Blow the Man Down - A Romance of the Coast

Half an hour later he was located on the wreck with the two men he had

selected as his companions. They carried tackle with them, with

which they hoisted after them their dory--their main bower in case of

emergency.

And the sea which Mayo surveyed was more lonely than ever, for the

Ethel and May was standing off across the heaving surface toward the

main and the hulk was left alone in the expanse of ocean. He felt very

much of a pygmy and very helpless as he scrambled about over the icy

decks. He remembered that faith can move mountains, but he was as yet

unable to determine just what power would be able to move that steamer,

into whose vitals the reef of Razee had poked its teeth.

At eight bells, midnight, Mayo turned out of his berth, for he heard

something that interested him. It was a soft pattering, a gentle

swishing. As a mariner, he knew how sudden can be meteorological changes

on the coast in winter. When the north winds have raged and howled and

have blown themselves out, spitting sleet and snow, the gentler south

winds have their innings and bear balmier moisture from the Gulf Stream.

He poked his head out and felt a soft air and warm rain. He had been

hoping and half expecting that a change of weather would bring this

condition--known as a January thaw. He went back to his bunk, much

comforted.

A bright sun awoke him. Clear skies had succeeded the rain, All was

dripping and melting. Chunks of ice were dropping from the steamer's

stubby masts, and her scuppers were beginning to discharge water from

the softening mass on her deck.

He and his little crew ate breakfast with great good cheer, then secured

axes from the steamer's tool-house and began to chop watercourses in the

ice. A benignant sun in a cloudless sky had enlisted himself as a member

of the wrecking crew on Razee Reef. That weather would soon clear the

Conomo of her sheathing.

This was a cheerful prospect, because rigging and deck equipment of

various kinds would be released. The steamer began to look like a less

discouraging proposition. She was no longer the icicle that had put a

chill into underwriters and bidders. Mayo lost the somberness that had

weighed upon him. The sea did not seem so lonely and so threatening. He

felt that he could show something tangible and hopeful to the parties

whom Captain Can-dage might be able to solicit.

When he saw a tug approaching in the afternoon his optimism suggested

that it brought the skipper and his party; his own hopes were so high

now that he felt that men with equipment and money would be eager

to loan it to parties who possessed such excellent prospects. In this

fashion he translated this apparent haste to get to the reef.