222 



AECTIC RESEARCH EXPEDITION. 



to convey his meaning to any body. Presently one of the men. 

 called " Spikes," went off to the wreck of the Rescue, and Barbe- 

 kark immediately, followed ; but, seeing that Spikes went no far- 

 ther, the dog bounded off to the northwest, and then Spikes con- 

 cluded that it was really possible Barbekark had killed the deer. 

 Accordingly, he returned on board, and a party of the ship's crew 

 started to see about it, though the weather was very cold and in- 

 clement. They were away two hours; and when they came 

 back, we could observe that each was carrying something like a 

 heavy bundle on his head. Still we could not believe it possible 

 that it was portions of the deer ; and only when they came so 

 near that the strange fact was perceptible could we credit our 

 senses. One man, almost Hercules like, had the skin wrapped 

 around him, another had half of the saddle, a third the other half, 

 and the rest each some portion of the deer that we had all espe- 

 cially noticed. In a short time they were on board, and depos- 

 ited their loads triumphantly on the scuttle-door leading to the 

 cooking department below. 



Every officer and man of the ship, all the Innuits and Innuit 

 dogs, then congregated around the tempting pile of delicious fresh 

 meat, the trophy, as it really proved, of my fine Greenland dog 

 Barbekark. The universal astonishment was so great that hard- 

 ly a man of us knew what to say. At length we heard the facts 

 as follows : 



Our men had followed Barbekark's return tracks for about a 

 mile from the vessel, in a direct line northward ; thence westward 

 some two miles farther to an island, where, to their surprise, they 

 found Barbekark and the other Greenland dogs seated upon their 

 haunches around the deer lying dead before them. 



On examination, its throat was shown to be cut with Barbe- 

 kark's teeth as effectually as if any white man or Innuit had done 

 it with a knife. The windpipe and jugular vein had both been 

 severed; more, a piece of each, with part of the roots of the 

 tongue, the skin and flesh covering the same, had actually been 

 bitten out. The moment " Sam," one of the men in advance of 

 the rest, approached, Barbekark jumped from his watchful posi- 

 tion close by the head of his victim and ran to meet him, with 

 manifestations of delight, wagging his tail and swinging his head 

 about. At the same time he looked up into Sam's eyes as if say- 

 ing, "I've done the best I could; I've killed the deer, eaten just 

 one luscious mouthful, and lapped up some of the blood. I now 



