rted to walk back to the other two men, as it had been decided to
camp at the place where they were cutting up the five musk-oxen. But as
I emerged from the mouth of the canon, I saw up the valley still another
of the big, black shaggy forms. Quickly I retraced my steps, and
gathering in two of the dogs, secured this fellow as easily as the
others.

This last specimen was, however, of peculiar interest, as the white hair
of the legs, just above the hoofs, was dashed with a bright red--a
marking which I had never before seen in any of these arctic animals.

Taking the dogs with me and leaving the musk-ox, I went on to the place
selected for a camp. Ooblooyah and Koolatoonah were just finishing
cutting up the fifth musk-ox, and were immediately sent off with a
sledge and team of dogs, to help Egingwah with the two big bulls.

When they were gone, I set up the tent myself and began to prepare the
tea for our supper. As soon as the voices of the Eskimos were audible in
the distance, I put on the musk-ox steaks to broil and in a few minutes
we were enjoying the reward of our labor. Surely this was living on the
fat of the land indeed, deer steak the second night, bear steak last
night, to-night the luscious meat of the musk-ox!

[Illustration: HERD OF MUSK-OXEN ROUNDED UP]

In the morning we continued our course, and during the day three more
musk-oxen were gathered in, the meat being cached as before. That night
we camped at the head of the hitherto unexplored inlet, and I had the
satisfaction of knowing that one more stretch of previously unknown
territory had been added to the world's map.

Next day we started north along the west side of the inlet. We had been
traveling for hours and were just looking for a suitable place to camp,
being then at the foot of a steep bluff some fifty feet in height, when
suddenly the dogs made a break for the shore and attempted to climb the
bluff. Of course they could not do this on account of the sledges; but
we knew what their wild action meant--more musk-oxen.

[Illustration: WESHARKOOPSI AND MUSK-OX CALF]

In a moment Egingwah and I, with rifles in our hands, were climbing the
bluff. Peering over the top we saw a herd of five. It was nearly dark
now, the arctic twilight being so dense that we could simply make out
five dark spots. We waited for a moment to catch our breath, then I
motioned to Ooblooyah to bring two of the dogs, leaving Koolatoonah with
the others at the sledges