But Mercedes stopped him. 'Oh, Hal, you mustn't,' she cried, pulling the whip away from him. 'The poor dogs. You must promise to be nice to them or I'm staying here!'
'You know nothing about dogs,' answered Hal. 'Leave me alone. Dogs are lazy, and you have to whip them. Everybody knows that. Ask those men if you don't believe me.'
Mercedes turned and looked at the watching men.
'They're tired, if you really want to know,' said one of them. 'They've been working very hard and they need a rest.'
'Rest?' laughed Hal. 'These stupid dogs are just lazy.'
Now Mercedes decided that her brother was right. 'Don't listen to that man,' she said. 'You're driving our dogs and you do what you think is best.'
Now Hal used his whip on the dogs. They pulled and pulled, but the sledge stayed where it was. Hal was still using his whip when Mercedes stopped him again and put her arms around Buck.
'You poor, poor dears,' she said. 'Why don't you pull hard? - then nobody will whip you.'
One of the men watching now spoke again. 'I don't care what happens to you,' he said, 'but I'm sorry for the dogs. The sledge is frozen to the snow, and you'll have to break it out. Push it from one side to the other to break the ice.'
Hal tried again, but this time he broke the ice under the sledge. The heavy sledge started to move slowly, Buck and his team pulling hard under the whip. After a hundred metres they had to turn into another street. It was a difficult turn with a top-heavy load, and Hal was not a good driver. As they turned, the sledge went over onto its side, throwing boxes and packets into the street. The dogs didn't stop. The sledge was not so heavy now and they pulled it easily on its side. The whip had made them angry and they started to run. Hal cried 'Stop!' but the dogs continued through Skagway, and the rest of the luggage fell off as they ran.
People helped to catch the dogs and to pick up all the things from the street. They also told the men that if they wanted to reach Dawson, they needed twice as many dogs and half as much luggage. Hal and Charles went back to the camp and started to look at the luggage and throw things away. Tent, blankets and plates were taken out. Mercedes cried when most of her clothes went. When they had finished, Mercedes was still crying, there was a lot of luggage on the road, and there was still a lot to go on the sledge.
Then Charles and Hal went out and bought six more dogs, so they now had fourteen. But