In Winter Quarters 



unless insurmountable snow-drifts 

 stopped him before her parental thresh- 

 old could be reached. To dwell upon 

 that wintry journey, not of "two babes 

 in the woods," but of two children 

 through a record storm, is scarcely 

 necessary. The main thing is that 

 they at length arrived. The girl in 

 her furs was all right, but that boy's 

 mother, believe me, all who have fol- 

 lowed this prosaic yarn thus far, had 

 one busy hour trying to extract the 

 frost from his various extremities. 

 Toes and fingers came through the 

 ordeal without serious injury, but to 

 this day his ears feel instantly and 

 acutely the teeth of low temperature. 

 It is not of any physical discom- 

 forts, temporary or permanent, result- 

 ing from this youthful experience, that 

 the boy would here have me speak, but 

 rather he would have recorded the 

 simple fact that such pain as he en- 

 dured that day and night and for suc- 

 ceeding days and nights was swallowed 

 [74] 



