AND KAYAK 68 



I verily believe they would have been willing 

 to eat me, for once when I stumbled among 

 the traces the whole team was on me with a 

 pounce, and I have just a memory of a con- 

 fused moment of snarling, fighting dogs and 

 shouting, kicking drivers. A whip cracked, 

 and the dogs spread in terror, while the drivers 

 tried to calm them with deep-toned " Ah's " ; 

 and after that they told me never to go among 

 the dogs unless I had the whip in my hand. 



Our sled caravan got rather scattered as the 

 day wore on ; in fact, with some of the men 

 who had only a few dogs it resolved itself into 

 an earnest race to do the sixty miles in the 

 one day. My drivers took no notice of their 

 hurry. " Let them go," they said, " we are 

 all right, we shall get there." 



Just in front of us there was a curious 

 erection in the shape of a house on runners, 

 a sort of square tent, somewhere about the 

 size of a Punch and Judy show only not so 

 tall, built on a sled. This contained the 

 driver's wife, and his idea was that she should 

 sit tight and not feel the cold. The idea was, 

 no doubt, an excellent one ; but it had the 

 disadvantage of boxing the lady up in the 

 dark and depriving her of all view of the out- 

 side world, and consequently she was unable 

 to take proper care of herself. We came to 



