Page:The open Polar Sea- a narrative of a voyage of discovery towards the North pole, in the schooner "United States" (IA openpolarseanarr1867haye).pdf/142

 but I fervently hope that the emergency may not arise which requires me to exhibit my skill.

It is the very hardest kind of hard work. That merciless lash must be going continually; and it must be merciless or it is of no avail. The dogs are quick to detect the least weakness of the driver, and measure him on the instant. If not thoroughly convinced that the soundness of their skins is quite at his mercy, they go where they please. If they see a fox crossing the ice, or come upon a bear track, or "wind" a seal, or sight a bird, away they dash over snow-drifts and hummocks, pricking up their short ears and curling up their long bushy tails for a wild, wolfish race after the game. If the whip-lash goes out with a fierce snap, the ears and the tails drop, and they go on about their proper business; but woe be unto you if they get the control. I have seen my own driver only to-day sorely put to his metal, and not until he had brought a yell of pain from almost every dog in the team did he conquer their obstinacy. They were running after a fox, and were taking us toward what appeared to be unsafe ice. The wind was blowing hard, and the lash was sometimes driven back into the driver's face,—hence the difficulty. The whip, however, finally brought them to reason, and in full view of the game, and within a few yards of the treacherous ice, they came first down into a limping trot and then stopped, most unwillingly. Of course this made them very cross, and a general fight—fierce and angry—now followed, which was not quieted until the driver had sailed in among them and knocked them to right and left with his hard hickory whip-stock. I have had an adventure with the same team, and know to my cost what an unruly set they