did not care what happened. Billee, the good-natured, could lead for
all they cared, so long as he kept order. The rest of the team,
however, had grown unruly during the last days of Spitz, and their
surprise was great now that Buck proceeded to lick them into shape.
Pike, who pulled at Buck s heels, and who never put an ounce more of
his weight against the breast-band than he was compelled to do, was
swiftly and repeatedly shaken for loafing; and ere the first day was
done he was pulling more than ever before in his life. The first night
in camp, Joe, the sour one, was punished roundly a thing that Spitz had
never succeeded in doing. Buck simply smothered him by virtue of
superior weight, and cut him up till he ceased snapping and began to
whine for mercy.
The general tone of the team picked up immediately. It recovered its
old-time solidarity, and once more the dogs leaped as one dog in the
traces. At the Rink Rapids two native huskies, Teek and Koona, were
added; and the celerity with which Buck broke them in took away
Francois s breath.
Nevaire such a dog as dat Buck! he cried. No, nevaire! Heem worth
one t ousan dollair, by Gar! Eh? Wot you say, Perrault?
And Perrault nodded. He was ahead of the record then, and gaining day
by day. The trail was in excellent condition, well packed and hard, and
there was no new-fallen snow with which to contend. It was not too
cold. The temperature dropped to fifty below zero and remained there
the whole trip. The men rode and ran by turn, and the dogs were kept on
the jump, with but infrequent stoppages.
The Thirty Mile River was comparatively coated with ice, and they
covered in one day going out what had taken them ten days coming in. In
one run they made a sixty-mile dash from the foot of Lake Le Barge to
the White Horse Rapids. Across Marsh, Tagish, and Bennett (seventy
miles of lakes), they flew so fast that the man whose turn it was to
run towed behind the sled at the end of a rope. And on the last night
of the second week they topped White Pass and dropped down the sea
slope with the lights of Skaguay and of the shipping at their feet.
It was a record run. Each day for fourteen days they had averaged forty
33