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 last declivity, Roswell proposed to lower his casks by means of a projecting derrick, the rock being sufficiently precipitous to admit of this arrangement, while his spare spars furnished him with the necessary means.  Thus was every preparation 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 hands 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 abundance.  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 of 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.