The net was held open slightly on the south side by a spreader. When the auk had once flown into the net, he either got entangled in its meshes, or did not seem to understand that he could fly out in the way he had come. So by setting up the net every few minutes and by taking it down and killing the entangled birds, the work of catching the poor auk went merrily on.
It would have been cruel sport had not these bright skins been most useful to the Eskimo; but as it was, he was merely killing the auk as a farmer would his chickens.
He brought along a large gunny sack in which to carry back the catch. If he was lucky and the birds were flying freely, in an afternoon he would net from three to five hundred birds.
When we remember that the skins of these birds are made into the Eskimos' winter shirt, and also that the meat is very fine eating, even for a white man, the usefulness of the auk is at once appreciated.
When Eiseeyou, and Oumauk and Whitie finally trudged back to Eskimo Town with their sack full of dead birds, Oumauk was the proudest boy in the village.
There was one menace from which little Oumauk had a hard time defending his pet, and that was the wolfish sledge dogs. These savage canines are very little removed from wolves and are always quarreling and fighting among themselves.
The first time they attacked Whitie, it might have gone hard with him had not his young master happened along at just the right time.
Whitie was then only four or five months old and not large enough to defend himself. When Oumauk found him, he was backed up against a komatik, and several dogs were snapping at him. He was striking out with his cub paws and defending himself the best that he could but one of the dogs had already gashed his face and the red blood was streaming down his white cheek.