UNDER THE POLAR STAR 103 



surrounded them. If it were spring, I should know 

 that the young calves were there inside the protecting 

 ring. What are they watching ? One of their herd 

 in terror sniffs and paws the ground where a Wolf has 

 dragged some bleeding meat, like the ox in our picture. 

 This beast, though called an ox, is really more like a 

 great sheep, measuring over four feet at the shoulders." 



" How is it more like a sheep ? " asked Nat. 



" The Wise Men say that its teeth are like a sheep's, 

 and its feet like those of an ox," said Dr. Roy, to help 

 Olaf, who knew what he had seen, but not so much 

 about the bones and building material of animals. " He 

 has, you see, an ox's nose, but his horns curve strangely 

 downward. His brown robe is longer and thicker than 

 the coat of any other of our fourfoots, quite covering 

 his short sheep's tail. The hairy coat is almost two 

 feet long, while underneath, packed closely to the body, 

 is a fleece blanket that falls away in summer." 



" I see his funny, turned-in, hairy, snow-shoe toes, 

 and he has a bit of a Buffalo's hump," said Dodo, after 

 looking at the picture. " How queer it is to find that 

 such strange beasts belong in our America ! " 



" Yes," said Dr. Roy, " and, what is more, with the 

 exception of Greenland they live nowhere else but in 

 North America." 



" Does the Musk Ox make good meat, like the Buf- 

 falo ? " asked Rap. 



" Oh, no, very poor meat, coarse and tough, with the 

 rank flavor of musk that gives this ox its name. Only 

 Wolves and starving Indians care to eat it. The skin 

 is tough and serviceable enough if you can get it off 

 without tearing. 



