The Call of the Wild

st was strong in Buck, and under thefierce conditions of

d he notpick fights, but he avoided them whenever possible. A certaindeliberateness characterized his attitude. He was not prone to

g his teeth. He evenwent out of his way to bully Buck, striving constantly to start the fightwhich could end only in

eshore of Lake Le Barge. Driving snow, a wind that cut like a white

ake their fire and spread their sleeping robes on the ice of the lakeitself. The tent they had discarded at Dyea in order to travel

thefish which he had first thawed over the fire. But when Buck finishedhis ration and returned, he found his nest occupied. A warning sna

for his whole experience with Buck had gone to teach himthat his rival was an unusu

irty t'eef!"Spitz was equally willing. He was crying with sheer rage andeagerness as he circled back and forth for a chance to spring in. Buckwas no less eager, and no less cautious, as he likewise ci

was suddenly discovered to be alive withskulking furry forms, - starving huskies, four or five score of them, whohad scented the camp from some Indian vil

d the grub-box was capsized on the ground. On the instant a score ofthe famished brutes were scrambling for the bread and bacon. Theclubs fel

rskins. They were mere skeletons, draped loosely in draggled hides,with blazing eyes and slavered fangs. But the hunger-madness made them terrifying, irresistible. There was no opposing them. The team-

Pike, the malingerer, leaped upon the crippled animal,breaking its neck with a quick flash of teeth and a jerk, Buck got afrothing adversary by the throat, and was sprayed with blood when histeeth sank through the

upon which the huskies returned to the attack on the team. Billee,terrified into bravery, sprang through the savage circle and fled awayover the ice. Pike and Dub followed on his heels, with the rest of theteam behind. As Buck drew himself together to spring after them

at Dyea, had a badly torn throat; Joe hadlost an eye; while Billee, the good-natured, with an ear chewed and rentto ribbons, cried and whimpered throughout the night. At daybreakthey limped warily back to camp, to find the marauders gone and thetwo men in bad tempers. Fully half their grub suppl

l contemplation of it to

four hundred miles oftrail still between him and Dawson, he could ill afford to have madnessbreak out among his dogs. Two hours of cursing and exertion got theharnesses into shape,

s. And terrible they were, for every foot of them wasaccomplished at the risk of life to dog and man. A dozen times,Perrault, nosing the way broke through the ice bridges, being saved bythe long pole he carried, which he so he

ll manner of risks,resolutely thrusting his little weazened face into the frost and strugglingon from dim dawn to

they were dragged out. Theusual fire was necessary to save them. They were coated solidly withice, and the t

Buck, who strained backward with all his strength, his foreThe Call of the

ining backward, and behind thesled was F

very thong and sledlashing and the last bit of harness rove into a long rope, the dogs werehoisted, one by one, to the cliff crest. Francois came up last, after thesled and load. The

errault, tomake up lost time, pushed them late and early. The first day theycovered thirty-five miles to the Big Salmon; the

so compact and hard as

st wildancestor was tamed by a cave-dweller or river man. AU day lo

thetops of his own moccasins to make four moccasins for Buck. This wasa great relief, and Buck caused even the weazened face of Perrault totwist itself into a grin one morning, when Francois forgot

unced her condition by a long, heartbreaking wolf howl that sentevery dog bristling with fear, then sprang straight for Buck. He hadn

madness. He plunged through the woodedbreast of the island, flew down to the lower end, crossed a back channelfilled with rough ice to another island, gained a third

ng painfully for air and putting all his faith inthat Francois would save him. The dog-driver hel

on Buck, andtwice his teeth sank into his unresisting foe and ripped and tore the fleshto the bone. Then Francois's lash d

ead-dog andacknowledged master of the team, felt his supremacy threatened by thisstrange Southland dog. And strange Buck was to him, for of the manySouthland dogs he had known, not one had shown up worthily in campand on trail. They were all too soft, dying under the toil, the frost, andstarvation. Buck was the exception. He alone endured and pro

ir hearts if they are cutout of the harness. This was the pride of Dave as wheel-dog, of Sol-leks as he pulled with all his strength; the pride that laid hold of them atbreak of camp, transforming them from sour and sullen brutes intostraining, eager, ambitious creatures; the pride that spurred them on allday and dropped them at pitc

p. He came between himand the shirks he shou

his nest under afoot of snow. Francois called him and sought him in vain. Spitz waswild with wrath. He raged through the

this openmutiny, and sprang upon his overthrown leader. Buck, to whom fairplay was a forgotten code, likewise sprang upon Spitz. But Francois,chuckling at the incident while unswerving in the administration ofjustice, brought his lash down upon Buck with all h

he culprits; but he did itcraftily, when Francois was not around, With the covert mutiny of Buck,a general insubord

tinual bickering andjangling. Trouble was al

een the two which he knew must takeplace sooner or later; and on more than one night the sounds ofquarrellin

awson one dreary afternoon with the great fight still to come. Here

hauled cabin logs and firewood,freighted up to the mines, and did all manner of work that horses did inthe Santa Clara Valley. Here and there Buck met Southland dogs, but inthe main

life, the articulate travail of existence. It wasan old song, old as the breed itself--one of the first songs of the youngerworld in a day when songs were sad. It was invested with the woe ofunnumbered generations, this plaint by which Buck was so strangelystirred. When he moaned and sobbed, it was with th

on Trail, and pulled forDyea and Salt Water. Perrault was carrying despatches if anythingmore urgent than thos

trim. The trail they had broken into thecountry was packed hard by later journeyers. And further, the

insidious revolt ledby Buck had destroyed the solidarity of the team. It no longer was asone dog leaping in the traces. The encouragement Buck gave the rebelsled them into all kinds of petty misdemeanors. No more was Spitz aleader greatly to be feare

former days. Buck never came near Spitzwithout snarling and bristling menacingly. In fact, his con

irrelations with one another. They quarrelled and bickered more tha

dogs, but it was of small avail. Directly hisback was turned they were at it again. He backed up Spitz with hiswhip, while Buck backed up the remainder of the team. Francois knewhe was behind all the trouble, and Buck knew he knew;

blundered it, and missed. In a second the wholeteam was in full cry. A hundred yards awa

dogs ploughed through by main strength. Buck led thepack, sixty strong, around bend after bend, but he could not gain. Helay down low to the race, whining eagerl

mically propelled leaden pellets, the blood lust, the joy to kill--allthis was Buck's, only it was infinitely more intimate. He was ranginga

comes to thesoldier, war-mad on a stricken field and refusing quarter; and it came toBuck, leading the pack, sounding the old wolf-cry, straining after thefood that was alive and that fled swiftly before him through themoonlight. He was sounding the deeps of his nature, and of the partsof his nature that were deeper than he, going back

th of a rabbit still flitting before him, he saw another andlarger frost wraith leap from the overhanging bank into the immediatepath of the rabbit. It was Spitz. The rabbit could not turn, and as thewhite teeth broke i

nd over in the powdery snow. Spitz gained his feet almostas though he had not been overthrown, slashing Buck down the shoulderand leaping clear. Twi

it. The time had come

brooded aghostly calm. There was not the faintest whisper of air--nothing moved,not a leaf quivered, the visible breaths of the dogs rising slowly andlingering in the frosty air. They had made short work of the snowshoerabbit, these dogs that were ill-tamed wolves

s and achieved to mastery over them. Bitter rage was his, butnever blind rage. In passion to rend and destroy, he never forgot thathis enemy was

sink his teeth in the n

hirlwind of rushes. Time and time again hetried for the snow-white throat, where life bubbled near to the surface,and each time and every time Spitz slashed him and got away. ThenBuck took to rushing, as though for the throat, when,

ng hard. The fight was growing desperate. And all the while thesile

ting. Once Buck went over, and the whole circle of sixty dogsstarted up; but he

quality that made for g

h of breaking bone, and the white dog faced him on threelegs. Thrice he tried to knock him over, then repeated the trick andbroke the right fore leg. Despite the pain and helplessness, Spitzstruggled madly to keep up. He saw the

orable. Mercy was athing reserved for gend

motionless as though turned to stone. OnlySpitz quivered and bristled as he staggered back and forth, snarling withhorrible menace, as though to frighten off impending death. ThenBuck sprang in and out; but while he was in, shoulder had