^ SUMMER QUARTERS IN WINTER. 217 



opposite side, but crack, crack, crack ; the dogs stood still and 

 looked to see what was the matter, only for a moment, but that 

 moment was enough ; the ice gave way and the komatik and 

 its load of wood, on top of which were several jackets, and my 

 powder horn and gun, slowly sank into the water. To spring from 

 cake to cake to the firm ice, and to reach down and seize the above 

 mentioned articles as they were slowly disappearing, and before 

 they had reached the water, was the work of a moment ; but the 

 precious articles were saved. 



Then came the work of picking out the sticks and reloading the 

 sled. Fortunately wood floats, and the sled had not been broken or 

 otherwise damaged (they are made very stout), and soon we were 

 again on the move. Luckily, nothing was lost, while both myself and 

 friend, the driver, escaped most miraculously, not having even wet 

 our feet. Arriving at our stopping place, w^e left the wood at its 

 destination, and went up to the house. 



How changed the place looked from what I had seen it in the sum- 

 mer ! It was then fertile and flowering ; it was now snow, snow, snow 

 everywhere. I took my gun, with its only charge, put in on leav- 

 ing home very luckily, and started for the hillock on which the white 

 owl had last been seen ; but, alas ! he was not there. I climbed to the 

 top of the crest, but could see nothing ; on the crest beyond, still 

 nothing of the owl ; but on the third crest I espied a fox trotting 

 off at a slow gait up the ridge before me, not two hundred yards 

 away. With my telescope, I could see that it was a red fox, and 

 that he held up his left front foot, using only three feet to walk upon, 



i as if lame from being caught in some trap or otherwise, so I deter- 



mined to chase him ; no quicker said than done. The fox was about 

 three hundred yards away from me when the chase began. I saw 



t him through the glass for a moment as he trotted along the 



snow ahead of me, and then taking up my gun, started after him ; 

 he was just behind the ridge, and I had hoped to gain upon him, 

 but a fox is a cute animal if he has but three legs to run on, and 

 by the time I had gained the ridge, he had heard me coming and 

 was now far to the right and still out of gunshot. On I pressed, 

 14* 



