Chapter 2 An Accident Bill woke up with the first light of dawn.
After a quick inspection of his dogs, he nudged Henry awake.
Henry could see immediately that his friend was upset.
"'What's wrong now?' he asked.
"'All right,' Bill said.
"'How many dogs did you say we had?'
"'Six.'
Wrong, Bill said.
Seven again?
Henry asked.
No, five.
One's gone.
Did the wolves get him?
Henry felt very worried.
I guess so, Bill shrugged.
Henry jumped up to look.
Bill was right.
One of their dogs was gone.
Now they had only five dogs to make it across the snow and ice.
The two men quickly repacked their sled and set off with the dogs.
Once again, they barely spoke, saving their energy for the hard work.
They made good time despite the bumpy ground.
The sled almost turned over several times, but Henry and Bill refused to stop.
They did not want to spend another night in the wild.
But they were still far from the next village when disaster struck.
Rattling over ice and snow, the sled tipped and broke one of its runners.
Henry and Bill couldn't repair it without the proper tools.
Their only choice was to head out on foot.
It was impossible to carry or drag all of their supplies, so they bundled up everything they couldn't carry and placed them in a high tree.
Perhaps they would be able to come back for them later, or someone else could use them.
Men often left stores of supplies and food to pick up on their return journey.
Henry wrote a note saying, Take what you need.
We left what we couldn't carry.
He stuck it inside the top flap of their bundle.
Taking hold of their remaining dogs, Henry and Bill continued down the frozen waterway.
One of the dogs, Spanker, kept trying to pull away, but Bill held on tightly.
Something's drawing him out, he said.
Bill scanned the land around them.
There was not much daylight left.
He was not looking forward to another night huddled around the fire.
He stopped suddenly.
Henry, he whispered, look over there.
Following at a distance behind them was the red dog.
She stopped when they did, waiting to see what would happen next.
She looks awful red for a wolf, Henry said, and she's pretty big.
Looks more dog than wolf, I'd say, Bill replied.
And Bill was right.
Although he did not want to get too close, he knew it was the same strange dog from the fire.
She did not seem to be nervous around them.
Bill wondered if she had ever lived with humans.
She looked too tame for an animal from the wild.
While they all waited, Spanker took the opportunity to pull quickly on his rope.
He gained his freedom and ran toward the red dog.
They approached each other slowly, moving in circles and sniffing.
Spanker lowered himself as she came closer.
Everything looked innocent enough, but the men knew there would be trouble.
In a flash, Spanker was surrounded by the wolf pack.
He barked and snapped, but they kept drawing nearer.
Bill raised his rifle and fired a single shot.
The wolves scattered, but Spanker ran with them.
The two men called for him, but he was gone.
They listened to his barks getting further away in the distance for a few moments before heading off.
There was nothing else to do.
I thought Spanker had more sense than that, said Henry.
Nah, Bill answered.
He was always a fool of a dog.
Those wolves look pretty skinny, and there were a lot of them, too.
I know.
It means they'll soon be back, looking for food.
The two men marched through the snow for the rest of the day.
The sun was already setting by three o'clock, so Henry and Bill decided to make camp.
They realized that a roaring fire might be their only protection.
The wolves were growing braver as they became even more desperate for food.
