But a cold snap was on, the thermometer registering fifty below zero, and each time he broke through he was compelled for very life to build a fire and dry his garments.
Nothing daunted him.

It was because nothing daunted him that he had been chosen for government courier.

He took all manner of risks, resolutely thrusting his little weazened face into the frost and struggling on from dim dawn to dark.

He skirted the frowning shores on rim ice that bent and crackled under foot and upon which they dared not halt.

Once, the sled broke through, with Dave and Buck, and they were half-frozen and all but drowned by the time they were dragged out.