To Build a Fire

The man flung a look back along the way he had come. The Yukon lay a mile wide

Day had broken cold and grey, exceedingly cold and grey, when the man turned aside from the main Yukon trail and climbed the high earth- bank where a dim and little-travelled trail led eastward through the fat spruce timberland. It was a steep bank, and he paused for breath at the top, excusing the act to himself by looking at his watch. It was nine o clock. There was no sun nor hint of sun though there was not a cloud in the sky. It was a clear day and yet there seemed an intangible pall over the face of things, a subtle gloom that made the day dark and that was due to the absence of sun. This fact did not worry the man. He was used to the lack of sun. It had been days since he had seen the sun and he knew that a few more days must pass before that cheerful orb due south would just peep above the sky line and dip immediately from view.

The man flung a look back along the way he had come. The Yukon lay a mile wide and hidden under three feet of ice. On top of this ice were as many feet of snow. It was all pure white rolling in gentle undulations where the ice jams of the freeze-up had formed. North and south as far as his eye could see.

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