The Big Fellow Himself

Will had promised his Sue that this trip, if well ended,
Should coil up his ropes and he'd anchor on shore.
When his pockets were lined, why his life should be mended,
The laws he had broken he'd never break more.
--Will Watch.

They needed food, lease-money for their hired equipment was due, and the
dependents at Maquoit must be looked after.

Pride and hope had inspired the crew at Razee to salvage the Conomo
intact. Material removed from her would immediately become junk to be
valued at junk prices, instead of being a valuable and active asset
on board. But there was no other resource in sight. No word came from
Captain Wass; and Mayo had put little confidence in that possibility,
anyway.

There was nothing else to do--they must sell off something on which they
could realize quickly.

In the estimation of many practical men this procedure would have been
a warrantable makeshift, its sole drawback being a sacrifice of values.
But to the captains on Razee it seemed like the beginning of complete
surrender; it was the first step toward the dismantling of the
steamship. It was making a junk-pile of her, and they confessed to
themselves that they would probably be obliged to keep on in the work of
destruction. In the past their bitterest toil had been spiced with the
hope of big achievement; the work they now set themselves to do was
melancholy drudgery.