Episode 20 - To Build A Fire

Hello and welcome to this pod episode 20. With Halloween coming up, everyone is sharing spooky stories. I wish to share with you a tale of terror. It doesn't involve monsters or aliens or even murderers. Just a simple tale of a man against one of his greatest foes. Nature. And this case, extreme cold. For those of you who are new here, some episodes of meat as Potter full cast affairs with Foley in music, sometimes I just want to

tell you a story like this one. Before we start, I'd like to thank those who have donated to me this pod via boosts, the following people have donated Bitcoin via the value for value feature and podcasting 2.0 If you aren't sure what that is, is when listeners using a modern podcast app like fountain or pod verse, listen and press the boost button and stream micropayments to meet this pod as they listen. Find a better podcast app at new podcast apps.com. They're not a sponsor,

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to build a fire by Jack London. Day had dawned cold and gray when the man turned aside from the main Yukon trail. He climbed

the high Earth bank where a little traveled trail led east through the pine forest. It was a high bank and a pause to breathe at the top. He excused the act to himself by looking at his watch. It was nine o'clock in the morning. There was no sun or promise of sun. Although there was not a cloud in the sky. It was a clear day. However, there seemed to be an indescribable darkness over the face of things. That was because the sun was absent from the sky. This factor did not worry the

man he was not alarmed by the lack of sun. It had been days since he had seen the sun. The men looked along the way he had come. The Yukon lay a mile wide and hidden under three feet of ice on top of the ice, whereas many feet of snow. It was all pure white. North and South, as far as I could see was an unbroken white. The one thing that relieved the whiteness was a thin dark line that curved from the pine covered Islands to the south. It curved into the north where it disappeared

behind another pine covered Island. This dark line was the trail the main trail. It led South 500 miles to the Chilkoot pass and salt water. It led north 75 miles to Dawson and still further on to the north 1000 miles to new lotto. And finally, to St Michael on Bering Sea 1000 miles and a half more. But all this the distant trail, no sun in the sky, the great cold and the strangeness of it all had no effect on the man. It was not because he was long familiar with it. He was a

newcomer in the land, and this was his first winter. The trouble with him was that he is not able to imagine. He was quick and ready in the things of life, but only in the things and not their meanings. 50 degrees below zero meant 80 degrees of frost. Such facts told him that it was cold and uncomfortable. And that was all. It did not lead him to consider his weakness as a creature affected by temperature. Nor did he think about man's general weakness, able to live only within a

narrow limit of heat and cold. From there it did not lead him to thoughts of Heaven and the meaning of a man's life. 50 degrees below zero meant a bite of frost that hurt and that must be guarded against by the use of mittens ear coverings, warm moccasins and thick socks. 50 degrees below zero was to him nothing more than 50 degrees below zero. That it should be more important than that was a thought that never entered his

head. As he turned to go, he forced some water from it. His mouth as an experiment, there was a sudden noise that surprised him. He tried it again and again in the air before they could fall to the snow. The drops of water became ice that broke with the noise. He knew that at 50 below zero water from the mouth made a noise when it hit the snow. But this had done that in the air. Undoubtedly it was colder than 50 below. But exactly how much colder he did not know. But the temperature

did not matter. He was headed for the old camp on Henderson Creek, where the boys were already they had come across the mountain from the Indian Creek Country. He had taken the long trail to look at the possibility of floating logs from the island and the Yukon down the river when the ice melted. He would be in camp by six o'clock that evening. It would be a little after dark, but the boys would be there. A fire would be

burning, and a hot supper would be ready. As he thought of lunch, he pressed his hands against the package under his jacket. It was also under his shirt, wrapped in a handkerchief, and lying for warmth against his naked skin. Otherwise the bread would freeze. He smiled contently to himself as he thought of those pieces of bread, each of which enclosed a generous portion of cooked meat. He plunged among the big pine trees. The trail was not well

marked here. several inches of snow had fallen since the last sled had passed. He was glad he was without a sled. Actually, he carried nothing but the lunch wrapped in the handkerchief. He was surprised, however, at the cold. It certainly was cold he decided as He rubbed his nose and face with his mittened hand. He had a good growth of hair on his face, but it did not protect his nose or the upper part of his face from the frosty air.

Following the man's heels was a big native dog, and was a wolf dog gray coated and not noticeably different from its brother, the wild wolf. The animal was worried by the great cold. It knew that this was no time for traveling. Its own feeling was closer to the truth than the man's judgment. And reality it was not merely colder than 50 below zero. It was colder than 60 below than 70 below. It was 75 below zero. Because the freezing point is 32 above zero. It meant that there

were 107 degrees of frost. The dog did not know anything about temperatures, possibly and its brain there was no understanding of a condition of very cold, such as was in the man's brain. But the animals sense to the danger. It's fear made it question eagerly every movement of the man as if it were expecting him to go into a camp or seek shelter somewhere and build a fire. The dog had learned about fire and it wanted fire. Otherwise it would dig itself into the snow and find

the shelter from the cold air. The frozen moistness of its breath had settled on its fur and a fine powder of frost. The hair on the man's face was similarly frosted, but more solidly. It took the form of ice and increased with every warm, moist breath from his mouth. Also, the man had tobacco in his mouth. The ice held his lips so tightly together that he could not empty the juice from his mouth. The result was a long piece of yellow ice hanging from his lip. If he fell down, it

would break like glass into many pieces. He expected the ice formed by the tobacco juice, having been out twice before when it was very cold. But it had not been as cold as this. He knew. He continued through the level forest for several miles. Then he went down a bank to the frozen path of a small stream. This was Henderson Creek, and he knew he was 10 miles from where the stream divided. He looked at his watch. It was 10 o'clock. He

was traveling at the rate of four miles an hour. Thus, he figured that he would arrive where the stream divided at half past 12 He decided that he would eat lunch when he arrived there. The dog followed again at his heels and its tail hanging low as the man started to walk along the frozen stream. The old sled trail can be seen but it doesn't inches of snow covered the marks of the last sled. And a month no man had traveled up or down that

silent Creek, the man went steadily ahead. He was not much of a thinker. At that moment, he had nothing to think about, except that he would eat lunch at the streams divide. And then at six o'clock, he would be in the camp with the boys. There was nobody to talk to, and had there been speech would have not

been possible because of the ice around his mouth. Once in a while, the thought repeated itself that it was very cold, and that he had never experienced such cold as he walked along and rubbed his face and knows what the back of his mitten hand. He did this without thinking, frequently changing hands. But with all this rubbing, the instant he stopped, his face and nose became numb, his face would surely be frozen. He knew that he was sorry that he had not worn the sort of nose

guard bud wore when it was cold. Such a guard passed across the nose and covered the entire face. But it did not matter much. He decided what was a little frost, a bit painful. That was all. It was never serious. Empty as the man's mind was of thoughts, he was most observant. He noticed the changes in the creek, the curbs and the bends, and he always noted where he placed his feet. Once coming around the bend, he moved suddenly to the side, like a frightened horse.

He curved away from the place where he had been walking and retracted his steps several feet along the trail. He knew the creek was frozen to the bottom. No Creek could contain water in that winter. But he also knew that there were streams of water that came out of the hillsides and ran under the snow and on top of the ice of the creek. He knew that even in the coldest winter the streams were never frozen. And he also knew their danger. They hid pools of water under the snow that might be

three inches deep, or three feet. Sometimes a skin of ice half an inch thick covered them and in turn was covered by the snow. Sometimes there were both water and thin ice. And when a man broke through, he could get very wet. That was why he had jumped away so suddenly, he had felt the ice move under his feet. He had also heard the noise of the snow covered ice skin breaking and to get his feet wet in such a temperature meant trouble and danger. At the very least emit delay, because

he would be forced to stop and build a fire. Only under its protection could he bear his feet while he dried his socks and moccasins. He stood and studied the creek bottom and its banks. He decided that the flowing stream of water came from the right side. He thought a while rubbing his nose and face. Then he walked to the left. He stepped carefully and tested the ice at each step. Once away from the danger, he continued at his four mile pace. During the next two hours he

came to several similar dangers. Usually the snow above the pool has sunken appearance. However, once again, he came near to falling through the ice. Once since in danger, he made the dog go ahead, the dog did not want to go. It hesitated until the man pushed it forward. And then it went quickly across the white unbroken surface. Suddenly it fell through the ice, but climbed out on the other side which was firm. It had wet its feet and legs. Almost immediately the water on them

turned to ice. The dog make quick efforts to get the ice off his legs. Then it lay down in the snow and began to bite out the ice that had formed between its toes. The animal knew enough to do this. To permit the eyes to remain would mean sore feet. It did not know this. It merely obeyed the command that arose from the deepest part of its being. But the man knew these things having learned them from experience. He removed the mitten from his right hand and help the dog tear out the pieces

of ice. He did not bear his fingers more than a minute and was surprised to find that they were numb. It certainly was cold. He pulled on the mitten quickly and beat the hand across his breast. At 12 o'clock the day was at its brightest. Get the sun did not appear in the sky at half past 12 on the minute he arrived at the divide in the creek. He was pleased at his rate of speed. If he continued he would certainly be with the boys by six o'clock that evening. He unbuttoned his

jacket and shirt and pulled forth his lunch. The action took no more than a quarter of a minute. Yet in that brief moment. The numbness touched his bare fingers he didn't not put the mitten on, but instead struck his fingers against his leg. Then he sat down on a snow covered log to eat. The pain that followed the striking of his fingers against his legs ceased so quickly that he was frightened. He had not time to take a bite of his lunch. He struck them fingers repeatedly,

and returned them to the mitten. Then he bared the other hand for the purpose of eating. He tried to make a mouthful, but the ice around his mouth prevented him. Then he knew what was wrong. He had forgotten to build a fire and warm himself. He laughed at his own foolishness. As he laughed he noted the numbness of his bare fingers. Also, he noted that the feeling which had first come to his toes when he sat down was already passing away.

He wondered whether the toes were warm or whether they were numb. He moved them inside the moccasins and decided that they were numb. He pulled them at non hurriedly and stood up. He was somewhat frightened. He stamped forcefully until feeling returned to his feet. It certainly was cold, was his thought. That man from Silver Creek had spoken the truth when telling how cold is sometimes gotten in this country. And he had laughed at him at the time. That showed one must not be too sure of things.

There was no mistake about it. It was cold. And he walked a few steps, stamping his feet and waving his arms until reassured by the returning warm. Then he took some matches and proceeded to make a fire. And the bushes the high water had left some live sticks. From here, he got wood for his fire. Working carefully From a small beginning, he soon had a roaring fire. Bending over the fire, he first melted the ice from his face. With the protection of the fires warmed he ate his lunch.

For the moment, the cold had been forced away. The dog took comfort in the fire lying at full length close enough for warmth and far enough away to escape being burned. When the man had finished eating, he filled his pipe with tobacco and had a comfortable time with a smoke. Then he pulled on his mittens, settled his cap firmly about his ears and started along the creek trail toward the left. The dog was sorry to leave and look toward the fire. This man did not know cold. Possibly none

of his ancestors had known cold, real cold. But the dog knew and all of his family do. And it knew that it was not good to walk outside and such a fearful cold. Who has the time to lie in a hole in the snow and wait for the awful cold to stop. There was no real bond between the dog and the man. The one was the slave of the other. The dog made no effort to indicate its fears to the man. It was not concerned with the well being of the man.

It was for its own sake that looked toward the fire. But the man whistled and spoke to it with the sound of the whip and his voice. So the dog started walking close to the man's heels and followed him along the trail. The man put more tobacco in his mouth and started a new growth of yellow ice on his face. Again, the moist breath quickly powdered the hair on his face with white. He looked around. There did not seem to be so many pools of water under the snow on the left side of

Henderson Creek. And for half an hour the man saw no signs of any. And then it happened. At a place where there were no signs the man broke through. It was not deep. He was wet to the knees before he got out of the water to the firm's know. He was angry and cursed his luck allowed. He had hoped to get into the camp with the boys at six o'clock and this would delay him an hour. Now he would have to build a fire and dry his moccasins and socks. This was most important at that low

temperature. He knew that much. So he turned aside to the bank, which he climbed on top under several small pines. He found some firewood which had been carried there by the high water of last year that were sticks but also some larger branches and some dry grasses. He threw several large branches on top of the snow. This served for a foundation and prevented the young flame from dying in the wet snow. He made a flame by touching a match to a small piece of tree bark that he took

from his pocket. This burned even better than paper, placing it on the foundation he fed the young flame with pieces of dry grass, and with the smallest dry sticks. He worked slowly and carefully realizing his danger. Gradually, as the flame grew stronger, he increased the size of his sticks with which he fed it. He sat in the snow, pulling the sticks from the bushes under the trees and feeding them directly to the flame. He knew he must not fail. When is 75 below zero, a man must not fail

in his first attempt to build a fire. This is especially true when his feet are wet. If his feet are dry, and he fails, he can run along the trail for half a mile to keep his blood moving. But the blood and wet feet freezing cannot be kept moving by running when it's 75 degrees below. No matter how fast he runs, the wet feet will freeze even harder. All this the man knew. The old man on Silver Creek had told him about it. And now he was grateful for the advice. Already, all feeling was

gone from his feet. To build the fire, he had been forced to remove his mittens, and the fingers have quickly become numb. His pace so four miles an hour had kept his heart pushing the blood to all parts of his body. But the instant he stopped, the action of the heart slowed down. He now received the full force of the cold. The blood of his body drew back from it. The blood was alive, like the dog. Like the dog, it wanted to hide and seek cover away from the

fearful cold. As long as he walked four miles an hour, the blood rose to the surface. But now it sank down into the lowest depths of his body. His feet and hands were the first to feel its absence. His wet feet froze first, his bare fingers were numb. Although they had not yet begun to freeze, nose and face were already freezing, while the skin of his body became cold as it lost its blood. But he was safe. Toes and nose and face would be only touched by the frost. Because the fire was

beginning to burn with strength. He was feeding it with sticks the size of his finger and another minute he would be able to feed it with larger branches. Then he could remove his wet moccasins and socks. While they dried, he could keep his naked feet warm by the fire, rubbing them first with snow. The fire was a success. He was safe. He remembered the advice of the old man at soul for Creek and smiled. The man had been very serious when he said that no man should travel alone in the

country after 50 below zero. Well, here he was. He had had the accident. He was alone, and he had saved Himself. Those old men were rather womanish he thought all A man must do is keep his head and he was all right. A man who was a man could travel alone. But it was surprising the rapidity of which his face and nose were freezing. And he had not thought his fingers could lose their feeling and so shorter time without feeling they were because he found it very difficult to make

them move together to grasp the stick. They seemed far from his body and from him. When he touched a stick, he had a look to see whether or not he was holding it. All of which mattered little. There was a fire promising life with every dancing flame. He started to untie his moccasins. They were coated with ice. The thick socks were like iron, almost to the knees. The moccasins strings were like ropes of steel. For a moment, he pulled them with his unfeeling fingers. Then

realizing the foolishness of it. He grasped his knife. But before he could cut the strings, it happened. It was his own fault. Or instead his mistake. He should not have built the fire under the pine tree. He should have built it in an open space. It had been easier to pull the sticks from the brush and drop them directly into the fire. Now the tree under which he had done this carried a weight of snow on its branches. No wind had been blowing for weeks and each branch was heavy with snow. Each

time he pulled a stick. He shook the tree slightly. There had been just enough movement to cause the awful thing to happen. High up in the tree one branch dropped. It's load of snow that fell on the branches beneath. This process continued spreading through the whole tree. The snow fell without warning upon the man and the fire and the fire was dead. Where it had burned was a pile of fresh snow. The man was shocked. It was like hearing his own judgment of death. For a moment he sat and

stared at the spot where the fire had been. And he grew very calm. Perhaps the old man on Silver Creek was right. If he had a companion on the trail, he would be in no danger. Now, the companion could have built the fire. Now he must build the fire again, and the second time, he must not fail. Even if he succeeded, he would be likely to lose some toes. His feet must be badly frozen by now. And there will be some time before a second fire was ready. Such were his thoughts. But he did not sit

and think them. He was busy all the time they were passing through his mind. He made a new foundation for the fire, this time in an open space where no tree would be above it. Next, he gathered dry grasses and tiny sticks. He could not bring his fingers together to pull them out of the ground, but he was able to gather them by the handful.

And this way, he also got many pieces that were undesirable, but it was the best he could do. He worked carefully, even collecting an arm full of the larger branches to be used when the fire gathered strength. And all the while the dog sat and watched him. There was anxious looking at ties, but it depended on him as the fire provider, and the fire was slow and coming. When all was ready, the man reached his pocket for the second piece of tree bark. He knew the bark was there,

although he could not feel it with his fingers. He tried again and again. But he could not grasp it all the time. In his mind. He knew that each instant his feet were freezing. This thought alarmed him. But he fought past it and kept calm. He pulled on his mittens with his teeth and began swinging his arms. Then he beat his hands with all his strength against suicides. He did this while he was sitting down. Then he stood

up to do it. All the while the dog sat in the snow its tail curled warmly over its feet, and it sharp wolf ears bent behind it as it looked at the man. And the man as he waved his arms and hands looked with longing at the creature that was warm and secure, and the covering provided by nature. After a time he began to notice some feelings in his beaten fingers. The feeling grew stronger until it became very painful. But the man welcome to the pain. He pulled them in from his right hand and

grasped the tree bark in his pocket. The bear fingers were quickly now again. Next, he brought out a pack of matches. But the awful cold had already driven the life out of his fingers and has ever to separate one match from the others the whole pack fell in the snow. He tried to pick it out of the snow but failed, the dead fingers could neither touch nor hold. Now he was very careful. He drove the thought of his freezing feet and nose and face from his mind. He devoted his

whole soul to picking up the matches. He followed the movement of his fingers with his eyes, using his sense of sight instead of that of touch. When he saw his fingers on each side of the packet, he closed them. That is He willed to close them. Because the fingers did not obey. He put the mitten on his right hand and beat it fiercely against his knee. Then, with both mittened hands, he lifted up the pack of matches, along with much snow to the front of his jacket. But he had gained

nothing. After some struggling, he managed to get the pack between his mittened hands. In this manner, he carried it to his mouth. The eyes broke as he opened his mouth with a fierce effort. He used his upper teeth to rub against the pack in order to separate a single match. He succeeded and getting one which he dropped on his jacket is good condition was no better. He could not pick up the match. Then he thought how he might do it. He picked up the match in his teeth and drew it across his

leg 20 times he did this before he succeeded in lighting it. As it flamed he held it with his teeth to the tree bark. But the burning smell went up his nose causing him to cough. The match fell into the snow and the flame died. The old man on sulphur Creek was right. He thought in the moment of controlled despair that followed. After 50 below zero, a man should travel with a companion. He beat his hands but failed to produce any feeling in

them. Suddenly, he buried both hands, removing the mittens with his teeth. He caught the whole pack of matches between his hands, his arm muscles were not frozen, and he was able to press his hands tightly against the matches. Then he drew the whole pack along his leg, it burst into flame 70 matches at once. There was no wind to blow them out. He kept his head to one side to escape the burning smell and held the flaming pack to the tree bark. As he so held it, he noticed some feeling in his

hand. His flesh was burning, he could smell it. The feeling developed into pain, he continued to endure it. He held the flame of the matches to the bark that would not like readily because his own burning hands were taking most of the flame. Finally, when he could endure no more, he pulled his hands apart, the flaming matches fell into the snow, but the tree bark was burning. He began laying dry grasses and the tiniest sticks on the flame.

He could not choose carefully because they must be pieces that could be lifted between his hands. Small pieces of grass stayed on the sticks, and he bid them off as well as he could with his teeth. He treated the flame carefully. It meant life and it must not cease. The blood had left the surface of his body, and he had now began to shake from the cold. A large

piece of wet plant fell on a little fire. He tried to push it out from his fingers, his shaking body made him push it too far, and he scattered the little fire over a wide space. He tried to push the burning grasses and sticks together again. Even with the strong effort that he made, his trembling fingers would not obey and the sticks were hopelessly scattered. Each stick smoked a little and died. The fire

provider had failed. As he looked about him, his eyes noticed the dog sitting across the ruins of the fire from him. It was making uneasy movements, slightly lifting one foot and then the other. The side of the dog put a wild idea into his head. He remembered a story of a man caught in a storm, who killed an animal and sheltered himself inside the dead body, and thus was saved. He would kill the dog and bury his hands in a warm body until the feeling returned to them. And then he

could build another fire. He spoke to the dog, calling it to him. But in his voice was a strange note of fear that frightened the animal. It had never known the man to speak in such a tone before something was wrong. And it's since danger. It knew not what danger. But somewhere in its brain arose a fear of the man. It flattened to tears at the sound of the man's voice. It's uneasy movement and the liftings of its feet became more noticeable, but it would not come to the human. He got

down on his hands and knees and went to the dog. For this unusual position again excited fear and the animal moved away. The man sat in the snow for a moment and struggled for calmness. Then he pulled on his mittens using his teeth, and then he stood on his feet. He glanced down to assure himself that he was really standing because the lack of feeling his feet gave him no relation to the earth. His position, however, removed the fear from the dog's mind. When he commanded the dog

with his usual voice, the dog obeyed and came to him. As it came within his reach, the man lost control. His arm stretched out to hold the dog and he experienced real surprise when he discovered that his hands could not grasp. There was neither bend nor feeling in the fingers. He had forgotten for the moment that they were frozen and that they were freezing more and more. All this had happened quickly and before the animal

could escape he encircled its body with his arms. He sat down in the snow and in this fashion held the dog while It barked and struggled. But it was all he could do. Hold its body and circled in his arms and sit there. He realized that he could not kill the dog. There was no way to do it. With his frozen hands he could neither draw nor hold his knife. nor could he grasp the dog around the throat. He freed it and dashed wildly away still barking. It's not 40 feet away and observed him

curiously, with ears sharply bent forward. The man looked out of his hands to locate them and found them hanging on the ends of his arms. He thought it curious that it was necessary to use his eyes to discover where his hands were. He began waving his arms, beating the mitten hands against his sides. He did this for five minutes. His heart produced enough blood to stop the shaking, but no feeling was created in his hands. A certain

fear of death came upon him. He realized that it was no longer a mere problem of freezing his fingers and toes, or of losing his hands or feet. Now, it was a problem of life and death, with the circumstances against him. The fear made him lose control of himself, and he turned and ran along the creek bed. On the Old Trail, the dog joined him and followed closely behind him. The man ran blindly in fear, such as he had never known in

his life. Slowly, as he struggled through the snow, he began to see things again, the banks of the creek, the bear trees and the sky. The running made him feel better, he did not shake anymore. Maybe if he continued to run, his feet would stop freezing. Maybe if he ran far enough, he would find the camp and the boys. Without doubt, he would lose some fingers and toes and some of his face, but the boys would take care of him, and save the rest of him when he got there. And at the same time,

there was another thought in his mind. That said he would never get to the camp and the boys. It told him that it was too many miles away, that the freezing had to greatest art, and that he would soon be dead. He pushed this thought to the back of his mind and refuse to consider it. Sometimes it came forward and demand to be heard. As he pushed it away, he tried to think of

other things. It seemed strange to him that he could run on feet so frozen, that he could not feel them when they struck the earth and took the weight of his body. He seemed to be flying above the surface, and to have no connection with the earth. His idea of running until he arrived at the camp with the boys presented one problem. He lacked the endurance. Several times he caught himself as he was falling. Finally, he dropped to the ground, unable to stop his fall. When he tried to rise,

he failed. He must sit and rest, he decided next time he would merely walk and keep going. As he sat and regained his breath, he noted that he was feeling warm and comfortable. He was not shaking, and it even seemed that a warm glow had come to his body. And yet, when he touched his nose or face, there was no feeling running would not bring life to them, nor would it help his hands or feet. Then the thought came to him that the frozen portions of his body must be increasing. He tried to keep

this thought out of his mind and to forget. He knew that such thoughts caused a feeling of frightened him, and he was afraid of such feelings. But the thought returned and continued until he could picture his body totally frozen. This was too much. And he again ran wildly along the trail once he slowed to a walk, but the thought that the freezing of his body was increasing made him run again. And all the time the dog ran

with him at his heels. When he fell a second time, the dog curled its tail over its feet and sat in front of him facing him. Curiously eager. The warmth and security of the animal angered him. He cursed it, and it flattened to tears. This time, the shaking because of the cold began more quickly. He was losing the battle with the frost. It was moving into his body from all sides. This thought drove him forward, but he ran no more than 100 feet when he fell headfirst. It was

his last moment of fear. When he had recovered his breath in his control, he sat and thought about meeting death with dignity. However, the idea did not come to him in exactly this manner. His idea was that he had been acting like a fool. He had been running around like a chicken with its head cut off. He was certain to freeze in his present circumstances, and he should accept it calmly. With this newfound peace of mind that came the first sleepiness a good idea he thought to sleep his way

to death. Freezing was as an Not as bad as people thought. There were many worse ways to die. He pictured the boys finding his body the next day. Suddenly he saw himself with them, coming along on the trail and looking for himself. And still with them. He came around a turn of the trail and found himself lying in the snow. He did not belong with himself anymore. Even then, he was outside of himself, standing with the boys and looking at himself in the snow, and certainly was cold was

his thought. When he returned to the United States, he could tell the folks what real cold was. His mind went from this to the fall of the old man at sulphur Creek. He could see him quite clearly warm and comfortable and smoking a pipe. You're right old fellow. You're right. he murmured to the Old Man of sulfur Creek. Then the man dropped into what seemed to him the most comfortable and satisfying sleep he had ever known. The dogs that facing him and waiting. The brief day ended in

a long evening. There are no signs of a fire can be made. Never in the dog's experience hadn't known a man to sit like that in the snow, and make no fire. As the evening grew darker, its eager longing for a fire mastered it. With much lifting of its feet, it cried softly than it flattened its ears, expecting the man's curse, but the man remained silent. Later, the dog Howard loudly, and still later, it moved close to the man and caught the smell of death. This made the animal

back away. A little longer, a delayed, howling at the stars that leaped and danced and shone brightly in the cold sky. Then it turned and ran along the trail towards the camp it knew where there were the other food providers and fire providers

meet us pause and meet US media production. All rights reserved unless otherwise stated. Our music comes to us from odd Sprite, you can hear more of their music at odds bright.com. Remember, if it's more than 50 below, travel with a buddy. Have a good one, folks. We'll see you next time.