It did not trouble me much, for I was hungry and thirsty, and then I felt sleepy, and then shivering with cold, while a few minutes later I felt as if nothing mattered at all, for I was utterly wearied out.
Bigley was the first to speak, but it was not in the fierce tone of a short time before. He seemed to have changed back into our big mild school-fellow as he said:
“Come on over here, Sep, and let’s all creep together. It won’t be so cold then.”
I noted the change in his tone, but I could not say anything, only obey him.
“Come, Bob,” I said, as I climbed over the thwart, and tried to stand steadily in the dancing boat.
But Bob did not move or speak, and we others crept close to his side, beginning by edging up and leaning against each other, shivering the while, but the improvement was so great at the end of a few minutes, that we thrust our arms under each other’s soaked jackets, and held on as closely as we could, to feel bitterly cold outside but comfortably warm on the inner.
The stars came out more and more, the wind died away, and the short dancing motion by very slow degrees subsided into a regular cradle-like rock, that, in spite of the cold, had a lulling effect upon us; and at last I seemed to be thinking of the miserable-looking mine in the Gap, and my father scolding me for going away without asking leave, and then everything seemed to be nothing, and nothing else.