sten to nothin'!

"You just went a-racin' an' a-tearin' on from the time you seen 'im.
O' course, as a driver don't have no reins, an' we only got a whip,
we can't pull you up if you really wanta go. We can just holler
'left' an' 'right' an' 'stop' an' 'go ahead.' But my oh my! We sure
did stack up against trouble that day.

"You an' the rest o' the team, you waded right into that bear before
I'd got you cut loose from the traces. The air was full o' bear-meat
an' dog-fur flyin'. Guess the bear didn't know no difference between
you an' wolves. There's many a man has made the same mistake.

"There was old Mr. Bear standin' up on his hind legs battin' away like
he was wound up, handin' out punishment like it was a boxin' match,
and you fellows hollerin' bloody murder.

"You done more'n wolves would 'a' done. Wolves wouldn't 'a' tackled a
bear that way--unless it was a great big crowd o' wolves an' one lone,
lorn, small bear.

"He was a buster, he was, an' there was only six o' you. But you stood
right up-ta him all right! You remember, don't you?"

Jim and Jack flopped their tails on the ice as if to say yes. Their
mouths were wide open--it looked as if they were laughing in delight
to be reminded of the battle.

"Say, you dogs certainly are the willin', hard-workin' fellers when
you're fed up right. I believe you'd rather haul a sled than eat. You
rascals! 'Member the time you et my gloves just as I was goin' to
start? I had to larrup outa you that trick you had when you was young
o' gobblin' your own harness when you wasn't watched. I sure do hate
to hit you. One o' these whips 'll bite a hole in a door twenty feet
off: I've seen ole Pop Rinker drive a nail in a board with one.

"When we get back, if that ther Dr. Grenfell has come we'll get some
other dogs an' take him out for a ride. He'll have to have a team o'
dogs. Can't get along in this country without you dogs--not till they
have reindeer. Heaven knows, the Doctor'll have miles and miles o'
country to cover, to get round to all the people hereabouts that needs
him. Ain't it a great an' mighty blessin' this country's now a-goin'
to have a doctor all our own, all our very own?"

When they got back to the hamlet with their seal, there was a
jollification.

Tom Bradley could have been Mayor, or King, or anything he wanted.

There was plenty of one thing in that place--and that was fire-wood,
from the spruces and firs alongshore.

So they built a monst