But the fellow backed out; and then a cry
was raised to let it alone, as it wos a brown walrus. One young
Esquimau, howsiver, would have another slap at it, and went so close
that the brute charged, upset the kayak, and ripped the man up with his
tusks. Seein' this, the other Esquimaux made a dash at it, and wounded
it badly; but the upshot wos that the walrus put them all to flight and
made off, clear away, with six harpoons fast in its hide."
"Busby's tellin' ye gammon," roared Tom Green, who rode on the second
sledge in rear of that on which Davie Summers sat. "What is't all
about?"
"About gammon, of coorse," retorted Davie. "Keep yer mouth shut for
fear your teeth freeze."
"Can't ye lead us a better road?" shouted Saunders, who rode on the
third sledge; "my bones are rattlin' about inside o' me like a bag o'
ninepins."
"Give the dogs a cut, old fellow," said Buzzby, with a chuckle and a
motion of his arm to the Esquimau who drove his sledge.
The Esquimau did not understand the words, but he quite understood the
sly chuckle and the motion of the arm, so he sent the lash of the heavy
whip with a loud crack over the backs of the team.
"Hold on for life!" cried Davie, as the dogs sprang forward with a
bound.
The part they were about to pass over was exceedingly rough and broken,
and Buzzby resolved to give his shipmates a shake. The pace was
tremendous. The powerful dogs drew their loads after them with
successive bounds, which caused a succession of crashes, as the sledges
sprang from lump to lump of ice, and the men's teeth snapped in a truly
savage manner.
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