24 The Musk-ox 



dogs barking, and speeding to the top, what was 

 my disappointment, not to say distress, at behold- 

 ing twenty-five to thirty musk-oxen just startled 

 into running along a ridge about a quarter of a 

 mile beyond Seco, who, with his dogs, was in 

 full chase after them about fifty yards ahead of 

 me. What I thought at that time of the North- 

 land Indian hunting methods, and of Seco and 

 all my other Indians in particular, did the situ- 

 ation and my condition of mind scant justice 

 then — and would not make goodly reading here. 

 Had I been on an ordinary hunting expedition, 

 disgust with the whole fool business would, I 

 doubt not, have been paramount, but the thought 

 of the distance I had come and the privations 

 undergone for no other reason than to get a 

 musk-ox, made me the more determined to suc- 

 ceed despite obstacles of any and all kinds. So I 

 went on. The wind was blowing a gale from the 

 south when I reached the top of the ridge along 

 which I had seen the musk-oxen run, and the 

 main herd had disappeared over the northern end 

 of it, and were a mile away to the north, travelling 

 with heads carried well out, though not lowered, 

 at an astonishing pace and ease over the rocks. 

 Four had separated from the main body and were 



