lings of every
individual of his party now admonishing them all of the necessity of
getting as soon as possible to some place where they could feel the
influence of a fire. In ten minutes more, the whole were in the caverns of
the ice, and, presently, the cabin of the wreck was entered. Without
turning to the right hand or to the left, without looking for one of the
inmates of the place, every man among the new-comers turned his attention
instantly to getting the fire lighted. The camboose had been filled with
wood, and it was evident that many efforts had been made to produce a
blaze, by those who had put it there. Splinters of pine had been inserted
among the oak of the vessel, and nothing was wanting but the means of
kindling. These, most fortunately for themselves, the party of Roswell
had, and eagerly did they now have recourse to their use.

There was not a man among the Oyster Ponders who did not, just at that
moment, feel his whole being concentrated in that one desire to obtain
warmth. The cold had slowly, but surely, insinuated itself among their
garments, and slight chills were now felt even by Roswell, whose frame had
been most wonderfully sustained that night, through the force of moral
feeling. Stimson was the individual who was put forward at the camboose,
others holding the lamps, canvass saturated with oil, and some prepared
paper. It was found to be perceptibly warmer within the cabin, with its
doors closed, and the external coverings of sails, &c., that had been made
to exclude the air, than without; nevertheless, when Roswell glanced at a
thermometer that was hanging against the bulk-head, he saw that all the
mercury was still in the ball!

The interest with which our party now watched the proceedings of Stephen,
had much of that intensity that is known to attend any exhibition of vital
importance. Life and death were, however, to be dependent on the issue;
and the manner in which every eye was turned on the wood, and Stephen's
mode of dealing with it, denoted how completely the dread of freezing had
got possession of the minds of even these robust and generous men. Roswell
alone ventured, for a single moment, to look around the cabin. Three of
the Vineyarders only were visible in it; though it struck him that others
lay in the berths, under piles of clothes. Of the three who were up, one
was so near the lamp he held in his hand, that its light illumined his
face, and all that could be seen of a form