instantly pulled the flask away, and with it a piece
of skin about the size of a sixpence. Having achieved this little feat,
we once more bent our steps homeward.

During our walk the day had darkened, and the sky insensibly become
overcast. Solitary flakes of snow fell here and there around us, and a
low moaning sound, as of distant wind, came mournfully down through the
sombre trees, and, eddying round their trunks in little gusts, gently
moved the branches, and died away in the distance. With an uneasy
glance at these undoubted signs of an approaching storm, we hastened
towards the fort as fast as our loads permitted us, but had little hope
of reaching it before the first burst of the gale. Nature had laid
aside her sparkling jewels, and was now dressed in her simple robe of
white. Dark leaden clouds rose on the northern horizon, and the distant
howling of the cold, cold wind struck mournfully on our ears, as it
rushed fresh and bitterly piercing from the Arctic seas, tearing madly
over the frozen plains, and driving clouds of hail and snow before it.
Whew! how it dashed along--scouring wildly over the ground, as if
maddened by the slight resistance offered to it by the swaying bushes,
and hurrying impetuously forward to seek a more worthy object on which
to spend its bitter fury! Whew! how it curled around our limbs,
catching up mountains of snow into the air, and dashing them into
impalpable dust against our wretched faces. Oh! it was bitterly,
bitterly cold. Notwithstanding our thick wrappings, we felt as if
clothed in gauze; while our faces seemed to collapse and wrinkle up as
we turned them from the wind and hid them in our mittens. One or two
flocks of ptarmigan, scared by the storm, flew swiftly past us, and
sought shelter in the neighbouring forest. We quickly followed their
example, and availing ourselves of the partial shelter of the trees,
made the best of our way back to the fort, where we arrived just as it
was getting dark, and entered the warm precincts of Bachelors' Hall like
three animated marble statues, so completely were we covered from head
to foot with snow.

It was curious to observe the change that took place in the appearance
of our guns after we entered the warm room. The barrels, and every bit
of metal upon them, instantly became white, like ground glass! This
phenomenon was caused by the condensation and freezing of the moist
atmosphere of the room upon the cold iron. Any pie