Page:Harper's New Monthly Magazine - v109.djvu/989



though, faced it out without other help than the "wind-break." Four, five, six hours must sometimes pass before a start can be made for home, and even an hour is a chilling experience. On a man's eyebrows and mustache and beard icicles gather. And perhaps the fish may not come. Often after all the toil and endurance the fisherman may return with his sleigh empty. And to render the experience more trying, another party not many hundred yards away may be drawing them out as quickly as the lines can be pulled up. The fish sell from five to seven cents a pound. Often the fisherman gains only a few pennies, though sometimes as much as ten and twelve dollars have been made in a day.

The dogs huddled together for comfort. For them there was nothing but waiting for the time to go. And they know well when the time has arrived. The joyful yelps prove their dislike of the monotony and the cold. As nearly as they can have their will the return is a race. They would make as much as possible a straight way "across country," and take everything in their course—ice hummocks or spreading cracks. For them home-going would be a steeplechase if the man did not restrain them. Anyway, he has difficulty in keeping up. But after half a dozen miles they tire a little, and generally they approach land with lolling tongues and dragging steps. In a weary walk they fall into what becomes almost a procession in the middle of the afternoon, and slowly reach shelter.

All returns are not so easy and fortunate—a burst of speed with joyous barks across the frozen Lakes. Indeed, there has been no coming back. A blizzard a dozen miles from shore with the thermometer below zero is a very serious matter. No landmarks can be seen—there is nothing by which to direct a course. A man may easily be lost and wander until overcome. Too often this has happened, and hardly a winter has passed without some such disaster.

A man so lost will often trust to the instinct of the dogs to find a way home through the bewildering storm and gloom. Sometimes, however, even the animals have been at fault. In a recent case a fisherman with three dogs was overtaken on the homeward way by a sudden tempest of wind and snow. To see even a few feet must have been impossible, and even the dogs must have been over-