Page:The white czar; a story of a polar bear (IA whiteczarstoryof00hawk).pdf/49

 Then they lashed their dog teams to their best pace and the chase was on.

At first the sledges did not seem to gain, no matter how hard the teams ran, but finally after about five miles they drew up to within a quarter of a mile of the herd. Then Eiseeyou gave the word to cut loose the dogs, and the exciting part of the chase began.

The worst enemy that Omingmong has to fear in his frozen north, next to man, is the great white wolf. This terrible wolf is closely related to the gray timber wolf found further south. He is the corsair of the north and woe betide the quarry that this blood thirsty wolf trails. He hunts in packs of from five to twelve members and can run to earth or bring to bay almost anything that runs upon four legs. He hunts the musk ox, the reindeer and even the fleet snowshoe rabbit, while many a ptarmigan he noses out of the new snow and kills with a single crunch of his powerful jaws.

So when Omingmong first notices the pack of Eskimo dogs trailing him, he probably concludes that it is a wolf pack, gone