58 My Dogs in the Northland 



It was now long after midnight. Our 

 fires in several places had burnt down 

 through their log foundations, and the hiss- 

 ing steam from the melting ice below gradu- 

 ally extinguished the flames, that were, on 

 the higher places, bravely striving to keep 

 up their brightness. 



Darkness at length settled upon us and 

 soon the fun began. In spite of our watch- 

 fulness those Eskimo dogs proved too 

 much for us. They walked over us; they 

 sat down upon us; they fought across us. 

 Waking up, I was as though I had had the 

 night-mare. We threw our clubs at them; 

 we thrashed them with our whips; we 

 chased them far out on the lake, but they 

 were back about as soon as we were. AVe 

 thought we were good watchmen and that at 

 least some of us were on the alert all the 

 time. But it was all in vain. Those dogs 

 got our venison and buns and many other 

 things. One of them ate several feet off the 

 end of one of the heav} 1, whiplashes, and 

 another devoured or carried off the mocca- 

 sins of one of the men who had put them to 

 dry when the fire was bright, and had for- 

 gotten to remove them when the flame was 

 suddenty smothered by the steam. AVe were 



