Next Papik and his father put harness on the dogs and hitched each one separately to the sled. While the dogs barked and quarreled with each other, Papik hung a snow knife and a rope made of skin over the sled's handles. He put a harpoon and a big polar bearskin on the bottom of the sled, and now they were ready to start. [Illustration: ~A snow knife made of walrus ivory for cutting snow~] Papik's father snapped his long whip over the dogs' heads. He could make the whip crack right near a dog's ear without ever touching it. Papik could do this, too. By the time he was six years old, he could aim the whip anywhere he wanted to, although the lash was more than twenty feet long. [Illustration] At the whip's crack, the sled was off. The team spread out like a fan behind the lead dog, who was a natural leader and always traveled at the very front. Papik sat on the bearskin behind his father who used the whip to guide the dogs. PAPIK HUNTS SEAL [Illustration] At a place where they thought there might be seals, Papik and his father stopped. They turned the sled upside down and pushed the points of the runners and the antlers deep into the snow. The sled had to be an anchor to hold the dogs while the Eskimos hunted. Now Papik unhitched the lead dog and held tight to his harness strap. The dog ran ahead, sniffing the snow. He was looking for a seal hole. [Illustration] Although seals lived in the water, they weren't like fish. They had to come up for air. When the ocean froze, they gnawed many breathing holes through the ice. They could get plenty of air through the holes, even when a blanket of snow covered the ice. [Illustration: ~The harpoon handle came loose from the barb. The sharp barb of the harpoon acted like a fishhook.~] Suddenly the lead dog began to bark. He had smelled a seal hole. Papik pulled him away and ran back to the sled. He must not let the dog frighten the seal away. Papik's father poked around in the snow till he found exactly where the hole was. Then, with his snow knife, he carved a snow seat so he could be comfortable while he waited for the seal to come. He put a piece of fur under his feet with the hair side up. He might have to wait motionless for hours, and he had to keep his feet warm. Beside him he laid his harpoon--a special kind of spear with a line attached to it. For a long time Papik played near the sled. At last his father's sharp ears caught a little noise. It was a seal breathing. Quietly he stood up, plunged his harpoon straight down, and hit the seal. [Illustration: ~The hunter held on to a line attached to the barb and pulled the harpoon handle out, so it would not break.~] [Illustration: ~A woman's knife was called an ulo.~] Papik came running at his father's shout. Together they chipped the ice away from the edges of the hole, making it big enough so they could pull the seal out and kill it. [Illustration: ~Milak's doll~]