WINTER CAMP

Towarp the end of a day in early March, after an expedition into the trackless country south-east of Dease Lake, we rejoined the trail and began to retrace our steps toward Telegraph Creek. Dark- ness was falling as we slid into a grove of spruce; the trees were friendly to our snow-tired eyes, and somewhere a squirrel chattered in the branches. Each weary team turned to look inquiringly at the man who trudged behind; when at last the three sleighs drew up, the dogs sank into the snow, burying their hot noses and taking great bites to cool their throats.

We resisted, more by force of habit than by strength of will, the temptation to throw ourselves down and rest. In silence our Indian guide unloaded his sleigh, strapped some sacking and a rifle upon it, and set off up-wind in search of moose. Left alone with the job of making camp, we unharnessed the recumbent dogs and chained each one to his separate tree at a respectable distance from the spot chosen for the tent. The harness was hung up on boughs, and the sleighs unloaded. While one of us 40