344 THE VOYAGE OF THE JEANNETTE. 



his stomach, shove his head into a snow bank with im- 

 punity, while his foes w^ere choking over the hair they 

 tore out of his back. However, this is a long digres- 

 sion. Suddenly dog three will turn on dog two and be 

 jDromptly aided by dog one, his previous foe. By this 

 time the whole pack has gathered as if by magic, and 

 a free and indiscriminate fight occurs, until the advent 

 of the quartermaster with the whip and a merciless ap- 

 plication of it breaks up the row. 



They divide up into little gangs of three or four, and 

 in these friendly cliques they also fight. For days ev- 

 erything may go on smoothly, when one of the set 

 does something offensive to his mates, and one of them 

 (or sometimes all of them) administers a thrashing, and 

 the offender is sent to Coventry until their feelings calm 

 down. It is a common occurrence to see a dog on the 

 black list, a quarter of a mile from the ship, all alone 

 and afraid to come in until his time is up. He then ap- 

 proaches fawningly, wagging his tail deprecatingly to 

 become reconciled, and is either welcomed with wagging 

 tails or snarling teeth, in which latter case he retires to 

 his isolated position for another spell. Another pecul- 

 iarity is, that though they make no demonstration at 

 any dog singly, or a team, going away, except the most 

 doleful howling in concert, they seem to consider it a 

 terrible indignity that he or they should presume to 

 come back. The remainder of the pack scent the ar- 

 riving one, several hundred yards off, and gather await- 

 ing him. If a team comes in, a rough-and-tumble 

 fight commences between the harnessed and the free, 

 which requires tw^o or three men to stop. As soon as 

 the harness is off they are all smooth and quiet again, 

 the cliques reassembling and moving off to their usual 

 haunts. If a single dog, so much the worse luck for 



