84 THE UPPER YUKON 



neck and told him what I thought of him. 



To the Chief I said never a word of our 

 narrow escape. This was the first day, mind 

 you, and it would have looked bad to start it 

 with the tale of a hair-breadth escape before 

 even a shot had been fired. 



The plateau having been reached, we rode 

 slowly towards the edge of the mountain. 

 Our cook, for certain reasons of his own, had 

 brought with him a husky dog that was three 

 parts wolf. This animal, unknown to us, had 

 followed along, like his forebears circling 

 from side to side of the trail, seldom, if ever, 

 traveling in a straight line, and often, when 

 reaching a place where deep grass grew, 

 crawling on his belly. He had no business 

 with us, and his near presence and scent made 

 Billie nervous. For a while we could not ac- 

 count for the mule's actions. We stopped to 

 look around, thinking that an Indian might be 

 approaching or that a grizzly bear was in the 

 vicinity. When the skulking dog was dis- 

 covered, he was crawling through the grass 

 and Billie promptly went up on his hind feet. 

 The Chief at once dismounted, picked up 

 some stones, and pelted the dog so that he 

 turned and ran away. 



The horse and mule now were tethered, and 



