The fold marked the point where the first, smaller drift
still emerged from the second larger one. This reasoning
was confirmed by a study of the clearing itself which I
came to make two or three weeks after.
Before I called on the horses to give me their very last
ounce of strength, I got out of my cutter once more and
made sure that my lines were still sound. I trusted my
ability to guide the horses even in this crucial test,
but I dreaded nothing so much as that the lines might
break; and I wanted to guard against any accident. I
should mention that, of course, the top of my cutter was
down, that the traces of the harness were new, and that
the cutter itself during its previous trials had shown
an exceptional stability. Once more I thus rested my
horses for five minutes; and they seemed to realize what
was coming. Their heads were up, their ears were cocked.
When I got back into my cutter, I carefully brushed the
snow from moccasins and trousers, laid the robe around
my feet, adjusted my knees against the dashboard, and
tied two big loops into the lines to hold them by.
Then I clicked my tongue.
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