Curtains were hung up in front of it to
prevent draughts. A canvas awning was also spread over the deck from
stem to stern, so that it was confidently hoped the _Dolphin_ would
prove a snug tenement even in the severest cold.
As has been said before, the snow-drift almost buried the hull of the
ship, and as snow is a good _non-conductor_ of heat, this further helped
to keep up the temperature within. A staircase of snow was built up to
the bulwarks on the larboard quarter, and on the starboard side an
inclined plane of snow was sloped down to the ice to facilitate the
launching of the sledges when they had to be pulled on deck.
Such were the chief arrangements and preparations that were made by our
adventurers for spending the winter; but although we have described them
at this point in our story, many of them were not completed until a much
later period.
CHAPTER XI.
_A hunting-expedition, in the course of which the hunters meet with many
interesting, dangerous, peculiar, and remarkable experiences, and make
acquaintance with seals, walruses, deer, and rabbits_.
We must now return to Fred Ellice and his companions, Meetuck the
Esquimau, O'Riley, and Joseph West, whom we left while they were on the
point of starting on a hunting-expedition.
They took the direction of the ice-hummocks out to sea, and, seated
comfortably on a large sledge, were dragged by the team of dogs over the
ice at the rate of ten miles an hour.
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