Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England THE BIG OTTER, BY R.M. BALLANTYNE. CHAPTER ONE. SLEEPING IN SNOW. Cold comfort is naturally suggested by a bed of snow, yet I have enjoyed great comfort and much warmth in such a bed. My friend Lumley was particularly fond of warmth and of physical ease, yet he often expressed the opinion, with much emphasis, that there was nothing he enjoyed so much as a night in a snow-bed. Jack Lumley was my chum--a fine manly fellow with a vigorous will, a hardy frame, and a kindly heart. We had a natural leaning towards each other--a sort of undefinable sympathy--which inclined us to seek each other's company in a quiet unobtrusive way. We were neither of us demonstrative; we did not express regard for each other; we made no protestations of undying friendship, but we drew together, somehow, especially in our hunting expeditions which were numerous. On holidays--we had two in the week at the outpost in the American backwoods where we dwelt--when the other young fellows were cleaning gulls or arranging snow-shoes for the day's work, Lumley was wont to say to me:-- "Where d'you intend to shoot to-day, Max?" (Max was an abbreviation; my real name is George Maxby.) "I think I'll go up by the willows and round by Beaver Creek." "I've half a mind to go that way too." "Come along then." And so we would go off together for the day. One morning Lumley said to me, "I'm off to North River; will you come?" "With pleasure, but we'll have to camp out." "Well, it won't be the first time." "D'you know that the thermometer stood at forty below zero this morning before breakfast?" "I know it; what then? Mercurial fellows like you don't freeze easily." I did not condescend to reply, but set about preparing for our expedition, resolving to carry my largest blanket with me, for camping out implied sleeping in the snow. Of course I must guard my readers--especially my juvenile readers--from supposing that it was our purpose that night to undress and calmly lie down in, or on, the pure white winding-sheet in which the frozen world of the Great Nor'-west had been at that time wrapped for more than four months. Our snow-bed, like other beds, required making, but I will postpone the making of it till bed-time. Meanwhile, let us follow the steps of Lumley, who, being taller and stronger than I, _always_ led the way.