62 BY ESKIMO DOG-SLED 



a gallop, was the Arctic raven. That seems a 

 solitary bird, for we nearly always saw one 

 only. The great black bird used to stand on 

 the snow, cocking its head this way and that, 

 and perhaps stalking a step or two in an 

 unutterably grave manner ; and the dogs, as 

 soon as they caught sight of it, were off with 

 futile haste, each striving its utmost to get 

 there first, and all held in fixed order by their 

 traces. The leading dog had the best chance, 

 but the raven had a wary old eye upon the 

 danger : it waited until the dogs were within 

 a few feet of it, and from the sled it looked 

 as if it were caught, and then with leisurely 

 flappings betook itself off to a fresh stand, 

 to wait with unruffled calm for a repetition 

 of the same performance. 



I have no doubt that the raven would have 

 been demolished, bones, feathers, and all, at 

 a single gulp, if it had waited another second ; 

 but it never waited. My fur cap was swal 

 lowed whole one day, because it blew off my 

 head in the track of a team of dogs belonging 

 to a sled following close behind us ; I have 

 lost fur gloves, too, laying them down for a 

 moment, and turning to find the gloves gone, 

 and a great hulking dog licking his lips in a 

 sly sort of way ; and dogs are even ready to 

 eat their own harness if they get the chance. 



