A DROWNING ACCIDENT 



of his life, managing somehow to keep the punt 

 afloat and tow the drowning man into safety, and 

 that is the end of the story. My drivers entered 

 very heartily into the idea of another journey to 

 Nain, and started my sledge on a raw February 

 morning with characteristic determination and energy. 

 But they were beaten for once : the snow fell thicker 

 and thicker as we went along, and after doing ten 

 miles they stopped and offered me my choice be- 

 tween camping and turning back. As for them- 

 selves, I know that they would certainly have 

 camped ; but, as usual, they left the decision to me, 

 and I argued the question out for myself while they 

 waited. They would have felt just as much at home 

 in a snow hut as anywhere else, and frozen food 

 would have suited them perfectly ; but the European 

 constitution finds it a terrible trial to live in a freez- 

 ing atmosphere without warmth of any sort, and I 

 knew very well that my teeth and digestion would 

 both fail if I gave them nothing but blocks of frozen 

 meat and slabs of stone-hard bread to work upon, so 

 I chose to go back. So it comes about that I cannot 

 give a vivid description of weary days and nights 

 spent shivering in a little snow bee-hive with the 

 storm whirling noisily outside, but instead I can 

 look back with thankfulness, and record how I was 

 spared that most awful of Labrador experiences. 

 Others that I know have had it to endure quiet, 

 lion-hearted missionaries, or brave, hardy settler 

 men and they point to a limp, or a frosted hand 

 or foot, as a memento of the time. 



" Go back," I said. 



Julius swung the sledge round with never a 

 word, and Johannes straightened the harness and 



182 



