OVER THE ICE 
139 
revenge. We saved the cat just in time. After 
that she never bothered the dogs again. When the 
advance party now started for the land Hadley and 
Maurer made a deer-skin bag to carry the cat and 
she rode on a sledge in state. Her food consisted 
chiefly of pemmican scraps. 
With the rest of the party and all the supplies 
we could carry, I had intended to start the day 
after the earlier party. Kerdrillo, however, was 
in no condition to travel. He had hurt his back 
going in to Herald Island and it gave him a good 
deal of pain, so it seemed wise to wait until he was 
better. We had two lame dogs and the delay on 
account of Kerdrillo would give them, too, a chance 
to recuperate. Ice travel is as hard on dogs as on 
men and, besides that, the dogs were always fight¬ 
ing among themselves, if they were not sharply 
watched, and one of them had so bad a tear in his 
leg that Mamen had to take nine stitches in it, using 
the regulation surgical needle and silk thread. 
We had twelve dogs left besides Nellie, one of the 
dogs that had had pups. We had built a snow- 
house for her and her pups, but as it was clear 
that the pups would not be of service to us now, 
we had to have them killed to save Nellie’s 
strength. She improved enough to be of value 
later on. 
For several days while we waited we had a high 
