the
fort all was a wide, waste wilderness for _thousands_ of miles around.
Deathlike stillness and solitude reigned everywhere, except when a covey
of ptarmigan whirred like large snowflakes athwart the sky, or an arctic
fox prowled stealthily through the woods in search of prey.

As if in opposition to the gloom and stillness and solitude outside, the
interior of the clerks' house presented a striking contrast of ruddy
warmth, cheerful sounds, and bustling activity.

It was evening; but although the sun had set, there was still sufficient
daylight to render candles unnecessary, though not enough to prevent a
bright glare from the stove in the centre of the hall taking full effect
in the darkening chamber, and making it glow with fiery red. Harry
Somerville sat in front, and full in the blaze of this stove, resting
after the labours of the day; his arms crossed on his breast, his head a
little to one side, as if in deep contemplation, as he gazed earnestly
into the fire, and his chair tilted on its hind legs so as to balance
with such nicety that a feather's weight additional outside its centre
of gravity would have upset it. He had divested himself of his coat--a
practice that prevailed among the young gentlemen when _at home_, as
being free-and-easy as well as convenient. The doctor, a tall,
broad-shouldered man, with red hair and whiskers, paced the room
sedately, with a long pipe depending from his lips, which he removed
occasionally to address a few remarks to the accountant, a stout, heavy
man of about thirty, with a voice like a Stentor, eyes sharp and active
as those of a ferret, and a tongue that moved with twice the ordinary
amount of lingual rapidity. The doctor's remarks seemed to be
particularly humorous, if one might judge from the peals of laughter
with which they were received by the accountant, who stood with his back
to the stove in such a position that, while it warmed him from his heels
to his waist, he enjoyed the additional benefit of the pipe or chimney,
which rose upwards, parallel with his spine, and, taking a sudden bend
near the roof, passed over his head--thus producing a genial and equable
warmth from top to toe.

"Yes," said the doctor, "I left him hotly following up a rabbit-track,
in the firm belief that it was that of a silver fox."

"And did you not undeceive the greenhorn?" cried the accountant, with
another shout of laughter.

"Not I," replied the doctor. "I merely recommen