The Big Otter, by R.M. Ballantyne

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Title: The Big Otter

Author: R.M. Ballantyne

Release Date: June 7, 2007 [EBook #21718]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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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 fello

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