108 BY ESKIMO DOG-SLED 



" How soon can we start ? " said I. Julius 

 held up his hands in consternation. " Start," 

 he said, " we cannot start ; the dogs have 

 been fed ! " 



I knew what that meant. Sled dogs, when 

 they are resting after a journey, are fed only 

 once every two days ; and you may imagine 

 the appetite with which they devour their food 

 when it comes. The driver flings the food on 

 the snow : there are a few moments of snarling, 

 pouncing, gulping and scuffling : then a few 

 minutes of eating the very snow, because it 

 may have the flavour of food about it : dinner 

 is finished, and the dogs curl themselves up to 

 sleep. And so my dogs had been fed ; they 

 were fast asleep, and no amount of shouting 

 or calling or even whipping would make 

 them fit to run until they had slept their sleep 

 out. " It is impossible," said Julius, " we 

 cannot start with those dogs." 



" Never mind," said I, " if you cannot wake 

 them up, then borrow dogs or exchange with 

 the men ; go round the village and get a team 

 together." Off went Julius without a word, 

 and soon he was back to tell me, with rather 

 a wry smile on his face, that he had got a 

 team of dogs, enough for our journey and a 

 motley lot they looked. There were a few 

 of our own dogs, the ones that could be 



