290 MARK TWAIN'S SKETCHES. 



white desert ; uplifted sheets of snow drifting hither and thither before the wind-^ 

 a world of eddying flakes shutting out the firmament above. 



" All day we moped about the cars, saying little, thinking much. Another linger- 

 ing dreary night — and hunger. 



" Another dawning — another day of silence, sadness, wasting hunger, hopeless 

 watching for succor that could not come. A night of restless slumber, filled with 

 dreams of feasting — wakings distressed with the gnawings of hunger. 



" The fourth day came and went — and the fifth ! Five days of dreadful imprison- 

 ment ! A savage hunger looked out at every eye. There was in it a sign of awful 

 import — the foreshadowing of a something that was vaguely shaping itself in every 

 heart — a something which no tongue dared yet to frame into words. 



" The sixth day passed — the seventh dawned upon as gaunt and haggard and 

 hopeless a company of men as ever stood in the shadow of death. It must out now. t 

 That thing which had been growing up in every heart was ready to leap from every 

 lip at last! Nature had been taxed to the utmost — she must yield. Richard H. 

 Gaston, of Minnesota, tall, cadaverous, and pale, rose up. All knew what was 

 coming. All prepared— every emotion, every semblance of excitement was 

 smothered — only a calm, thoughtful seriousness appeared in the eyes that were 

 lately so wild. 



" ' Gentlemen, — It cannot be delayed longer ! The time is at hand ! We must 

 determine which of us shall die to furnish food for the rest ! ' 



" Mr. John J. Williams, of Illinois, rose and said: 'Gentlemen, — I nominate 

 the Rev. James Sawyer, of Tennessee.' 



" Mr.WM. R. Adams, of Indiana, said : 'I nominate Mr. Daniel Slote, of New York.' 



"Mr. Charles J. Langdon: 'I nominate Mr. Samuel A. Bowen, of St. Louis.' 



" Mr. Slote : ' Gentlemen, — I desire to decline in favor of Mr. John A. Van 

 Nostrand, Jun., of New Jersey.' 



" Mr. Gaston : ' If there be no objection, the gentleman's desire will be acceded 

 to.' 



"Mr. Van Nostrand objecting, the resignation of Mr. Slote was rejected. The 

 resignations of Messrs. Sawyer and Bowen were also offered, and refused upon the 

 same grounds. - - 



