were sometimes a little moist, but
oftener of intense frigidity. Of course the equinox was past, and there
were more than 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 fearful 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!

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 than 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