158 BY ESKIMO DOG-SLED 



go miles and miles from the village to set his 

 traps, but sometimes the dogs will follow or 

 find their way by the scent or the footprints, 

 and then instead of a beautiful furry fox there 

 is a lean and angry dog in the trap ! I was 

 out on a sled one day with an Eskimo, when 

 I saw that one of his dogs was limping. 



It ran as fast as the others, and seemed to 

 do its share of the pulling, but still there was 

 the limp. " Is your big yellow dog lame," I 

 asked. The man smiled. " Bad old rascal," 

 said he, " that old dog got his foot fast in a 

 fox trap last winter, and so he lost some 

 toes " ; and as he spoke he caught the dog's 

 trace and hauled him back to the sled, and 

 took him on his knees and held him fast for 

 me to see ; and sure enough, there was a scar 

 across the old dog's foot, where the trap had 

 nipped the toes. The poor dog was frightened 

 while his driver held him ; he thought that 

 he was going to be whipped ; he struggled 

 and whined, and as soon as the driver let him 

 go he raced away with his tail between his 

 legs and his head down, and pulled at his 

 trace and whined and whimpered. Dogs 

 always think that they are in disgrace if they 

 are pulled back to the sled, for that is the 

 way an Eskimo makes sure of giving the 

 needed thrashing to the right dog no dodging 



