he would get up and yawn and stretch as though he had been asleep.
It was a hard trip, with the mail behind them, and the heavy work wore
them down. They were short of weight and in poor condition when they
made Dawson, and should have had a ten days or a week s rest at least.
But in two days time they dropped down the Yukon bank from the
Barracks, loaded with letters for the outside. The dogs were tired, the
drivers grumbling, and to make matters worse, it snowed every day. This
meant a soft trail, greater friction on the runners, and heavier
pulling for the dogs; yet the drivers were fair through it all, and did
their best for the animals.
Each night the dogs were attended to first. They ate before the drivers
ate, and no man sought his sleeping-robe till he had seen to the feet
of the dogs he drove. Still, their strength went down. Since the
beginning of the winter they had travelled eighteen hundred miles,
dragging sleds the whole weary distance; and eighteen hundred miles
will tell upon life of the toughest. Buck stood it, keeping his mates
up to their work and maintaining discipline, though he, too, was very
tired. Billee cried and whimpered regularly in his sleep each night.
Joe was sourer than ever, and Sol-leks was unapproachable, blind side
or other side.
But it was Dave who suffered most of all. Something had gone wrong with
him. He became more morose and irritable, and when camp was pitched at
once made his nest, where his driver fed him. Once out of the harness
and down, he did not get on his feet again till harness-up time in the
morning. Sometimes, in the traces, when jerked by a sudden stoppage of
the sled, or by straining to start it, he would cry out with pain. The
driver examined him, but could find nothing. All the drivers became
interested in his case. They talked it over at meal-time, and over
their last pipes before going to bed, and one night they held a
consultation. He was brought from his nest to the fire and was pressed
and prodded till he cried out many times. Something was wrong inside,
but they could locate no broken bones, could not make it out.
By the time Cassiar Bar was reached, he was so weak that he was falling
repeatedly in the traces. The Scotch half-breed called a halt and took
him out of the team, making the next dog, Sol-leks, fast to the sled.
His intention was to rest Dave, letting him run free behind the sled.
36