ro was now hard to bear, and fires, and good fires too, were
absolutely necessary to keep the men from suffering, as well as from
despondency. Perhaps the spectacle of Daggett, dying from the effects of
frost before their eyes, served to increase the uneasiness of the people,
and to cause them to be less sparing of the fuel than persons in their
situation ought to have been. It is certain that a report was brought to
Roswell, in the height of the tempest, and when the thermometer was at the
lowest, that there was not wood enough left from the plunder of the two
vessels, exclusively of that which had been worked up in the repairs, to
keep the fires going eight-and-forty hours longer! It was true, a little
wood, intended to be used in the homeward passage, enough to last as far
as Rio possibly, had been used in stowing the hold; and that might be got
at first, if it ever ceased to snow. Without that addition to the stock in
the house, it would not be within the limits of probability to suppose the
people could hold out against the severity of such weather a great while
longer.

Every expedient that could be devised to save wood, and to obtain warmth
from other sources, was resorted to, of course, by Roswell's orders. Lamps
were burned with great freedom; not little vessels invented to give light,
but such torches as one sees at the lighting up of a princely court-yard
on the occasion of a _fete_, in which wicks are made by the pound, and
unctuous matter is used by the gallon. Old canvass and elephants' oil
supplied the materials; and the spare camboose, which had been brought
over to the house to be set up there, while the other galley was being
placed on board, very well answered the purpose of a lamp. Some warmth was
obtained by these means, but much more of a glaring and unpleasant light.

It was during the height of this tempest that the soul of Daggett took its
flight towards the place of departed spirits, in preparation for the hour
when it was to be summoned before the judgment-seat of God. Previously to
his death, the unfortunate Vineyarder held a frank and confidential
discourse with Roswell. As his last hour approached, his errors and
mistakes became more distinctly apparent, as is usual with men, while his
sins of omission seemed to crowd the vista of by-gone days. Then it was
that the whole earth did not contain that which, in his dying eyes, would
prove an equivalent for one hour passed in a sincere, devout, a