Part 12 (2/2)

It ell-known to Alec, for it was along this very way that he had skated so rapidly after leaving the river, with the howling wolves behind him

On and on they pushed to the extreme end of the lake, for they wished to avail themselves of as much of the ice route as possible, as it is soon the ice than in the forest, where there is no trail

When the sleds reached the spot where they were to enter the forest they found that the guide and his Indian comrade had cut down some dry trees and made up a splendid fire No sooner had the trains arrived than sos which were on all were opened, and a couple of large kettles were speedily filled with the clear, light snow and placed on the roaring fire So light and feathery is the snow that the kettles have to be filled and refilled a good many times ere sufficient is put in to s were opened, and abundance of food was taken out for all

One of the Indians, as skillful at this kind of work, was detailed as special cook and general waiter for Mr Ross and the boys Very quickly he had ready the dinner of the good things Mrs Ross had prepared for them The boys were surprised at the quantity of the fat food that was placed before theour and capacity of their appetites Nature, true to her instincts, puts in the craving for the kind of food most essential for people in different parts of the world

About an hour was allowed for the dinner halt, and then the journey was resued to this mode of travel Sleds were occasionally upset, and if at the ti, he was buried in the snow, froenerally ahter of those more fortunate Several times a fox or some other animal ran across the trail, and then it required sos and prevent the off after these anis had learned so while thus harnessed to heavy sleds to capture wild foxes, and so s and a little er and less disciplined trains, however, with less discretion and more zeal, at once dashed away from the beaten trail ed into the forest after the gas so heavily loaded could thus fairly fly over the snow-covered logs and rocks and a the trees at such a rate?”

They learned then, and in th there is in an apparently wearied dog Only give hi to all itness it

Alec's fleet train was the ht of a saucy fox or a snarling wild cat passing across the trail, only a few hundred feet ahead of hiree of equanio, in spite of Alec's hardest efforts to keep hier as hiet off several hundred yards in the woods before he could be stopped

So would be rather abrupt Generally the trees were so close together that it was not long ere the head of the sled careat one This, of course, stopped them most effectually At other times, while Bruce, the leader, decided to take one side of a s next to hiency of views on the part of the dogs also quickly put an end to their advance

Alec, in his deterress at these times, did not always escape unscathed When in a bad forest where the snoas deep, he often would stuain his feet, had acted the part of a snowplough as he was rapidly dragged along He received some painful bruises, but he pluckily kept to his work, and so had his dogs in fairly good subhable but fortunately not dangerous adventure happened to the boys and their trains at a place called by the Indians the Wolf's Cove, on account of the many wolves that formerly infested the place There it was necessary to cross a very deep valley, or ravine The hillsides were very steep and slippery under the heavy snowfall As the dog-sleds have no brakes upon the down a steep hill is for the driver to hold back the sled by the strong rope which is always attached to the rear end and is called the tail rope

If the hill is steep or slippery, and the load heavy, this is a difficult operation and requires s are attached to the sleds, the drivers are utterly powerless to render any assistance in arresting the progress of the sled

When the sleds reached the ravine there was a short halt ere the first descent was made

The old, experienced Indian drivers were of the opinion that the boys were not strong or heavy enough on their ested that, after they theone doith the loads, they return and take charge of the trains of the boys

This help, kindly offered, was rejected by the lads, who, having ame bothered them, were anxious to try this new experiment

Mr Ross at first was also a little dubious about it, but youthful enthusiasm and love of new adventures conquered While the first sleds were descending the boys and the rest of the party not iood deal of interest

”Faith,” said Sa down the banisters”

”The hill seereased for the occasion,” said Frank, as he noticed the ease and rapidity hich the sleds slid down in spite of the grip and strong holdback of the heavy, experienced Indian drivers

”Plenty of snow to tuet the way he had ploughed through it when his dogs ran aith him as they attempted to catch the wild cat

Fortunately or unfortunately for the boys, there had been a good deal of wind in this part of the country since the last snowfall, and so now there was a large drift of perhaps twenty feet that had been blown into the bottouides, with soone backward and forward a few times on their heavy snowshoes, and had packed down a trail sufficiently hard for the dogs and sleds All the heavy sleds with their drivers went on ahead of the boys Thus they, co of the snow

Sam, jolly and reckless, was the first of the boys to make the descent, while the others followed closely behind, Frank being next to hi up the rear

For a ti the experienced drivers

He kept his feet well and firmly planted on the snowy surface, and held back his sled in fine style The other boys also succeeded in starting well on the trail They had not gone very far, however, before a srey wolf, that had been hidden in one of the den-like recesses in the rocks, now thoroughly alar of sofrom his retreat, which was in the cliffs on the other side beyond the guide Plunging into the deep snow, heup the distant hillside in front of the whole party Fierce fires had raged through these woods a year so so before, nearly destroying the whole of the timber The result was that the country was now here quite open and objects as large as a wolf could be seen for a long distance Fros could much more distinctly see the wolf on the opposite hillside than could the rest of the party, who, having safelyof the rise on the other side, awaiting the coht of that wolf, so clearly seen in the bright sunshi+ne of that wintry day on the snowy hillside, was too much for their brief discipline Spitfire could not stand it With a howl he was off, and well seconded were his efforts by the dogs he was leading Sam was instantly jerked off his feet, but he pluckily held on to the tail rope of his sled Well was it for hiood testing of their qualities now, as rapidly on the down that steep, slippery hillside

Behind hi-trains Of them the boys had also lost control Such was the steepness of the hill that soon the o faster than the dogs could run

Here was the real danger Frank and Alec saas faring with Sam, and were also quick to observe that with that wolf so plainly visible it would be utterly irade to control their now excited dogs, they, boylike, took the risks, and at once threw thes, hich the loads were securely tied

”Hurrah for somewhere!” shouted Alec

”Clear the track!” was Frank's hurried shout to Sam, whom he saw still in the trail, dohich he was now furiously co out the trail had near the bottom made a little turn to the left in order to escape the deepest snowdrift which the wind had there piled up The foremost trains, with their powerful, experienced drivers, had been able to ht, and now had stopped only a little way ahead