70 THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE KARLUK 
night, however, the thermometer began to climb 
and the barometer to drop, denoting the approach 
of a storm, and all day long on the twenty-fifth it 
was a miserable time to be out. We had our work 
to do, however, and the Eskimo finished banking 
up the starboard side of the ship with snow to make 
things as warm and comfortable as possible. 
November 27 was Thanksgiving Day in the 
States but as we were a Canadian expedition we 
made no observance of the day. My thoughts took 
another backward glance to the Thanksgiving 
Days I had spent in Belmont and Winchester and 
elsewhere, with my good friends of Boston. 
The day began early with me because I was 
awakened from a sound sleep, almost choking to 
death from the sulphurous fumes of the mess-room 
stove which I found on getting out of my cabin 
was smoking badly. Chafe, the mess-room stew¬ 
ard, was making heroic efforts to get the fire going 
to take the fumes off. I told him to take hold of 
the stove with me and carry it out on deck, which 
we managed to do. 
