My First Kill 21 



Every one now busied himself turning loose his 

 dogs, — a small matter for the Indians, with their 

 simply sewn harness from which the dogs were 

 easily slipped, but a rather complex job for me. 

 My dog train had come from the Post, and its har- 

 ness was made of buckles and straps and things 

 not easily undone in freezing weather ; so it hap- 

 pened that by the time my dogs were unhitched, 

 the Indians and all their dogs were fully quarter of 

 a mile nearer the musk-oxen than I and running 

 for very dear life. My preconceived notions of 

 the musk-ox hunting game were in a jiffy jolted 

 to the point of destruction, as I now found 

 myself in a situation neither expected nor joyful. 

 It was natural to suppose some assistance would 

 be given me in this strange environment, and 

 that the consideration of a party of my own 

 organizing and my own paying should be my 

 killing the musk-ox for which I had come 

 so long a distance. But we were a long way 

 from the Post and interpreters and restraining 

 influences ; and at this moment of readjustment 

 I speedily realized that it was to be a survival 

 of the fittest on this expedition, and if I got a 

 musk-ox it would be of my own getting. It 

 comforted me to know that, even though some- 



