"It does get a bit wearisome, but 'tis a wonderful lot better'n no
rabbit, when rabbit's all there is."

"Wearisome! Wearisome! Confound it, Bob, it's disgusting! Now we've
got to do something to get ourselves out of here, and that quick."

"I'm not knowin', now, what t' do till th' others comes, an' I'm
knowin' they will."

"Come, Bob, let's make a try for that wall down there. Even if the
canoe does get away from us, we can make the wall--I know we can."

"No," and Bob shook his head ominously, "I'm ready t' take any fair
chanct, Shad, but they wouldn't be even a fair chanet t' make un."

"Oh, bosh!" exclaimed Shad angrily. "I thought you had some nerve."

"'Tisn't a matter o' nerve, Shad; 'tis a matter o' what can be done
an' what can't."

"Oh, yes, it can! Anyone with two legs and two hands and two eyes and
just a grain of grit can do it."

Bob, quiet and unruffled, grilled his rabbit, refusing to take offence
or to be moved at Shad's remarks, evidently intended to goad him into
what his experience told him would certainly prove a hopeless and
foolhardy venture.

It is a psychological phenomenon that men, denied action and confined
to limited and solitary surroundings, become highly irascible. They
find cause for offence in every word and every action of their
companions, and it is not unusual for men situated as Ungava Bob and
Shad Trowbridge were to lapse into such a state of antagonism toward
one another that they cease to converse.

This was the condition into which Shad Trowbridge quickly lapsed. He
soon came to ascribe to timidity and cowardice Bob's opposition to his
wish to attempt a crossing to the mainland. He was one who chafed
under restraint, and one who, when he had once decided upon a course
of action, could not brook opposition from another; and though at
heart he knew that Bob was fearless and brave, and that his arguments
were sound, yet he would not now admit this, even to himself.

Normally Shad was a good fellow, and he would endure hardships
cheerfully if the hardships were accompanied by physical activity; but
the condition of monotonous existence, accompanied by idleness and
inactivity, which they were now experiencing, was too great for him to
withstand, and he was prepared to take the most desperate chance to
escape from it. When at length the tea and his tobacco were gone, and
nothing but the daily ration of unseasoned rabbit remained, the
thought of thus continuing indefin