The Wreck of the South Pole and Other Strange Tales — page 22: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

The Wreck of the South Pole. 15 the icy plain and leave nothing but a mound of ice to mark the goal of my pilgrimage. It was a small building, not more than 10x12 in di- mensions, but strongly built of logs, a fact which sur- prised me greatly, as there certainly was no timber in that icy region. The interior was comfortably fitted up with a bed, a table, some chairs and a stove, in which a hot fire was burning. To the latter I rushed and held my benumbed hands close to its comfortable sides. I tell you, after days of drifting on a stormy polar sea, and a day’s travel over frozen fields of ice, a fire is a rare comfort. After getting the chill off the outside of me, and my joints loosened up a little, | took a more careful look at the cabin, and then noticed that the table was laid for supper and that there was only one plate. But this was no time for ceremony. ‘The man for whom the meal was provided would well excuse a shipwrecked mariner for devouring it. I sat down with a clear conscience and did so. After my hunger was satisfied I sat thinking. It is a true fact that a man seldom thinks until his animal wants are satisfied. I mean, think in the common use of the word, which is merely recalling memories. When he is in a tight place he reasons. J] am using these words now in the vulgar, not the scientific sense. So I sat thinking. The man whom I thought I saw must have been the owner of this place and no doubt he Connicloool SS (SO)