Even if one were helped by good spirits he must do his own part.

They might bring the ship to the horizon's rim, but it was for him to summon it from there, and he would have a great bonfire ready.
The brilliance of the day departed in the afternoon, and it became apparent that the season of rain and storm was not yet over.

Clouds marched up in grim battalions from the south and west, rain came in swift puffs and then in long, heavy showers, the sea heaved, breaking into great waves and the surf dashed fiercely on the sharp teeth of the rocks.
Robert's spirits fell.

This was not the way in which a rescuing ship should come, under a somber sky and before driving winds.

Perhaps he had read the voices of the spirits wrong, or at least the ship, instead of coming now, was coming at some later time, a month or two months away maybe.