Grenfell: Knight-Errant of the NorthWaldo, Fullerton L. (Fullerton Leonard)
History
Grenfell: Knight-Errant of the North
Waldo, Fullerton L. (Fullerton Leonard)
Grenfell, Wilfred Thomason, Sir, 1865-1940
The Doctor knew that every minute counted. He went to his kennels in
the snow and picked out his sturdiest dog-team. They whined and pawed
and jumped up and down, eager to be chosen. The real "husky" hates to
loaf, except when he has come in from a long, hard run late at night
and has had his meal of fish. He wants to be at work all the time, and
when the sled is loaded the dogs must be tied up tight or they will
dart away at breakneck speed and perhaps upset everything. This sleigh
was heavy-laden with instruments, drugs and dressings. A second team
was to follow, with the messengers.
Dr. Grenfell loved, as with a personal affection, every one of the
five beasts that were taking him on this long haul to save a boy's
life.
First came "Brin," by common consent the surest leader anywhere on the
coast. The strongest dog of the team--big and affectionate and
playful--was "Doc." A black and white dog whose muscles were like
small wire ropes, was "Spy," and "Moody," now in his third year, was a
black-and-tan named for Dr. Grenfell's friend Will Moody, son of the
evangelist. "Moody" had the reputation of never looking behind him: he
was eager to go on to the bitter end.
The youngest dog of the team, named "Watch," had beautiful soft eyes,
a Gordon setter coat, and long legs capable of carrying him over the
frozen crust at a tremendous rate of speed. Then there was "Sue," the
most wolf-like of the lot--black as jet, her pointed ears the standing
question-marks for further orders. "Jerry" was a perfect lady, quick
on her feet as a dancer, and so fond of play and so demonstrative that
she often tipped the Doctor over when he had a boxing-bout with her,
and sent him sprawling on his back in the snow.
"Jack," a black dog with the looks and the ways of a retriever, had
"Moody's" good habit of going straight on without turning to see who
followed, and he was put in the position of trust nearest the sledge.
He liked to run with his nose close to the ground, and nothing that
the trail or the snow-crust could tell any wise "husky" dog was a
secret to the busy nose of this gentle-natured fellow.
Do you wonder that Dr. Grenfell was proud and fond of these
four-legged helpers, and that he gave them the tender care one bestows
on children? It would have grieved him to the heart to think of any
accident happening to any of them. He looked on them just as a Captain
Scott or a Sir Ernest Shackleton regarded his mates on a Polar
expedition. They were his friends and helpers. Some of them had stood
by him in many a hard tussle with the cold and the stinging hail, with
the rotten ice threatening to let them down into the river or the sea.
With their bushy tails thrown over them like fur wraps, they had slept
in the snow-drift round his camp-fires. They seemed to him like human
beings, his little brothers. As he is fond of saying, "Dogs are much
nicer than a Ford car. A Ford car can't come and kiss you good-night."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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