UNWELCOME BED-FELLOWS. 231 



as the floor consequently was not of the cleanest, the place 

 did not appear well adapted for making our beds upon it. 

 Before lying clown to rest, we attempted to sup by the 

 aid of a light collation of tea and cakes borrowed from 

 our travelling stores. We afterwards sought, in the midst 

 of this unclean cloaca, two isolated corners, where we 

 might spread our bison-skins, and finish up the night for 

 good or evil. 



The dogs followed our example ; and as the warmth 

 of our thick furs seemed to them preferable to the damp 

 ground, they gradually crept in close to our sides, and, in 

 spite of the kicks with which they were greeted, in spite 

 of the threats which we hurled at them, they kept their 

 positions without listening to or heeding our abuse the 

 iust reward of an obstinate perseverance. For my part, 

 1 had an enormous bed-fellow, with a thick shaggy skin, 

 not unlike in figure and jaws the wolves of the wooded 

 districts of France. 



To increase my felicity, I had placed my couch at the 

 foot of a country clock, recently repaired, whose pendulum 

 marked the flight of time in the most irritating manner. 

 This deafening metronome, the nauseating odour which 

 arose in every direction, and the suffocating heat of the 

 rarefied air, kept me long awake. At last, however, I fell 

 asleep, and I dreamed an atrocious dream, which repre- 

 sented to my abused senses the chamber peopled with 

 clocks, all smoking and expectorating violently, while a 

 "IJodskin of herculean stature marked the seconds on a 

 colossal bell ! 



Captain Maclean, less nice than myself, slept like a true 

 soldier, and was neither to be aroused by the deafening 

 sounds nor the unwholesome atmosphere. 



