ess of the tunnel. Here, by
means of rubbing and chafing, with a little more buffeting, he was
restored to some degree of heat, on seeing which, Meetuck uttered a
quiet grunt and immediately set about preparing supper.

"I do believe I've been asleep," said Fred, rising and stretching
himself vigorously as the bright flame of a tin lamp shot forth and shed
a yellow lustre on the white walls.

"Aslaap is it! be me conscience an' ye have jist. Oh, then, may I niver
indulge in the same sort o' slumber!"

"Why so?" asked Fred in some surprise.

"You fell asleep on the ice, sir," answered West, while he busied
himself in spreading the tarpaulin and blanket-bags on the floor of the
hut, "and you were very near frozen to death."

"Frozen, musha! I'm not too sure that he's melted yit!" said O'Riley,
taking him by the arm and looking at him dubiously.

Fred laughed. "Oh yes; I'm melted now! But let's have supper, else I
shall faint for hunger. Did I sleep many hours?"

"You slept only five minutes," said West, in some surprise at the
question. "You were only gone about ten minutes altogether."

This was indeed the case. The intense desire for sleep which is produced
in Arctic countries when the frost seizes hold of the frame soon
confuses the faculties of those who come under its influence. As long as
Fred had continued to walk and work he felt quite warm; but the instant
he sat down on the lump of ice to rest, the frost acted on him. Being
much exhausted, too, by labour and long fasting, he was more susceptible
than he would otherwise have been to the influence of cold, so that it
chilled him at once, and produced that deadly lethargy from which, but
for the timely aid of his companions, he would never have recovered.

The arrangements for supping and spending the night made rapid progress,
and, under the influence of fire and animal heat--for the dogs were
taken in beside them--the igloe became comfortably warm. Yet the
snow-walls did not melt, or become moist, the intense cold without being
sufficient to counteract and protect them from the heat within. The fair
roof, however, soon became very dingy, and the odour of melted fat
rather powerful. But Arctic travellers are proof against such trifles.

The tarpaulin was spread over the floor, and a tin lamp, into which
several fat portions of the walrus were put, was suspended from a stick
thrust into the wall. Bound this lamp the hunters circled, each seated
on his bl