We are supposed to
start southward for Okak, and to come home, by way of Ramah. I seat
myself and get a good hold, with my back against the box and my feet
well off the ground. "Hoo-eet!" The dogs are directed by the voice,
and that is the word used to start them. Shout "Owk, Owk," and they
will run to the right, or "Ra, Ra, Ra," and you will soon find
yourself going to the left. Say, "Ah, Ah," and your dogs will lie
down. Now you have all your directions so "Hoo-eet," we are off,
gliding easily over the grass, for snow and ice there is none this
warm autumn day after a night when there were two or three degrees of
frost. So it is rather hard for the dogs, when we turn the corner of
the mission enclosure and are going a bit up-hill through the long
grass. Thomas, one of the Eskimoes, is running in front of the dogs in
his sealskin boots with the fur outside--a handsome pair. Enoch is
minding the sledge, now running beside me, now throwing himself down
on it in front of me, or lifting the front end of the runners from
right to left, or _vice versa_ to turn a corner or avoid a stone.
"Owk, Owk," he shouts as we wish to turn the corner to the _right_.
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