into the crowd, accidentally knocking Boris to the ground.  The wolf-dog inserted himself between two humans in the front row, extending his head outwards into the street to get a look around.  Of course the prepping sled team wasn’t vastly far away; he found them quickly and saw his two sons right in the middle.

“Kodi!  Dingo!”

Boris came to his side soon after, both in acknowledgement that the wolf-dog’s exclamations weren’t heard.  Balto thought to try again, but before he could the musher began to speak.

“Alright, we’re gonna start off now.  Kodi, Dingo, Speckle.  You three are new and we’re expecting great things.  Alright, let’s get on to it now.  Hike!”

With a whip of his reins, when aligned with the command a part of the human language that all the dogs there knew, Kirby and the rest of the team took off across the snowy street.  Balto and Boris watched from their indentation in the crowd as the sled dogs rushed by, barking and receiving commands from the musher as they were heading to the outside of the city. 

And as they passed this same area, Dingo turned his head to a side of the cheering crowd and saw the vague profile of a brown-gray wolf-dog watching him before they quickly darted away.