y tramping around them in the
morning the driver at length gets hold of the rope and draws in the
culprit.

A missionary who travelled some thousands of miles every winter with
dogs, had about the most satisfactory way of summarily dealing with
skulkers.

He had in his own team a powerful St. Bernard, so trained that all he
had to do was to show him the collar of the missing dog and then send
him after the truant. Hamilton gave one smell at the collar and then
was off. If that dog was anywhere within two miles he was driven into
the camp in a hurry. If a stubborn, obstinate dog objected to march in
before him, he gave him a shaking that never had to be repeated. Dogs
have good memories for various things.

The loading the sleds was not as easy a matter as some might imagine.
This the boys found out when they tried to attend to the work
themselves. As stated somewhere else, the sleds are only sixteen inches
wide and ten feet long. They are made of two oak boards lying on the
flat and well fastened together by crossbars. The front end is planed
thin and steamed, and is then curled up more or less gracefully,
according to the taste and skill of the maker. They have no runners on
them. They just glide along on the smooth flat under surface that by
wear becomes like polished glass. Along each side numerous loops are
securely fastened. When the empty sled is to be loaded, the first thing
is to spread out over it one of these large deerskin wrappers, the sled
being under the exact middle. Then the various articles constituting
the load, blankets, robes, provisions, kettles, guns, dog-fish, and
everything else, are carefully piled up, the heaviest at the bottom, to
make the upsets as few as possible. Then the great deerskin leather is
carefully and tightly folded over from both sides, and the whole is
securely lashed on by the strong deerskin ropes, which are passed from
side to side through the strong loops on the sled. An experienced
driver will so well tie on a great load of the most miscellaneous
articles that it will not give an inch, or be in the slightest degree
disarranged, no matter how many times it may upset, or roll over, or
tumble down hillsides, either end first, or sideways. So the boys,
after finding that their best handiwork in this line often came to grief
in bad places, were glad to avail themselves of the assistance of a
clever Indian, and there was no more trouble.

One careful look all