ing around? Of course I can," retorted Wild Bill, positively.
"There's plenty room to the left, and--"

"Ay, ay; there be plenty of room, as ye say, ef ye don't take too much
of it," interrupted the Trapper. "But--"

"I tell you," broke in the other, "I'll turn my back to no man in
steering a sled; and I can put this sled, and you on it, around that
stump a hundred times, and never lift a runner."

"Well, well," responded the Trapper, "have it yer own way. I dare say
ye be good at steerin', and I sartinly know I'm good at ridin'; and I
can ride as fast as ye can steer, ef ye hit every stump in the
clearin'. Now, childun," continued the old man, turning to the little
group, "we be goin' to try the course; and ef the crust holds up, and
Wild Bill keeps clear of the stumps, and nothin' onusual happens, ye
shall have all the slidin' ye want afore ye go in. Come, Bill, git yer
sled p'inted right, and I'll be gittin' on, and we'll see ef ye can
steer an old man round a stump as handily as ye say ye can."

The directions of the Trapper were promptly obeyed, and in an instant
the sled was in the right position, and the Trapper proceeded to seat
himself with the carefulness of one who feels he is embarking on a
somewhat uncertain venture, and has grave misgivings as to what will
be the upshot of the undertaking. The sled was large and strongly
built; and it added not a little to his comfort to feel that he could
put entire confidence in the structure beneath them.

"The sled'll hold," he said to himself, "ef the loadin' goes to the
jedgment."

The Trapper was no sooner seated than Wild Bill threw himself upon the
sled, with one leg under him and the other stretched at full length
behind. This was a method of steering that had come into vogue since
the Trapper's boyhood, for in his day the steersman sat astride the
sled, with his feet thrust forward, and steered by the pressure of
either heel upon the snow.

"Hold on, Bill!" exclaimed the Trapper, whose eye this novel method of
steering had not escaped. "Hold on, and hold up a minit. Heavens and
'arth! ye don't mean to steer this sled with one toe, do ye, and that,
too, the length of a rifle-barrel astarn? Wheel round, and spread yer
legs out as ye orter, and steer this sled in an honest fashion, or
there'll be trouble aboard afore ye git to the bottom."

"Sit round!" retorted Bill. "How could I see to steer if I was sitting
right back of you? For you're nigh a foot tall