“Why not go the whole hundred?” cried the girl. Enright laughed: “I wondered if you’d say that. It’ll sure tickle the boys when I tell ’em. It shows yer heart’s right, an’ yer game, an’ you got belief in yer dogs--not that we didn’t know you was game all right, Miss Lou,” he hastened to add, “’Cause there ain’t a man on the Koyukuk that wouldn’t go plumb to hell for you.” He paused, floundering awkwardly, “I mean, in a way of speakin’, as the feller says,” and encountering the twinkle of amusement in the eyes of the girl, proceeded: “But, they’s two or three reasons why a fifty mile race would be better. First an’ foremost of which is that they’s a hard-packed trail from Nolan to Johnny Atline’s cabin, twenty-five mile up the river. Beyond Johnny’s the trail peters out an’ they’d be a lot of trail breakin’ ahead of the dogs. If you run to Johnny’s an’ back it’s fifty mile, an’ a ridin’ trail all the way. That’ll be to your advantage, ’cause Dalzene he weighs goin’ on two hundred an’ a quarter, an’ it’ll be so much more drag on his dogs. Then, agin, we don’t want it so long that folks’ll lose interest. You see, it ain’t like the Alaska Sweepstakes over to Nome. They run better than four hundred mile, but it’s the biggest race in the world, an’ folks jist nach’ly can’t lose interest. You’d ort to make it to Johnny’s an’ back in ten or twelve hours----” “Ten or twelve hours!” exclaimed the girl, “With a good riding trail, and a light sled if I can’t make it in less than nine hours I ought to lose!” Enright whistled: “D’ye really think you kin beat ten hours? You got to remember yer team ain’t broke to race.” Lou Gordon smiled: “Not now, they aren’t--but _you_ must remember it’s ten days till Christmas.” CHAPTER XI DISAPPOINTMENT Early in the morning of the day before Christmas, Lou Gordon divided the bacon and flapjacks between two plates, and crossed to where her father lay snoring loudly beneath his blankets. The two had camped for the night in an abandoned cabin only five miles below Nolan. “Wake up, dad!” she called, “Breakfast’s all ready, and it’s time to mush.” The old man stirred sleepily and opened his eyes. “What’s the hurry, lass? We’ve got all day before us, an’ only five miles to go. What’s the sense in hittin’ the trail this time of night?” The girl smiled: “I want to be in and out of Nolan before it gets light.” “In and out! What d’ye mean, in an’ out?” “Why, tomorrow’s the day of the dog race, and I want to take the dogs over the course today. I want to know the trail, and I want them to know it.” Old Man Gordon threw back his blankets and drew on his moccasins, “What are ye so particular about the trail for? Didn’t Pete Enright say it was plain an’ hard-packed--a ridin’ trail all the way?” “Yes, but it isn’t going to do any harm to know it. I have never driven a race before, and I want to know everything there is to know about the trail. I’m going to win! And besides, I want to give the dogs a final workout.”