"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 of Roswell Gardiner were towing his strained and roughly
treated craft into the open water. The result of this examination 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 how high up it was wet.
"Well, what do you make of it, Gar'ner?" Daggett demanded, 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 near 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!"
"Not in our teeth, Gar'ner; no, not in _my_ teeth," answered Daggett,
"whatever it maybe 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 our 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, and 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 a sea 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 better than 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 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, what 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'll 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 to 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
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
injured 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 field-ice, 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 the 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 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 temporary termination of their labours. Incessant pumping--
one 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 found 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 had ever been
few and meagre--was now lost; a chill and dreary autumn having succeeded.
As a matter of course, nothing was 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 refuge on one of the other islands; but all agreed in saying
that they were 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 fur-seal
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!"
"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 new."
"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. Natur' gives such
hints, and no prudent 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 commanding 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 before them, and all the men were
at once set to work to discharge 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
further 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
wanted 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 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 _débris_ of rock, already mentioned. As the water 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 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 disappointment, 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 afternoon; 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 he 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 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 forward 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 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 here--a boy might walk on that ice near the rocks."
"There'll 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'll take you clear of
the bergs in the course of the 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, 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 talk; 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 in 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 mainsail was hoisted. A boat was
got ahead, and the craft was slowly towed out of the cove, the canvass
doing neither good nor harm. As the vessel passed that of Daggett 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 thought 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 returned to his own schooner. As he
pulled back, he ascertained 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 the 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 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
sufficient 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.