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'IT WILL SMELL,' I SAID, 'but it will keep in the heat and
keep out the rain and snow.'
We were surveying the completed sealskin roof.
'It is clumsy, but it will serve the purpose, and that is the
main thing,' I went on, yearning for her praise.
And she clapped her hands and declared that she was hugely
pleased.
'But it is dark in here,' she said the next moment, her shoulders
shrinking with a little involuntary shiver.
'You might have suggested a window when the walls were going
up,' I said. 'It was for you, and you should have seen the need
of a window.'
'But I never do see the obvious, you know,' laughed back. 'And
besides, you can knock a hole in the wall at any time.'
'Quite true; I had not thought of it,' I replied, wagging my
head sagely. 'But have you thought of ordering the window-glass?
Just call up the firm,- Red 4451 I think it is,- and tell them
what size and kind of glass you wish.'
'That means-' she began.
'No window.'
It was a dark and evil-appearing thing, that hut, not fit for
aught better than swine in a civilized land; but for us who had
known the misery of the open boat it was a snug little habitation.
Following the housewarming, which was accomplished by means of
seal-oil and a wick made from cotton calking, came the hunting
for our winter's meat and the building of the second hut. It was
a simple affair, now, to go forth in the morning and return by
noon with a boat-load of seals. And then, while I worked at building
the hut, Maud tried out the oil from the blubber and kept a slow
fire under the frames of meat. I had heard of jerking beef on
the plains, and our seal-meat, cut in thin strips and hung in
the smoke, cured excellently.
The second hut was easier to erect, for I built it against
the first and only three walls were required. But it was work,
hard work, all of it. Maud and I worked from dawn till dark, to
the limit of our strength, so that when night came we crawled
stiffly to bed and slept the animal-like sleep of exhaustion.
And yet she declared that she had never felt better nor stronger
in her life. I knew this was true of myself, but hers was such
a lily strength that I feared she would break down. Often and
often, her last reserve force gone, I have seen her stretched
flat on her back on the sand, in the way she had of resting and
recuperating. And then she would be up on her feet and toiling
as hard as ever. Where she obtained this strength was a marvel
to me.
'Think of the long rest this winter,' was her reply to my remonstrances.
'Why, we'll be clamorous for something to do.'
We held a housewarming in my hut the night it was roofed. It
was the end of the third day of a fierce storm that had swung
around the compass from the southeast to the northwest, and that
was then blowing directly in upon us. The beaches of the outer
cove were thundering with the surf, and even in our landlocked
inner cove a respectable sea was breaking. No high backbone of
island sheltered us from the wind, and it whistled and bellowed
about the hut till at times I feared for the strength of the walls.
The skin roof, stretched tightly as a drumhead, I had thought,
sagged and bellied with every gust; and innumerable interstices
in the walls, not so tightly stuffed with moss as Maud had supposed,
disclosed themselves. Yet the seal-oil burned brightly, and we
were warm and comfortable.
It was a pleasant evening indeed, and we voted that as a social
even on Endeavor Island it had not yet been eclipsed. Our minds
were at ease. Not only had we resigned ourselves to the bitter
winter, but we were prepared for it. The seals could depart on
their mysterious journey into the south at any time, now, for
all we cared; and the storms held no terror for us. Not only were
we sure of being dry and warm and sheltered from the wind, but
we had the softest and most luxurious mattresses that could be
made from moss. This had been Maud's idea, and she had herself
jealously gathered all the moss. This was to be my first night
on the mattress, and I knew I should sleep the sweeter because
she had made it.
As she rose to go, she turned to me with the whimsical way
she had, and said:
'Something is going to happen- is happening, for that matter.
I feel it. Something is coming here, to us. It is coming now.
I don't know what, but it is coming.'
'Good or bad?' I asked.
She shook her head. 'I don't know, but it is there, somewhere.'
She pointed toward the sea and wind.
'It's a lee shore,' I laughed, 'and I am sure I'd rather be
here than arriving a night like this.'
'You are not frightened?' I asked, as I stepped to open the
door for her.
Her eyes looked bravely into mine.
'And you feel well? Perfectly well?' I said.
'Never better,' was her answer.
We talked a little longer before she went.
'Good night, Maud,' I said.
'Good night, Humphrey,' she said.
This use of our given names had come about quite as a matter
of course, and was as unpremeditated as it was natural. In that
moment I could have put my arms around her and drawn her to me.
I should certainly have done so out in that world to which we
belonged. As it was, the situation stopped there in the only way
it could; but I was left alone in my little hut, glowing warmly
through and through with a pleasant satisfaction; and I knew that
a tie, or a tacit something, existed between us that had not existed
before.
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