t on shore and capture a few men and bring 'em out
here to look our prospect over."

"Offer 'em a lay?"

"No, sir. We'll make this a close corporation. I don't propose to let a
lot of land sharks in here to manipulate us out of what's our own. It's
our gamble, and we want what's coming out of it. Go ashore and see what
you can do on prices and terms. Don't close anything till you and I
have conferred. I'll have a schedule of needs made up by the time you're
back."

Half an hour later he was located on the wreck with the two men he had
selected as his companions. They carried tackle with them, with
which they hoisted after them their dory--their main bower in case of
emergency.

And the sea which Mayo surveyed was more lonely than ever, for the
_Ethel and May_ was standing off across the heaving surface toward the
main and the hulk was left alone in the expanse of ocean. He felt very
much of a pygmy and very helpless as he scrambled about over the icy
decks. He remembered that faith can move mountains, but he was as yet
unable to determine just what power would be able to move that steamer,
into whose vitals the reef of Razee had poked its teeth.

At eight bells, midnight, Mayo turned out of his berth, for he heard
something that interested him. It was a soft pattering, a gentle
swishing. As a mariner, he knew how sudden can be meteorological changes
on the coast in winter. When the north winds have raged and howled and
have blown themselves out, spitting sleet and snow, the gentler south
winds have their innings and bear balmier moisture from the Gulf Stream.
He poked his head out and felt a soft air and warm rain. He had been
hoping and half expecting that a change of weather would bring this
condition--known as a January thaw. He went back to his bunk, much
comforted.

A bright sun awoke him. Clear skies had succeeded the rain, All was
dripping and melting. Chunks of ice were dropping from the steamer's
stubby masts, and her scuppers were beginning to discharge water from
the softening mass on her deck.

He and his little crew ate breakfast with great good cheer, then secured
axes from the steamer's tool-house and began to chop watercourses in the
ice. A benignant sun in a cloudless sky had enlisted himself as a member
of the wrecking crew on Razee Reef. That weather would soon clear the
_Conomo_ of her sheathing.

This was a cheerful prospect, because rigging and deck equipment of
various kinds would be re