and I hear Lieutenant Hobson calling out to you to resume your proper place behind."
"Let him call, Mrs Joliffe, let him call."
And the Corporal, urging on his dogs with a fresh cut of the whip, dashed along at still greater speed.
"Take care, Joliffe," repeated his little wife; "not so fast, we are going down hill,"
"Down hill, Mrs Joliffe; you call that down hill? why, it 's up hill!"
"I tell you we are going down!" repeated poor Mrs Joliffe.
"And I tell you we are going up ; look how the dogs pull!"
Whoever was right, the dogs became uneasy. The ascent was, in fact, pretty steep; the sledge dashed along at a reckless pace, and was already considerably in advance of the rest of the party. Mr and Mi's Joliffe bumped up and down every instant, the surface of the snow became more and more uneven, and the pair, flung first to one side and then to the other, knocked against each other and the sledge, and were horribly bruised and shaken. But the Corporal would listen neither to the advice of his wife nor to the shouts of Lieutenant Hobson. The latter, seeing the danger of this reckless course, urged on his own animals, and the rest of the caravan followed at a rapid pace.
But the Corporal became more and more excited!—the speed of his equipage delighted him. He shouted, he gesticulated, and flourished his long whip like an accomplished sportsman. "Wonderful things these whips!" he cried; "the Esquimaux wield them with unrivalled skill!" "But you are not an Esquimaux!" cried Mrs Joliffe, trying in vain to arrest the arm of her imprudent husband.
"I have heard tell," resumed the Corporal—"I 've heard tell that the Esquimaux can touch any dog they like in any part, that they can even cut out a bit of one of their ears with the stiff thong at the end of the whip. I am going to try."
"Don't try, don't try, Joliffe!" screamed the poor little woman, frightened out of her wits.
"Don't be afraid, Mrs Joliffe, don't be afraid; I know what I can do. The fifth dog on the right is misbehaving himself; I will correct him a little!"
But Corporal Joliffe was evidently not yet enough of an Esquimaux to be able to manage the whip with its thong four feet longer
