f. It seemed after that as if he were
to be left in peace. But no. His lips parted, his chin went up a
little, his eyes closed, the tickling gave place to a sudden imperative
ultimatum, and, when all was over, Margaret had waked.

They talked for a long time, for she could not go to sleep again, and
Aladdin told her many things and kept her from crying, but he did not
tell her about the awful bird or the more awful eyes. He told her about
his little brother, and the yellow cat they had, and about the great
city where he had once lived, and why he was called Aladdin. And when
the real began to grow dim, he told her stories out of strange books
that he had read, as he remembered them--first the story of Aladdin and
then others.

"Once," began Aladdin, though his teeth were knocking together and his
arms aching and his nose running--"once there was a man named Ali Baba,
and he had forty thieves--"

III

Even in the good north country, where the white breath of the melting
icebergs takes turn and turn with diamond nights and days, people did
not remember so thick a fog; nor was there a thicker recorded in any
chapter of tradition. Indeed, if the expression be endurable, so black
was the whiteness that it was difficult to know when morning came. There
was a fresher shiver in the cold, the sensibility that tree-tops
were stirring, a filmy distinction of objects near at hand, and the
possibility that somewhere 'way back in the east the rosy fingers of
dawn were spread upon a clear horizon. Collisions between ships at sea
were reported, and many a good sailorman went down full fathom five to
wait for the whistle of the Great Boatswain.

The little children on the island roused themselves and groped about
among the chilled, dripping stems of the trees; they had no end in view,
and no place to go, but motion was necessary for the lame legs and arms.
Margaret had caught a frightful cold and Aladdin a worse, and they were
hungrier than should be allowed. Now a jarred tree rained water down
their necks, and now their faces went with a splash and sting into
low-hanging plumes of leaves; often there would be a slip and a
scrambling fall. And by the time Aladdin had done grimacing over a
banged shin, Margaret would have a bruised anklebone to cry about.
The poor little soul was very tired and penitent and cold and hurt and
hungry, and she cried most of the time and was not to be comforted. But
Aladdin bit his lips and hel