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.