My costume, being very light, dried all the quicker,
until afternoon. Then nothing would dry anymore, everything freezing
stiff. It had been an ideal costume to struggle through the slob ice.
I really believe the conventional garments missionaries are supposed
to affect would have been fatal.
My occupation till what seemed like midnight was unravelling rope, and
with this I padded out my knickers inside, and my shirt as well,
though it was a clumsy job, for I could not see what I was doing. Now,
getting my largest dog, Doc, as big as a wolf and weighing ninety-two
pounds, I made him lie down, so that I could cuddle round him. I then
wrapped the three skins around me, arranging them so that I could lie
on one edge, while the other came just over my shoulders and head.
My own breath collecting inside the newly flayed skin must have had a
soporific effect, for I was soon fast asleep. One hand I had kept warm
against the curled up dog, but the other, being gloveless, had frozen,
and I suddenly awoke, shivering enough, I thought, to break my fragile
pan. What I took at first to be the sun was just rising, but I soon
found it was the moon, and then I knew it was about half-past twelve.
The dog was having an excellent time. He hadn't been cuddled so warm
all winter, and he resented my moving with low growls till he found it
wasn't another dog.
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