aid of all
hands in securing the spoils. To work, then, everybody went, with a hearty
good-will: and the shelf of rock just below the house was soon well
garnished with casks and skins. Had the labour been limited to the mere
killing, and skinning, and curing, and barreling of oil, it would have
been comparatively quite light; but the necessity of transporting the
fruits of all this skill and luck considerable distances, in some cases
several miles, and this over broken rocks, formed the great obstacle to
immediate success. It was the opinion of Roswell Gardiner, that he could
have filled his schooner in a month, were it possible to place her
directly alongside of the rocks frequented by the seals, and prevent all
this toil in transporting. This, however, was impossible, the waves and
the ice rendering it certain destruction to lay a craft anywhere along the
northern shore of the island. The boats might be, and occasionally they
were used, bringing loads of skin and oil round the cape, quite into the
cove. These little cargoes were immediately transferred to the hold of the
schooner, a ground-tier of large casks having been left in her purposely
to receive the oil, which was emptied into them by means of a hose. By the
end of the third week, this ground-tier was filled, and the craft became
stiff, and was in good ballast trim, although the spare water was now
entirely pumped out of her.

All this time the weather was very fair for so high a latitude, and every
way propitious. The twenty-third day after the schooner got in, Roswell
was standing on a spur of the hill, at no great distance from the house,
overlooking the long reach of rocky coast over which the 'sea-elephants,'
and 'lions,' and 'dogs,' and 'bears,' were waddling in as much seeming
security as the hour when he first saw them. The sun was just rising, and
the seals were clambering up out of the water to enjoy its warm rays, as
they placed themselves in positions favourable to such a purpose.

"That is a pleasant sight to a true sealer, Captain Gar'ner," observed
Stimson, who as usual had kept near his officer, "and one that I can say I
never before saw equalled. I've been in this business now some
five-and-twenty years, and never before have I met with so safe a harbour
for a craft, and so large herds that have not been stirred up and got to
be skeary."

"We have certainly been very fortunate thus far, Stephen, and I am now in
hopes we may fill up and be