Part 9 (2/2)

So he put two fingers to his lips and blew a long, shrill blast

It was the signal for which they had been waiting On they caer to be first to greet their h that he had killed the seal They had hunted with his could hardly have spoken to each other and understood better

”Good old Jis bounced round hiotta take back! Ain't that somethin' toseal's been caught off here for e fros is to have soin with!”

He drew his clasp-knife and snicker-snacked two good-sized bits fros, who had it down in a gulp and a s and then stood with their ears up, like the Jack-in-the-pulpit, to know if there would be h to start back on!” He produced straps and ropes froht haul the seal, giving himself the end of a rope, to pull more than his share of the heavy carcass

”Wisht we could git a coupla polar bears too!” he laughed ”But I don't knoe could pull to the shore any ot this et we'll be coing and wagging as they plodded shoreward, seeht of the seal, the trip back did not see For you kno it is--when your heart is light any burden you carry doesn't count for nearly so ing to his, too, would have spared breath to bark joyously, if huskies ever barked But no well-bred husky makes remarks of that sort

Tos with their heads against his knee, their tongues lolling out

”'Mehed ”That was the tis then, an' you got so excited you wouldn't listen to nothin'!

”You just went a-racin' an' a-tearin' on from the time you seen 'im

O' course, as a driver don't have no reins, an' we only got a whip, we can't pull you up if you really wanta go We can just holler 'left' an' 'right' an' 'stop' an' 'go ahead' But ainst trouble that day

”You an' the rest o' the teaot you cut loose fro-fur flyin' Guess the bear didn't know no difference between you an' wolves There's many a man has made the same mistake

”There was old Mr Bear standin' up on his hind legs battin' away like he ound up, handin' out punishment like it was a boxin' match, and you fellows hollerin' bloody murder

”You done more'n wolves would 'a' done Wolves wouldn't 'a' tackled a bear that way--unless it was a great big crowd o' wolves an' one lone, lorn, small bear

”He was a buster, he was, an' there was only six o' you But you stood right up-ta hiht! You remember, don't you?”

Jim and Jack flopped their tails on the ice as if to say yes Theirin delight to be res certainly are the willin', hard-workin' fellers when you're fed up right I believe you'd rather haul a sled than eat You rascals! 'Meoin' to start? I had to larrup outa you that trick you had when you was young o' gobblin' your own harness when you wasn't watched I sure do hate to hit you One o' these whips 'll bite a hole in a door twenty feet off: I've seen ole Pop Rinker drive a nail in a board with one

”When we get back, if that ther Dr Grenfell has cos an' take his Can't get along in this country without you dogs--not till they have reindeer Heaven knows, the Doctor'll have et round to all the people hereabouts that needs hioin'

to have a doctor all our own, all our very own?”

When they got back to the hamlet with their seal, there was a jollification

To he wanted

There was plenty of one thing in that place--and that was fire-wood, froshore

So they built a h to cook twenty seals, and round the cos and all, for a feast The children shouted in glee and clapped their hands The mothers were happier for thereater because word had co his way in the little steah a channel behind the islands and was likely to be in their midst at any hour of any day