My Eskimo or Huskie Dogs 23 



was called for a rest or a meal, if the Indian 

 drivers were not on the alert some of the 

 dogs while apparently resting, would be 

 eating the traces or harness of the dogs 

 cuddled close beside them. 



My good wife and I got tired of living on 

 whitefish twenty-one times a week for six 

 months of the year, as our principal article 

 of food, and then the other six months hav- 

 ing the same article of food only varied by 

 the game of the county, such as wild cats, 

 muskrats, rabbits, beaver, venison, snow- 

 birds, and other things, with a limited sup- 

 ply of flour, tainted sometimes with coal- 

 oil. So one summer, when I was going into 

 what was then known as the Red River Set- 

 tlement, the good wife said to me: 



" Why not buy a sheep from one of the 

 settlers and bring it out in your boat? We 

 can keep it here in this stockaded yard 

 where there is plenty of grass until the cold 

 weather. Then it can be killed and the frost 

 will keep it as long as desired. A little mut- 

 ton occasionally would be an agreeable 

 change in our bill of fare, and it would also 

 remind us a little of civilization." 



This was a capital suggestion, and so, 

 when the time came, I put it into execution. 



