380 THE END OF THE WINTER 



of its taking a long time. We were to harness twelve 

 dogs to the empty sledges, and we had an idea that it 

 would cost us a struggle to get away. We helped each 

 other, two and two, to bring the dogs to the sledges 

 and harness them. Those who were really careful had 

 anchored their sledges to a peg firmly fixed in the snow; 

 others had contented themselves with capsizing their 

 sledges; and others, again, were even more reckless. 

 We all had to be ready before the first man could start ; 

 otherwise, it would have been impossible for those who 

 were behind to hold in their dogs, and the result would 

 have been a false start. 



Our dogs were in a fearful state of excitement and 

 confusion that morning, but at last everything was 

 ready, barring one or two trifles. Then I suddenly 

 heard a wild yell, and, spinning round, I saw a team 

 tearing off without a driver. The next driver rushed 

 forward to help, with the result that his dogs made off 

 after the others. The two sledges were on ahead, and 

 the two drivers after them in full gallop; but the odds 

 were too unequal in a few moments the drivers were 

 beaten. The two runaway teams had made off in a 

 south-westerly direction, and were going like the wind. 

 The men had hard work; they had long ago stopped 

 running, and were now following in the tracks of the 

 sledges. The dogs had disappeared behind the ridges, 

 which the men did not reach till much later. 



Meanwhile the rest of us waited. The question was, 



