Page:Cornelia Meigs-The Pirate of Jasper Peak.djvu/223

 “Dick,” he said sharply, “are you sorry we stayed?”

“No,” came the answer promptly. “No, by George, I'm not sorry, no matter what happens.”

“Nor I,” said Hugh, and lay down again, quieted somehow, so that soon he went to sleep.

He awoke, hours later, with a vague knowledge that something was wrong. After rubbing the drowsiness from his eyes and thinking a little, he  decided that, even under his mountain of blankets,  he was very cold. He got up hastily, huddled on all of his clothes, even to his mackinaw coat, and  went into the other room to crouch before the  hearth. The fire was not yet dead, but such warmth as it could give made little impression  upon the terrible benumbing chill that filled the  cottage. Nicholas, shivering and whining, came to his side and the two crept close together, each  getting a little comfort from the other. Dick was still asleep; they could hear his breathing in  the utter quiet, and the clock tick-ticking above  them on the wall. In the flickering light Hugh