t
minute would catch ourselves falling over the side of the sled. A
thousand dreams worried my brain and mixed themselves with my talk; and
the absurdities thus created helped to arouse me. Speaking of seeing
some wolves in the woods of California, I gravely continued: "I took out
my sword, sharpened it on the grindstone and dared him to come on," when
a punch in the ribs stopped me. Another time, while talking of
hippopotami in the White Nile, I said: "If you want any skins, you must
go to the Hudson's Bay Company. They have a depot of them on Vancouver's
Island." Braisted gave me much trouble, by assuring me in the most
natural wide-awake voice that he was not in the least sleepy, when the
reins had dropped from his hands and his head rocked on his shoulder. I
could never be certain whether he was asleep or awake. Our only plan was
not to let the conversation flag a minute.

At Torakankorwa we changed horses without delay, and hurried on to
Matarengi. On turning out of the road to avoid a hay-sled, we were
whirled completely over. There was no fun in this, at such a time. I
fell head foremost into deep snow, getting a lump in my right eye, which
completely blinded me for a time. My forehead, eyebrows, and the bridge
of my nose were insufferably painful. On reaching Matarengi I found my
nose frozen through, and considerably swollen. The people were in bed,
but we went into the kitchen, where a dozen or more were stowed about,
and called for the landlord. Three young girls, who were in bed in one
corner, rose and dressed themselves in our presence without the least
hesitation, boiled some milk, and gave us bread and butter. We had a
single small bed, which kept us warm by obliging us to lie close.
Sometime in the night, two Swedes arrived, who blustered about and made
so much noise, that Braisted finally silenced them by threats of
personal violence, delivered in very good English.

In the morning the mercury froze, after showing 49 deg. below zero. The cold
was by this time rather alarming, especially after our experiences of
the previous day. The air was hazy with the fine, frozen atoms of
moisture, a raw wind blew from the north, the sky was like steel which
has been breathed upon--in short, the cold was visible to the naked eye.
We warmed our gloves and boots, and swathed our heads so completely that
not a feature was to be seen. I had a little loophole between my cap and
boa, but it was soon filled up with frost f