thought I
must have slept several hours. Though the fire was blazing grandly, the
cold was intense: I was so stiff I could hardly move; all my limbs ached
dreadfully, and my sensations altogether were new and very disagreeable.
I sat up with great difficulty and many groans, and looked round: two
figures were coiled up, like huge dogs, near me; two more, moody and
sulky, were smoking by the fire; with their knees drawn up to their
noses and their hands in their pockets, collars well up round their
throats--statues of cold and disgust. To my inquiries about the hour,
the answer, given in tones of the deepest despondency, was "Only eleven
o'clock, and the sun doesn't rise till six, and its going to be the
coldest night we've had this year." The speaker added, "If it wasn't so
dark that we'd break our necks on the way, we might go home."

Here was a pretty end to our amusement. I slowly let myself down again,
and tried to go to sleep, but that relief was at an end for the night;
the ground seemed to grow harder every moment, or, at all events, I
ached more, and the wind certainly blew higher and keener. Dick proved
himself a most selfish doggie; he would creep round to leeward of _me_,
whilst I wanted him to let me get leeward of him, but he would not
consent to this arrangement. Whenever I heard a deeper moan or sigh than
usual, I whispered an inquiry as to the hour, but the usual reply,
in the most cynical voice, was, "Oh, you need not whisper, nobody is
asleep." I heard one plaintive murmur "Think of all our warm beds, and
of our coming up here from choice." I must say I felt dreadfully ashamed
of myself for my plan; it was impossible to express my contrition and
remorse, for, always excepting Mr. U----, they were all too cross to
be spoken to. It certainly was a weary, long night. About one o'clock I
pretended to want some hot tea, and the preparation for that got through
half an hour, and it warmed us a little; but everybody still was deeply
dejected, not to say morose. After an interval of only two hours more
of thorough and intense wretchedness we had a "grogs," but there was no
attempt at conviviality--subdued savageness was the prevailing state of
mind. I tried to infuse a little hope into the party, by suggestions of
a speedy termination to our misery, but my own private opinion was that
we should all be laid up for weeks to come with illness. I allotted to
myself in this imaginary distribution of ills a severe r