eted
his portion of the proceeds as soon as possible; eagerly looking for a new
and profitable investment for the avails. Great was the reputation Roswell
Gardiner made by this capture of the two spermaceti whales, and by sending
the proceeds to so good a market. In commerce, as in war, success is all
in all, though in both success is nearly as often the result of unforeseen
circumstances as of calculations and wisdom. It is true there are a sort
of trade, and a sort of war, in which prudence and care may effect a great
deal, yet are both often outstripped by the random exertions and
adventures of those who calculate almost as wildly as they act. Audacity,
as the French term it, is a great quality in war, and often achieves more
than the most calculated wisdom--nay, it becomes wisdom in that sort of
struggle; and we are far from being sure that audacity is not sometimes as
potent in trade. At all events, it was esteemed a bold, as well as a
prosperous exploit, for a little schooner like the Sea Lion of Oyster
Pond, to take a hundred-barrel whale, and to send home its "ile," as the
deacon always pronounced the word, in common with most others in old
Suffolk.

Long and anxious months, with one exception, succeeded this bright spot of
sunshine in Mary Pratt's solicitude in behalf of the absent Roswell. She
knew there was but little chance of hearing from him again until he
returned north. The exception was a short letter that the deacon received,
dated two weeks later than that written from Rio, in latitude forty-one,
or just as far south of the equator as Oyster Pond was north of it, and
nearly fourteen hundred miles to the southward of Rio. This letter was
written in great haste, to send home by a Pacific trader who was
accidentally met nearer the coast than was usual for such vessels to be.
It stated that all was well; that the schooner of Daggett was still in
company; and that Gardiner intended to get "shut" of her, as the deacon
expressed it, on the very first occasion.

After the receipt of this letter, the third written by Roswell Gardiner
since he left home, a long and blank interval of silence succeeded. Then
it was that months passed away in an anxious and dark uncertainty. Spring
followed winter, summer succeeded to spring, and autumn came to reap the
fruits of all the previous seasons, without bringing any further tidings
from the adventurers. Then winter made its second appearance since the Sea
Lion had saile