afterwards remarked, "to pitch
him over the foretop-sail-yard!" But an Irishman is not easily
overcome. O'Riley suddenly straightened himself and held his arms up
over his head, and the violent heave, which, according to Parr, was to
have sent him to such an uncomfortable elevation, only pulled the jumper
completely off his body, and left him free to laugh in the face of his
big friend, and run away.

At this point the captain deemed it prudent to interfere.

"Come, come, my lads," he cried, "enough o' this! That's not the
morning work, is it? I'm glad to find that your new dresses," he added
with a significant smile, "make you fond of rough work in the snow;
there's plenty of it before us. Come down below with me, Meetuck; I
wish to talk with you."

As the captain descended to the cabin the men gave a final cheer, and in
ten minutes they were working laboriously at their various duties.

Buzzby and his party were the first ready and off to cut moss. They
drew a sledge after them towards the Red-snow Valley, which was not more
than two miles distant from the ship. This "mossing", as it was termed,
was by no means a pleasant duty. Before the winter became severe the
moss could be cut out from the beds of the snow streams with comparative
ease, but now the mixed turf of willows, heaths, grasses, and moss was
frozen solid, and had to be quarried with crowbars and carried to the
ship like so much stone. However, it was prosecuted vigorously, and a
sufficient quantity was soon procured to pack on the decks of the ship,
and around its sides, so as to keep out the cold. At the same time the
operation of discharging the stores was carried on briskly, and Fred, in
company with Meetuck, O'Riley, and Joseph West, started with the
dog-sledge on a hunting expedition.

In order to enable the reader better to understand the condition of the
_Dolphin_ and her crew, we will detail the several arrangements that
were made at this time and during the succeeding fortnight. As a
measure of precaution, the ship, by means of blasting, sawing, and
warping, was with great labour got into deeper water, where one night's
frost set her fast with a sheet of ice three inches thick round her; in
a few weeks this ice became several feet thick, and the snow drifted up
her hull so much that it seemed as if she were resting on the land, and
had taken final leave of her native element. Strong hawsers were then
secured to Store Island in o