th of the noon-day sun,
and a consequent hardening of its crust in the succeeding night, Roswell
and Stimson undertook to return this visit, with a view to make a last
effort to persuade Daggett to quit the wreck and come over to the house
altogether. When they had got about half-way between the two places, they
found the body of the seaman, stiff, frozen hard, and dead. A quarter of a
mile further on, the reckless Macy, who it was supposed greatly sustained
Daggett in his obstinacy, was found in precisely the same state. Both had
fallen in the path, and stiffened under the terrible power of the climate.
It was not without difficulty that Roswell reached the wreck, and reported
what he had seen. Even this terrible admonition did not change Daggett's
purpose. He had begun to burn his vessel, for there was now no
alternative; but he was doing it on a system which, as he explained it to
Roswell, was not only to leave him materials with which to construct a
smaller craft in the spring, but which would allow of his inhabiting the
steerage and cabin as long as he pleased.

In some respects the wreck certainly had its advantages over the house.
There was more room for exercise, the caverns of the ice being extensive,
while they completely excluded the wind, which was now the great danger of
the season. It was doubtless owing to the wind that Macy and his
companion had perished. As the spring approached, these winds increased in
violence; though there had been slight symptoms of their coming more
blandly, even at the time when their colder currents were really
frightful.

A whole month succeeded this visit of Roswell's, during which there was no
intercourse. It was September, the March of the antarctic circle, and the
weather had been terrific during most of the period. It was during these
terrible four weeks that Roswell completed his examination of the
all-important subject Mary had marked out for him, and which Stimson had
so earnestly and so often placed before his mind. The sudden fate of Macy
and his companion, the condition of his crew, and all the serious
circumstances with which he was surrounded, conspired to predispose him to
inquiry; and what was equally important in such an investigation, to
humility. Man is a very different being in high prosperity from what he
becomes when the blows of an evil fortune, or the visitations of Divine
Providence alight upon him. The skepticism of Roswell was more the result
of human