And one thing which we have to crave,
Is that he may have a watery grave.
So well heave him down into some dark hole,
Where the sharks 'll have his body and the devil have his soul.
With a big bow wow!
Tow row row!
Pal de, rai de, ri do day!
--Boston.
After the man in the fur coat had placed a hastily executed bill of sale
in Mayo's hands, he frankly declared that his interest in the fortune of
the wrecked steamer had ceased.
"The Resolute reports that storm signals are displayed. I'll simply make
sure of what I've got. I'll play the game as those quitters in Boston
seem to want me to play it."
The tugs, departing with their tows, squalled salutes to the little
schooner hove to under the counter of the Conomo.
"Sounds like they was making fun of us," growled Candage. He scowled
into the gray skies and across the lonely sea.
Mayo, too, sensed a derisive note in the whistle-toots. Depression had
promptly followed the excitement that had spurred him into this venture.
The crackle of the legal paper in his reefer pocket only accentuated his
gloom. That paper seemed to represent so little now. It was not merely
his own gamble--he had drawn into a desperate undertaking men who
could not afford to lose. They had put all their little prosperity in
jeopardy. There were women and children ashore to consider. He and
his fellows now owned that great steamer which loomed there under the
brooding heavens. But it was a precarious possession. The loss of her
now would mean not merely the loss of all their little hoards--it would
mean the loss of hope, and the sacrifice of expectations, and the regret
of men who have failed in a big task. He realized how stinging would be
defeat, for he was building the prospects of his future upon winning in
this thing.
Hope almost failed to reassure him as he gazed first at the departing
lighters and then at the ice-panoplied hulk on Razee.
Surely no pauper ever had a more unwieldy elephant on his hands, without
a wisp of hay in sight for food.. He had seen wrecking operations:
money, men, and gigantic equipment often failed to win. Technical skill
and expert knowledge were required. He did not know what an examination
of her hull would reveal. He had bought as boys swap jack-knives--sight
denied! He confessed to himself that even the pittance they had
gambled on this hazard had been spent with the recklessness of folly,
considering that they had spent their all. They had nothing left to
operate with. It was like a man tying his hands behind him before he
jumped overboard.