The sun at midday
Long before daylight the next morning the Eskimos were lashing the load on the komatik and at dawn the dogs were harnessed and everything ready . Bob said good-bye to Akonuk and Matuk and the two teams took different directions and were soon lost to each other 's view . '' ` Twill not be long now , '' said Bob to himself , `` an ' we gets t ' th ' Bay . '' The sun at midday was now so warm that it softened the snow , which , freezing towards evening , made a hard ice crust over which the komatik slipped easily and permitted of very fast travelling until the snow began to soften again towards noon . Therefore the early part of the day was to be taken advantage of . The new team , containing eleven dogs , was really made up of two small teams , one of six dogs belonging to Netseksoak and the other of five dogs the property of Aluktook . At first the two sets of dogs were inclined to be quarrelsome and did not work well together .