eets with an accident]

With a sharp order to the dogs to stop, which they promptly obeyed
by dropping in four panting heaps on the snow, she went forward
alone to see what had happened to her father. It was a simple
enough accident, and one that had to be constantly guarded against
in drawing a sledge when travelling on snowshoes. In going down
the slope the sledge had travelled proportionally faster than the
man, and, catching against the framework of one of the snowshoes,
had flung him with tremendous force between two trees. The trees,
which were really two shoots from one root, grew so close together
that when 'Duke Radford was pitched in between them he was wedged
fast by the force of the impact, while the sledge, coming on
behind, bounded on to his prostrate body. He groaned when
Katherine dragged the sledge away, and cried out with the pain when
she tried to help him out.

"Did it hurt you so badly? Oh, I am sorry! But I will be more
careful next time," she said; and, stepping carefully backwards
after that first vain attempt, she slipped her feet clear of the
snowshoes and went closer to the tree, so that she might try to
lift him out of the fork by sheer strength of arm. But the snow
was so soft that she sank in over her ankles, going deeper and
deeper with every attempt which she made to wriggle herself free.

"This won't do," she said sharply. "I won't be long, Father dear,
but I must pack the snow a bit before I can get firm standing
ground."

Slipping her father's snowshoes, one of which was broken, from his
feet, she took the broken part and proceeded to beat the snow firm
all round the trees. This took perhaps ten minutes, although she
worked so hard that she perspired despite the cold. The snow was
firm now; she could stand without sinking, and going round in front
of her father she exerted all her strength and lifted him up a
little. He was bleeding from a wound on his face, and seemed to be
quite dazed.

"Can you help yourself at all?" she asked urgently, knowing that it
was quite impossible for her unaided strength to get him clear of
the fork. But his only reply was a groan, and Katherine began to
grow frightened. It was quite impossible to leave him while she
went to summon aid, and equally impossible to get help without
going for it. Meanwhile the cold was so intense that every moment
of waiting became a risk. Even the dogs were whining and restless,
impatient to get off again