The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1907-11-23
ONLY A LITTLE "MALAMoor" DOG.

She was only little black "mala'
moot" dog, not much bigger than 8
fox, as afectionate as a kitten, and
she liked nothing half so much as to
roll herself up in ball in ones lap
to be petted while she slept.
But in the mining camps up and
down the river there was wonder that
such little ball of wool could hide
such big, courageous and unsel6sh
heart. The little thing seemed far
too small to work, bur when she was
leading the team on a journey she
was veritable martinez. and ruled
the other dogs with relentless disci-
pline-far better than any driver
could do, even though he held in his
hand the knout of the Alaska trails
"a dog chain with a heavy snap on
its end.
IN hs Se simbs id5Is a8G aRG hsd hHf Kseu EdtRW
me on hundred stampedes.
Once when we were shedding across
a lake of new ice, and the ice began
to break under our weight, she had
literally forced the other dogs to pull
for dear life over the waving surface.
When it finally broke so that all I
could do was to lie at full length on
the long sled to distribute my weight
and the dogs were jumping from cake
to cake, her courage and persistence,
and her cheering, coaxing cry had
made the larger and stronger dogs
pull me and the sled to safety. And
another time, when she and I, out
hunting in the mountains, lost our
way, she ran off to the highest peaks,
one after another, until she had loca-
ted the camp. Then her bark, which
l so we'll understood, assured me,
and she led me back safely.
And this was the little Nellie that
my three comrades had just decided
must be killed and fed to the other
dogs. l had had no part in the dis
cussion there was nothing to say,
and there seemed no alternative.
1t was a January night in the Alas
ka Rockies; the thermometer was
not less than forty degrees below
zero; the snow was everywhere shoul-
der-deep. For six days and nights
we had not tasted food, nor had the
dogs.
Ny three comrades and l had set
out from one of the cross-river camps
with young woman who had broken
her thigh, and were taking her to the
nearest hospital, two hundred and
fifty miles away. For the first hun
dred miles all had gone well but an
air-hole in a lake had swallowed our
provision sled, and without an instant's S
warning we were left with not more
than couple of pounds of food to last
us for one hundred and fifty miles of
an unbroken winter trail, over noun
tain and valley, in SHOWS of every i'm
aginable depth. For three days we
had come along with what courage
we could, and had hoped against hope
that we might come upon some camp in
the wilderness, where we might be
aided on our way. The little food
we had we had kept for the sick girl.
and she did not even know we had
lost our supply.
The last three days had taxed our
strength and our courage to the ut
most. The fourth day after our mis-
fortune we had made ten miles, the
fifth less than FIVE, and to-day we had
travelled hardly more than two or
three.
On the night of the sixth day we
boiled a little beef extract for our
charge, and that mixed with crackers,
made her supper. The girl had now
gone to sleep in the rude tent we had
thrown up for her comfort, and we
were seated about big spruce fire
to discuss our desperate situation.
The dogs were "all in" in the Ian
guage Of the miners. They were Sc
weak from hunger that the weight OF
that slight girl had made them reel
and stagger.
The four of us, big, strong men of
week ago, had got we'll past the
stage of hunger. and were weak and
tired, so awfully tired and sick ! But
every one of US had been in desperate
places before. The consensus ol
opinion was that little Nellie, the
leader of the team, could be spared
better than one of the big dogs she
could not pull much at best, and where
it was vital case, we could really gel
along without leader.
So it was decided that little Nellie
should be killed for the other dogs
to eat and my crown of woe was that
it was I who was selected to do the
work-for the alleged reason that
being surgeon, twas used to blood. "
The other men had gone to bed,
and l was alone with my little dog.
| The rest of the team had gone little
way out FROM the fire and were lying
in the snow asleep. Nellie was al
my feet, and when spoke her name
she wagged her tail and came ovel
to rub her soft wool on my knee she
was far too weak to climb up on my
lap now. When she looked up in my
face, as if to ask why we were suffer
ing so, the horror of my silence, while
she was being condemned, came upon
me, and to escape the rush of blood
to my head, l walked from the FIRE,
and out into the night and snow.
When returned she was gone, and
I breathed sigh of relief. Perhaps
she had already lain down somewhere
and died, and so might be'saved the
sickening alternative. But my knees
were giving way, and I slid down to
the log again, and soon was lost in a
half sleep and half-coma from my
weakened condition.
How long was stretched out there
1 do not know, but l was awakened
by sharp bark that I knew well.
1t was my little dog. She had re.
turned, and my first thought was that
7 -lo..1d I.o~,a 70 OI10Oco hofmoor,