CHAPTER XII 



Trapping fur The dog that limped A wolverine Jerry and the 

 footprints The deer scouts The hunt Johannes again. 



THERE are no idle days in an Eskimo 

 winter. 



Even when the weather is too stormy 

 for a man to venture out of doors, he can 

 mend his harpoon and his dogs' harness, he 

 can polish up his gun, or he can sit carving 

 pieces of walrus tusk into little birds and seals 

 and sleds, while his wife cleans and combs the 

 latest catch of fur. It may be a marten or a 

 fox over which she is bending, sometimes even 

 a black fox that will sell for hundreds of 

 dollars ; and the woman's eyes gleam as she 

 thinks of all the money that the fur will bring, 

 and of all the things that the money will buy. 



And on days when the weather is fine the 

 men will tramp away to their fox traps, 

 plodding over the deep soft snow on great 

 broad snow shoes, carrying pieces of rotten 

 meat for bait, and hoping to catch a fine 

 black fox. 



Alas for the thieving dogs ! A man may 



157 



