'Eat hearty, lads,' said the captain, 'eat hearty. There's nothing to be done with the ship till the dawn gives us a sight of her. Four of ye gone....' He gave a sort of gasp, and stared a moment or two at his wife, and then said to the boatswain, 'Wall, would she have righted, think you, if the masts had stood?'
The boatswain swallowed the contents of his mouth, and said emphatically, 'No, sir. That second bust-down must ha' done for her.'
A growl of assent ran round the table.
'Well,' said the captain, 'we all know what's to be done. We've to stick her northwards anyhow. Something may come along to give us a tow. Failing that, there's enough of foremast standing for a jury rig. The machinery of the helm's sound. We've to blow to the nor'rards, I say, edging that way for the crowded track.'
The men said nothing. I seemed to find something ominous in their silence. At the same time it rejoiced me to observe that the captain talked collectedly, as though he had rallied his wits, and had clear ideas and intentions.
When the men had supped and cleared the table, they made as though to go. The captain told them to occupy the cabin for the night. They looked grateful at this, and then around them, as though considering where they should lie. Their awkward grins, queer swaying postures, backs curved, arms up and down, and fingers curled, their bearing, glances, and manners, which expressed but little reference to our lamentable and awful situation, gave me, I own, a sort of heart. They looked as though, but for the captain and us women, and the quarter-deck restraint of the cabin, they'd have gathered about the stove, and roared out hearty songs, drowning the fury without with hurricane lungs of music, and spun yarns, and smoked their pipes with as much thoughtless gaiety as they carried to their diversions ashore.
The captain begged me to go to my cabin, and turn in and lie warm.
'Will you go to bed at all to-night?' his wife asked him.
'No,' he answered.
'I suppose you mean to do all the looking out yourself, and end in being found a frozen corpse, while Jack here is to sit by the stove?' said she in a low voice, but audible to him and me, glancing round her at the men.