a Thing to Be Desired, Billy Topsail's Whip Disappears

n water forming near by, and lanes of open water widening and shifting with the drift and spreading of the ice; and somewhere between the cliffs and the moving pack, which had broken away from them, there was a long pitfall of water in the dark. The error of putting the dogs in the traces and a

There on the ice the situation was completely disclosed and beyond control. Nothing was to be manipulated. Nothing threatened, at any rate, for the moment. Consequently B

ture. He had been in scrapes before-the little dangers of the harbour and the adjacent rocks and waters and wilderness; gusts of wind; the lap of the sea; the confusion of the near-by back country, and the like of that; but he had neve

and that was stoicism enough for any lad of his years-even a lad of the Labrador. Billy Topsail offered him no comfort. It would h

sou'west, an' the snow was flyin' as thick as ever you seed the snow fly, an' the ice was goin' out t' sea on the jump. An' I s

sob and whimper from the d

t' be hardened,

in the komatik. The dogs were uneasy. Something out of the way? What the mischief was the matter? They came unwillingly. It see

nger Head. In a rift of the gale Teddy Brisk caug

ot beyond the heads of the bay and was moving into the waste reaches of the open sea. At dusk Billy had circled the pan twice-hoping for chance contact with another pan, to the east, and another

They were another man's dogs. In the

a thick slice of bread with a meager discoloration of molasses for Teddy Brisk. What chiefly interested Teddy Brisk was the attitude of the dogs. It was not obe

ot accept it at all. He snarled and sprang away. It was a defiant breach of discipline. What was the matter with the dogs? They had gone saucy all at once. The d

ot account for this

armed

y Topsail, "they're a

anage with n

opsail

son," said he,

ng enough t'

out, Teddy, when

ould feed the others an' keep

selfsame th

said e

racker,

ady? 'Twould b

ay now, won't you, b'y? That dog haves a grud

Hush no

that do

fore long. We'll drift ashore-

s eye on

Topsai

my whip a

for'ard o'

's n

e w

e gone

y, Cracker

h. Apparently he was in the mood to pursue a playful exploit. When Billy Topsail approached he retreated-a little; and when Billy Topsail rushed he dodged, with ease and increasing delight. When B

reach-just beyond rea

l and agile and determined; and when he had tired-it seemed-of his taunting game, he whisked away, with the pack in chase, and was lost to sight in the gale. It fell dark then; and presentl

see the w