George Tracy Marsh

“ It was Marcel’s last night in the barren-ground camp. Leaving Fleur, he had, as usual, hunted all day, returning with a sled load of meat which he drew himself. As he approached the camp he crossed the trail of a huge timber wolf and hurried to learn if his dog had been attacked, for tied as she was, she would fight with a cruel handicap. But Fleur greeted him as usual with yelps of delight. In the vicinity of the camp there were no tracks to show that the wolf had approached the husky. ”

“ Then Marcel gave her meat from the cache which she bolted, greedily.
It had not entered his mind, once he had found her tracks, that Fleur would not return to him; but during her long absence the condition of the snow had been a source of worry. Each day’s delay meant the chance of the bottom suddenly falling out of the trail before he could freight his load of meat and traps back to his old camp far to the west. Once the big thaw was on, all sledding would be over. So, hurriedly eating his breakfast, he started under the stars, for at noon he would be held up by the softening trail. ”

“ Then the snow would melt at noon, softening the trails, and later on, rain and sleet would drive in from the great bay, turning the white floor of the forest to slush, flooding the ice of the rivers which later would break up and move out, overrunning the ice shell of pond and lake which late in May would honeycomb and disappear. ”

“ By late afternoon he was able to drive the rejuvenated Fleur to the barren and bring back the meat on the sled.
The days following were busy ones. At first his weakness forced him to husband his strength while the stew and roasted red meat were thickening his blood, but as the food began to tell, he was able to hunt farther and farther into the barrens where the main migration of the caribou was passing. When he was strong enough, he took Fleur with a load of meat back to his old winter camp, returning with traps. ”