e devil had been in this animal, or he never
would have traveled as he did after the dogs overtook him. The
subtleties of arctic demonology being beyond the grasp of any mere white
man, I did not join in the argument as to whither the devil had betaken
himself when the rifle of Ooblooyah laid low his fleshly tenement.

Our prize was soon skinned and cut up by the skilful knives of the
Eskimos, the meat was piled on the shore for future parties to bring
back to the ship, the bearskin was carefully folded on one of the
sledges, and we returned to the place where we had first seen the bear,
on the other side of the bay.

There we found the supplies which had been thrown from the sledges to
lighten them for the bear chase; and as the men and dogs were tired out,
and we were satisfied with the day's work, we camped on the spot. Our
tent was unfolded and set up, the oil-stoves were lighted, and we had a
plentiful supply of bear steak--all the juicier, perhaps, for the recent
presence of Tornarsuk.

CHAPTER XVII

MUSK-OXEN AT LAST

On the next march we had gone only some six or seven miles when,
rounding a point on the eastern shore of the Inlet, we saw black dots on
a distant hillside.

"_Oomingmuksue!_" said Ooblooyah, excitedly, and I nodded to him, well
pleased.

To the experienced hunter, with one or two dogs, seeing musk-oxen should
be equivalent to securing them. There may be traveling over the roughest
kind of rough country, with wind in the face and cold in the blood; but
the end should always be the trophies of hides, horns, and juicy meat.

For myself, I never associate the idea of sport with musk-oxen--too
often in the years gone by the sighting of those black forms has meant
the difference between life and death. In 1896, in Independence Bay, the
finding of a herd of musk-oxen saved the lives of my entire party. On my
way back from 87 deg. 6', in 1906, if we had not found musk-oxen on Nares
Land, the bones of my party might now be bleaching up there in the great
white waste.

When we saw the significant black dots in the distance, we headed for
them. There were five close together, and another a little way off. When
we got within less than a mile, two of the dogs were loosed. They were
wild with excitement, for they also had seen the black dots and knew
what they meant; and as soon as the traces were unfastened they were
off--straight as the flight of a homing bee.

We followed, at our leisure