12 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY' [Nov. 



heads raised to look around and noses sniffing the breeze. It 

 was ' Spud ' alone who gave this signal without any cause, and, 

 curiously enough, the rest never discovered the fraud ; to the 

 end he openly gulled them. On ordinary occasions ' Spud ' 

 would give one the impression of being intensely busy ; he 

 was always stepping over imaginary obstacles, and all his 

 pulling was done in a jerky, irregular fashion. He was a big, 

 strong, black dog, and perhaps the principal sign of his mental 

 incapacity was the ease with which others could rob him of 

 his food. 



Amongst the team there had been one animal who was 

 conspicuous for his ugliness : with a snubbish nose, a torn ear, 

 an ungainly body, ribs that could be easily counted through a 

 dirty, tattered coat, and uncompromisingly vulgar manners, he 

 was at first an object of derision to all ; and being obviously 

 of the most plebeian origin, he was named ' FitzQarence.' 

 Kindness and good food worked wonders for ' Clarence,' and 

 although he never developed into a thing of beauty or of 

 refined habits, he became a very passable sledge dog. 



' Kid ' and c Bismarck ' were the only two dogs of the team 

 that bore an outward resemblance, both being short-legged 

 animals with long, fleecy, black-and-white coats. But the 

 likeness was only superficial. Inwardly they differed much, 

 for whereas Bismarck was counted amongst the lazy eye- 

 servers, • Kid ' was the most indefatigable worker in the team ; 

 from morn to night he would set forth his best effort. The 

 whip was never applied to his panting little form, and when he 

 stopped it was to die from exhaustion. 



With all our efforts we could never quite tame ' Birdie,' 

 who had evidently been treated with scant respect in his 

 youth. At the ship he would retire into his kennel and growl 

 at all except those who brought him food, and to the end he 

 remained distrustful and suspicious of all attempts to pet him. 

 He was a large, reddish-brown dog, very wolfish in appearance, 

 but a powerful puller when he got to understand what was 

 required of him. 



Of the rest of the team, c Gus,' ■ Stripes,' ' Snatcher,' and 



