Page:Silversheene (1924).djvu/128

 the loss of the master will of Gene. The will that had dominated them and made them go straight. The will that had made them as one dog. With the coming of the new master the team seemed to disintegrate, to go to pieces; and instead of a team it was eight individual dogs. Each pulling in his own way and doing as he wished so far as he could.

Wolf at once divined this fact and sought with all his might to keep the team intact.

It was strange how much he felt his responsibility. He seemed to know that this brute of a master could not control the team and make it work, and it was up to him.

Every ambitious dog aspires for the lead position.

Silversheene was dominant in every fiber of his being. He had come of a strain of sled dogs that had battled with snow and ice and cold, and he had inherited their dominant traits.

Silversheene had long chafed under the leadership of Wolf, yet Gene had re-