Chapter 23

"To prayer;--for the glorious sun is gone,
And the gathering darkness of night comes on;
Like a curtain from God's kind hand it flows,
To shade the couch where his children repose.
Then kneel, while the watching stars are bright,
And give your last thoughts to the guardian of night."

Ware.

Desolate, indeed, and nearly devoid of hope, had the situation of our
sealers now become. It was mid-day, and it was freezing everywhere in the
shade. A bright genial sun was shedding its glorious rays on the icy
panorama; but it was so obliquely as to be of hardly any use in
dispelling the frosts. Far as the eye could see, even from the elevation
of the cape, there was nothing but ice, with the exception of that part of
the Great Bay into which the floe had not yet penetrated. To the
southward, there stood clustering around the passage a line of gigantic
bergs, placed like sentinels, as if purposely to stop all egress in that
direction. The water had lost its motion in the shift of wind, and new ice
had formed over the whole bay, as was evident by a white sparkling line
that preceded the irresistible march of the floe.

As Roswell gazed on this scene, serious doubts darkened his mind as to his
escaping from this frozen chain until the return of another summer. It is
true that a south wind might possibly produce a change, and carry away the
blockading mass; but every moment rendered this so much the less probable.
Winter, or what would be deemed winter in most regions, was already
setting in; and should the ice really become stationary in and around the
group, all hope of its moving must vanish for the next eight months.

Daggett reached the house about an hour before sunset. He had succeeded in
cutting a passage through the ice as far as the cabin-door of his
unfortunate schooner, when there was no difficulty in descending into the
interior parts of the vessel. The whole party came in staggering under
heavy loads. Pretty much as a matter of course, each man brought his own
effects. Clothes, tobacco, rum, small-stores, bedding, quadrants, and
similar property, was that first attended to. At that moment, little was
thought of the skins and oil. The cargo was neglected, while the minor
articles had been eagerly sought.

Roswell was on board his own schooner, now again in dangerous proximity to
the cape. She was steadily setting in, when Daggett rejoined him. The crew
of the lost vessel remained in the house, where they lighted a fire and
deposited their goods, returning to the wreck for another load, taking the
double sets of wheels along with them. When the two masters met, they
conferred together earnestly, receiving into their councils such of the
officers as were on board The security