Part 14 (2/2)

CHAPTER IX

A CLOSE CALL

They had h, when so occurred which threatened disaster

Far up on the side of the hill along the base of which they were traveling, there stood here and there a cluly, wind-torn fir trees Suddenly there appeared froray streak Another appeared, then another and another, until there were six They did not pause at the edge of the bush, but rushed with swift, gliding motion down the steep hillside, and their course led theray wolves they were, a pack of brigands in the Arctic desert

Perhaps Marian, who rode on the last sled, saw them first Perhaps Ad-loo-at, the native, did At any rate, before she could screa to him he had slapped his reindeer on the back and the sled on which Marian rode shot forward so suddenly that she was nearly thrown frole file, but each deer runs beside the sled of the one before it The driver who is to occupy the foremost position chooses the best trained deer and attaches two reins to his halter that he uide hi this they can cause the reindeer to go faster, but they have no power to guide hi in his place beside the other sled

Marian had thought this an adeles of deep purple and light yellohich lay away in the distance, a e whose tops at ti blizzard Or, if she tired of this, she lided over the snow But noith a wolf-pack on their trail, with the nearest hu his ut lead-deer, that slender jerk-line hich she could do so little seeency

With wrinkled brow she watched the pack which now hadin full cry on their trail They were not gaining; her heart was cheered by that At least she did not think they were, yet, yes, there was one, a giant wolf, a third larger than his fellows, outstripping the others Now he appeared to be ten yards ahead of the the pace of the reindeer, but this one was gaining, there was no ht

It was a perilous e her deer to go faster She could not do that He was keeping his place with difficulty She could only sit and hope that somehow the wolf-leader would tire of the chase

Even now she was not sorry they had coht, that there were no rifles on their sleds Ad-loo-at had taken with him only an old-fashi+oned native lance, a sharp steel point set upon a long wooden handle That was all the weapon they had and, foot by foot, yard by yard, the gaunt, graycloser

Marian fancied she could hear the chop-chop of his frothing jaws

Then, suddenly came catastrophe With thefrom his position beside the sled, whirled about in a wide, sweeping circle which threatened to overturn her sled and leave her alone, defenseless against the hungry pack

It was a terrible s of the sled with one hand, she tugged at the jerk-rein with the other

”It's no use,” she cried in despair; ”I can't turn hilance down the trail turned her heart faint; her sled-deer was now racing alray leader not a hundred yards away

In desperation, she threw herself fro at some ds as she slid, atterip was broken, but the third tiht round with a wrench which nearly dislocated her shoulder

And now the deer for the first tier With a wild snort he turned to face the oncoht hold a single wolf at bay, but this deer's antlers had been cut to htly With such weapons he ic ht was now out of the question, yet defense seemed impossible; there was not a weapon on her sled

Suddenly her heart leaped for joy The fight was to be taken froht which he exercised over those entrusted to his care, having seen all that had happened had whirled his deer about, tied it to Lucile's sled and now ca above his head the trusty native lance which had o

But as this? Instead of dashi+ng right at the eneht for the reindeer and on the opposite side fro

”He doesn't see the leader,” Marian groaned ”He thinks the rest of the pack are all there are”

But in another second she knew this to be untrue, for, stooping low, the boy appeared to go on all fours as he glided over the snow; he was stalking the wolf even as the as stalking the deer

Realizing that the as planning to attack the deer and not her, Marian set herself to watch a spectacle such as she would seldom witness in a lifetime