Chapter 27 - Page 2

judgment of God assumed a higher place than common in his thoughts,
while his estimate of him self was fast getting to be humble and
searching. In the midst of all these changes of views and feelings,
however, there was one image unaltered in the young man's imagination.
Mary occupied the back-ground of every picture, with her meek, gentle, but
blooming countenance. If he thought of God, _her_ eyes were elevated in
prayer; if the voyage home was in his mind, and the chances of success
were calculated, _her_ smiles and anxious watchfulness stimulated him to
adventure; if arrived and safe, her downcast but joyful looks betrayed the
modest happiness of her inmost heart. It was in the midst of some such
pictures that Roswell now fell asleep.

When the party turned out in the morning, a still more decided change had
occurred in the weather The wind had increased to a gale, bringing with it
torrents of rain. Coming from the warm quarter, a thaw had set in with a
character quite as decided as the previous frost. In that region, the
weather is usually exaggerated in its features, and the change from winter
to spring is quite as sudden as that from autumn to winter. We use the
terms "spring" and "autumn" out of complaisance to the usages of men; but,
in fact, these two seasons have scarcely any existence at all in the
antarctic seas. The change, commonly, is from winter to summer, such as
summer is, and from summer back to winter.

Notwithstanding the favourable appearances of things, when Roswell walked
out into the open air next morning, he well knew that summer had not yet
come. Many weeks must go by ere the ice could quit the bay, and even a
boat could put to sea. There were considerations of prudence, therefore,
that should not be neglected, connected with the continuance of the
supplies and the means of subsistence. In one respect the party now on the
island had been gainers by the terrible losses it had sustained in
Daggett's crew. The provisions of the two vessels might now, virtually, be
appropriated to the crew of one; and Roswell, when he came to reflect on
the circumstances, saw that a Providential interference had probably saved
the survivors from great privations, if not from absolute want.

Still there was a thaw, and one of that decided character which marks a
climate of great extremes. The snows on the mountain soon began to descend
upon the plain, in foaming torrents; and, increased by the tribute
received from the last, the whole came tumbling over the cliffs in various
places in rich water-falls. There was about a mile of rock that was one
continuous cataract, the sheet being nearly unbroken for the whole
distance. The effect of this deluge from the plain above was as startling