“I wouldn’t be too sure about that if I were you,” Dick cautioned. “Govereau isn’t the only man we’ll have to fear either. You know Henderson has accomplices all along the line.”
So it proved.
In spite of their good intentions, their determination to sleep only a few hours, it was morning of the following day when Dick and Sandy awoke to find their new team gone and Toma hunting around in the underbrush some distance from camp.
CHAPTER XVII
THE STOLEN HUSKIES
The dogs were gone, and that was all there was to it, Dick decided a moment later, after a shouted conference with Toma. They would have to go on on foot. It was discouraging, but it made Dick more determined than ever.
“We’ll never get to the fort now,” Sandy grumbled.
“Well, we’re a darn sight closer than we were,” Dick tried to be cheerful.
They watched Toma circling the camp, looking for tracks. Presently he came in.
“Some fella steal dogs all right. Mebbe Henderson’s men; mebbe just plain thief. Who know?”
“Well, they’re gone anyway, and it’s up to us to make the best of it,” Dick resigned himself. “It’ll be slow work hauling this sled.”