THE REINDEER HUNT 



Willing women tore the pile to pieces, and carried 

 it into the hut ; an army of small boys fought for the 

 privilege of unharnessing the dogs no doubt to the 

 huge disgust of the poor dogs, that had to wait with 

 what patience they could muster until the scuffling 

 was finished, thankful at last to slink out of the way 

 of the tumbling mob ; and Johannes himself seized 

 a great pile of antlers that had topped the load, and 

 brought them over for me to choose a pair for myself. 

 I looked at the happy little man ; and there was a 

 picture in my mind all the time of a solitary little 

 fur-clad Eskimo driving a team of ten wolfish and 

 hungry dogs into the very teeth of an Arctic storm. 

 " Why did you not turn back with the others," I 

 asked him. Johannes's eyes twinkled. " It is quite 

 a long time since I slept in a snow house," he said, 

 "so I built a snow house instead of turning back, 

 and sat inside and listened to the storm. It was 

 splendid. And now I am the first home with meat. 

 I will go and fetch you a leg." 



Year by year the same scenes come : the start 

 on Easter Tuesday, the daily tramp of the women 

 to the top of the look-out hill, the daily chatter 

 over the work. Three days have passed. "Ah," 

 say the women, " our men have found reindeer ; if 

 they had not they would have come home before 

 this, for jthey have only three days' food. Nakomek ; 

 soon we shall be tasting tuktuvinemik " (reindeer 

 flesh). And the men ! It is the time of their 

 lives ! How graphically they tell of the keen moment 

 when they first see the deer. Cunning fellows, away 

 they circle so as to come upon them from the lee 

 side, and if they cannot see the herd, but only find 

 tracks, they know how far away they are by the 



