Page:Silversheene (1924).djvu/221

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Scotty Ellis and did not push his team. Finally when the last team had disappeared the crowd went back into stores and hotels to wager more gold and to talk over the probabilities of the race. They would not see any of the racers again for days, although word of the race would be hourly received at headquarters. So it was a case of patient waiting for all the thousands of bettors.

Yukon Harry with his fine Malemutes and Buck Wellington with his Russian Wolf hounds led the race to Salman, thirty-two miles away, but it was utter folly to push the teams so hard in this early stage of the game, as they soon discovered. Yukon Harry should have known better, but Buck Wellington was a "chechahco" and had much to learn. Richard Henderson was also a "chechahco" in the eyes of the sourdoughs, but he was a very keen one and had bent his every energy to learn the dog-mushing business.

He took his cue in everything from