The Call of the Wild

ation and flung into the heart of thingsprimordial. No lazy, sun-kissed life was this, with nothing to do butloaf and be bored. Here was neither peace, nor rest, nor a moment'ssaf

them, who knew no law but

is first experience taught him an unforgetable lesson. It is true, it

husky dog the size of a full-grown wolf, though not half so large as she. There was no warning,only a leap in l

nd that silent intentness, nor the eager way with which theywere licking their chops. Curly rushed her antagonist, who struck againand leaped aside. He met her next rush with his chest, in a peculiarfashion that tumbled

nd so unexpected, tha

andhe saw Francois, swinging an axe, spring into the mess of dogs. Thre

d lifeless in the bloody,trampled snow, almost literally torn to pieces, the swart half-breedstanding over her and

henever went down. Spitz ran out his tongue and laughed again, and

rely hurt by thus being made a draught animal, he was toowise to rebel. He buckled down with a will and did his best, though itwas all new and strange. Francois was stem, demanding instantobedience, and by virtue of his whip receiving instant obedience; whileDave, who was an experienced wheeler, nipped Buck's hind quarterswhenever he was in error. Spitz was the leader, likewise experienced,and while he could not always get

with hisdespatches, returned with two more dogs. "Billee" and "Joe" he calledthem, two brothers, and true huskies both. Sons of the one motherthough they were, they were as d

hen Spitz's sharp teeth scored hisflank. But no matter how Spitz circled, Joe whirled around on his heelsto face him, mane bristling, ears laid back, lips writhing and snarling,jaws clipping together as fast as he could snap, and eyes diabolicallyg

y and deliberately intotheir midst, even Spitz left him alone. He had one peculiarity whichBuck was unlucky enough to discover. He did not like to beapproached on his blind side. Of this offence Buck was unwittinglyguilty, and the first knowledge he had of his indiscretion was when Sol-leks whirled upon him and slash

red fromhis consternation and fled ignominiously into the outer cold. A chillwind was blowing that nipped him sharply and bit with especial venominto his wounded shoulder. He lay down on the snow and attempted tosleep, but the frost soon drove him shivering to his feet

ecould they possibly be? With drooping tail and shivering body, veryforlorn indeed, he aimlessly circled the tent. Suddenly the snow gaveway beneath his fore legs and he sank down. Something wriggledunder his feet. He sprang back, bristling and snarling, fearful of theunseen and unknown. But a friendly little yelp re

tproceeded to dig a hole for himself. In a trice the heat from his bodyfilled the confined space and he was asleep. The da

him--the fear ofthe wild thing for the trap. It was a token that he was harking backthrough his own life to the lives of his forebears; for he was a civilizeddog, an unduly civilized dog, and of his own experience knew no trapand so could not of hims

knew where he was and remembered all that had passed from thetime he went

re learn queek as anyt'ing."Perrault nodded gravely. As courier for the Canadian Government,bearing important

despise it. He was surprised at the eagerness whichanimated the whole team and which was communicated to him; but stillmore surprising was the change wrought in Dave and Sol-leks. Theywere new dogs, utterly transformed by the harness. All passiveness andunconcern had dropped from them

k,then came Sol-leks; the rest of the team was strung out ahead

wise. He never nipped Buck without cause, and he never failed to niphim when he stood in need of it. As Francois's whip backed him up,Buck found it to be cheaper to mend his ways than to retaliate, Once,during a brief halt, when he got tangled in the traces and delayed

over thegreat Chilcoot Divide, which stands between the salt water and the freshand guards forbiddingly the sad and lonely North. They made goodtime down the chain of lakes which fills the craters of extinct volcanoes,and late that night pulled into the huge camp at the head of

to follow, they broke their own trail, workedharder, and made poorer time. As a rule, Perra

Perrault was in a hurry, and he prided himselfon his knowledge of ice, which knowledge was indis

tting the trail with fresh miles reeled off behind them. And alwaysthey pitched camp after dark, eating their bit of fish, and crawling to

theother dogs, because they weighed less and were born to the life, r

stidiousness which had c

st as they; and, so greatly did hunger compelhim, he was not above taking what did not belong to him. He watchedand learned. When he saw Pike, one of the new dogs, a clevermalingerer and thief, slyly steal a slice of bacon when Perrault's ba

ble death. It marked, further, the decay or going to pieces of hismoral nature, a vain thing and a handicap in the ruthless struggle forexistence. It was all well enough in the Southland, under the law oflove and fell

from a fight. Butthe club of the man in the red sweater had beaten into him a morefundamental and primitive code. Civilized, he could have died for amoral consideration, say the de

y of it, but because of t

ut of respect forclub and fang. In short, the things he did

arthest reaches of his body, building it into the toughest and stoutestof tissues. Sight and scent became remarkably keen, while his hearingdeveloped such acuteness that in his sleep he heard the faintest soundand knew whether it heralded peace or peril. He learned to bite the iceout with his teeth when it collected between his toes; and when he wasthirsty

to fightwith cut and slash and the quick wolf snap. In this manner had foughtforgotten ancestors. They quickened the old life within him, and theold tricks which they had stamped into the heredity of the breed were histricks. They came to him without effort or discovery, as though theyhad been his always. And when, on the still

his own again; and he came because menhad found a yellow metal in the North, and because Manuel was a