Chapter XV.

  “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.

No unnecessary delay was permitted to interfere with the one great purpose of the sealers.  The season 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 sea-elephants 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 his people, as well as the 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, Roswell Gardiner had persuaded his owner to send on 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 and 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 upon 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.