Read this passage from “to build a fire.” what is ironic about the man’s situation? it certainly was cold, was his thought. when he got back to the states he could tell the folks what real cold was. he drifted on from this to a vision of the old-timer on sulphur creek. he could see him quite clearly, warm and comfortable, and smoking a pipe. "you were right, old hoss; you were right," the man mumbled to the old-timer of sulphur creek. then the man drowsed off into what seemed to him the most comfortable and satisfying sleep he had ever known. it is dangerously cold in that part of the world. the man will live to tell the tale about his near-death experience. the old timer had warned the man about the cold. once the man accepts dying, he becomes comfortable.