Musk-ox, bison, sheep and goat . mightget wind of the other two of the four after whichI had originally started, or find tracks of strag-glers from the main herd. Several miles I wenton, but finding no tracks, and darkness comingdown, I turned to make my way back, knowingthat the Indians would follow up and camp bythe slain musk-oxen for the night. But as Ijourneyed I suddenly realized that, except forgoing in a southerly direction, I really had nodefinite idea of the exact direction in which Iwas travelling, and with night setting in and achilling wind blowing I knew that to lose my-self migh
Musk-ox, bison, sheep and goat . mightget wind of the other two of the four after whichI had originally started, or find tracks of strag-glers from the main herd. Several miles I wenton, but finding no tracks, and darkness comingdown, I turned to make my way back, knowingthat the Indians would follow up and camp bythe slain musk-oxen for the night. But as Ijourneyed I suddenly realized that, except forgoing in a southerly direction, I really had nodefinite idea of the exact direction in which Iwas travelling, and with night setting in and achilling wind blowing I knew that to lose my-self might easily mean death. So I turned abouton my tracks and followed them back first towhere I had turned south, and thence on myback tracks to where the musk-ox lay. It was along and puzzling task, for the wind had alwayspartly, and for distances entirely, obliterated theearlier marks of my snow-shoes. Nine oclock came before I finally reachedthe place where the dead quarry lay; and thereI found the Indians gnawing on raw and half-. AT BAY My First Kill 3^ frozen musk-ox fat. Seco, badly frozen and hardlyable to crawl from fatigue, did not turn up untilmidnight; and it was not until he arrived thatwe lighted our little fire of sticks and had ourtea. Then in a sixty-seven degrees below zero tem-perature we rolled up in our furs, while the dogshowled and fought over the carcass of my firstmusk-ox. II The Provision Question Except in the summer, when the caribou arerunning in vast herds, venture into the BarrenGrounds entails a struggle with both cold andliunger. It is either a feast or a famine; morefrequently the latter than the former. So therewas nothing extraordinary in being upon ourthird day without food at the first musk-ox killingto which I have referred. Yet the lack of nour-ishment was not perhaps as trying as the wind,which seemed to sweep directly from the frozenseas, so strong that we had to bend low inpushing forward against it, and so bitter as tocut our faces cruelly.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjecthunting, bookyear1904
