These dogs never barked, but howled with the weird, dismal howl of the wolf.

And when they were hungry they were such dangerous, savage brutes that it was unsafe for a stranger, unless armed with a cudgel, to wander among them.
With sixteen dogs Abel could muster two ordinary teams of eight dogs each, or one powerful team of ten or twelve, or even the entire number.
Skipper Ed and Jimmy, when they required the services of dogs, could always borrow a team from Abel, and to repay this courtesy it was their custom to join in the autumn and spring seal hunts, and to contribute the carcasses of the seals they killed to Abel, retaining only the skins, which Mrs.Abel dressed and made up for them into boots and winter garments and sleeping bags, as needs demanded.
It was a Saturday evening when Bobby finally received Abel's consent for him to go to the _sena_ seal hunting.

He was preparing to go over, as was his custom on Saturdays, to spend the evening with Skipper Ed and Jimmy in reading and study, and when he had eaten his supper he donned his snowshoes and _netsek_[D] and hurried eagerly away to Skipper Ed's cabin to invite Jimmy to join him in the adventure.
[Footnote D: An Eskimo garment of seal skin, which is drawn on over the head like a shirt, and has a hood to protect the head.

When this garment is made of caribou skin it is called a _kulutuk_, and when made of cloth, an _adikey_.] "Yes, to be sure, Partner, you must go with Bobby," said Skipper Ed.
"But it's going to be bleak and cold out there.

It's a man's work at this season, hunting at the _sena_, and a strong man's work, too.
Perhaps I had better go along.