Baldy of Nome

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rest that the arrival of a new inmate usually created. He was an accident, not an

biously over Baldy. "He don't seem to belong here, someway," had been his mild criticism; while

djust himself to these recent changes. It's all strange to him, and he misses the boy. You can't watch him with B

ell, with all of the attractive dogs here willing to lavish their devotion upon us, I think it

le-inexpressive. It's going to take a little while to find out if it's because there is nothing to express, or

or he was accustomed neither to the luxuries nor to the restrictions that surrounded him. His early

s of the family, been raised to haul freight from town to the mine. But his attachment for Ben Edwards had intervene

s almost invariably turned into a romp, so that he had only acquired t

iality on the part of most of the dogs toward him. This was especially true of Tom, Dick, and Harry, the famous Tolman brothers, who were the Veterans of Alaska Dog Racing, and so had a standing in the Ken

distance covered slowly by freighters in pursuance of their task of earning their daily living would seem to him far more worthy of respect and emulation. And so, when the Tolman brothers, who were apt to be quarrelsome with those "not in their class," showed a col

y as a leader had become a Tradition of the North; and who was still in fighting trim should cause for trouble arise. He did not rely alone on hi

pletely, turning his back upon them when they were being harnessed, and apparently oblivious of thei

ke college athletes, they were only sports incidentally, and for the greater part of the year they were as ready and willing to d

e River parentage, he came from Dawson, where he was born, down the Yukon to Nome with "Scotty" Allan. He had led a team of his brothers and sisters, six in all, the entire distance of twelve hundred miles, early manifesting that definite acknowledged mastery over the others that is indispensable in a good leader. He had realized what it meant to be a Pioneer, had pe

. They figure but little in the forest-crowned Alaska of the South, with its enchanted isles, emerald green, in the sunlit, silver waves; but they are an indispensable factor in the very struggle for mere existence

KA OF ME

in at the Edge of The I

hose who have faced its dangers and conquered its terrors, that his importance should be at last freely

of the breeds used so extensively, but also, since the first President was a Kentuckian, of e

e of the millions taken out annually by her huge dredgers and hydraulics; not only because she is an important trading station that supplies whalers and explorers with all necessary equipment for their voyages in the Arctic;

cognized feature of the life there, a certain pride has manifested itself in the dog-drivers, and dog-owners, who aim now to use only the dogs really fitted for the work. Even t

numberless others of the same type, would have been condemned to the ignominy of being mere pets; useless canine adjuncts to human beings-creatures that we

ntolerance of authority in the past, he nevertheless felt a certain admiration for the big tawny dog who moved with the lithe ease of the panther, and held himself with the imposing dignity of the

s; a pride which is not seemly save for great worth and good deeds. Yet in spite of these grave faults of character Dubby accorded McMillan the recognition due his

y virtues of the work dogs whose faithfulness has won for them an honorable place in the community, tha

nunciation of passing pleasures a pose. It was particularly disconcerting to see that virtue often remained unnoticed, and that vice just as often escaped retribution; and what he saw might have undermined Baldy's whole moral nature, but for the simple sincerity that was the key-note to his character. As an artless dog of nature he was accustomed, when the world did not seem just and right to him, to show it plainly-an attitude not conducive to popularity; and it often made him seem surly when as a matter of fact he was only puzzled or depressed. He could not feign an amiability to hide hatred and vindictivenes

nducted" by Matt; and Baldy longed for the freedom that had been his when alone, or preferably with the boy, he had roamed throu

ld indifference of the magnificent McMillan, and even Matt's eternal vigilance were forgotten. Periods when his companion's toil-hardened hands stroked the sleek sides an

es, who had won the plaudits of the world, justified the boy's sacrifice

whisper confidently; and Baldy's reply was sure to be a satisfactory wag