“Jist so,” agreed Enright, “That’s what I figgered. However, it ain’t no harm in me takin’ ’em along up fer you, is they, to save you the trouble? I’ll see they’re well took care of. Without sayin’ nothin’ I’ll hit town with these here six dogs an’ begin runnin’ ’em up an’ down on the ice. The boys’ll crowd down there to watch ’em run an’ then they’ll begin to take bets offen Dalzene. Of course it might be such a thing that Dalzene will come down along with the rest an’ he might somehow git the idee that this here was the team we was hangin’ our dust onto. An’ he might figger, him knowin’ dogs a little, that his’n could beat ’em without half tryin’. It’s ten days yet, till Chris’mus, an’ every day I’ll work them dogs out on the ice, an’ every day we kin kind of cover more an’ more of Dalzene’s money, till we’ve got it all covered. Then the day before Chris’mus you come along an’ hearin’ how they’s a race you enter your team. Meanwhile all these here bets has be’n made, the money is up, an’ Dalzene has bet agin’ the whole field fer his team to win. That’s what he’s offerin’, his team agin the field, an’ accordin’ to his way of seein’ it, it’s as good a bet as any, ’cause he says he don’t care if they’s a dozen teams or one, he’s only got to beat the best of ’em anyhow, an’ he ain’t worryin’ none but what he kin do it. “Now, the boys thinks that if we all make a clean-up on this here ungodless party from Rampart, on account of your team winnin’ this here race, it wouldn’t be no more than fair to add ten percent of our winnin’s to the prize. What do you say to that?” Gordon’s eyes rested upon the face of his daughter. “What do ye say, lass? The dogs are yours, you’ve raised ’em an’ fooled wi’ ’em an’ broke ’em, an’ if we win the money’s yours.” “Oh, I’d love to do it!” cried the girl, her eyes shining. “And I believe we can win, too. But what if he backs down when he sees my team? What if he won’t race?” “We aim to fix that. We all will lay our bets with the understandin’ that if he backs out he loses. He’s got to race an’ win to take the money.” “How many miles shall we race?” she asked eagerly. Enright considered: “Dalzene he’s made his crack that he’ll run anywheres from one mile to a hundred. The boys kind of left it to you fer to name the distance. As I said, them dogs of Dalzene’s looks good an’ fit. But they’s only seven of ’em, agin’ your ten. An’ besides, his sled is a heavy, rough ice proposition, built more fer freightin’ than speed.” “But, so is mine,” interrupted the girl. “Sure, I know. But the mail carrier’s ain’t. An’ bein’ as he’ll have all the dust he kin scrape together invested in this here scheme for Christianizin’ Jake Dalzene, it ain’t goin’ to be none hard whatever, fer to borrow that sled off him. So, takin’ it all in all, as the feller says, I guess we better make it a middlin’ long drag. Say, anyways forty or fifty mile. The longer it is, the heavier the pull is goin’ to be on Dalzene’s dogs.”