146 BY ESKIMO DOG-SLED 



the effects of bacon and hot coffee are soon 

 gone, and I found that I must try to trot in 

 the darkness to keep my toes from freezing. 

 It was the middle of the morning before we 

 got among the lumps and hummocks of the 

 sina, and there were the sled tracks and the 

 footprints of other hunters who had come out 

 earlier than we. The ice at the sina is nearly 

 always rough and uneven, for the force of the 

 waves is always cracking the ice and raising 

 it up, and as fast as the waves crack the great 

 ice field the terrible frost welds the pieces 

 together again. We passed a little snow hut, 

 hidden in a hollow, a tiny hut that seemed too 

 small to hold a man. 



" Johannes, maybe," said Gustaf, " he came 

 here yesterday, so as to be early " and there 

 the little man whom I knew so well from my 

 sled journeys had spent the night, ready to 

 be up before the dawn and catch the seals 

 before they should begin to think of danger. 

 Gustaf had brought his gun, and was crouch- 

 ing with eager face among the hummocks. 

 Presently I heard a bang, and Gustaf went 

 running towards the water, his soft little boots 

 pad-padding on the hard ice and his shaggy 

 hair waving. Soon I saw him rafting on a 

 floating piece of ice, paddling off to fetch his 

 prize ; and I shivered to think of the hundreds 



