The race was renewed for twenty yards up the stream; they were
almost close at my back, when I glided round and dashed directly
past them. A fierce yell greeted this movement, and the wolves,
slipping on their haunches, again slid onward, presenting a
perfect picture of helplessness and disappointed rage. Thus I
gained nearly a hundred yards at each turning. This was repeated
two or three times, the baffled animals becoming every moment
more and more excited.
At one time, by delaying my turning too long, my bloodthirsty
antagonists came so near that they threw their white foam over my
coat as they sprang to seize me, and their teeth clashed together
like the spring of a fox-trap. Had my skates failed for one
instant, had I tripped on a stick, or had my foot been caught in
a fissure, the story I am now telling would never have been told.
I thought over all the chances. I knew where they would first
seize me if I fell. I thought how long it would be before I died,
and then of the search for my body: for oh, how fast man's mind
traces out all the dread colors of death's picture only those who
have been near the grim original can tell!
At last I came opposite the cabin, and my hounds--I knew their
deep voices--roused by the noise, bayed furiously from their
kennels.
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