CHAPTER ONE.
SLEEPING IN SNOW.
Cold comfort is naturally suggested by a bed of snow, yet I have enjoyed
great comfort and much warmth in such a bed.
My friend Lumley was particularly fond of warmth and of physical ease,
yet he often expressed the opinion, with much emphasis, that there was
nothing he enjoyed so much as a night in a snow-bed. Jack Lumley was my
chum--a fine manly fellow with a vigorous will, a hardy frame, and a
kindly heart. We had a natural leaning towards each other--a sort of
undefinable sympathy--which inclined us to seek each other's company in
a quiet unobtrusive way. We were neither of us demonstrative; we did
not express regard for each other; we made no protestations of undying
friendship, but we drew together, somehow, especially in our hunting
expeditions which were numerous.
On holidays--we had two in the week at the outpost in the American
backwoods where we dwelt--when the other young fellows were cleaning
gulls or arranging snow-shoes for the day's work, Lumley was wont to say
to me:--
"Where d'you intend to shoot to-day, Max?" (Max was an abbreviation; my
real name is George Maxby.)
"I think I'll go up by the willows and round by Beaver Creek."
"I've half a mind to go that way too."
"Come along then."
And so we would go off together for the day.
One morning Lumley said to me, "I'm off to North River; will you come?"
"With pleasure, but we'll have to camp out."
"Well, it won't be the first time."
"D'you know that the thermometer stood at forty below zero this morning
before breakfast?"
"I know it; what then? Mercurial fellows like you don't freeze easily."
I did not condescend to reply, but set about preparing for our
expedition, resolving to carry my largest blanket with me, for camping
out implied sleeping in the snow.
Of course I must guard my readers--especially my juvenile readers--from
supposing that it was our purpose that night to undress and calmly lie
down in, or on, the pure white winding-sheet in which the frozen world
of the Great Nor'-west had been at that time wrapped for more than four
months. Our snow-bed, like other beds, required making, but I will
postpone the making of it till bed-time. Meanwhile, let us follow the
steps of Lumley, who, being taller and stronger than I, _always_ led the
way.
