大学英语作文37900字：To Build a Fire第2页
co and to increase the length of his amber beard.once in a while the thought reiterated itself that it was very cold and that he had never eperienced such cold. as he walked along he rubbed his cheek-bones and nose with the back of his mittened hand. he did this automatically, now and again changing hands. but rub as he would, the instant he stopped his cheek-bones went numb, and the following instant the end of his nose went numb. he was sure to frost his cheeks; he knew that, and eperienced a pang of regret that he had not devised a nose-strap of the sort bud wore in cold snaps. such a strap passed across the cheeks, as well, and saved them. but it didnt matter much, after all. what were frosted cheeks? a bit painful, that was all; they were never serious.
empty as the mans mind was of thoughts, he was keenly observant, and he noticed the changes in the creek, the curves and bends and timber jams, and always he sharply noted where he placed his feet. once coming around a bend, he shied abruptly, like a startled horse, curved away from the place where he had been walking, and retreated several paces back along the trail. the creek he knew was frozen clear to the bottom,--no creek could contain water in that arctic winter,--but he knew also that there were springs that bubbled out from the hillsides and ran along under the snow and on top the ice of the creek. he knew that the coldest snaps never froze these springs, and he knew likewise their danger. they were traps. 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 alternate layers of water and ice-skin, so that when one broke through he kept on breaking through for a while, sometimes wetting himself to the waist.
that was why he had shied in such panic. he had felt the give under his feet and heard the crackle of a snow-hidden ice-skin. and to get his feet wet in such a temperature meant trouble and danger. at the very least it meant delay, for he would be forced to stop and build a fire, and under its protection to bare his feet while he dried his socks and moccasins. he stood and studied the creek-bed and its banks, and decided that the flow of water came from the right. he reflected a while, rubbing his nose and cheeks, then skirted to the left, stepping gingerly and testing the footing for each step. once clear of the danger, he took a fresh chew of tobacco and swung along at his four-mile gait.
in the course of the net two hours he came upon several similar traps. usually the snow above the hidden pools had a sunken, candied appearance that advertised the danger. once again, however, he had a close call; and once, suspecting danger, he compelled the dog to go on in front. the dog did not want to go. it hung back until the man shoved it forward, and then it went quickly across the white, unbroken surface. suddenly it broke through, floundered to one side, and got away to firmer footing. it had wet its forefeet and legs, and almost immediately the water that clung to it turned to ice. it made quick efforts to lick the ice off its legs, then dropped down in the snow and began to bite out the ice that had formed between the toes. l his was a matter of instinct. to permit the ice to remain would mean sore feet. it did not know this. it merely obeyed the mysterious prompting that arose from the deep crypts of its being. but the man knew, having achieved a judgment on the subject, and he removed the mitten from his right hand and helped tear out the ice-particles. he did not epose his fingers more than a minute, and was astonished at the swift numbness that smote them. it certainly was cold. he pulled on the mitten hastily, and beat the hand savagely across his chest.
at twelve oclock the day was at its brightest. yet the sun was too; far south an its winter journey to clear the horizon. the bulge of the earth intervened between it arid henderson creek, where the man walked under a clear sky at noon and cast no shadow. at half-past twelve, to the minute, he arrived at the forks of the creek. he was. pleased at the speed he had made. if he kept it up, he would certainly be with the boys by si. he unbuttoned his jacket and shirt and drew forth his lunch. the action consumed no more than a quarter of a minute, yet in that brief moment the numbness laid hold of the eposed fingers. he did not put the mitten on, but, instead struck the fingers a dozen sharp smashes against his leg. then he sat down on a snow-covered log to eat. the sting that followed upon the striking of his fingers against his leg ceased so quickly that he was startled. he had had no chance to take a bite of biscuit. he struck the fingers repeatedly and returned them to the mitten, baring the other hand for the purpose of eating, he tried to take a mouthful, but the ice-muzzle prevented. he had forgotten to build a fire and thaw out. he chuckled at his foolishness, and as he chuckled he noted the numbness creeping into the eposed fingers. also, he noted that the stinging which had first come to his toes when he sat down was already passing away. he wandered whether the toes were warm or numb. he moved them inside the moccasins and decided that they were numb.
he pulled the mitten on hurriedly and stood up. he was a bit frightened. he stamped up and down until the stinging returned into the feet. it certainly was cold, was his thought. that man from sulphur creek had spoken the truth when telling how cold it sometimes got in the 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. he strode up and down, stamping his feet and threshing his arms, until reassured by the returning warmth. then he got out matches and proceeded to make a fire. from the undergrowth, where high water of the previous spring had lodged a supply of seasoned twigs, he got his firewood. working carefully from a small beginning, he soon had a roaring fire, over which he thawed the ice from his face and in the protection of which he ate his biscuits. for the moment the cold space was outwitted. the dog took satisfaction in the fire, stretching out close enough for warmth and far enough away to escape being singed.
when the man had finished, be filled his pipe and took his comfortable time over a smoke. then he pulled on his mittens, settled the ear-flaps of his cap firmly about his ears, and took the creek trail up the left fork. the dog was disappointed and yearned back toward the fire. this man did not know cold. possibly all the generations of his ancestry had been ignorant of cold of real cold, of cold one hundred and seven degrees below freezing point. but the dog knew; all its ancestry knew, and it had inherited the knowledge. and it knew that it was not good to walk abroad in such fearful cold. it was the time to lie snug in a hole in the snow and wait for a curtain of cloud to be drawn across the face of outer space whence this cold came. on the other hand, there was no keen intimacy between the dog and the man. the one was the toil-slave of the other, and the only caresses it had ever received were the caresses of the whiplash and of harsh and menacing throat-sounds that threatened the whiplash. so, the dog made no effort to communicate its apprehension to the man. it was not concerned in the welfare of the man, it was for its own sake that it yearned back toward the fire. but the man whistled, and spoke to it with the sound of whiplashes and the dog swung in at the mans heel and followed after.
the man took a chew of tobacco and proceeded to start a new amber beard. also, his moist breath quickly powdered with white his mustache, eyebrows, and lashes. there did not seem to be so many springs on the left fork of the henderson, and for half an hour the man saw no signs of any. and then it happened. at a place where there were