“Hike!” he snapped in a clear, commanding voice. The sled's regular driver probably used an Inuit command, but the team knew from his tone what Austin wanted. Mushers don't use the word “mush” to get dogs moving. The word is too soft. Austin was a man of the sea, but he wasn't above developing land-based skills. Dogsledding, unfortunately, wasn't among them. He had tried dogsled driving a few times as a diversion on ski trips, and after being thrown into snowdrifts a couple of times, he discovered that it looked easier than it was. The driver had to balance on runners that seemed as thin as knife blades, while trying to control a pack of an- imals only a few generations removed from their wolf brethren. Sled dogs were deceptively small, but welded together in a team, they produced an incredible explosion of power with their short legs.

He knew, too, that a dogsled driver had to come across as the leader of the pack if the strong-willed dogs were to respond to his commands. The team was on its feet even before he shouted the com- mand. The gang line connecting the dogs to the sled went taut, and the wheel almost jerked out of his hands. Austin ran several steps, helping the sled along, then he jumped on board and let the dogs do all the work. They bayed loudly, happy doing what they did best, which was to run their hearts out.

From the instant he had gotten his hand on the sled, the whole op- eration had taken only a few seconds. Scarface's men tried to cut the sled off. The dogs were too fast. They barked gleefully as they out- distanced their pursuers. Once they were in the clear, Austin exper- imented with the steering. He tried “gee” and “haw” commands to make the dogs go right and left, and he was glad to see that the team was multilingual. Steering required a tender touch on the wheel, es- pecially on the curves. Turn too sharply and the sled acted like the business end of a bullwhip, although the weight of two people kept all four wheels on the ground.

The combined load also kept their speed down. Austin hadn't considered this a problem, figuring that they could still outdistance a running man, especially the burly Scarface and his short-legged cohorts. His confidence drained away when he looked back. Umealiq s on the other sled in hot pursuit. Austin steered off the grass onto a paved walkway. The sled picked up speed on the smooth asphalt.