CHAPTER IX. 



CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR A BOLD FOX. 



CHRISTMAS was drawing near, and the steward began to be busy 

 again. As a rule it was late at night before he could allow himself 

 a few hours' rest. Not but what he had had plenty to do when all 

 the meat came on board, and at other times, for he had salted 

 down at least two barrels of dainty galantine, brisket, and other 

 delicacies, which, besides the ham we already had, were intended 

 to be served in slices for breakfast. 



But it was worse now, I think, than it had ever been before. 

 He had been ill in bed the previous Christmas, and this time 

 meant to have his revenge. Like the rest of us, he thought we 

 might be homeward bound in the autumn, and that this would be 

 our last Christmas up here. In addition to all the baking and 

 cake-making, he meant, somehow or other, to rig up a Christmas- 

 tree. We had with us a number of ornaments, of which many had 

 not been used, and the steward could not harden his heart to the 

 prospect of taking any home. His fixed principle was that what 

 had been ' brewed for Christmas should be used for Christmas.' 



One would not suppose that decorating a Christmas-tree was 

 by any means a deed of darkness, but Yuletide preparations seem 

 often to be best done in the dark hours of the night, and this we 

 also experienced in King Oscar Land. It was quite a moving 

 sight to see how manfully the steward strove night after night to 

 preserve his secret, but, of course, his efforts were in vain ; we were 

 all far too curious to know what he was about. 



A spring cleaning took place aft, and all the cabins were 

 washed out.- The zealous steward had also set his heart on scour- 

 ing and scrubbing the fore-cabin, but I thought it would be a 



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