. CHAPTER XIV. SOME EXCURSIONS. ^nWi^ did not take long to furnish the new ahode. A camp-bed ^ • ^ was set up in the hall, and the carpenter Mac-Nab con- ^^^^ structed a most substantial table, around which were ranged fixed benches. A few movable scats and two enormous presses completed the furniture of this apartment. The inner room, which was also ready, was divided by solid partitions into six dormitories, the two end ones alone being lighted by windows looking to the front and back. The only furniture was a bed and a table. Mrs Paulina Barnett and Madge were installed in one which looked immediately out upon the lake. Hobson offered the other with the window in it to Thomas Black, and the astro- nomer took immediate possession of it. The Lieutenant's own room was a dark cell adjoining the hall, with no window but a bull's eye pierced through the partition. Mrs Joliffe, Mrs Mac-Nab, and Mrs Rae, with their husbands, occupied the other dormitories. These good people agreed so well together that it would have been a pity to separate them. Moreover, an addition was expected shortly to the little colony ; and Mac-Nab had already gone so far as to secure the services of Mrs Barnett as god-mOther, an honour which gave the good woman much satisfaction. The sledges had been entirely unloaded, and the bedding carried into the different rooms. All utensils, stores, and provisions which were not required for immediate use were stowed away in a garret, to which a ladder gave access. The winter clothing — such as boots, overcoats, furs, and skins — were also taken there, and protected from the damp in large chests. As soon as these arrangements were completed, the Lieutenant began to provide for the heating of the house. Know'ing that the most energetic measures were necessary to combat the severity of the Arctic winter, and that during the weeks of intensest cold there would be no possibility of leaving the house to forage for supplies, he ordered a quantity of fuel to be brought
