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ADRIFT ON AN ICE-PAN
Read was skipper-man an’ th’ rest was just youngsters. The sun was warm,—you mind’t was a fine mornin’, —an’ us started in our shirt an’ braces fur us knowed thar’d be hard ‘work to do. I knowed thar was a chance o’ not comin’ back at all, but it didn’ make no difference. I knowed I’d as good a chance asany, an’ ’t wa’ for th’ doctor, an’ ’is life’s worth many, an’ somehow I couldn’ let a man go out like dat wi’out tryin’ fur un, an’ I think us all felt th’ same.
‘‘Us ’ad a good strong boat an’ four oars, an’ took a hot kettle o’ tea an’ food for a week, for us thought u’d ’ave t’ go far an’ p’rhaps lose th’ boat an’ ’ave t’ walk ashore un th’ ice. I din’ ’ope to find the doctor alive an’ kept lookin’ for a sign of un on th’
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