ears. Our generous supply of meat, that we so much require in this
cold climate, and our rich buns, so highly prized, were devoured by the
dogs which, with the most innocent looks imaginable, sat around us in
the snow and watched our movements. Fortunately one of the Indians had
put a few plain biscuits in a small bag, which he was taking, as a great
gift, to a friend. These were brought out, and with our tea and sugar
were all we had, or could get, until we were sixty miles further south.
No time for grumbling, so we prepared ourselves for the race against the
march of hunger, which we well knew, by some bitter experiences, would,
after a few hours, rapidly gain upon us.

After the light breakfast we knelt down in the snow and said our
prayers, and then hurried off. My gallant dogs responded to my call
upon them so nobly that ere that short wintry day in December had fled
away, and the lake was shrouded in darkness, the flying sparks from the
tops of the little cabins of the friendly Indians told us we had
conquered in the race, although not without some narrow escapes and
scars.

While crossing a long traverse of at least twenty-five miles, my largest
dog, Jack, went through a crack in the ice up to his collar. These ice
cracks are dangerous things. The ice, which may be several feet thick,
often bursts open with a loud report, making a fissure which may be from
a few inches to several feet wide. Up this fissure the water rushes
until it is level with the top. Of course, as the cold is so intense,
it soon freezes over, but it is very dangerous for travellers to come
along soon after the fissure has been made. I have seen the guide get
in more than once, and have had some very narrow escapes myself. On
this occasion I was riding on the sled; the two foremost dogs of the
train got across the thinly frozen ice all right, but Jack, who was
third, broke though into the cold water below. The head dogs kept
pulling ahead, and the sled dog did his work admirably, and so we saved
the noble St. Bernard from drowning, and soon got him out. The cold was
so intense that in a few minutes his glossy black coat was covered with
a coat of icy mail. He seemed to know the danger he was in; and so, the
instant I got the sled across the ice crack, he started off direct for
the distant forest at such a rate that he seemed to drag the other dogs
as well as myself most of the time. We were about twelve miles from the
shore, bu