Then he felt himself a person of consequence , and on smooth , black ice , with a bold heart and a quick elbow , he smoked along over the levels as fast as a pack in full cry . He would go ten miles to the seal-holes , and when he was on the hunting-grounds he would twitch a trace loose from the pitu , and free the big black leader , who was the cleverest dog in the team . As soon as the dog had scented a breathing-hole , Kotuko would reverse the sleigh , driving a couple of sawed-off antlers , that stuck up like perambulator-handles from the back-rest , deep into the snow , so that the team could not get away . Then he would crawl forward inch by inch , and wait till the seal came up to breathe . Then he would stab down swiftly with his spear and running-line , and presently would haul his seal up to the lip of the ice , while the black leader came up and helped to pull the carcass across the ice to the sleigh . That was the time when the harnessed dogs yelled and foamed with excitement , and Kotuko laid the long lash like a red-hot bar across all their faces , till the carcass froze stiff . Going home was the heavy work . The loaded sleigh had to be humoured among the rough ice , and the dogs sat down and looked hungrily at the seal instead of pulling . At last they would strike the well-worn sleigh-road to the village , and toodle-kiyi along the ringing ice , heads down and tails up , while Kotuko struck up the `` An-gutivaun tai-na tau-na-ne taina '' -LRB- The Song of the Returning Hunter -RRB- , and voices hailed him from house to house under all that dim , star-littern sky . When Kotuko the dog came to his full growth he enjoyed himself too . He fought his way up the team steadily , fight after fight , till one fine evening , over their food , he tackled the big , black leader -LRB- Kotuko the boy saw fair play -RRB- , and made second dog of him , as they say . So he was promoted to the long thong of the leading dog , running five feet in advance of all the others : it was his bounden duty to stop all fighting , in harness or out of it , and he wore a collar of copper wire , very thick and heavy . On special occasions he was fed with cooked food inside the house , and sometimes was allowed to sleep on the bench with Kotuko . He was a good seal-dog , and would keep a musk-ox at bay by running round him and snapping at his heels . He would even -- and this for a sleigh-dog is the last proof of bravery -- he would even stand up to the gaunt Arctic wolf , whom all dogs of the North , as a rule , fear beyond anything that walks the snow . He and his master -- they did not count the team of ordinary dogs as company -- hunted together , day after day and night after night , fur-wrapped boy and savage , long-haired , narrow-eyed , white-fanged , yellow brute . All an Inuit has to do is to get food and skins for himself and his family . The women-folk make the skins into clothing , and occasionally help in trapping small game ; but the bulk of the food -- and they eat enormously -- must be found by the men . If the supply fails there is no one up there to buy or beg or borrow from . The people must die .
An XXXXX does not think of these chances till he is forced to .
Arctic Hunter Inuit Kotuko night pitu running-line sleigh-dog sleigh-road toodle-kiyi