Well, you see, sir, not long after my accident, there came a sharp frost which made the surface of the snow hard after the thaw, so the dogs could run on the top of the crust without breaking it, but Big Otter, bein heavy, broke throughby the way, I hope hes bein looked after.
You may be sure of that, said Spooner. I saw him safely placed in the mens house, and Salamander, who, it turns out, is a sort of relation of his, set to work to stuff him with the same sort of soup you think so much of. I only hope theyve enough to keep him going, for before I left the house he had drunk off two bowls of it almost without taking breath, though it was scalding hot.
Good. Hell do it ample justice, returned Macnab, taking another pull at his own bowl. I hope youre well provisioned, for Big Otters an awful consumer of victuals. Well, as I was saying, the surface of the snow got frozen thinly, and the work o tramping after the sled and holding on to the tail-line was uncommonly hard, as I could see, for I lay with my head to the front, looping back on the poor man. But it was on the exposed places and going down the slopes that the greatest difficulty lay, for there the dogs were keen to run away. Once or twice they did fairly get off, and gave me some rough as well as long runs before my man could catch them up. At last we came one afternoon to an open plain where the snow had felt the thaw and been frozen again pretty hard. The moment we got on it away went the dogs. Big Otter tried to run, but one of his shoes went through the crust and the other didnt, so down he came, and had to let go the line. I felt easy enough at first, for the plain was level, but after a time it became lumpy, and I got some ugly bumps. Never mind, thought I, theyll be sure to come to some bushes, and thatll pull them up. Just as I thought so, we came to a slope, and the team went slap over a bank. The sled and I threw a complete somersault. Fortunately we came down on the dogs, which broke our fall, though it half killed them!
When Big Otter came and turned me right side up, I found that I had sustained no damage whatever, but, woes me! our tin kettle was almost knocked flat. The worst of it was that in trying to put it right we drove a big hole in the bottom of it, so we had to bid farewell to hot food, except what we roasted. We could also melt snow by plastering up the hole so as to get enough to drink, but boiling water was quite out of the question.
Well, Macnab, said our chief, rising, since you have got the soup over at last, come along with me and lets hear about your Indian friends proposals.
We assisted our visitor into the mess-room, which was also our principal council-chamber, and there left him to talk business with Mr Strang while we returned to Bachelors Hall to let off our effervescing spirits by indulging in a running commentary on the unexpected visit, and a minute analysis of the characters of Macnab and Big Otter, which, I must add, was decidedly favourable.
It seems to me a piece of good luck that he has got here at all, said Lumley, after we had finished the analysis.
Why so? asked Spooner.
Because there are some unmistakable symptoms that winter is about over, and that snow-shoe and dog-sleigh travelling will soon be impossible.
That Lumley was right, the change of weather during the next few days clearly proved, for a thaw set in with steady power. The sun became at last warm enough to melt ice and snow visibly. We no longer listened with interest to the sounds of dropping water from eaves and trees, for these had become once more familiar, and soon our ears were greeted with the gurgling of rills away in mysterious depths beneath the snow. The gurgling ere long gave place to gushing, and it seemed as if all nature were dissolving into liquid.
While this pleasant change was going on we awoke with song and laugh and story the echoes of Bachelors Hallat no time very restful echoes, save perhaps in the dead hours of early morning; and even then they were more or less disturbed by snoring. For our sociable Highlander, besides having roused our spirits by his mere presence to the effervescing point, was himself much elated by the mighty change from prolonged solitude to joyous companionship.
My spirit feels inclined, he remarked one day, to jump clean out of my body.
Youd better not let it then, said Lumley, for you know it might catch cold or freeze.
Not in this weather, surely, retorted Macnab, and if I did feel coldish in the circumstances, couldnt I borrow Spooners blanket-capote? it might fit me then, for Id probably be a few sizes smaller.
Come, Mac, said I, give us a song. You know Im wildly fond of music; and, most unfortunately, not one of us three can sing a note.
Our visitor was quite willing, and began at once to sing a wild ditty, in the wilder language of his native land.
He had a sweet, tuneful, sympathetic voice, which was at the same time powerful, so that we listened to him, sometimes with enthusiasm swelling our hearts, at other times with tears dimming our eyes. No one, save he who has been banished to a wilderness and long bereft of music, can understand the nature of our feelingsof mine, at least.
One evening, after our wounded man had charmed us with several songs, and we all of us had done what we could, despite our incapacity, to pay him back in kind, he pulled a sheet of crumpled paper out of his pocket.
Come, said he, unfolding it, Ive got a poet among the men of Muskrat House, who has produced a song, which, if not marked by sublimity, is at least distinguished by much truth. He said he composed it at the rate of about one line a week during the winter, and his comrades said that it was quite a picture to see him agonising over the rhymes. Before they found out what was the matter with him they thought he was becoming subject to fits of some sort. Now, then, lets have a good chorus. Its to the tune of The British Grenadiers.
The World of Ice and SnowCome listen all good people who dwell at home at ease,
Ill tell you of the sorrows of them that cross the seas
And penetrate the wilderness,
Where arctic tempests blow
Where your toes are froze,
An the pint o your nose,
In the world of Ice and Snow.
Youve eight long months of winter an solitude profound,
The snow at your feet is ten feet deep and frozen hard the ground.
And all the lakes are solid cakes,
And the rivers all cease to flow
Where your toes are froze,
An the pint o your nose,
In the world of Ice and Snow.
No comrade to enliven; no friendly foe to fight;
No female near to love or cheer with pure domestic light;
No books to read; no cause to plead;
No music, fun, nor go
Neer a shillin, nor a stiver,
Nor nothin whatsomediver,
In the world of Ice and Snow.
Your feelins take to freezin, so likewise takes your brain;
You go about grump-and-wheezin, like a wretched dog in pain;
You long for wings, or some such things,
But theyre not to be hadoh! no
For there you are,
Like a fixéd star,
In the world of Ice and Snow.
If you wished you couldyou would not, for the very wish
would die.
If you thought you wouldyou could not, for you wouldnt
have heart to try.
Confusion worse confounded,
Would aggravate you so
That youd tumble down
On the frozen ground
In the world of Ice and Snow.
But never-give-in our part islet British pluck have sway
And never-say-die, my heartiesits that what wins the day.
To face our fate in every state,
Is what weve got to do,
An laugh at our trouble
Till were all bent double
In the world of Ice and Snow.
Now all ye sympathisers, and all ye tender souls;
Ye kind philanthropisers, who dwell between the poles,
Embrace in your affections
Those merry merry men who go
Where your toes are froze,
An the pint o your nose,
In the world of Ice and Snow.
It almost seemed as though the world of ice and snow itself had taken umbrage at Macnabs song, for, while we were yet in the act of enthusiastically prolonging the last snooow, there sounded in our ears a loud report, as if of heavy artillery close at hand.