Page:Life with the Esquimaux - 1864 - Volume 1.djvu/258

Rh in the arctic regions said they had never known a dog to be of any use in hunting down deer, and therefore we concluded that our game was gone. But there was something in the conduct of Barbekark that induced a few of the men to think it possible he had been successful. He was fidgety, and restlessly bent upon drawing attention to the quarter where he had been chasing. He kept whining, and going first to one and then another, as if asking them to do something he wanted. The captain even noticed him jumping about, and playing unusual pranks; running toward the gangway steps, then back again. This he did several times, but still no one gave him more than a passing notice. He went to Keeney and tried to enlist his attention, which at last he did so far as to make him come down to me (I was writing in my cabin at the time) and mention it; but I gave no heed, being so much occupied with my work. Perhaps had Barbekark found me, I should have comprehended his actions. As it was, he failed to convey his meaning to anybody. Presently one of the men, called "Spikes," went off to the wreck of the Rescue, and Barbekark immediately followed; but, seeing that Spikes went no farther, the dog bounded off to the northwest, and then Spikes concluded that it was really possible Barbekark had killed the deer. Accordingly, he returned on board, and a party of the ship's crew started to see about it, though the weather was very cold and inclement. They were away two hours; and when they came back, we could observe that each was carrying something like a heavy bundle on his head. Still we could not believe it possible that it was portions of the deer; and only when they came so near that the strange fact was perceptible could we credit our senses. One man, almost Hercules like, had the skin wrapped around him, another had half of the saddle, a third the other half, and the rest each some portion of the deer that we all had especially noticed. In a short time they were on board, and deposited their loads triumphantly on the scuttle-door leading to the cooking department below.