rand. All the snow along the rocky shore soon disappeared; and
the fragments of ice began rapidly to diminish in size, and to crumble. At
first, Roswell felt much concern on account of the security of the wreck;
his original apprehension being that it would be washed away. This ground
of fear was soon succeeded by another of scarcely less serious
import--that of its being crushed by the enormous cakes of ice that made
the caverns in which it lay, and which now began to settle and change
their positions, as the water washed away their bases. At one time Roswell
thought of setting the storm at defiance, and of carrying Daggett across
to the house by means of the hand-barrow; but when he came to look at the
torrents of water that were crossing the rocks, so many raging rivulets,
the idea was abandoned as impracticable. Another night was therefore
passed in the midst of the tempest.

The north-east wind, the rain, and the thaw, were all at work in concert,
when our adventurers came abroad to look upon the second day of their
sojourn in the wreck. By this time the caverns were dripping with a
thousand little streams, and every sign denoted a most rapid melting of
the ice. On carrying the thermometer into the open air it stood at
sixty-two; and the men found it necessary to lay aside their second shirt,
and all the extraordinary defences of their attire. Nor was this all; the
wind that crosses the salt water is known to have more than the usual
influence on the snows and ice; and such was the effect now produced by it
on Sealer's Land. The snow, indeed, had mostly disappeared from all places
but the drifts; while the ice was much diminished in its size and
outlines. So grateful was the change from the extreme cold that they had
so lately endured, that the men thought nothing of the rain at all; they
went about in it just as if it did not stream down upon them in little
torrents. Some of them clambered up the cliffs, and reached a point whence
it was known that they could command a view of the house. The return of
this party, which Roswell did not accompany, was waited for with a good
deal of interest. When it got back, it brought a report that was deemed
important in several particulars. The snow had gone from the plain, and
from the mountain, with the exception of a few spots where there had been
unusual accumulations of it. As respected the house, it was standing, and
the snow had entirely disappeared from its vicinity. The m