Hunthig Ahisk-Ox with the Dog Ribs 



it, remarked, " Yazzy Wahkahwee nat- 

 suthly " (the white man is weak, indeed). 

 One of them grasped the sled-Hne to show 

 me how to straighten up a load, and 

 tugged and hauled and tugged again with- 

 out producing the slightest effect. I am 

 afraid that I laughed very ungallantly as 

 the discomfited maiden fled to the shelter 

 of the lodge. Mrs. Jimmy came to me 

 with a very cordial greeting, exclaiming, 

 " Merci, Merci — Cho. Nazee etjerrer- 

 kah " — ("Thanks, big thanks, for the 

 good musk-ox hunt") ; evidently ascribing 

 our success, in a measure, to my presence. 

 It was nearly midnight on the fourth 

 of May when my weary dogs crept over 

 the hill into Fort Rae, and halted at the 

 door they had left two months before. 

 The long march of eight hundred miles 

 was over ; but the goggles and snow-shoes, 

 the whip and harness, were not suffered to 

 be long laid aside, for five days later I 

 had started on the far longer journey down 

 the Mackenzie. 



327 



