They
were like a pack of fierce wolves. No one about the place was safe,
and the agent was compelled to shoot every animal in defense of human
life. Usually in Labrador when dogs are guilty of attacking people
they are hung by the neck to a gibbet until dead, and left hanging for
several days. I have seen dogs thus hanging after execution.
When I left Davis Inlet Post of the Hudson's Bay Company with my dog
team one cold winter morning, a native trapper told me that he would
follow later in the day and probably overtake me at the Moravian
Mission Station at Hopedale. We made half the journey to Hopedale that
night and spent the night in a native cabin. A storm was threatening
the next morning, but, nevertheless, we set forward. Shortly after
midday the storm broke with a gale of wind and driving, smothering
snow, and a temperature 30 degrees below zero. Every moment it
increased in fury, but fortunately we reached the mission station
before it had reached its worst, and here remained stormbound for two
days, during which time the trapper did not appear.
Later I learned that, with his wife and young son he left Davis Inlet
a few hours after our departure.
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