第53章

On the relay out of Sixty Mile, Smoke had next to his poorest team, and though the going was good, he had set it a short fifteen miles.Two more teams would bring him in to Dawson and to the Gold- Recorder's office, and Smoke had selected his best animals for the last two stretches.Sitka Charley himself waited with the eight Malemutes that would jerk Smoke along for twenty miles, and for the finish, with a fifteen-mile run, was his own team--the team he had had all winter and which had been with him in the search for Surprise Lake.

The two men he had left entangled at Sixty Mile failed to overtake him, and, on the other hand, his team failed to overtake any of the three that still led.His animals were willing, though they lacked stamina and speed, and little urging was needed to keep them jumping into it at their best.There was nothing for Smoke to do but to lie face-downward and hold on.Now and again he would plunge out of the darkness into the circle of lightabout a blazing fire, catch a glimpse of furred men standing by harnessed and waiting dogs, and plunge into the darkness again.Mile after mile, with only the grind and jar of the runners in his ears, he sped on.Almost automatically he kept his place as the sled bumped ahead or half- lifted and heeled on the swings and swerves of the bends.First one, and then another, without apparent rhyme or reason, three faces limned themselves on his consciousness: Joy Gastell's, laughing and audacious; Shorty's, battered and exhausted by the struggle down Mono Creek; and John Bellew's, seamed and rigid, as if cast in iron, so unrelenting was its severity.And sometimes Smoke wanted to shout aloud, to chant a paean of savage exultation, as he remembered the office of the Billow and the serial story of San Francisco which he had left unfinished, along with the other fripperies of those empty days.

The grey twilight of morning was breaking as he exchanged his weary dogs for the eight fresh Malemutes.Lighter animals than Hudson Bays, they were capable of greater speed, and they ran with the supple tirelessness of true wolves.Sitka Charley called out the order of the teams ahead.Big Olaf led, Arizona Bill was second, and Von Schroeder third.These were the three best men in the country.In fact, ere Smoke had left Dawson, the popular betting had placed them in that order.While they were racing for a million, at least half a million had been staked by others on the outcome of the race.No one had bet on Smoke, who, despite his several known exploits, was still accounted a chechaquo with much to learn.

As daylight strengthened, Smoke caught sight of a sled ahead, and, in half an hour, his own lead-dog was leaping at its tail.Not until the man turned his head to exchange greetings, did Smoke recognize him as Arizona Bill.Von Schroeder had evidently passed him.The trail, hard- packed, ran too narrowly through the soft snow, and for another half-hour Smoke was forced to stay in the rear.Then they topped an ice-jam and struck a smooth stretch below, where were a number of relay camps and where the snow was packed widely.On his knees, swinging his whip and yelling, Smoke drew abreast.He noted that Arizona Bill's right arm hung dead at his side, and that he was compelled to pour leather with hisleft hand.Awkward as it was, he had no hand left with which to hold on, and frequently he had to cease from the whip and clutch to save himself from falling off.Smoke remembered the scrimmage in the creek bed at Three Below Discovery, and understood.Shorty's advice had been sound.

"What's happened?" Smoke asked, as he began to pull ahead.

"I don't know," Arizona Bill answered."I think I threw my shoulder out in the scrapping."He dropped behind very slowly, though when the last relay station was in sight he was fully half a mile in the rear.Ahead, bunched together, Smoke could see Big Olaf and Von Schroeder.Again Smoke arose to his knees, and he lifted his jaded dogs into a burst of speed such as a man only can who has the proper instinct for dog- driving.He drew up close to the tail of Von Schroeder's sled, and in this order the three sleds dashed out on the smooth going, below a jam, where many men and many dogs waited.Dawson was fifteen miles away.

Von Schroeder, with his ten-mile relays, had changed five miles back, and would change five miles ahead.So he held on, keeping his dogs at full leap.Big Olaf and Smoke made flying changes, and their fresh teams immediately regained what had been lost to the Baron.Big Olaf led past, and Smoke followed into the narrow trail beyond.

"Still good, but not so good," Smoke paraphrased Spencer to himself.

Of Von Schroeder, now behind, he had no fear; but ahead was the greatest dog-driver in the country.To pass him seemed impossible.Again and again, many times, Smoke forced his leader to the other's sled- trail, and each time Big Olaf let out another link and drew away.Smoke contented himself with taking the pace, and hung on grimly.The race was not lost until one or the other won, and in fifteen miles many things could happen.

Three miles from Dawson something did happen.To Smoke's surprise, Big Olaf rose up and with oaths and leather proceeded to fetch out the last ounce of effort in his animals.It was a spurt that should have been reserved for the last hundred yards instead of being begun three miles from the finish.Sheer dog-killing that it was, Smoke followed.Hisown team was superb.No dogs on the Yukon had had harder work or were in better condition.Besides, Smoke had toiled with them, and eaten and bedded with them, and he knew each dog as an individual, and how best to win in to the animal's intelligence and extract its last least shred of willingness.