SLEDGE DOGS 



thing to do was to stand still, and compel the dogs 

 to run past by shouting at them. There was always 

 the same little hesitation on the part of the dogs : 

 the man stood, and they expected to stand too. No, 

 " Hu-it, hu-it, hu-eeet," yelled the driver perhaps he 

 flicked the whip across the heads of the team and 

 the frightened dogs ran on, while the runner began 

 to jump nimbly over the traces. He pranced up 

 and down, always seeming just to save himself from 

 falling, and sat down with a jerk as the sledge over- 

 took him. 



Once I tried this characteristically Eskimo trick, 

 and nearly paid dearly for my rashness. I had 

 been running ahead of the dogs, and stopped with 

 a shout of " Hu-it " which the drivers took up. In 

 a moment I was among the tangle of traces, and 

 found that it takes skill to jump them successfully. 

 I hopped and skipped with all my energies, but I 

 had not the knack of the thing, and down I went 

 with my feet caught in a jumble of seal-hide thongs. 



The dogs were on me with a pounce, and the I 

 next moments were a blurred impression of snarling, 

 fighting dogs and shouting, kicking drivers. A whif 

 cracked, and the dogs spread in terror, while the I 

 men tried to calm them with deep-toned "Ah's" 

 and after that I always carried the whip with me. I 

 when I wanted to run ahead. 



Dogs begin to get very ravenous when they have | 

 run thirty or forty miles, and are ready to eat thi 

 less palatable than human beings. Once, I remem 

 my fur cap blew off, and that was the last I saw 

 it. There happened to be a sledge following cl 

 behind us, and the dogs stopped to have a merri- 



little scuffle over the dry morsel that a chance win( 



150 



