One morning we discovered ice on the surface of the quiet water in the eddy where was the drinking-place, and there was a great How-do-you-do about it.

Old Marrow-Bone was the oldest member of the horde, and he had never seen anything like it before.

I remember the worried, plaintive look that came into his eyes as he examined the ice.

(This plaintive look always came into our eyes when we did not understand a thing, or when we felt the prod of some vague and inexpressible desire.) Red-Eye, too, when he investigated the ice, looked bleak and plaintive, and stared across the river into the northeast, as though in some way he connected the Fire People with this latest happening.
But we found ice only on that one morning, and that was the coldest winter we experienced.

I have no memory of other winters when it was so cold.