80 BY ESKIMO DOG-SLED 



were moving. And there I saw footprints, the 

 footprints of Hero somewhere away in front, 

 guiding the dogs towards the pass. 



Later in the morning we came upon Hero 

 sitting on a lump of ice. He seemed very well 

 pleased to take a share of our lunch, and trotted 

 alongside chewing the frozen bread as easily 

 and contentedly as the hunter w r ith the hard 

 biscuit. As for myself, I put the bread inside 

 my coat to thaw for I wanted no more tooth- 

 ache, because I think that a freezing day in 

 Labrador and a lonely trail over the mountain- 

 tops make toothache a more miserable com- 

 panion than ever. But Hero had good Eskimo 

 teeth : he seemed quite happy to be chewing 

 frozen things. When we stopped at midday 

 to disentangle the dogs, he undid the knot in 

 the main trace with his teeth, because it was 

 too stiff and hard for fingers ; then he trotted 

 away again, and was lost to sight in the dis- 

 tance ahead. We followed his footsteps all 

 the afternoon, until they turned away from 

 the usual track in a direction that Johannes 

 did not like. " Hero has gone wrong," said 

 he ; and with much shouting and waving of 

 the whip, he got the dogs away from the foot- 

 prints and drove them in the way he wanted. 

 At the further side of a rocky island we came 

 upon Hero again. He jumped on the sled with 



