The north-east wind, the rain, and the thaw, were all at work in concert, when our adventurers came abroad to look upon the second day of their sojourn in the wreck.  By this time the caverns were dripping with a thousand little streams, and every sign denoted a most rapid melting of the ice.  On carrying the thermometer into the open air it stood at sixty-two; and the men found it necessary to lay aside their second shirt, and all the extraordinary defences of their attire.  Nor was this all; the wind that crosses the salt water is known to have more than the usual influence on the snows and ice; and such was the effect now produced by it on Sealer’s Land.  The snow, indeed, had mostly disappeared from all places but the drifts; while the ice was much diminished in its size and outlines.  So grateful was the change from the extreme cold that they had so lately endured, that the men thought nothing of the rain at all; they went about in it just as if it did not stream down upon them in little torrents.  Some of them clambered up the cliffs, and reached a point whence it was known that they could command a view of the house.  The return of this party, which Roswell did not accompany, was waited for with a good deal of interest.  When it got back, it brought a report that was deemed important in several particulars.  The snow had gone from the plain, and from the mountain, with the exception of a few spots where there had been unusual accumulations of it.  As respected the house, it was standing, and the snow had entirely disappeared from its vicinity.  The men could be seen walking about on the bare rocks, and every symptom was that of settled spring.

This was cheering news; and the torrents having much diminished in size, some having disappeared altogether, Roswell set out for the cape, leaving the second mate in charge of the wreck.  Lee, the young Vineyarder, who had been rescued from freezing by the timely arrival of our hero, accompanied the tatter, having joined his fortunes to those of the Oyster Ponders.  The two reached the house before dark, where they found Hazard and his companions in a good deal of concern touching the fate of the party that was out.  A deep impression was made by the report of what had befallen the other crew; and that night Roswell read prayers to as attentive a congregation as was ever assembled around a domestic hearth.  As for fire, none was now needed, except for culinary purposes, though all the preparations to meet cold weather were maintained, it being well known that a shift of wind might bring back the fury of the winter.

The following morning it was clear, though the wind continued warm and balmy from the north.  No such weather, indeed, had been felt by the sealers since they reached the group; and the effect on them was highly cheering and enlivening.  Before he had breakfasted, Roswell was down in the cove, examining into the condition of his vessel, or what remained of her.  A good deal of frozen snow still lay heaped on the mass, and he set the hands at work to shovel it off.  Before noon the craft was clear, and most of the snow was melted, it requiring little more than exposure to the air in order to get rid of it.