th, and there she
lay, with her rudder within touch of the wash of the water. The men,
regarding the schooner as lost, and and concluding that if she went to
pieces her boats would be destroyed, and with them their only chance to
escape from the ice, fell frantic and lost their wits altogether. They
roared, 'To the boats! to the boats!' The captain endeavoured to bring
them to their senses; he and I and the mate, and Joam Barros, the
boatswain--a Portuguese--went among them pistols in hand, entreating,
cursing, threatening. 'Think of the plunder in this hold! Will you
abandon it without an effort to save it? What think you are your chances
for life in open boats in this sea? The schooner lies protected here;
the weather will moderate presently, and we may then be able to slide
her off.' But reason as we would the cowardly dogs refused to listen.
They had broached a spirit-cask aft, and passed the liquor along the
decks whilst they hoisted the pinnace out of the hold and got the other
boats over. The drink maddened, yet left them wild with fear too. They
would not wait to come at the treasure in the run--the fools believed
the ship would tumble to pieces as she stood--but entered the forecastle
and the officers' cabins, and routed about for whatever money and
trinkets they might stuff into their pockets without loss of time; and
then provisioning the boats, they called to us to join them, but we
said, No, on which they ran the boats down to the water, tumbled into
them, and pulled away round the point of ice. We lost sight of them
then, and I have little doubt that they all perished shortly
afterwards."

He ceased. I was anxious to hear more.

"You had been six months on the ice when the stupor fell upon you?"

"Ay, about six months. The ice gathered about us and built us in. I
recollect it was three days after we stranded that, going on deck, I saw
the bay (as I term it) filled with ice. We drew up several plans to
escape, but none satisfied us. Besides, sir, we had a treasure on board
which we had risked our necks to get, and we were prepared to go on
imperilling our lives to save it. 'Twas natural. We had a great store of
coal forwards and amidships, for we had faced the Horn in coming and
knew what we had to expect in returning. We were also richly stocked
with provisions and drink of all sorts. There were but four of us, and
we dealt with what we had as if we designed it should last us fifty
years. But the cold w