298 THE FIRST DAY'S JOURNEY. 



of them looked as if they were going to their own 

 funerals, and wore that " My God ! what shall I do ? " 

 look that would have been amusing enough had it not 

 been alarming. One of these, without sufficient energy 

 to keep himself in motion, crouched behind a snow- 

 drift, and when discovered he had squarely settled 

 himself for a freeze. In half an hour his inclination 

 would have been accomplished. When I came up to 

 him he said very coolly, and with a tone of resigna- 

 tion worthy a martyr, "I 'm freezing." His fingers 

 and toes were already as white as a tallow-candle. 

 There was no time to be lost. I rubbed a little circu- 

 latioi:! back into them, and, placing him in charge of 

 two men with orders to keep him moving, I saved 

 him from the serious consequences which would oth- 

 erwise have resulted from his faint-heartedness. With- 

 out waiting for more of the coveted drops of water, 

 I pushed on for the first snow-bank, and got my party 

 out of the wind and under cover. But this was not 

 done without difficulty. It seemed as if two or three 

 of them were possessed with a heroic desire to die on 

 the spot, and I really believe that they would have 

 done it cheerfully rather than, of their own accord, 

 seize a shovel and aid in constructing, if not a place 

 of comfort, at least a place of rest and safety. This 

 sort of thing at the start is not encoriraging, but I 

 cannot say that I am much surprised at it ; for my 

 former experience has shown the hazard of exposing 

 men in the wind in such low temperatures. This, 

 liowever, is one of those things against which no fore- 

 sight can provide. No serious consequences appear 

 to have resulted from the event, and the suffi^rers are 

 growing more comfortable as the temperature of the 

 hut rises. We have had our rude camp supper, and 



