A NINETY-MILE TROT 



"A wolf among the dogs," he laconically told 

 me ; " too much fight, all the time. Fine night : 

 start soon," and he tumbled into his slumbers again. 



It was well that those two men could sleep, for 

 the work they could cram into a day's travelling 

 istonished me. 



I once travelled from Nain to Okak, a distance 

 >f ninety miles, with Julius alone. The snow was 

 lard, and the dogs in good trim, but the sky looked 

 ireatening. " No stop," said Julius, and he drove 

 irough the ninety miles without a rest. We stopped 

 Pour or five times to disentangle the dogs' traces, but 

 lever for more than ten or fifteen minutes at a time ; 

 id we ate our bread and meat as we ran. I took 

 ly turn with the driving, but Julius bore the brunt 

 >f the work. He chirruped and whistled and cooed 

 the dogs as night began to come on, and they 

 igan to whine for a rest ; he ran in front of them 

 rlien they began to flag, and landed me in Okak 

 iside of twenty- two hours. He was as fresh as 

 dnt the next day, and went off on a hunting ex- 

 pedition of his own. 



My drivers did not seem to think it hard work ; 

 it was all part of their life ; it came naturally to 

 them. 



They used to enjoy the little incidents that came 

 to vary the wearisome plodding through the snow. 

 One day we were crossing the Kiglapeits, labouring 

 through a ravine where the snow lay deep and soft, 

 when Julius suddenly said " A-ah." 



The dogs lay down very willingly, and I wondered 

 why the stoppage. Julius held up his hand, for 

 silence, and I saw that Johannes was loading a 

 gun. I could see no cause for this mysterious 



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