IN THE LAND OF LITTLE STICKS 199 



or two's dog-feeding, and then turned the dogs loose on 

 the carcasses, over which they worried and snarled and 

 fought the livelong night. When there were no carcasses, 

 they were fed out of hand from the slender supply on the 

 sledge, and then they fought us, and worried the weaker 

 among themselves into dividing the frozen chunks that 

 were tossed to them. 



This dog -feeding was a trying experience. All the 

 trains were fed at the same time when we camped at 

 night and such a scene cannot be duplicated anywhere 

 on earth. As we emerged from the lodge with the tiny 

 feed rolled up in the skirt of our capote, there was a rush 

 by the dogs that pretty nearly carried us off our feet, and 

 frequently knocked down the lodge. We always tried, 

 but never with success, to steal a march on the dogs and 

 get away from the lodge before the rush, but the moment 

 one of us showed his head they gathered for the assault, 

 and there was nothing to do but to scramble out as best 

 we could, otherwise they would have poured into the 

 lodge and torn it and our clothes to pieces in their crazy 

 hunger. So we would bolt out in a body, heads down, 

 and hugging the meat to our breasts with one hand, use 

 the whip vigorously with the other, while the dogs jumped 

 into us and on top of us in their frantic endeavors to tear 

 away the little scrap of meat we held. Gradually we 

 would separate, and each man attempt to gather his train 

 by lashing those that did not belong to him, and calling 

 by name those that did. 



W T hen, after much fighting, each had gathered his own, 

 the actual process of feeding began, and this again de- 

 manded much activity and some strategy to insure every 

 dog of your train getting its portion. I never had time 

 to notice how the Indians did it, but my method was to 

 run each dog in turn a few yards from the other three, 



