THE FIRST MUSK-OX 219 



sighted. Our positions remained unchanged Seco lead- 

 ing with three dogs, Echeena and I a hundred yards be- 

 hind, and half a mile back of us the remainder of the 

 Indians and dogs. At such times as the deadly fatigue 

 of running permitted coherent thought I wondered why 

 Seco maintained such a pace, for I supposed when the 

 musk-oxen were located he would of course delay his at- 

 tack until all the Indians and dogs had come up ; but I 

 had seen enough of the Indians not to take any chances ; 

 and so I kept on, each step seeming the last I could pos- 

 sibly make. 



As we were working our way up a rather higher and 

 broader ridge I heard the dogs bark, and, rushing past 

 Echeena, reached the top in time to see a herd of about 

 twenty-five to thirty musk-oxen, just startled into moving 

 along another ridge about a quarter-mile beyond by Seco, 

 who with his three dogs was racing after them not fifty 

 yards ahead of me. Disgust, disappointment, and physi- 

 cal distress momentarily stupefied me. Then the sight of 

 the musk-oxen, and the thought of what I had endured to 

 reach them, fired me to renewed action. I anathematized 

 Seco and all the Northland Indians for their fool methods 

 of hunting, and increased my pace. The musk-oxen were 

 now in full run to the north along the top of the ridge, 

 galloping like cattle, with heads carried well out, though 

 not lowered, and going at a pace and with an ease over 

 the rocks that surprised me. Their big bodies, with the 

 long hair hanging down to emphasize the shortness of 

 legs, gave a curious appearance to the flying herd. 



The wind was blowing a gale from the south, and we 

 had hardly reached the top of the ridge on which the 

 musk-oxen had been running when they disappeared over 

 the northern end of it. By the time I reached the end of 

 the ridge the main herd was a mile away to the north, 



