ears,
and of others that bring laughter and joy. For the first and last time
in all the seven months' winter the people of the forests "come to
town." Indian, halfbreed, "blood," and white man, join in the holiday
without distinction of colour or creed.

This year there was to be a great caribou roast, a huge barbecue, at
Fort O' God, and by the time Henri Durant came within half a dozen
miles of the Post the trails from north and south and east and west
were beaten hard by the tracks of dogs and men. That year a hundred
sledges came in from the forests, and with them were three hundred men
and women and children and half a thousand dogs.

Durant was a day later than he had planned to be, but he had made good
use of his time. For Miki, while still muzzled, now followed at the end
of the babiche that was tied to Henri's sledge. In the afternoon of the
third day after leaving Nanette Le Beau's cabin Durant turned off the
main-travelled trail until he came to the shack of Andre Ribon, who
kept the Factor and his people at the Post supplied with fresh meat.
Andre, who was becoming over-anxious at Durant's delay, was still
waiting when his friend came. It was here that Henri's Indian had left
his fighting dog, the big husky. And here he left Miki, locked in
Andre's shack. Then the two men went on to the Post which was only a
mile away.

Neither he nor Ribon returned that night. The cabin was empty. And with
the beginning of dusk Miki began to hear weird and strange sounds which
grew louder as darkness settled deeper. It was the sound of the
carnival at the Post--the distant tumult of human voice mingled with
the howling of a hundred dogs. He had never heard anything like it
before, and for a long time he listened without moving. Then he stood
up like a man before the window with this fore-paws resting against the
heavy sash. Ribon's cabin was at the crest of a knoll that over-looked
the frozen lake, and far off, over the tops of the scrub timber that
fringed the edge of it, Miki saw the red glow in the sky made by a
score of great camp fires. He whined, and dropped on his four feet
again. It was a long wait between that and another day. But the cabin
was more comfortable than Le Beau's prison-cage had been. All through
the night his restless slumber was filled with visions of Nanette and
the baby.

Durant and Ribon did not return until nearly noon the next day. They
brought with them fresh meat, of which Miki ate raveno