Since the fire went out he would seek shelter in the forest or any other suitable location. An hour later, he came upon a cave and decided that it would be wise to enter and rest. Cold or inhospitable it was a shelter and he was only thinking of what mattered to himself for the moment. For some unknown reason, the dog was uneasy to enter with the man.
When he entered the cave he went to the back knowing that it would not be as unbearable as the outside even if it was still cold inside. His cheeks hurt a bit more now, but he did not suspect anything unusual. He still thought about the old man and what he had said. Finally, he settled in and decided to finish off the last crumbs of what was left of that delicious sandwich. It was very hard for his unresponsive hands to even lift the crumbs to his hungry and frigid mouth.
His frozen beard of amber below was starting to come loose from his chin.
The man looked outside and decided that there was no more time left in the short and now dwindling hours of the day to get back before nightfall. From what he knew about the arctic, he felt it wiser to stay in the dark and ominous cave to avoid the maddening cold and coal darkness of the arctic night, than to stay outside and freeze to death.
He had no more matches and the temperature was plummeting, so he made his way back into the cave and soon fell asleep cuddled with the warmth of his dog. The sleep was fitful and dreamless and the cold woke him throughout the night. No matter what he did, he could get no rest.
When he...