When a herd of stampeding caribou reaches an oil pipeline in the Northwest Territories, the animals balk at the one-foot obstacle. Some run for miles parallel to the pipeline, others stands still, perplexed. Those who refuse to step over the pipeline are easy prey for the wolves; those not fortunate enough to be killed quickly, wither away until they are just carcasses. In the snow.

The Arctic has a peculiar sense of justice. For every storm in the dead of winter, there is a calm; for every predator, a victim. For the six month day, there is the six month night. Syd Justin knew that, but it didn't stop his stomach from fluttering with anticipation when the small notice in the Edmonton Sun caught his attention.

Northern Adventures, it simply read. Guides available for excursions in the Yukon and Northwest Territories.

Normally, Justin would sit and stare at his panoramic view of Edmonton, boomtown, the Houston of the North. Lately, however, he had become restless. He yearned for new vigor. The coat of snow over Edmonton made him listless.

Things like running a corporation should have excited him, but they didn't. Paunch occluded his once-athletic figure, but he always had a reason not to exercise. He remembered with distant fondness his summers in Ontario's north woods. The holiday season seemed a good time to return to nature.

***

"I want only the best guide you have," Justin told Agaguk, head of Northern Adventures Inc. "I'm willing to pay for it."

"We are all good," the Nanook Eskimo replied.

Justin then met Kamik, his guide for the six-day arctic trek.

"He is...he seems...young," Justin said.

Agakuk patiently reassured the "southern" oil executive. "He is a man."

***

On the third day of the week-long journey, which led Justin and his guide Kamik from the settlement of Nanook to the village of Hooka, a typical Christmastime squall blew off MacInnis Bay. Visibility shrunk to zero and the two men could hardly see each other.

Justin and Kamik agreed to stop for the day, and the Eskimo hastily set about building the evening's igloo. Justin opened the food pack, and hungrily chewed on a dried venison steak.

"Sir, we should not eat until later. It is only the afternoon. We will need strength tomorrow," Kamik said in his stilted accent.