244, THE WORLD OF ICE.

“ About gammon, of coorse,” retorted Davie. “ Keep
yer mouth shut for fear your teeth freeze.”

“Can't ye lead us a better road?” shouted Saun-
ders, who rode on the third sledge; “my bones are
rattlin’ about inside o’ me like a bag o’ ninepins.”

“ Give the dogs a cut, old fellow,” said Buzzby, with
a chuckle and a motion of his arm to the Esquimau
who drove his sledge.

The Esquimau did not understand the words, but
he quite understood the sly chuckle and the motion of
the arm, so he sent the lash of the heavy whip with
a loud crack over the backs of the team.

“ Hold on for life!” eried Davie, as the dogs sprang
forward with a bound.

The part they were about to pass over was exceed-
ingly rough and broken, and Buzzby resolved to give
his shipmates a shake. The pace was tremendous.
The powerful dogs drew their loads after them with
successive bounds, which caused a succession of crashes,
as the sledges sprang from lump to lump of ice, and
the men’s teeth snapped in a truly savage manner.

“ B-a-ck ye-r t-to-p-sails, will ye?” shouted Amos
Parr.

But the delighted Esquimau leader, who entered
quite into the joke, had no intention whatever of
backing his top-sails; he administered another crack
to the team, which yelled madly, and, bounding over
a wide chasm in the ice, came down with a crash,
which snapped the line of the leading dog and set ib
free. Here Buzzby caused the driver to pull up.