nly that traveling
with dogs upon the frozen bays at this season is a hazardous
undertaking. Scarcely a year passes that some one is not lost.
Sometimes men are carried far to sea on ice pans and are never heard
from again.

A man must know the trails to travel with dogs along this rough coast.
Much better progress is made traveling upon sea ice than on land
trails, for the latter are usually up and down over rocky hills and
through entangling brush and forest, while the former is a smooth
straight-away course. When the ice is rotted by the sun's heat,
however, and is covered by deep slush, and is broken by dangerous
holes and open leads that cannot safely be crossed, the driver keeps
close to shore, and is sometimes forced to turn to the land and leave
the ice altogether. When the ice is good and sound the dog traveler
only leaves it to cross necks of land separating bays and inlets,
where distance may be shortened, and makes as straight a course across
the frozen bays as possible.

There is a great temptation always, even when the ice is in poor
condition, to cross it and "take a chance," which usually means a
considerable risk, rather than travel the long course around shore.
Long experience at dog travel, instead of breeding greater caution in
the men of the coast, leads them to take risks from which the less
experienced man would shrink.

These were the conditions when the call came that April day to Dr.
Grenfell. Traveling at this season was, at best, attended by risk. But
this man's life depended upon his going, and no risk could be
permitted to stand in the way of duty. Without delay he packed his
komatik box with medicines, bandages and instruments. It was certain
he would have many calls, both for medical and surgical attention,
from the scattered cottages he should pass, and on these expeditions
he always travels fully prepared to meet any ordinary emergency from
administering pills to amputating a leg or an arm. He also packed in
the box a supply of provisions and his usual cooking kit.

Only in cases of stress do men take long journeys with dogs alone, but
there was no man about the hospital at this time that Grenfell could
take with him as a traveling companion and to assist him, and no time
to wait for any one, and so, quite alone and driving his own team, he
set out upon his journey.

It was mid-afternoon when he "broke" his komatik loose, and his dogs,
eager for the journey, turned down upon the