MD3PAD 736-738

[Toby G Levy]

        Mason continues to tell Dixon of his horrible trip back to
England from Scotland aboard a meat-ship. When they docked at Preston
Mason had to disembark in the midst of a food riot with people setting
buildings and each other on fire. Mason worried about his father's mill.

        Dixon broaches the subject of Mason's melancholia and Mason
apologizes for making Dixon put up with it while they worked together.
They are both overcome with emotion.

        Now Dixon tells his tale, starting with his stay on Hammerfost
Island, the northernmost town in Europe. It was there he observed the
transit, although the weather was not very cooperative.

        A day or two later Dixon was visited by a strange man who said
Dixon had to come with him. He said that Dixon's ship back to England
wouldn't leave until Dixon returned from his trip to the north. They
walked from one ice floe to another until they reached a seemingly
endless frozen plain.

Toby