THE FREEZING OF THE SEA 



will soon freeze ; it is smoking already. That is 

 always a sign that the ice will soon cover it." 



Day by day I watched the "smoke," but the 

 wind kept the water constantly tossing, and gave 

 it no chance to set. It was not until the 27th of 

 November that a calm night came, and when I 

 looked out of my window at bed-time the water 

 had a muddy surface in the clear moonshine ; and 

 in the morning there was ice. 



It seemed strange to look over a great grey plain 

 instead of the white-capped waves ; there seemed 

 to be something wanting; and it was some time 

 before I found out that the silence was bothering 

 me. We had got so used to the rustle of the tides 

 upon the beach, and the murmur of the waves upon 

 the bay, that the utter stillness was painful. I think 

 it was my first experience of perfect silence : even 

 in the quietest part of England there is always some 

 sound, near or distant ; but as I rambled on the 

 hills that afternoon the feeling was quite eerie. 

 There was not a breath of wind; I seemed to be 

 alone in a frozen world ; and I felt really glad when 

 a dog began to yelp somewhere in the village, 

 perhaps a mile away, and my ears at last got some- 

 thing to occupy them. 



All the morning the new ice was deserted ; there 

 were children playing near the edge, but they seemed 

 afraid to venture far, and nobody took any notice 

 of them. It was not until midday that the grown- 

 ups took any interest in things, and then I saw 

 an old man go hobbling over the beach with a stick. 



With proper Eskimo dignity and deliberation 

 he inspected the ice and prodded it ; then he walked 

 on it, at first feeling his way cautiously, but soon 



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