ell as keep him in sight until a certain key had
been examined, in the proceeds of which he conceived he had a share, as
well as in those of Sealer's Land. Strange as it may seem, even in the
strait in which he was now placed, with so desperate a prospect of ever
getting his vessel home again, this man clung like a leech to the remotest
chance of obtaining property. There is a bull-dog tenacity on this
subject, among a certain portion of the great American family--the
god-like Anglo-Saxon--that certainly leads to great results in one
respect; but which it is often painful to regard, and never agreeable to
any but themselves, to be subject to. Of this school was Daggett, whom no
dangers, no toil, no thoughts of a future, could divert from a purpose
that was coloured by gold. We do not mean to say that other nations are
not just as mercenary; many are more so; those, in particular, that have
long been corrupted by vicious governments. You may buy half a dozen
Frenchmen, for instance, more easily than one Yankee; but let the last
actually get his teeth into a dollar, and the muzzle of the ox fares worse
in the jaws of the bull-dog.

Roswell was deeply reluctant to protract his stay in the group; but
professional pride would have prevented him from deserting a consort under
such circumstances, had not a better feeling inclined him to remain and
assist Daggett. It is true the last had, in a manner, thrust himself on
him, and the connection had been strangely continued down to that moment;
but this he viewed as a dispensation of Providence, to which he was bound
to submit. The result was a declaration of a design to stand by his
companion as long as there was any hope of getting the injured craft home.

This decision pointed at once to the delay of another week. No time was
lost in vain regrets, however; but all hands went to work to get the
schooner into shallow water again, and to look further for the principal
leak. Accurate trimming and pumping showed that a good deal of the water
was already stopped out; but too much still entered to render it prudent
to think of sailing until the injury was repaired. This time the schooner
was not suffered to lie on her bilge at all. She was taken into water just
deep enough to permit her to stand upright, sustained by shores, while the
tide left two or three streaks dry forward; it being the intention to wind
her, should the examination forward not be successful.

On stripping off the