THE MUSK-OX HUNT 



IO9 



River French. He finally consented to "look after me," which 

 meant to look at me doing my own work, and to cook for me — 

 if I purchased meat for him and his family, which became sur- 

 prisingly large in a short time. In return I agreed to pay two 

 skins, or one dollar a day, and supply tea for our party during 

 the trip. 



We started late on the 5th for the Indian camps at the edge 

 of the timber. I was not in a cheerful mood as I hitched in 

 my dogs for the long journey which, the Dog Ribs emphatically 

 declared, would kill me, as they, accustomed to such a life, 

 "found it hard." I would have to walk or run on snow- 

 shoes the entire distance, and not lie in a portable bed or cari- 

 ole as do most travelers in the interior of the Far North, while 

 some native driver attends to the team. I would not hear an 

 English word for two months, and the antagonism of the unwill- 

 ing Indians must prove a source of constant annoyance. 



My outfit consisted of a 45-90 Winchester and ammunition, 

 fifteen pounds of dried caribou meat, eighteen pounds of frozen 

 bread, several pounds of tea, and a few ounces of salt. My 

 bedding consisted of a single four-point blanket sewed to a 

 light caribouskin robe. 



Johnnie tried to "plant" me on the hundred and fifty-mile 

 trip to the camps. He would have walked that distance in two 

 days, but his dogs were not equal to the task, and though they 

 were beaten until their heads were bruised and bleeding, they 

 could not reach our destination in less than three days. My 

 ankles troubled me with the torturing mal de racquette, which 

 made me very glad to see the dirty, smoke-begrimed lodges 

 with their swarm of dogs and half-naked children. The whole 

 camp was soon wrangling over my last pinch of salt. I was 

 dependent upon my rifle or the Indians for meat, 1 which with 

 tea made up the bill of fare for the next two months. 



The Dog Ribs were not ready for the great musk-ox hunt. 

 They must first make new snow-shoes, sled lines, and mocca- 

 sins; caribou must be killed and pounded meat and grease pre- 

 pared. 



We moved our camps twice during the next three weeks, and 



x \ experienced considerable difficulty in obtaining the names of those 

 who sold me meat. I had no goods with me, so that it was necessary to 

 keep an accounfof all purchases. It was only by inquiring of others that 

 I could learn the name of the person concerned. 



