56 BY ESKIMO DOG-SLED 



then the middle one, and then the others to 

 fill up the spaces. There was a gentle upward 

 curve from back to front to make the sled 

 rise better to the snowdrifts, they said ; and 

 the runners were not set quite upright, but 

 splayed slightly outwards to keep the sled 

 from slipping sideways ; and every bit of the 

 work was done with a neatness and exactness 

 that the most skilled of carpenters might envy. 



Jerry and Julius screwed the irons on to the 

 runners, and sand-papered them till they 

 shone ; and then, exactly four days after the 

 fetching of the tree, they dragged the sled up 

 to the door of the hospital, and left it standing 

 on the snow. " We dare not take it indoors," 

 they said, " because it would warp." 



Now that I had a sled I was ready to begin 

 my journeys, and the word soon went round 

 the village that I was making ready to go 

 to Hebron, and that Julius and Jerry were to 

 be the drivers. 



Quite a number of the people made up 

 their minds to see us go, and so it came 

 about that our sled started at the head of a 

 procession of fourteen. At the outset I knew 

 nothing about it, for we set off in pitchy dark- 

 ness at five o'clock in the morning. Julius 

 called it a " fine morning," but as far as I was 

 concerned it might have been midnight. I 



