“I’m puttin’ him in fer a thousand,” said Wilcox, “He’d go that much, an’ it ain’t right he should git left out. But, say, this here ain’t never goin’ to do!” he cried, eyeing the sacks of dust that littered the bar, “Them folks has got a long trail ahead, an’ if they’ve got to pack all this dust, they won’t have no room fer grub an’ dog feed.” Producin’ pencil and paper, he listed the bets and added the total. “Thirteen thousand, five hundred dollars! Let’s see, that’s more’n fifty pound of dust!” “Use Dalzene’s bills,” suggested Atline, “He sure left enough of ’em around here. You must have a bunch of ’em, Clem, an’ Crim’s got some, an’ we’ll hit out an’ locate the rest. They’re jest as good an’ a heap easier to pack.” “Now, you’ve got it!” cried Wilcox, “I paid off them bets an’ I recollect that about nine or ten thousand of his money was paper. You all skittle around an’ collect it together, an’ we won’t have to send down much dust.” “Lord!” grinned Atline, “If she wins that race, with the odds say at five- or ten-to-one agin her, she’ll have to hire a elephant to pack the dust back.” “Elephants is sacred at Nome,” reminded Rim Rock, “But they’s banks there. She kin bring it back in paper.” “An’ they’ll be paper on the Koyukuk,” grinned Atline, “For the next fifty years, where they never was no paper saw till Dalzene sprinkled his’n around. First thing we know we’ll be plumb civilized!” CHAPTER XVIII ON THE LONG SNOW TRAIL Immediately upon returning to the cabin on Myrtle, Lou Gordon began to put the finishing touches on the training of two handsome young huskies which she intended to add to her team for the big race. Great strong dogs they were, half brothers to Skookum, and they threw themselves into the work with a will. Each day found the girl upon the trail with her dogs, now urging them through loose snow, now on the hard-packed surface of the creek, lying flat on the sled fairly “burning the snow” as she timed off the passing miles, and again, accustoming them to eat rice balls and handfuls of meal in the harness, with only a few minutes of rest. The day of departure arrived. She had a race team of twelve dogs now, and her father expressed surprise as she proceeded to harness six of these dogs, with six others of only ordinary ability. “What ye doin’ wi’ them dogs?” he asked. “Ye surely ain’t figurin’ on racin’ them!” “No, but I’m taking them with me just the same,” answered the girl. “It’s their business to work every day till we hit Nome, and that will let the race dogs have every other day off. I’ll only use half the race dogs each day and let the other half run free.” “Losh, lass! Wi’ a twelve dog outfit, an’ forty days fer six hundred miles, you wouldn’t be wearin’ out ye’re dogs none. An’ how about feedin’ eighteen dogs on the trail? Ye can’t load grub an’ outfit, besides feed fer eighteen days fer six hundred miles on any sled.”