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cheerful readiness. We learned how to
swing wide at a sharp curve of the trail,
how to keep well up on the bank: of a
river's centre-sloping ice, to keep ahead
of a sleigh going downhill in order not
to get tangled harness, and how to keep
warm on a bed of spruce boughs even
on a bitterly cold night.

Break NEw GrounpD

In February we made an interesting
trip into new country. Gold Creek is some
30 miles away through a really wild
region and it took the boss and an Indian,
Charlie Chief, two days to arrive there.
\ family of Indian trappers lived on the
Creek in tents and primitive log cabins.
That night I heard the master asking a lot
of questions about a murdered Indian.

We set off on the return journey next
day, experiencing hard going as the trail
had drifted over during the night. We
were well above timber line and as we
approached the rim of the McDames
watershed we looked down on a grand
and wild valley thousands of feet below

WiisttinG SUCCESS TO THE FORCE

NAVAL VETERANS
3ranch No. 68
Canadian Legion, B.E.S.L.

329 SEYMOUR ST.

VANCOUVER

us. The master gazed down and we heard
him softly quoting Robert Service, the
Bard of the North:

“Tue stood on some mighty-mouthed
hollow
That's plumb-full of hush to the brim;
I've watched the big, husky sun wallow
In crimson and gold, and grow dun,
Till the moon set the pearly peaks gleam-
ing,
And the stars tumbled out, neck and
crop;
And I've thought that I surely was dream-
ing,
With the peace o' the world piled on
top.”

Darkness was creeping in, his mood

passed, and we mushed on.

My first really long patrol occupied the
entire month of March, during which
time we travelled approximately 500
miles. With the constable and another
white man we set out for Telegraph Creek
early one morning, six of us dogs hooked
to our best sleigh. We acquired a brand-
new sleigh at Dease Lake, it was a sort
of cross between a Yukon sleigh and a
toboggan—in reality a toboggan with low
runners attached. We found it easier
pulling, especially on soft snow—though
there were only three of us to a sleigh
now. Along the 70 odd miles between
Dease Lake and Telegraph Creek large
bands of caribou were roaming every-
where. The constable shot a nice fat cari-

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| 7

bou and while we enjoyed some fresh
meat they cached most of the carcass for
the return journey. The meat was merely
hoisted up a convenient dead spruce, well
out of the reach of wolves, coyotes and
such marauders.

Descending a very steep winding hill
some 15 miles out of Telegraph Creek
we had our first accident. The new sleigh
had no brakes, so the master put on a
“roughlock”’—a dog chain wrapped round
the runners. But the hill, a typical short-
cut, was too steep and I felt the sleigh
getting out of control as it skidded me
ahead. A sharp bend loomed up and
before any of us could do anything we
smashed into it in a terrific jumble of
dogs, sleigh and men.

THE T. EDWARDS co.

FUNERAL DIRECTORS

Parlours and Memorial Chapel
Granville St. and 10th Ave.,
Vancouver
x

Phone BAyview 0608

Page Sixty

THE SHOULDER STRAP