216 HUNTING WITH THE ESKIMOS 



country ahead happily decided them to amble along 

 at a most leisurely gait in the direction I wished to 

 travel. I shouted, "Huch huck!" l and swung the 

 whip in my efforts to dissuade them from facing 

 about at such times as they seemed to waver in their 

 decision to go ahead, and my temerity with the whip 

 won me a sharp cut of the lash on one cheek, making 

 a painful wound which bled profusely. Kudlar, 

 blissfully indifferent to my troubles, never once 

 looked back, and soon left me far in the rear. 



On the whole, however, I did not do so badly until 

 I came to the steep incline leading down to the frozen 

 ocean. Kudlar was now out of sight, but my dogs 

 knew he was ahead, and conceived a sudden and over- 

 whelming desire to overtake him. Before I realized 

 what was happening, or could do anything to pre- 

 vent it, the team was dashing down the grade as fast 

 as they could run. Desperately I tried to slacken 

 the pace, and resorted to every means of which I 

 knew to stop them in their wild run, but it was of no 

 use. The pack was directly in front of the komatik 

 when we reached the steepest point in the incline. 

 The komatik was gathering momentum every instant. 

 Suddenly I realized that a collision was inevitable. I 

 could not control the sledge, nor steer it aside. The 

 dogs could not run fast enough to clear it. The situ- 

 ation grew desperate. I pressed a foot hard down 

 on the slippery crust on either side of the sledge in 

 a wild endeavor to hold it back, but all I could do 

 was futile to slacken the increasing speed. Faster 



iThe Eskimo "get-ap." 



