animal lately…not like a dog…”

 

Dingo bit his lip. “Uh…well…there’s something about me I haven’t told you. I didn’t even know about it myself until my sister Saba told me…”

 

Now Sam was curious. “What?”

 

“Well…” Dingo began, looking at the ground, “I’m not sure where to start. See, my mother is a purebred husky, but my father…well, when I was younger I always thought that he was a purebred husky, too…except he just looked different. But now I realize how dumb of me it was to believe that. I guess he just didn’t want us to know for some reason.” Dingo looked up from the ground and at Sam. “Sam, have you ever heard of Balto?”

 

Sam thought hard. “Yeah, I have,” he said after a few seconds. “He was that dog who led that team back to Nome during the diphtheria scare. That dog is a hero all throughout Alaska!”

 

Dingo nodded. “That’s the one. But I bet that you didn’t know that he’s half wolf.” Sam looked shocked. “And not only is he half wolf…he’s also my father.”

 

Sam’s jaw dropped. “No way,” he said. “You’re the son of the famous Balto?” Dingo nodded again. “Wow…so that’s why you’ve been acting like a wolf lately…”

 

“Exactly,” said Dingo. “And I think the wolf part of me is going to be what will get us home. I just have these instincts that tell me how to get back to Nome…I know it sounds weird, but I’m sure of it…”

 

“Well…” Sam hesitated. “If you’re going to trust your instincts, I guess I’m going to have to trust them, too.” He shook his head in disbelief. ‘Wow, so Dingo’s part wolf,’ he thought. ‘Who would’ve guessed?’

 

The two dogs sat silent for a while, until the silence was interrupted by the voice of the musher. “Dingo! Sam! Come, boys!”

 

Dingo and Sam ran to their positions and waited for the musher to get everything set up. The rest of the dogs were already in their positions and ready to go.

 

As the musher was preparing everything, he turned to Dingo and sighed. “The other dogs and I are counting on you, boy,” he said. “I really hope you won’t let us down.” Then he walked back to the sled and yelled for the dogs to start moving. ‘Please don’t let us down, Dingo,’ the musher repeated in his mind.

 

-----

 

Kodi and his team kept up the search, despite the fact that they could only see a few feet in front of them. “If snow won’t stop the US Mail, why should it stop us?” Kodi yelled once to keep the others motivated.

 

“Because we’re tired…and our legs hurt…and we’re cold…” Ralph replied weakly. The group had decided to split into two pairs to cover more ground, and Kodi had gotten paired up with Ralph. As Ralph complained more and more, Kodi was steadily getting angrier at Dusty, who had made the decision as to who was in each pair.

 

Kodi was clearly annoyed and losing his patience. “Look, Ralph,” he said fiercely, still keeping an eye out for the sled team. “The faster we find the team, the faster we can get back to Nome where the boiler room is nice and warm. But if you just stand here and complain about everything, we’ll never get back to the boiler room, or Nome, or any other warm place!”

 

Ralph was surprised and scared by Kodi’s fierce reaction. “Sorry,” he said nervously. “Just don’t hurt me!” He cowered down and hid his face.

 

Kodi rolled his eyes. “Ralph, get up,” he said. He grabbed the husky’s shoulder and pulled him up rather forcefully. “I’m sorry for getting so upset with you. It’s just that we’ve been out here for days, it’s snowing more heavily than I’ve ever seen it snow before, and we still haven’t found the team. The sun is about to set, too, and we’re going to have to find a place to spend the night soon. You can probably understand that I’m pretty stressed right now.”

 

Ralph was about to respond when Kodi heard Dusty give a shout. “Kodi!” she yelled. “I can hear something off in the distance! Can you hear it?”

 

Kodi perked his ears and listened closely. All he could hear was the whining of the strong wind. “I don’t hear it,” he shouted back.

 

“It’s coming from over there!” Dusty yelled. “Look!”

 

Kodi was about to say that he couldn’t see where Dusty was pointing-heck, he couldn’t even see her-because of the storm when suddenly he could clearly hear the sound of a sled team nearby. All of a sudden his heart started beating faster as he grew more and more excited. “I hear it! I hear it!” he shouted.

 

A few seconds later Kodi became even more excited when he saw the outline of a sled team approaching. “Dingo!” he yelled. “Dingo, it’s me! Kodi!” He bit his lip and waited for a reply. Then he could faintly hear a voice calling his name. Kodi immediately recognized the voice as Dingo’s.

 

The two brothers were about to be reunited. But the final leg of the journey hadn’t even begun.

 

 

 

 

Chapter 16

 

Jason looked up from the book he was reading when he heard a knock at the door. “Jason, can you get that?” his mother called to him. “I’m busy.”

 

Jason got up and walked over to the door. He opened it to find Maria Stefani standing there. Saba, who was lying down in the entryway, perked her ears and looked up.

 

“Hi,” Jason said. Maria completely ignored him and walked right past him into the house.

 

“So, this is where you live,” she said, sizing up the room she was in. “It’s kinda cute…in an old-fashioned sort of way.” Then she noticed Saba. “Hey, you’re that dog that took Dingo to the vet that day he saved my life!”

 

“So…why did you come here, exactly?” Jason asked, a little irritated with Maria for just walking in and being impolite.

 

“Oh, I didn’t really have any specific reason,” Maria said, petting Saba. “I was just bored and wanted to visit you and your family. I brought my dogs along, too.” She whistled, and Love, Angel, Music, and Baby ran through the door. Angel smiled at Saba and barked to her friend.

 

“Here, I’ll introduce you to my family,” Jason said, leading Maria into another room. The dogs stayed in the entryway so they could talk to each other.

 

“So that’s Maria,” Saba said to Angel. “She’s exactly how I pictured her. Dingo told me about her, and I heard Jason talking about her at dinner once. That’s how I was able to make a pretty accurate guess about what she’s like.”

 

“Yeah, Maria’s definitely an interesting person,” Angel said. “She might act weird sometimes, but she’s been nice to me and my sisters ever since we got here. She took us in right away.” She paused for a moment. “Oh, by the way, I heard about how you stood up to all of those dogs the other day. You must’ve done a really good job, because all of the dogs are getting along now. And Kodi stood up to them, too! I was amazed when I heard about that.”

 

Saba smiled. “Well, what can I say? My brother may be pretty stubborn, but he always comes around eventually. I’m glad he did, too. He’s out there right now trying to find the sled team from Nome that’s in the race.”

 

Angel’s eyes widened. “You mean he’s out there in this huge storm?” Saba nodded. “Wow! But why?”

 

“Well, you know that Dingo is on the sled team,” Saba said. “Kodi thinks that he’s responsible for Dingo’s safety. So he told me that he felt that he had to go out and search for the team. I didn’t want him to, but I couldn’t stop him. Once Kodi makes up his mind about something, no one can change it.”

 

“I understand,” Angel said. “Devon would’ve done the same for me if I was lost in a storm like this.” Then, as she thought about her late brother, tears welled up in her eyes. “I really wish he was still alive…”

 

Angel’s sisters seemed to be depressed after Devon was mentioned, too. Baby walked up to Angel and Saba and put her foreleg around her sister’s shoulders. “It’s okay,” she said. “Try not to think about Devon. He would want us to be happy if he was still here. So let’s try to cheer up and not think about his death so much.” 

Saba bit her lip. This would probably be an ideal time for a change of subject. “Why don’t we go see what Maria, Jason, and Sandy are doing?”

 

Angel seemed to calm down a bit. “Sure,” she said, brushing away the last of her tears.

 

The five dogs walked to the kitchen, where Maria was searching frantically through the cupboards while Jason and Sandy watched. “Doesn’t anyone up here have bananas?” she asked.

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