When the snow house was all ready, Menie called the three big dogs.
Tooky was the leader, and the three dogs together were Kesshoo's sledge
team. Tooky was a hunting dog too.
When Menie called the dogs, the dogs thought they were going to be
harnessed, so they hid behind the igloo and pretended they didn't hear.
Koko and Menie followed them, but the moment they got near, the dogs
bounded away. They went round to the front of the igloo and ran into
the tunnel.
Koolee was just turning the meat in the pan with a pointed stick. There
was a piece of bear's meat lying on the bench.
The dogs smelled the meat. They stuck their heads into the room, and
when Koolee's back was turned, Tooky stole the meat!
Just then Koolee turned around. She saw Tooky. She shrieked, "Oh, my
meat, my meat!" and whacked Tooky across the nose with the snow stick!
But Tooky was bound to have the meat. She ran out of the tunnel with it
in her mouth, just as Menie and Koko got round to the front of the
igloo once more.
"I-yi! I-yi!" they screamed, "Tooky's got the meat!" Kesshoo caught up
his dog-whip and came running from the storehouse.
The other two dogs wanted the meat too. They flew at Tooky and snarled
and fought with her to get it.
Then Koolee's head appeared in the tunnel hole! Tooky was crouching in
the snow in front of the tunnel, trying to fight off the other two dogs
and guard the meat at the same time.
She wasn't doing a thing with her tail, but she was very busy with all
the rest of her. Her tail was pointed right toward the tunnel.
The moment she saw it Koolee seized the tail with both hands and jerked
it like everything! Tooky was so surprised she yelped. And when she
opened her mouth to yelp, of course she dropped the meat.
Just at that instant Kesshoo's whip lash came singing about the ears of
all three dogs.
"Snap, snap," it went. They jumped to get out of the way of the lash.
Then Koolee leaped forward and snatched the meat from under their
noses, and scuttled back with it into the tunnel before you could say
Jack Robinson.
It is dangerous to snatch meat away from hungry dogs. If Kesshoo hadn't
been slashing at them with his whip, and if Menie and Koko hadn't been
screaming at them with all their might, so the dogs were nearly
distracted, Koolee might have been badly bitten.
Just then Monnie came up with some dried fish. She threw one of the
fish over in front of the snow house.
The dogs saw it and leaped for it. Then she threw another into the snow
hut itself. They went after that. She fed them all with dried fish
until they were so full they curled up in the snow house and went to
sleep.