Читать книгу The White Czar. A Story of a Polar Bear онлайн

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The pace at first was seven or eight miles an hour, but it soon slowed down to four or five, which was maintained for the greater part of the day. But it took nerve and strength and many lashes from the long sinister whip to keep up this pace.

The Eskimo is merciless as far as his dog team is concerned. He drives with both the lash and the butt of his whip. He never pets his dogs or shows them any kindness. The slightest misbehavior on the part of the team brings terrible punishment.

It is no strange occurrence, when a dog gets vicious in the traces, for his driver to club him to death with the butt of his whip. But they usually obey implicitly. They have learned in this hard school that it pays. Wild hard conditions such as those under which the Eskimo lives breed brutality, but this brutality never extends to the Eskimo's family which he treats most tenderly.

Once they stopped in the lea of a cliff to eat some raw meat which was partly frozen and to rest the dog teams. But it was not for long. The dogs when in harness are always restless. If left too long, they get to fighting and tangle up the traces. So after a quarter of an hour the procession plunged on through the white silence.