With Wild Dogs Under the Auroras 35 



To judge by his appearance and energetic 

 actions he was the healthiest man in the 

 crowd. My Indians would have objected to 

 continuing the journey if the stalwart In- 

 dian had not so eloquently detailed his mul- 

 titudinous troubles. So it was resolved 

 that we should go on, and as the lake was 

 covered with fairly smooth ice, the travel- 

 ling would now be much easier for the dogs. 



The frozen lakes and rivers always give 

 us our best roads for dog travelling. On 

 the sick man's discovering that I had my 

 medicines with me in my own cariole, he 

 made a proposition to exchange dog trains 

 with me for that home run. This was the 

 cause of an exciting adventure and much 

 trouble. 



His dogs were large, powerful Eskimos, 

 full of vitality and mischief. He had 

 abundance of fish and so his dogs were in 

 as fine condition as such dogs could be. 

 For days they had been kept tied up in 

 preparation for this long journey of two 

 hundred miles, on which he had started. 

 The thirty miles run on the ice from his 

 home to this place, where we had met, had 

 really only limbered up such animals for 

 their work. 



