pleasant, brawny fellow told me we were likely to have a good run up the
lakes. The storms of the last few days having broken up the ice, and
driven it into the open, there was hope both of the ice-locked steamers
getting out, and of our getting into Duluth without much trouble--"unless
the wind changes, which is more than possible," he added abruptly; and
walked off, as if fearful of my believing his sanguine predictions too
implicitly.

Later the passengers appeared, grumbling at the cold, and at being
obliged to turn out so early, and wishing breakfast were ready. Of this
wished-for meal the clatter of dishes in the saloon soon gave welcome
warning. Dickens says that when, before taking his first meal on board an
American steamer, "he tore after the rushing crowd to see what was wrong,
dreadful visions of fire, in its most aggravated form, floated through
his mind; but it was only _dinner_ that the hungry public were
rushing to devour." We were nearly as bad on the _Manitoba_, the
friendly steward warning most of us to secure our seats without delay,
the cabin-walls being gradually lined with people on either side, each
behind a chair. One of the "boys" strode ostentatiously down the long
saloon, ringing a great hand-bell, which summoned a mixed multitude
pell-mell to the scene of action, only to retreat in disappointment at
finding the field already occupied.

It was amusing to watch the different expressions on the faces down the
lines while waiting for breakfast. Men, chiefly surveyors, who during
their annual trips to and from work had got used to "that sort of thing,"
took it coolly; judiciously choosing a seat directly opposite their
state-room door, or standing in the background, but near enough to expel
any intruder. New men, looking as uncomfortable as if they had been
caught in petty larceny, twisted their youthful moustaches, put their