leader, kept
flinging up its head and howling in the most dismal manner until
they were well on their way. The noise got on Katherine's nerves
to such an extent that she was tempted to use her whip to the dog,
and only refrained because it seemed so cruel to thrash a creature
for just being miserable. To cheer the animals for the heavy work
before them, she talked to them as if they were human beings,
encouraging them so much that they took the first ten miles at a
tremendous rate, following so close on the track of the first
sledge that presently 'Duke Radford held up his hand as a signal
for stopping, then turned round to expostulate in a peevish tone:
"What do you mean by letting the dogs wear themselves out at such a
rate? We shall have one of them dropping exhausted presently, and
then we shall be in a nice fix."

"I haven't used the whip once, Father, but I thought it was better
to get them on as fast as I could, for I have felt and seen ever so
many snowflakes in the last half-hour," Katherine said penitently.

'Duke Radford turned his face rather anxiously windward, and was
considerably worried to find that a few small snowflakes came
dancing slowly down, and that the slight draught of the morning was
changing to a raw, cold wind from off the water.

"It is a fall coming, and by the look of it, it may be heavy. You
had better keep the dogs coming as fast as you can. But stop if I
throw up my hand, or you will be running me down."

"Shall we change places for a time?" asked Katherine. "I am not a
bit tired, but you look just worn out."

"No, no, I can't have you dragging a sledge. But be careful and
keep the dogs from rushing down the slopes and overrunning me," he
answered, then started forward again.

The flakes were falling faster now, but they were so fine that they
would have scarcely counted had it not been for the number of them.
At the end of the next half-hour the fall was like a fog of
whirling atoms, and the travellers looked like moving snow figures.
The dogs were still running well, and Katherine found it hard work
to keep them back, especially on the slopes, where they would
persist in trying to make rushes, so getting thoroughly out of
hand. She was keeping them back down one long bad slope which
abounded in pitfalls, when to her horror she heard her father cry
out, then saw him and his sledge disappear, shooting into a
whirling smother of snow.

[Illustration: 'Duke Radford m