says he —and well he might, Jim, since nothin' that
ever lived could go from  Norfolk to Gibraltar, without
some.attention to the helm-but Jumpin' Billy had another




T HE'SEA  LI O'N S'.             41 i
story -)o tell.'"No,:sir;": don't know,: -he  answered. -'Y-ou
see, sir, a nor-wester took us.'right, aft, as we cleared the,apes, and -down she dove, with.-her nose undeir and her
starn out, and she come across without having a chance to
try the rudder."'
This story, which Joe: had told at least a hundred times
-before, and which, by the way, is said- to be true, produced
the usual admiration, especially- among the crowd of legatees-expectant, to -most of whom it was quite new.  When,the laugh went out, which it soon did of itself,- Joe pursued
a subject that-was of more interest to most of his auditors,
or rather to the principal personages among them.
"Skins never brought a: craft so low, that you may be
sartain of!"' he resumed.  "I've.seed all sorts of vessels
stowed, but a hundred press-screws couldn't cram in furs
enough to bringf a craft so low!'To my eye, Jim, there's
suthin' unnat'ral about that schooner, a'ter all."
- The study is scarce worthy of a diploma, but we will
take this occasion to say, for the benefit of certain foreign
-writers,.principally: of the female sex, who fancy they represent Am.ericanisms, that. the vulgar of the. great republic,
and it. s admitted there are enough of the class, never say
" summat" or " somethink," which are low English, but:not low American, dialect.  The in-and-in Yankee says
"'suth-in." - In a hundred other words have these ambitious ladies done injustice to our vulgar, who are- not vulgar, according to the laws of Cockayne, in the smallest
degree.  "The Broadway," for instance, is no more used
by an American.than "the Congress," or "the United
States of North America."
"Perhaps," answered Jim, "' tisn't the Sea Lion,:a'ter
all.  There's a family look. about all the craft some men
build, and this may be a sort of relation of our missin'
schooner."
"11ll not answer for the craft, though that's her blue
peter, and them's her mast-heads," and I turned in. that
taw-sail halyard-block with nmy own hands. —I'll tell you
what, Jim, there's been a wrack, or a nip, up yonder,
among the ice, and this schooner has been built anew out
of that there schooner  *You see if it don't turn out as I
35 *




4 1'2            THE  SEA  LIONS.
tell you. Ay, and there's Captain Gar'ner, himself, alive
and, well, just comin' forrard."
A little girl started with this news, and was soon pour
ing it into the willing ears and open heart of the weeping
and grateful Mary. An hour later, Roswell held the latter in
his arms; for at such a moment, it was not possible for the
most scrupulous of the sex to affect coldness and reserve,
where there was so much real tenderness and love. While
folding Mary to his heart, Roswell whispered in her ears
the blessed words that announced his own humble submission to the faith which accepted Christ as the Son of God.
Too well did the gentle and ingenuous girl understand the
sincerity and frankness of her lover's nature, to doubt.what
he said, or in'any manner to distrust the motive. That
moment was the happiest of her short and innocent life!
But the welcome tidings had reached the deacon, and
ere Roswell had an opportunity of making any other ex —
planations but those which assured Mary that he had come
back all that she wished him to be, both of them'were
summoned to the bed-side of the dying man. The effect
of the excitement on the deacon was so very great as almost to persuade the expectant legatees that their visit
was premature, and that they might return home,-to renew it at some future day.  It is painful to find it our
duty to draw sketches that shall contain such pictures of
human nature; but with what justice could we represent
the loathsome likeness of covetousness, hovering over a
grave, and omit the resemblances of those who surrounded
it? Mary Pratt, alone, of all that extensive family connection, felt'and thought as Christianity, and womanly
affection, and. reason, dictated.  All the rest saw nothing
but the- possessor of a considerable property, who was
about to depart for that unknown world, into which nothing
could be' talten from this, but the divine and abused spirit
which had been fashioned in the likeness of God.
"Welcome, Gar'ner-welcome home, ag'in!" exclaimed
the deacon, so heartily as quite to deceive the young man
as to the real condition of his owner; a mistake that was,.
perhaps, a little unfortunate, as it induced him to be more
frank than might otherwise have been the case.  "I
couldn't find it in my heart to give you up, and have, all




THME SEA- LIONS.                 413
along, believed that we should yet have good news from
you. The Gar'ners are a reliable family, and that was one
reason why I chose you to command my schooner. Them
Daggetts are a torment, but we never should have known
anything about the islands, or the key, hadn't it been for
one on'em!"
As the deacon stopped to breathe, Maryturned away
from the bed, grieved at heart to see the longings of the
world thus clinging to the spirit of one who probably had
not another hour to live. The glazed but animated- eye,
a cheek which resembled a faded leaf of the maple laid on
a cold and whitish stone, and lips that had already begun
to recede from the teeth, made a sad, sad picture, truly,
to look upon at such a moment.; yet, of all present, M ary
Pratt alone felt the fullness of the incongruity, and alone
bethought her of the unreasonableness of encouraging feel,
ings like those which were now uppermost in the deacon's
breast.  Even minister Whittle had a curiosity to know
~'how much was added to the sum-total of Deacon Pratt's
-assets, by the return of a craft that had so long been set
down among the, missing.  When all eyes, therefore,. were
turned in curiosity on the handsome face of the fine manly
youth who now stood at the bed-side of the deacon, including those of brother and sister, of nephews and nieces, of
cousins and friends, those of this servant of the most high
God was of the number, and not the least expressive of
solicitude and expectation.  As soon as the deacon had
caught a little breath, and had swallowed a restorative that
the hired nurse had handed to him, his eager thoughts reverted to the one engrossing theme of his whole life.
"These are all friends, Gar'ner," he said; "come to
-visit me in a- little sickness that I've been somewhat subject to, of late, and who will all be glad to hear of our
good fortune. So you've brought the schooner back, a'ter
all, Gartner, and will disapp'int the Sag Harbour ship.
owners, who have been all along foretelling that we should
never see her ag'in:-brought her -back-ha! Gar'ner'?'"' Only in part, Deacon Pratt.  We have had good luck
and bad luck since we left. you, and have only brought
home the best part of the craft."
"Thd'best part-" said the deacon, gulping his words,




414              THE  SEA  LIONS.
in a way that compelled him to -pause; "The best partl
What, in the name of property, has become o: the rest?"
"The- rest was burned, sir, to keep us frotn freezing to
death."  Roswell then gave a brief but very clear and intelligible account of what~ had happened, and of the manner
in which he had caused the hulk of the deacon's Sea Lion
to be raised, upon by the materials furnished by the Sea
Lion of the Vineyard.~ The narrative brought Mary Pratt
back to the side of the bed, and caused her calm eyes to
become riveted intently on the speaker's face. As for the
deacon, he might have said, with Shakspeare's Wolsey,
"Had I but served my God with half the zeal
I serveq my king, he would not, in mine age,
Have left me naked to mine enemies."'
His fall was not that of a loss of power, it is true, but it
was that of a still more ignoble passion, covetousness. As
Roswell proceeded, his mind represented one source of
wealth after another released from  his clutch, until it was
with a tremulous voice, and a countenance from which all
traces of animation had fled, that he ventured again to
speak.
"Then I may look upon my ventur' as worse than
nothing?" he said.  "The insurers will raise a question
about paying for a craft that has been rebuilt in this way,
and the Vineyard folks will be sartain to put in a claim of
salvage, both on account of two of their hands helping you
with the work, and on account of the materials - and we
with no cargo, as an offset to it all!"
"No, deacon, it is not quite as bad as that," resumed
Roswell.  " We have brought home a good lot of skins'
enough to pay the people farll wages and to return you
every cent of outfit, with a handsome advance on the veno
ture.  A sealer usually makes a good business of it, if she
falls in with seals.  Our cargo, in skins, can't be worth
less than $20,000; besides half a freight left on the island,
for which another craft may be sent."
c That is suthin', the Lord be praised!" ejaculated the
deacon.  " Though the schooner is as bad as gone, and
the outlays have been awfully heavy, I'm almost afraid to
go any further.  Gar'ner, - did you —I grow weak very




THE  SEA LIONS.'41'4
fast - did you stop- Mary, I wish: you would. put the
question."
"I am afraid that my uncle means to ask if you stopped
at the Key, in the West Indies, according to your instruc,
tions, Roswell?" the niece said, and most reluctantly, for
she plainly saw it was fully time her uncle ceased to think
of the things of this life, and to begin to turn all his
thoughts on the blessed mediation, and another state of
being.
"I forgot no part of your orders, sir," rejoined Roswell.
"It was my duty to obey them, and I believe I have done
so to the letter-"'" Stop, Gar'ner,", interrupted the dying man -" one
question, while I think of it. Will the Vineyard men have
any claim of salvage on account of them skins?"
"Certainly not, sir. These skins are all our own-were
taken, cured, stowed, and brought home altogether by ourselves.  There is a lot of skins belonging to the Vineyarders, stowed away in the house, which is yours, deacon,
and which it would well pay any small craft to go and
bring away. ~ If anybody is to claim salvage, it' will be
ourselves. No salvage was demanded for the loss off Cape
Henlopen, I trust?"
" No, none-Daggett behaved what I call liberal in that
affair,"-half the critics of the day would'use the adjective
instead of the adverb here, and why should Deacon Pratt's
English be any better than his neighbours?-" and so I've
admitted to his friends over on the Vineyard. But, Gar'ner,
our great affair still remains to be accounted for.  Do you
wish to have the room cleared before you speak of that —
shall we turn the key on all these folks, and then settle
accounts-he! he! he!"
The deacon's facetiousness sounded strangely out of
place to Roswell; still, he did not exactly know how to
gainsay his wishes. There might be an indiscretion in
pursuing his narrative before so many witnesses, and the
young man paused until the room was cleared, leaving no
one in it but the sick man, Mary, himself, and the nurse.
The last could' not well be gotten rid of on Oyster Pond,
where her office gave her an assumed right to know all
family secrets; or, what was the same thing to her, to
27




416             THE'SEA LIONS.
fancy that she knew them. Among all the sayings whic 1
the experience of mankind has reduced to axioms, there is
not:one more just than that which says, " There are secrets
in all families." These secrets the world commonly affecta
to know all about, but we think few will have reached the
age of threescore without becoming convinced of how
much pretending ignorance there is in this assumption of
the world.  " Tot ou tard tout se scait," is a significant
saying of our old friends, the French, who know as much
of things in practice as any other people on the face of the
earth; but " tot ou tard tout ne se scait pas."
"Is the door shut?" asked the deacon, tremulously, for
eagerness, united to debility, was sadly shaking his whole
frame. "See tlhat the door is shut tight, Mary; this is our
own secret, and nurse must remember that."
Mary assured him that they were alonej and turned awa)
in sorrow from the bed.
"Now, Gar'ner," resumed the deacon, " open your whole
heart, and let us know all about it."
Roswell hesitated to reply; for he, too, was shocked at
witnessing this instance of a soul's clinging to mammon,
when on the very eve of departing for the unknown world.
There was a look in the glazed and sunken eyes of the old
many that reminded him unpleasantly of that snapping of
the eyes which he had so often seen in Daggett.
"You did n't-forget the key, surely, Gar'ner?" asked the
deacon, anxiously.
"No, sir; we did our whole duty by that part of the
voyage."
"Did you find it-was the place accurately described?"
"No chart could-have made it better. We lost a month
in looking for the principal land-mark, which had been
altered by the weather; but, that once found, the rest was
easy. The difficulty we met with in starting, has brought
us home so late in the spring."
"Never mind the spring, Gar'ner; the part that is past
is sartain to come round ag'in, in due time. And so you
found the very key that was described by Daggett?"
"We did, sir'; and just where he described-it to be."
"And how about the tree, and the little hillock of sand,
at its foot?"




THE  SEA  LIONS.                 417
"Both wer 3 there, deacon. The hillock must have
grown a good deal, by reason of the shifting sand; but, all
things considered, the place was well enough described."
"Well —well -well — you opened the hillock, of
course?"
".We did, sir; and found the box mentioned by the
pirate."
"A  good large box, I'll warrant ye!  Them  pirates
seldom do things by halves-he! he! he!"
"II can't say much for the size of the box, deacon -it
looked to me as if it had once held window-glass, and that
of rather small dimensions."
"But, the contepts-you do not mention the contents."'They are here, sir," taking a small bag from his pocket,
and laying it on the bed, by the deacon's side.  "The
pieces are all of gold, and there are just one hundred and
forty-three of them. — Heavy doubloons, it is true, and 1
dare say well worth their 16 dollars each."
The deacon gave a gulp, as if gasping for breath, at the
same time that he clutched the bag. The next instant he
was dead; and there is much reason to believe that the
demons who had watched him, and encouraged him in his
besetting sin, laughed at this consummation of their malignant arts! If angels in heaven did not mourn at this characteristic departure of a frail spirit from its earthly tenement, one who had many of their qualities did.  Heavy
had. been the load on Mary Pratt's heart, at the previous
display of her uncle's weakness, and profound was now her
grief' at his having made such an end.




418              THE SEA  LIONS.
CHAPTER XXX.
4 Cit. We'll hear the will: Read it, Mark Antony.
Cit. The will, the will; we will hear Cwesar's will../n;t. Hgtve patience, gentle friends, I must not read it;
It is not mleet you know how Casar loved you.
Julius Cesar.
THERE is usually great haste, in this country, in getting
rid of the dead.  In no other part of the world, with
which we are acquainted, are funerals so simple, or so
touching; placing the judgment and sins which lead to it,
in a far more c6nspicuous light than rank, or riches, or
personal merits. Scarfs and gloves are given in town, and
gloves in the country, though scarfs are rare; but, beyond
these, and the pall, and the hearse, and the weeping friends,
an American funeral is a very unpretending procession of
persorns in their best attire; on foot, when the distance is
short; in carriages, in wagons, and on horseback, when
the grave is far from the dwelling. There is, however,
lone feature connected with a death in this country, that
we could gladly see altered.  It is the almost indecent
haste, which so generally prevails, to get rid of the dead
Doubtless the climate has had an effect in establishing this
custom; but the climfte, by no means, exacts the precipitancy that is usually practised.
As there were so many friends from a distance present,
some of whom took the control of affairs, Mary shrinking
back into herself, with a timidity natural to her sex and
years, the moment her care could no longer serve her
uncle, the funeral of the deacon took place the day after
that of his death. It was the solemn and simple ceremony
of the-country.  The Rev. Mr. Whittle conceived that he
ought to preach a sermon on the occasion of the extin.
guishnient of this " bright and shining light," and. the body
was carried to the meeting-house, where the whole congre.
gation assembled, it being the Sabbath. We cannot say
much for the discourse, which had already served as eulogiums on two or three other deacons, with a simple subsit.




THE -SE A LIONS.                 419
ution of names. In few things are the credulous more
imposed on than in this article of sermons. A. clergyman
shall preach the workings of other men's brains for years,
and not one of his hearers detect the imposition, purely on
account of the confiding credit it is customary to yield to
the pulpit. In this respect, preaching is very much like re.
viewing, -the listener, or the reader, being tob complaisant
to see through the great standing mystifications. of either.
Yetpreaching is a work of high importance to men, and
one that doubtless accomplishes great good, more especially when the life of the preacher corresponds with his
doctrine; and even reviewing, though infinitely of less
moment, might be made a very useful art, in the hands of
upright, independent, intelligent, and learned men.  But
nothing in this world is as it should be, arid centuries will
probably roll over it ere the "good time" shall really
come!The-day of the funeral being the Sabbath, nothing that
touched on business was referred to. On the following
morning, however, "the friends" assembled- early in the
parlour, and an excuse for being a little pressing was
made, on the ground that so many present had so far to
go. The deacon had probably made a remove much more
distant than any that awaited his relatives.
"It is right to look a little into the deacon's matters
before we separate," said Mr. Job Pratt, who, if he had the
name, had not the patience of him of old, " in order to
save trouble and hard feelings.  Among  relatives. and
friends there should be nothing but confidence and affection, and I am sure I have no other sentiments toward any
here.  I suppose"-all Mr. Job Pratt knew, was ever on a
supposition-" I suppose I am the proper person to administer to the deacon's property, though I don't wish to
do it, if there's the least objection."
Every one assented that he was the most proper person,
for all'knew he was the individual the surrogate would be
the most likely to appoint.
" I have never set down- the deacon's property as any.
thing like what common report makes it," resumed Mr.
Job Pratt.; "though I do suppose it will fully reach ten
thousand dollars."
36




420             THE SEA  L I O N S.
"'La!", exclaimed a female cousin, and a widow, whle
had expectations of her own, "I'd always -thought Deacon
Pratt worth forty or fifty thousand dollars! Ten thousand
dollars won't make much for each of.us, divided up among
so many folks!"
a' The division will not be so very great, Mrs. Martin,'
returned Mr. Job, "as it will be confined to the next of
kin and their representatives. Unless a will: should be
found -and, by all I. can learn, there is none" - emphasizing the last word with point -" unless a will be found
the whole estate, real and personal, must be divided into
just five shares; which, accordin' to my calculation,. would
make about two thousand dollars a share. No great fortin,
*to be sure; though a comfortable addition to small means.
The deacon was cluss (Anglice, close); yes, he was clussall the Pratts are a little given to be cluss; but I don't
know that they are any the worse for it. It is well to be
curful (careful) of one's means, which are a trust given to
us by Divine Providence."'In this manner did Mr. Job Pratt often quiet his conscience for being as "curful" of his own as of other person's assets. Divine Providence, according to his morality,
made it as much a duty to transfer the dollar that was in
his neighbour's pocket to his own, as to watch it vigilantly
after the transposition has been effected.
"A  body should be curful, as you say, sir," returned
the Widow Martin; "and for that reason I should like to
know if there isn't a-will. I know the deacon set store by
me, and I can hardly think he has departed for another
world without bethinking him of his cousin Jenny, and of
her widowhood."
-" I'm afraid he has, Mrs. Martin-really afraid he has.
I can hear of no will. The doctor says he doubts if the
deacon could ever muster courage to write anything about
his own death, and that he has never heard of any will.
I'understand Mary, that she has no knowledge of any will;
and I do not know where else to turn, in order to inquire.
Rev. Mr. Whittle thinks there is a will, I ought to say."
"There pmust be a will;" returned the parson, who was
on the ground again early, and on this very errand; "I
feel certain of that from the many conversations I have




TIE SEA  LIONS.                  421i
held with the deceased. It is not a month since I spoke to
hiln of divers repairs that'were necessary to each and all
of the parish buildings, including the parsonage. He agreed
to every word I said- admitted that we could not get on
another winter without a new horse-shed; and that the east
ernd of the parsonage'ought to be shingled this coming
stimmer."
"All of which may be very true, parson, without the
deacon's making a will," quietly, and we may ncrv add
patient7y, observed Mr. Job.
"I-don't think so," returned the minister, with a warmth
that might have been deemed indiscreet, did it not relate
to, the horse-shed, thp parsonage, and the meeting-house,
i of which were public property, rather than to anything
in which he had a more direct- legal interest. " A pious
member of the church would hardly hold out the hopes that
D)eacon.Pratt has held out to me, for more than two years
without meaning to make his words good in the end. I
think all will agree with me in that opinion."
"Did the deacon, then, go so far as to promise to do any
thing?" asked Mr. Job, a little timidly; for he was by no
means sure the answer might not be in the affirmative, in
whtich case he anticipated the worst.
"Perhaps not,"' answered Minister Whittle, too conscientious to tell a downright lie, though sorely tempted so
to do.  "But a man may promise indirectly, as well as
directly.  When I have a thing much at heart, and converse often about it with a person who can grant all I wish,
and that person listens as attentively as I could wish him
to do, I regard that as a promise; and, in church matters,
one of a very solemn nature."
All the Jesuits in the world do not get their educations
at Rome, or acknowledge Ignatius Loyola as the great
founder of their order. Some are to be found who have.never made a public profession of their faith and zeal, have
never assumed the tonsure, or taken the vows.
"That's as folks. think," quietly returned Mr. Job Pratt,
though he smiled in a manner so significant as to cause
Mrs. Martin a new qualm,' as she grew more and more ap*
prehensive that the property was, after all, to go by the
1i




4'T2h           THE  SEA:LIONS-.
distribution law.: "Some folks think a promise ought to
be expressed, while- others think it may be understood
The law, I believe, commonly looks for the direct expres.
sion of any binding promise; and, in tmatters of this sort,
one made in writing, too, and that under a seal, and before
three responsible witnesses."
"I wish a full inquiry might be made, to ascertain if
there be no will;" put in the minister, anxiously.
"I'm quite willing so to do," returned Mr. Job,.whose
confidence and moral courage increased each'instant.
"Quite willing; -and am rather anxious for it, if I could
only see where to go to inquire."
" Does no onepresent know of any will made by the deceased?" demanded Minister Whittle, authoritatively.
A dead silence succeeded to the question. Eye met eye,
and there was great disappointment among the numerous
collaterals present,'including all those who did not come. in
as next of kin, or as their direct representatives.. But the
Rev. Mr. Whittle had been too long and too keenly on the
scent of a legacy, to be thrown out of the hunt, just as he
believed the: game was coming in sight.
"-It might be well to question.each near relative directly," he added.  " Mr. Job Pratt, do you know nothing of
any will?"' Nothing-whatever. At one time I did think the deacon: meant to make his testament; but I conclude that he
must have changed his'mind."
"And you, Mrs. Thomas," turning to the sister -" as
next of kin, I make the same inquiry of you!"
"I once talked with brother about it," answered this relative, who was working away in a rocking-chair as if she
thought the earth might stop in its orbit, if she herself
ceased to keep in motion; "but he gave me no satisfactory
answer — that is, nothin' that I call satisfactory.  Had he
told me he-had made a will, and given me a full shear
(share), I should have been content; or, had he told me
that he had not made a will, and that the law would give
me a full shear, I should have been content. I look upon
my3elf as a person easily satisfied."
This was being explicit, and left little more to be obtain
ed from the deacon's beloved and only surviving sister.




THEE SEA I, ON S.               42:3
"And you, Mary; do you know anything of a will made
by your uncle?"'
Mary shook her head; but there was no smile on her
features, for the scene was unpleasant to her.
"Then no one present knows of any paper that the dea.
con left specially to be opened after his death?" demanded
Rev. Mr. Whittle, putting the general question pretty niuh
at random.
"A paper!" cried Mary, hastily.  " Yes, I know-some.
thing of a paper-I thought you spoke of a will."'"A will is commonly written on paper, now-a-days, Miss
Mary-but, you have a paper?"'' Uncle gave me a paper, and told me to keep till Roswell Gardiner came back; and, if he himself should not
then be living, to give it to him"-The colour now mounted to the very temples of the pretty girl, and she seemed to
speak with greater deliberation and care. " As I was to
give the paper to Roswell, I have always thought it related
to him. My uncle spoke of it to me as lately as the day
of his death."
"That's the will, beyond a doubt!" cried Rev. Mr.
Whittle, with more exultation than became his profession
and professions — " Do you not think this may be Deacon
Pratt's will, Miss Mary?"
Now Mary had never thought any such thing. She knew
that her uncle much wished her to marry Roswell, and had
all along fancied that the paper she held, which indeed was
contained in an envelop addressed to her lover, contained
some expression of his wishes on this to her the most interesting of all subjects, and nothing else.  Mary Pratt
thought very little of her uncle's property, and still less of
its future disposition, while she thought a great deal of
Roswell Gardiner and of his suit. It was, consequently,
the most natural thing in the world that she should have
fallen into some such error as this.  But, now that the
subject was brought to her mind in this new light, she
arose, went to her own room, and soon re-appeared with
the paper in her hand.  Both Mr. Job Pratt and Rev. Mr.
Whittle offered to relieve her of the burthen; and the former, by a pretty decided movement, did actually succeed
in getting possession of the documents. The papers were
36 *




424              THE  SEA  LIONS.
done up in the form of a. large business letter, was duly
sealed with wax; and was addressed ta." Mr. Roswell Gar.
diner, Master of the Schooner Sea Lion, now absent on X
voyage." The superscription was read aloud, a little under
the influence of surprise - notwithstanding which, Mr. Job
Pratt was very coolly proceediiig to open the packet, precisely as if it had been addressed to himself.  In this decided step, Mrs. Martin, and Mrs. Thomas, and Rev. Mr.
Whittle, might be set down as accessories before the act;
for each approached; and so eager were the two women,
that they actually assisted in breaking the seal.
"' If that letter is addressed to- me," said Roswell Gardiner, with firmness and authority, "I claim  the right to
open it myself.' It is unusual for those to whom a letter is
not addressed to assume this office."
"But, it comes from Deacon Pratt," cried the widow
Martin, " and may contain his will."
"In which case, a body would think I have some rights
concerned," said Mr. Job Pratt, a little more coolly, but
with manifest doubts.
" Sartain!" put in Mrs. Thomas. "Brothers and sisters,
and even cousins, come before strangers, any day.  Here
we are, a brother and sister of the deacon, and we ought
to have a right to read his letters."
All this time Roswell had stood with an extended arm,
and an eye that caused Mr. Job Pratt to control his impatience.'Mary advanced close to his side, as if to sustain
him, but she said nothing.
"There is a law, with severe penalties, against know.
ingly opening a letter addressed to another," resumed Roswell, steadily; " and it shall be enforced against any one
who shall presume to open one of mine.  If that letter has
my address, sir, I demand it; and I will have it, at every
hazard."
Roswell advanced a step nearer Mr. Job Pratt, and the
letter was reluctantly yielded; though not until the widow
Martin had made a nervous but abortive snatch at it.
"At any rate, it ought to be.opened in our presence,"
put in this woman, "that we may see what is in it."
" And by what right, ma'am? Have I not the privilege
of others, to read my own letters when and where I please?




THE SEA  LIONS.                   425
If.the contents of this, however, do really relate to the late
Deacon Pratt's property, I am quite willing they should
be made known.  There is nothing on this superscription
to tell me to open the packet in the presence of witnesses;
but, under all the. circumstances, I prefer it should be
don e.".
Hereupon Roswell proceeaed, deliberately to look into
the package. The seal was already broken, and he exhibited it in that state to all in the room, with a. meaninig
smile, after which he brought to light and opened some
written instrument, that was engrossed on' a single sheet'of foolscap, and had the names. of several witnesses at its
bottom.
" Ay, ay, that's it,' said. Baiting Joe, for the room was
crowded with all sorts of people;' that's the dockerment.
I know'd it as soon as I laid eyes on it!"
" And- what do you know about it-, Josy?" demanded the
widow, eagerly.  " Cousin Job, this man may turn out a
most important and.considerable witness!"
"What do I know, Mrs. Martin? Why I seed the
deacon sign for the seals, and exercute.  As soon as I
heard Squire Craft, who was down here from  Riverhead
on that'ere very business, talk so'much about seals, 1
know'd Captain Gar'ner must have suthin'.to do with the
matter. The deacon's very heart was in the schooner and
her v'y'ge, and I think it was the craft that finished him,
inr the end."
" Won't that set aside a codicil, cousin Job, if so be tlie
deacon has r'ally codicilled off Captain Gar'ner and Mary?"
" We shall see, we shall see. So you was present, Josy,
at the making of a will?"
"Sartain-and was a witness to the insterment, as the
squire called it.  I s'pose he sent for me to be a witness,
as I am some acquainted with the sealin' business, having
made two v'y'ges out of Stunnin'tun, many years since.
Ay, ay; that's the insterment, and pretty well frightened
was the deacon when he put his name to it, I can tell
you!"
"Frightened!" echoed the brother —" that's ag'in law,
at any rate.  The instrument that a man'signs because
he's frightened, is no instrument at all, in law. As respects




426              THE  SEA  LIONS.
a will, it is what we justices of the peace call' dies non,
or, don't die; that is, in: law."
"Can that be so, squire Job?" asked the sister, who
had said but little hitherto, but had thought all the more.
"Yes, that's Latin, I s'pose, and good Latin, too, they
tell me.  A man may be dead in the flesh, but living in
law."
"La! how cur'ous! Law is a wonderful thing, to them
that understands it."
The worthy Mrs. Thomas expressed a much more pro.
found sentiment than that of which she was probably aware,
herself. Law is a wonderful thing, and most wonderful is
he who can tell what it is to-day, or is likely to be to-morrow. The law bf testamentary devises, in particular, has
more than the usual uncertainty, the great interest that is
taken by the community in the large estates of certain individuals who are placed without the ordinary social cate-,gories by the magnitude of their fortunes, preventing anything from becoming absolutely settled, as respects them.
In Turkey, and in America, the possession of great wealth
is very apt to ruin their possessors; proscription, in some
form or other, being pretty certain to be the consequences.
In Turkey, such has long and openly been the fact, the
bow-string usually lying at the side of the strong box; but,
in this country, the system is in its infancy, though advancing to'Wards maturity with giant strides. Twenty years
more, resembling the twenty that are just past, in which
the seed recently sown broadcast shall have time to reach
maturity, and, in our poor opinion, the great work of demoralization, in this important particular, will be achieved.
We are much afraid that the boasted progress, of which
we hear so much, will resemble the act of the man who
fancied he could teach his horse to live without food-just
as. he believed the poor beast was perfect, it died of
inanition!'
Roswell read Baiting Joe's' insterment' twice, and then
he placed it,'with manly tenderness, in the hands of Mary.
The girl read the document, too, tears starting to her eyes;
but, a bright blush suffused her face, as she returned the.
will to her lover.'Ah! do -not read it now, Roswell," she said, in anr




THE SEA L1O —NS.  42.
under tone; but the stillness and expectation were so pro.
found, that every syllable she uttered was heard by all in
the.room.
"And why not read it now, Miss Mary!" cried the
Widow Martin. "Methinks now is the proper time to read
it. If I'm to be codicilled out of that will, I want to know
it;."
"It is better, in every respect, that the company present
should know all that is to be known, at once," observed
Mr. Job Pratt.  "Before the will is read, if that be the
will, Captain Gadr'ner-"
"It is the will of the late Deacon Pratt, duly signed,
sealed, and witnessed, I believe, sir."
"One word more, then, before it is read.  I think you
said, Josy, that the deceased was frightened when he signed
that will?  I do not express any opinion until I hear the
vill; perhaps. a'ter it is read, I shall think or say nothin'
about this fright; though the instrument that a man signs
because he is frightened, if the fright be what I call a legal
fright, is no. instrument at. all."
"But such was not the-deacon's case, Squire' Job," put
in Baiting Joe, at once. "He did not sign the insterment
because he was frightened, but was frightened because he.
signed the insterment.  Let the boat go right eend foremost, squire."
" Read the.will, Captain Gar'ner, if you have it," said
Mr. Job Pratt, with decision. " It is proper that we should
know who is executor.  Friends, will you be silent for a
moment?"
Amid a'death-like stillness, Roswell Gardiner now read
as follows: -
"In the name of God, amen.  I, Ichabod Pratt, of the,
town of Southold, and county of Suffolk, and state of New
York, being of failing bodily health, but of sound mind, do
make and declare this to be my last will and testament.
"I bequeath to my niece, Mary Pratt, only child of my
late brother, Israel Pratt,-all my real estate, whatsoever it
may be, and wheresoever situate, to be held by her, her heirs
and assigns, for ever, in fee.
"I bequeath to my brother, Job Pratt, any horse of
which I shall die possessed, to be chosen by. himself, as a




428              THE SEA LIONS.
compensation for the injury inflicted on a horse of hi-s
while in my use.
"I bequeath to my sister, Jane Thomas, the large look
Inog-glass that is hanging up in the east bedl-room of my
house, and which was once the property of our beloved
mother.
c "I bequeath to the widow Catherine Martin, my cousin,
the big pin-cushion in the said east chamber, which she
used'so much to praise and admire.
"I bequeath to my said niece, Mary Pratt, the only child
of my late brother, Israel Pratt, aforesaid, all of my personal estate, whether in possession or existing in equity,
including money at use, vessels, stock on farm, all other
sorts of stock, furniture, wearing apparel, book-debts,
money in haffd, and all sorts of personal property -what.
ever.
" I nominate and appoint Roswell Gardiner, now absent
on a sealing voyage, in my employment, as the sole executor
of this my last will, provided he return home within six
months of my decease; and should he not return home
within the'said six months, then I appoint my above-mentioned niece and heiress, Mary Pratt, the sole executrix of
this my will.
"I earnestly advise my said niece, Mary Pratt, to marry
the said Roswell Gardiner; but I annex no conditions whatever to this advice, wishing to leave my adopted daughter
free to do as she may think best.".
The instrument was, in all respects, duly executed, and
there could not be a doubt of its entire validity. Mary felt
a little bewildered, as well as greatly embarrassed. So
perfectly disinterested *had been all her care of- her uncle,
and so humble her wishes, that she did not for some time
regard herself as the owner of a property that she had all
her life been accustoined to consider as a part of her late
uncle. The heirs expectant, "a'ter reading the insterment," as Baiting Joe told his cronies, when he related
the circumstances over a mug of cider that evening, " fore
and aft, and overhauling it from truck to keelson, give the
matter up, as a bad job. They could n't make nawthin' out
of oppersitiofi," continued Joe, "and so they -trck the
horse, and the looking-glass, and the pin-cushion, and




THE  SEA  LIONS.                 429
cleared out with their cargo. You could n't get one -of
that breed to leave as much as a pin behind, to which ihe
thought the law would give him a right. Squire Job went
off very unwillingly; for so strong was his belief in his
claim, that he had made up his mind, as he told me himnself, to break up the north meadow, and put it in corn this
coming season."
"They say that Minister Whittle took it very hard that
nawthin' was said about him, or about meetin', in the deacon's will,".observed Jake Davis, one of Baiting Joe's
cronies.' That he did; and he tuck it so hara that everybody
allows the two.sermonS he preached the next Sabba' day to
be the very two worst he ever did preach."
"They must. have been pretty bad, then," quaintly observed Davis; " I've long set down Minister Whittle's discourses as being a leetle the worst going, when you give
him a chance."
It is unnecessary to relate any more' of this dialogue, nor
should we have given the little we have, did it not virtually
explain what actually occurred on.the publication of the
contents of the will.  Roswell met with no opposition in
proving the instrument, and the day after he was.admitted
to act as executor he was married to Mary Pratt, and became tenant, by the courtesy,. to all hter real estate; such
being the law then, though it is so no longer. Now, a man
and his wife may have a very pretty. family quarrel about
the ownership of a dozen tea-spoons, and the-last, so far
as we can see, miay order the first out of one of her rocking chairs, if she see fit-! Surely domestic peace is not so
trifling a matter that the law should seek to add new subjects of strife to the many that seem to be nearly inseparable from the married state.
Let this be as it may, no such law existed when Roswell
Gardiner and Mary Pratt became man and wife.  One of
the first acts of the happy young couple, after they were
united, was to make a suitable disposition of the money
found buried at the foot of the tree, on the so-much-talkedof key.  Its amount was a little more than 2000 dollars,
the pirate who made the revelation to Daggett having, in
all probability, been ignorant himself of the-reai sum thal




430             T H E SA!I O  N's,
had been thus secreted. By a specific bargain:: with the
crew, allthis money belonged to the deacon; and, consequently, it had descended to his niece, and through her
was now legally the property of Roswell. The young man
was not altogether free from scruples about using money
that had been originally taken as booty by pirates, and his
conscientious wife had still greater objections.  After conIferring. together on the subject, however, and seeing the
impossibility of restoring the gold to those front whom it
had been forced in the first place, the doubloons were distributed amnong the families of those Who had lost their
lives. at Sealer's Land. The shares did not amount to
much, it is true; but they did good, and cheered the hearts
of two or three'widows and dependent sisters.
Nor did Roswell Gardiner's care for their welfare stop
here.  He had the Sea Lion put in good order, removed
her decks, raised upon her, and put her in her original
condition, and sent her to Sealer's Land, again, under the
orders of Hazard, who was instructed to take in all the oil
and skins that had been left behind, and to fill up, if he
could, without risking too much by delay.  All this was
successfully done, the schooner coming back, after a very
short voyage, and quite full. The money made by this
highly successful adventure, had the effect to console
several. of those who had great cause to regret their previous losses.
As to Roswell and Mary, they had much reason to be
content with their lot. The deacon's means were found
to be much more considerable than had been supposed.
When all. was brought into a snug state, Roswell found
that his wife was worth more than thirty thousand. dollars,
a sum which constituted wealth on Oyster Pond, in'that
day. We have, however, already hinted that the simplicity,
and we fear with it the happiness, of the place has de.
parted.  A railroad terminates within a short distance of
the deacon's old residence, bringing with it the clatter,
ambition, and rivalry, of such a mode of travelling. What
is even worse, the venerable. and expressive name of" Oyster Pond," one that conveys in its very sound the idea of
savoury dishes, anid an abundance of a certain and a very
agreeable sort has been changed to "Orient," Heaven




THE SEA  LIONS.                  43-1
save the mark! Long Island has, hitherto, been famous,
in the history of New York, for the homely piquancy of
its names, which usually conveyed -a graphic idea of the
place indicated. It is true,-" Jerusalem" cannot boast of
its Solomon's Temple, -nor " Babylon" of its Hanging Gardens; but, by common consent, it is understood that these
two names, and some half-a-dozen more of the same
quality, are to be taken by their -opposites.
Roswell'Gardiner did not let Stimson pass out of his
sight, as is customary with seamen when they. quit a vessel.
He made him master of a sloop that plied between New
York and Southold, in which employment the good old
man fulfilled his time, leaving to a widowed sister who
dwelt with him, the means. of a comfortable livelihood, for
life. 
The only bit of management of which Mary could be
accused, was practised by her shortly after Stimson's death,
and some six or eight years after her own marriage. One
of her school friends, and a relative, had married a person
who dwelt' west of the bridge,' as it is the custom to say
of all the counties that lie west of Cayuga Lake. This
person, whose name was Hight, had mills, and made large
quantities of that excellent flour, that is getting to enjoy
its merited reputation even in the old world. He was disposed to form a partnership with Roswell, who sold his
property, and migrated to'he great west, as the country'west of the bridge' was then termed, though it is now
necessary to go a thousand mi es farther, in order to reach
what is termed "the western country."  Mary had an important agency in bringing about this migration. She had
seen certain longings after the ocean, and seals, and whales,
in her husband; and did not consider him safe, as long as
he could scent the odours of a salt marsh. There is a delight in this fragrance that none can appreciate as thoroughly as those who have enjoyed it in youth; it remains
as long as human senses retain their'faculties.  An
increasing family, however, and el dorado of the west,
which, in that day, produced wheat, were inducements for
a removal there, and, aided by Mary's gentle'management,
produced the desired effect; and for mere than twenty years
Roswell Gardiner his been a very successful miller, on a
28




432             THE  SEA. LIONS.
large scale, in -one of the western counties of what is called
"the Empire State."  We do not think the sobriquets of
this country very happy, in general, but shall quarrel less
with this, than with the phrase of" commercial emporium,"
which is much as if one should say " a townish town."
Roswell Gardiner has never wavered in his faith, from
the time when his feelings were awakened by the just view
of his own insignificance, as compared to the power of
God! He then learned the first, great lesson in religious
belief, that of humility; without which rio man can be truly
penitent, or truly a-Christian. He no longer thought of
measuring the Deity with his narrow faculties, or of setting
up his blind conclusions, in the face of positive revelations.
He saw that all must be-accepted, or none; and there was
too much evidence, too much inherent truth, a morality
too divine, to allow a mind like his to reject the gospel
altogether. With Mary at his side, he has continued to
worship the Trinity, accepting its mysteries in an humble
reliance on the words of inspired men.
THE END.