Excerpted from The Call of the Wild by Jack London

"The courier shook his head dubiously. With four hundred miles of trail still between him and Dawson, he could ill afford to have madness break out among his dogs. Two hours of cursing and exertion got the harness into shape, and the would-stiffened team was underway, struggling painfully over the hardest part of the trail they had yet encountered, and for that matter, the hardest between them and Dawson."

Read the passage and answer the question.

How does the author want the reader to feel toward the courier?

distrust
disgust
confusion
respect