Togo

Haw, Togo! Haw! Haw!

Good dog! Good dog!

Leave it!

Leave it alone!

Good dog.

Well done, Togo!

Well done, all!

There'll be full bellies and warm beds tonight.

All right, Togo! Hike!

Whoa!

There's been a diphtheria outbreak.

How long?

-More than a week. -Constance?

Fine. She's fine.

It's mostly children.

Five have died.

Bless them.

Twenty more sick here in Nome.

And no telling how many in the Inuit villages.

They found serum in Fairbanks.

They just don't know how to get it from there to here.

Anyway, everybody's at Dexter's, and they're asking for you.

Hike!

What we have in our children is an epidemic.

And without antitoxin, it's a death sentence to most,

if not all those infected.

The good news is,

they've located antitoxin at the Fairbanks Railroad Hospital,

and they're ready to put it on the next train to Nenana.

A round trip from here to Nenana is still 600 miles.

They have aeroplanes in Fairbanks, and we could fly it here.

Did you see those clouds on the horizon when you came over?

Of course I did, but maybe it's not as bad as it looks.

Seppala, you were out there. What do you think?

It's going to be bad.

How bad?

Memorable, I think.

What makes you think?

Well, it looks biblical enough,

and the barometer's falling in a pretty disturbing way but...

But what?

We came up on caribou this morning.

About 200 yards to our right, he saw them.

My foot was ready on the brake, and he ignored them and kept running.

That's when I knew this storm was special.

I'm sorry, I don't understand.

Togo's a caribou chaser of some renown.

I still don't understand.

Never in 12 years had he not at least turned for them.

When an animal denies his nature

and runs for the barn because he fears the storm...

man better fear the storm.

I see.

In a storm like this, how quickly could you get there and back?

Not "how quickly,"

"if."

Then I say aeroplane.

Open cockpit aeroplane?

Water-cooled engines? Did you call that airfield in Fairbanks?

They're making an assessment.

I'll bet they are.

I seriously don't think flying's an option.

But, in answer to your question, "how quick?"

Seppala once ran for me, all the way to Nenana, in four days.

For factual reference only.

Personally I never cared for the notion that sled dogs

should be replaced by machines,

but today I'm a champion of progress.

Come on, pup.

Seppala, you going by the hospital?

Climb on.

Hike!

Whoa! Whoa!

Much obliged.

Good luck, doctor.

Towns are, uh, usually founded by topography...

proximity to roads and rivers.

Nome was founded by luck.

The gold at Anvil Creek?

You could see it with your naked eye,

pick it up with your fingers from the sand.

Gold dries up.

Luck dries up.

Where does he find the energy?

By his reckoning, he's still ten weeks old.

So, you'll go?

I just got home. You're anxious to be rid of me?

Hmm. Could be.

Have reason for me to be gone, do you?

-I have lovers. -Ah?

Too many to count.

I have no one but myself to blame.

I was warned not to marry someone so beautiful.

Warned by whom?

Everyone with eyesight.

So, you will go?

I have no such inclination.

Then why are you waxing sled runners?

They need wax.

Can it even be done in this weather?

Anything can be done.

Well, let them choose someone else for once.

-The room was full of mushers. -Right.

But it's always my husband they come for.

Pick someone with more at stake in this.

I stopped at the hospital. All those children, we know them.

I know.

That little girl that lives next to Mallon and always runs out to pet the dogs.

Sally, who pets everyone's dogs, not just yours.

We know those children. We know their parents.

I understand this. And tomorrow I'll be ashamed.

But right now, I'm sorry, I'm afraid.

It's not the first storm to hit Alaska.

Don't patronize me.

You're right.

Don't take Togo. Fritz could lead.

I'll cross that bridge when and if.

He's 12 years old. You said he's too old to go to Elwald,

and that isn't even a quarter of this distance.

You're upsetting yourself for nothing.

Let's go to sleep.

I must say this before you make a decision you'll forever regret.

You're more attached to him than you know, and you're about to run him to his death.

And you're not prepared for what it's going to do to you, I promise you.

Is that all?

He is, of course, your dog, and a working dog.

And, were I more pragmatic, I wouldn't love him, but I do.

And I'm just so heartsick that these are my last hours with him.

Two things.

One: if I were to try for Nenana in these conditions without him,

these would be your last hours with me.

And two: at this hour, nothing's decided.

You were saying?

George?

Evening, George.

It appears your forecast is correct,

if my journey out here is any evidence.

The wind almost stopped me dead a couple times.

Oh, I... I talked with Fairbanks. There will be no airborne rescue of Nome.

So, the time of the dog, not only continues, it's at hand.

So, you felt the need to come all the way out here to share this news?

Some things you need to say to a man's face,

isn't that right, Mr. Mayor?

Yeah.

Coffee or whiskey?

Whiskey. If it's no trouble.

No. No trouble. I'm having both.

We have to be smart about this.

You're going to ride in the sled when I tell you.

No squirming. No arguments, for once.

Got one more in ya, pup?

Almost there.

Good dogs.

I've seen worse.

We could have a picnic.

I'll be back before you know it.

I won't even make the bed.

Hey. Hey.

You bring him back to me, okay?

And you come back to me.

Good boy.

All right, Togo!

Hike!

Come on, Togo!

Come on, Togo!

Come on! There you go.

Hike!

Here it comes.

You tend to your business, I'll tend to mine.

How can it not be my business? No dogs in the bedroom.

He's in such pain.

And in our bedroom.

A runt has more imperfections than just size, you know.

Nature has its ways of sorting things out.

Oh, should I just drown him and speed up the process?

I'm just saying that Alaska can be particularly cruel to the weak.

I don't need to be reminded.

What does it cost you to give this life a chance?

What does he bring to the breed if he survives?

The heart of a survivor.

You're too softhearted.

You're too Norwegian.

Get!

Why don't you put him back in the kennel?

Every time I do, he digs his way out.

I'm spending more daylight filling holes than doing the work I should be doing.

I catch you, you'll be sorry.

It's all your fault.

I thought you were supposed to be a great trainer of dogs.

He's a devil.

Saint Francis of Assisi would shoot this dog.

Hey!

-He's fast. -He's mentally deficient.

He's undersized, unintelligent, untrainable.

Yeah, but he's fast.

I think you ought to give him a chance on the sled.

Stop, stop. That is not a sled dog.

Never ever.

Well, you won't know until you try.

I won't know, period.