UNDER THE NORTH STAR 319 



reliable that kept the whole train in line, and the driver had such an 

 affection for the veteran husky that when rheumatism crippled 

 the dog's legs the man had not the heart to shoot such a faithful 

 servant. The dog was turned loose from the traces and hobbled 

 lamely behind the scampering teams. At last he fell behind al- 

 together, but at night limped into camp whining his joy and asking 

 dumbly for the usual fish. In the morning when the other teams 

 set out, the old husky was powerless to follow. But he could still 

 whine and wag his tail. He did both with all his might, so that 

 when the departing driver looked back over his shoulder, he saw a 

 pair of eyes pleading, a head with raised alert ears, shoulders strain- 

 ing to lift legs that refused to follow, and a bushy tail thwacking — 

 thwacking — thwacking the snow ! 



"You ought to shoot him," advised one driver. 



"You do it — you're a dead sure aim," returned the man who 

 had owned the dog. 



But the other drivers were already coasting over the white 

 wastes. The owner looked at his sleighs as if wondering whether 

 they would stand an additional burden. Then probably reflecting 

 that old age is not desirable for a suffering dog in a bitingly keen 

 frost, he turned towards the husky with his hand in his belt. 

 Thwack — thwack went the tail as much as to say: "Of course 

 he wouldn't desert me after I've hauled his sleigh all my life ! 

 Thwack — thwack ! I'd get up and jump all around him if I 

 could ; there isn't a dog-gone husky in all polar land with half as 

 good a master as I have !" 



The man stopped. Instead of going to the dog he ran back to 

 his sleigh, loaded his arms full of frozen fish and threw them down 

 before the dog. Then he put one caribou-skin under the old dog, 

 spread another over him and ran away with his train while the 

 husky was still guzzling. The fish had been poisoned to be thrown 

 out to the wolves that so often pursue northern dog trains. 



Once a party of hunters crossing the Northern Rockies came on 

 a dog train stark and stiff. Where was the master who had bidden 



