212 My Dogs in the Northland 



One evening, when Martin had brought 

 home his last load of wood and unharnessed 

 the six splendid dogs he had been using, he 

 naturally looked under the big stove for the 

 fish. Not finding them there, he turned to 

 the Indian servant girl and demanded of 

 her what she had done with his dogs' fish. 



Mary was quick tempered and not liking 

 the tone in which Martin had spoken to her 

 about his fish, petulantly replied : 



" I wanted to scrub my kitchen floor and 

 as your dirty smelling fish were in the way, 

 I shoved them, pan and all, out of doors." 



This answer made Martin very angry, but 

 in his anxiety to look after his dogs' supper, 

 he without reply rushed out in search of the 

 missing fish. He had no difficulty in find- 

 ing the big square pan, but there was not a 

 fish in it. Around it were gathered his 

 hungry, disconsolate dogs, but while there 

 was the generally well-filled pan, it was now 

 as destitute of food as the historic cupboard 

 of the famous Old Mother Hubbard. 



The puzzling question then was: What 

 has become of the dozen of large fish? All 

 the other dogs were being fed elsewhere and 

 the only loose dog around was the little in- 

 significant puppy, that they were beginning 



