t they got away, but on the
very next night they were attacked by a large band of wolves, and though
they succeeded in driving them off it was only at the expense of almost
their last cartridges and the loss of three more dogs. Joe spoke again
of the heroism of Howling Wolf, who sat up in his sledge and shot at the
wolves, though they threatened to overwhelm him and Joe on more than one
rush that they made. Joe said nothing of himself but one's imagination
can easily picture these two hardy hunters, sheltered only by their
sledges, making a fight for life against a large pack of hungry wolves.

"When the storm was over and the wolves had been driven off, there were
over a dozen dead wolves lying around. Joe stated that knowing that he
could not get the pelts out, he had been compelled to leave the wolves
unskinned. In fact, the most vivid impression made on Joe by this fight
for his very life seemed to lie in the fact that twelve fine wolf skins
had to be left there. The further loss of the dogs made it necessary for
Joe to cache all the rest of his pelts. He did this very reluctantly,
for he felt that unless he could get back before the winter was over, he
would lose all the fine skins they had gotten by their hard work. Then,
with hardly any grub and only a few cartridges, one dog team and a big
heavy Indian with a broken leg as a load, Joe started off for
Escoumains, at least one hundred and twenty miles away.

"When Joe told me this, he did so in just as matter-of-fact a way as if
it were the most ordinary occurrence for a man to find himself far to
the north in the depth of winter, practically without grub and without
ammunition. The latter was really practically useless anyway, for the
heavy snow seemed to have sent everything alive into their winter
burrows. Joe could not take time to go hunting anyway, but he felt it
would be useless, for though he kept his eyes alert, he did not cross a
single track. Bad luck seemed to follow their journey out just as good
luck had urged them further and further north.

"Another heavy storm came on and for three days Joe was compelled to lie
quiet waiting for the weather to break. By this time the grub had
entirely disappeared and only two dogs were left. Though the storm
stopped in the middle of the night, Joe got his two Eskimo huskies out
of their snow beds, hitched himself to the sledge also and started on.
By the end of that day they had covered nearly thirty miles, accor