234 FOUR YEARS IN THE WHITE NORTH [April 



never saw her again. In the river bottom, we laborious- 

 ly dragged and pushed our sledges over jagged rocks and 

 stones hidden under a thin cover of snow, ruining our 

 runners and tiring out the dogs. 



As we drove into Ekblaw camp of two years before, 

 we detected signs of musk-oxen. The two boys with me 

 were so excited that they wanted to start off immedi- 

 ately, loads and all. When the others arrived, I told 

 ^ve of them to throw off their loads and follow the 

 tracks, while two would remain with me to build the 

 igloo. They drove east into a small fiord, but in 

 about half an hour came tearing almost through our 

 camp, driving west and following the trail down Bay 

 Fiord. 



By this time it was two o'clock of the 31st. At four, 

 Koo-la-ting-wa was back after a stove and to tell us that 

 they had killed nine musk-oxen. With a keen appetite 

 for fresh tenderloins, we were up at eight and dashing 

 down the fiord in search of the igloo of the hunting-party. 

 At forty-four below, it was easily detected at least a 

 mile away by the white vapor rising from the top. 



Three more musk-oxen the next day, and tracks of a 

 polar bear kept the tails of our dogs tightly curled and 

 the men ever on the alert. We were soon hot on the 

 trail of the biggest bunch of activity I have ever en- 

 countered. After following her for five miles through 

 the rough ice, we turned shoreward to find that she 

 had gone into the country, then up over a high hill, 

 across a ravine, then up another hill. 



We slipped our dogs, which were soon out of sight 

 and sound. Noo-ka-ping-wa and I returned to the 

 sledges; Ak-kom-mo-ding-wa went on. Some of our 

 dogs came back, so we harnessed up, placed Ak-kom- 



