The greatest ground of Roswell Gardiner’s apprehensions, however, was for the supply of fuel.  Much of that brought from home had been fairly used in the camboose, and in the stove originally set up in the hut.  Large as that stock had been, a very sensible inroad had been made upon it; and, according to a calculation he had made, the wood regularly laid in would not hold out much more than half the time that it would be indispensable to remain on the island.  This was a grave circumstance, and one that demanded very serious consideration.  Without fuel it would be impossible to survive; no hardening process being sufficient to fortify the human frame to a degree that would resist the influence of an antarctic winter.

From the moment it was probable the party would be obliged to pass the winter at Sealer’s Land, therefore, Roswell had kept a vigilant eye on the wood.  Stimson had more than once, spoken to him on the subject, and with great prudence.

“Warmth must be kept among us,” said the old boat-steerer, “or there will be no hope for the stoutest man in either crew.  We’ve a pretty good stock of coffee, and that is better, any day, than all the rum and whiskey that was ever distilled.  Good hot coffee of a morning will put life into us the coldest day that ever come out of either pole; and they do say the south is colder than the north, though I never could understand why it should be so.”

“You surely understand the reason why it grows warmer as we approach the equator, and colder as we go from it, whether we go north or south?”

Stimson assented; though had the truth been said, he would have been obliged to confess that he knew no more than the facts.

“All sailors know sich things, Captain Gar’ner; though they know it with very different degrees of exper’ence.  But few get as far south as I have been, to pass a winter.  A good pot of hot coffee of a morning will go as far as a second pee-jacket, if a man has to go out into the open air when the weather is at the hardest.”

“Luckily, our small stores are quite abundant, and we are better off for coffee and sugar than for anything else.  I laid in of both liberally when we were at Rio.”

“Yes, Rio is a good place for the articles.  But coffee must be hot to do a fellow much good in one of these high-latitude winters; and to be hot there must be fuel to heat it.”

“I am afraid the wood will not hold out much more than half the time we shall be here.  Fortunately, we had a large supply; but the other schooner was by no means as well furnished with fuel as she ought to have been for such a voyage.”

“Well, sir, I suppose you know what must be done next in such a case.  Without warm food, men can no more live through one of these winters, than they can live without food at all.  If the Vineyard craft has no proper fuel aboard her, we must make fuel of her.”

Roswell regarded Stephen with fixed attention for some time.  The idea was presented to his mind for the second time, and he greatly liked it.