Steve Young Part 65

"Nay, she's lauchin' at her. Cauder! She could na pe mair caud than the noo."

"Oh, very well; wait and see."

"Put she's chust choking her."

"Chust choking you!" cried Steve, laughing. "I tell you it's all true."

"Hey, then, what's to pecome of her?" groaned Watty. "She couldna pear a pit mair caud, and she'll have to pe perried out here in the ice and snaw. Ye'll chust tell her ane thing, Meester Stevey. She winna lauch at her?"

"No, I won't laugh, Watty. What is it?"

"They keek oop a lot o' talk and clish ma claver aboot it kettin' dairk.

Is she coing to hae ferry short days--shorter than they are the noo?"

"There'll be no days at all soon. It will all be night."

"Phwat! Dairk nicht, and no taylight at a'?"

"Not a bit. The sun will not rise at all for about eighteen weeks."

Watty looked out wildly from among the wool of the great-coat he had on and from beneath the fur of his peaked cap with quite an agonised expression.

"She isna choking her?"

"No, I told you I would not."

"The sun winna coom oop at a'?"

"No, not at all for eighteen weeks. It will be all night."

"Then ta wairld's going to be at an eend?"

"Nonsense! No."

"Then the sun's coing oot?"

"Not a bit of it."

"Then whar she coing to?"

"Down toward the South Pole."

"She canna understan' it," said Watty piteously. "She thocht it was a'

talk to frechten her. Then we shall nivver see the sun any more?"

"Of course we shall. There'll be eighteen weeks without it, and then it will begin to get lighter again more and more, till the sun keeps up in the sky like it did when we came up here just now. You understand?"

"Nay, she dinna understan' it a pit."

"But you saw that the sun did not set for a long time?"

"Yes, she saw tat; but she nivver understood it a pit."

"Well, it is puzzling," said Steve. "It took me some time to get it into my head, but I do pretty well understand it now. Why, Watty, if we stood at the North Pole at midsummer, we should see the sun go round and round in the sky, and then every day get a little lower and a little lower, till it was only just in sight; and then still lower, till it disappeared altogether."

"Does she mean went oot o' sicht a' thegither?"

"Yes."

"And wad she hae to stan' recht o' the top o' the pole to see tat?"

"No, at the Pole. You don't think there's a wooden pole there, do you?"

"Ay. Andra says she's a creat pig pole, an' ta wairld turns roond and roond upon her."

"The world turns round and round; but there's no wooden pole, only one spot they call the Pole."

"An' ye can see the sun go roond like tat, Meester Stevey?"

"You could if you could get there. n.o.body has ever been so far north.

I don't think anybody has been so far before as this."

"Then how do they know?"

"Oh, by calculations and books."

"She dinna pelieve it."

"Oh, it's quite true, though."

"What, tat ta sun coes roond like tat?"

"Yes, I'm not deceiving you. Don't you believe me?"

"Oh ay, she pelieves pecause she knows she's a chentleman; and when a chentleman says onything is true she is quite true."

"Thank you," said Steve, smiling. "Put if ta sun coes on like tat, an'

she's squirming oop an' squirming doon, she's cot something wrong wi'

her wairks."

Steve laughed.

"Ay, put it's naething to lauch aboot, Meester Stevey. Thenk o' the sun coing quite oot for eighteen weeks. Oh, it's a waefu' place. What'll we do when it's a' nicht?"

"Go to sleep like the bears do, and have a good long rest."

"Go to sleep for eighteen weeks!" cried Watty in horror. "Why, she'd nivver wak' ony mair!"

"Oh yes, you would; and besides, it will not be quite dark. There'll be the moon and stars and the aurora."