Ch8-Catastrophe

CHAPTER EIGHT Catastrophe Uncle Joe's team of huskies answered with yowling and yelping. "Something's wrong!" cried Annie. "Maybe they had an accident!" said Jack. "Let's check it out!" "Hike!" yelled Annie. "Straight ahead!" The team took off. Annie drove the huskies through the dark toward the frantic barking. Soon they came to another team of dogs floundering in a snowdrift. A

sled had crashed and flipped over. The driver was trying to free his dogs. "Whoa!" Annie ordered. "Stay!" Jack planted the snow hook firmly in the ground to secure their team. Then he and Annie bowed their heads against the wind and trudged through the gale. "Gunnar?" shouted Jack. "Gunnar Kaasen?" The driver waved and shouted, "Yes!" "Oh, wow! We were sent to help you!" cried Annie. "Are you okay?" "Yes! Just hit a bump back there!" said the famous dog musher. "The sled went flying and crashed on its side!" Annie and Jack began helping Gunnar. They grabbed each dog by its harness and, one by one, pulled them out of the soft snow. By the time the dogs were all on their feet again, Jack had counted thirteen huskies. Jack and Annie helped Gunnar turn the sled upright, setting it back on its runners. Then together, all three stomped on the snow with their

boots, packing it down so the dogs could pull the sled out. "Line out!" Gunnar commanded his team. Soon the dogs were lined up in pairs in front of the sled, with a single dog in the lead. "Wait, is that Balto?" shouted Annie. "Yes!" said Gunnar. Annie hurried to the front of the line. "Hi, Balto!" Balto barked a greeting and leapt up to lick Annie's face. The bells on his collar jingled wildly. She laughed and hugged him. "I've wanted to meet you for a long time!" she shouted. "Do you have the medicine for Nome?" Jack asked Gunnar. "Yes!" the musher said, leaning over the sled. "It's right here—Oh! No! No!" "No what?" said Jack. "What's wrong?" "The package is missing!" Gunnar yelled. "Missing?" said Jack. "Where is it?" cried Gunnar. "Where is it?"

"Where is it?" Jack echoed. "It was tied to the sled!" shouted Gunnar. "This is a catastrophe!" In the biting wind, the musher fell to his knees and frantically dug through the snow, looking for the medicine package. "What's wrong?" Annie called from the front of the line of dogs. Jack ran to her. "He lost the medicine! It fell off his sled!" he said. "We have to help him find it!" "Wait, wait!" said Annie. "I'll bet Balto can find it!" She crouched beside the lead dog and unhooked his tug line and neck line. "No, don't unhook him!" said Jack. "We can't lose Balto, too!" "We won't lose him!" said Annie. "He can help." She grabbed the lead dog's head between her mittens and put her face close to his, saying words Jack couldn't hear. Then she released Balto. "Find the medicine! Find it now!" Annie yelled. While Gunnar crawled around in the snow looking for the package, Balto took off in the

direction his team had come. With his nose to the ground, the husky trotted back down the trail. "Let's follow him, Jack!" cried Annie. Leaving Gunnar and the rest of the dogs behind, she and Jack hurried after Balto. They trudged through the snowstorm after the eager dog, following the jingling of his collar bells. When Annie and Jack reached Balto, he was whining and digging through the snow.

"I think he found it!" Annie shouted. Jack felt around in the windswept snow until he touched something soft and solid. He pulled a heavy, fur-wrapped bag out of the snow and struggled to stand up with it. "Great job, Balto! You found it!" shouted Annie. "Gunnar!" Jack yelled. "We found the package!" But his voice didn't carry through the storm. "Let's take it to him!" he said to Annie. Balto started back the way they'd come, his collar bells jingling. Carrying the package of lifesaving medicine, Jack followed Balto and Annie. When they reached Gunnar's team, Annie quickly hooked Balto to the front of the line. Then she and Jack hurried to Gunnar. The musher was still on his knees, not far from the sled, wildly shoveling through the snow with his hands. "Gunnar, it's okay!" shouted Jack. "We have the package! It was back there! It must've fallen out when you hit the bump."