278 FOUR-FOOTED AMERICANS 



we must go without him, for we cannot wait. Per- 

 haps, as he. sheds his great antlers near Christmas time, 

 he feels shy and helpless. I will call the ' Day-Dream 

 Fox ' to guide us. Look well at the map while we are 

 travelling open eyed, for he leads the mind' in minutes, 

 where it would take the feet long months to follow. 



" Go up through our plains to the British countries, 

 where the great company of Hudson's Bay catches 

 fur for half the world, and the Beaver, Otter, Sable, 

 Mink, Wolverine, and Silver Fox still flourish, — on 

 across Assiniboia and Saskatchewan. See, we find the 

 names of fourfoots everywhere : Bear Lake and Rein- 

 deer Lake, while curving from the Rockies toward 

 Hudson's Bay we cross the Caribou Mountains." 



"Did you learn American geography when you went 

 to school 'way up in Finland ? " asked Dodo, " or did you 

 learn it by walking over the country?" 



" I learned a little even then, and much more after- 

 ward, and I have lived in this North Country for three 

 years. Beyond the Caribou Mountains we come to 

 Great Slave Lake, and from there up to the water's 

 edge we are in the Barren Grounds. Barren of trees, 

 of everything but fiercest Wolves, the White Fox, Musk 

 Ox, Caribou, and a few grim Bears who wear changed 

 faces from their grizzly mountain brothers, through liv- 

 ing in this bare wilderness. This place is like a battle 

 ground, where Wolf kills Ox, Caribou, and Fox, while 

 the Indian, when he ventures up so far, kills all these 

 in turn. 



'• There I can fancy the Musk Oxen standing in a 

 herd of twenty or more, packed closely for defence, 

 frightened by scent of blood, as if wild dogs or Wolves 



