The Law of Club and FangBuck's first day on the Dyea beach was like a nightmare. Everyhour was filled with shock and surprise. He had been suddenly jerkedfrom the heart of civilization 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'ssafety. All was confusion and action, and every moment life and limbwere in peril. There was imperative need to be constantly alert; forthese dogs and men were not town dogs and men. They were savages,all of them, who knew no law but the law of club and fang.
He had never seen dogs fight as these wolfish creatures fought, andhis first experience taught him an unforgetable lesson. It is true, it wasa vicarious experience, else he would not have lived to profit by it.
Curly was the victim. They were camped near the log store, where she,in her friendly way, made advances to a husky dog the size of a full-grown wolf, though not half so large as she. There was no warning,only a leap in like a flash, a metallic clip of teeth, a leap out equallyswift, and Curly's face was ripped open from eye to jaw.
It was the wolf manner of fighting, to strike and leap away; but therewas more to it than this. Thirty or forty huskies ran to the spot andsurrounded the combatants in an intent and silent circle. Buck did notcomprehend 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 her off her feet. She never regained them, Thiswas what the onlooking huskies had waited for. They closed in uponher, snarling and yelping, and she was buried, screaming with agony,beneath the bristling mass of bodies.
So sudden was it, and so unexpected, that Buck was taken aback.
He saw Spitz run out his scarlet tongue in a way he had of laughing; andhe saw Francois, swinging an axe, spring into the mess of dogs. Threemen with clubs were helping him to scatter them. It did not take long.
Two minutes from the time Curly went down, the last of her assailantswere clubbed off. But she lay there limp and lifeless in the bloody,trampled snow, almost literally torn to pieces, the swart half-breedstanding over her and cursing horribly. The scene often came back toBuck to trouble him in his sleep. So that was the way. No fair play.
Once down, that was the end of you. Well, he would see to it that henever went down. Spitz ran out his tongue and laughed again, and fromthat moment Buck hated him with a bitter and deathless hatred.
Before he had recovered from the shock caused by the tragic passingof Curly, he received another shock. Francois fastened upon him anarrangement of straps and buckles. It was a harness, such as he hadseen the grooms put on the horses at home. And as he had seen horseswork, so he was set to work, hauling Francois on a sled to the forest thatfringed the valley, and returning with a load of firewood. Though hisdignity was sorely 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 at Buck, he growled sharp reproofnow and again, or cunningly threw his weight in the traces to jerk Buckinto the way he should go. Buck learned easily, and under thecombined tuition of his two mates and Francois made remarkableprogress. Ere they returned to camp he knew enough to stop at "ho," togo ahead at "mush," to swing wide on the bends, and to keep clear of thewheeler when the loaded sled shot downhill at their heels.
"T'ree vair' good dogs," Francois told Perrault. "Dat Buck, heempool lak hell. I tich heem queek as anyt'ing."By afternoon, Perrault, who was in a hurry to be on the trail 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 different as day and night. Billee's onefault was his excessive good nature, while Joe was the very opposite,sour and introspective, with a perpetual snarl and a malignant eye.
Buck received them in comradely fashion, Dave ignored them, whileSpitz proceeded to thrash first one and then the other. Billee wagged histail appeasingly, turned to run when he saw that appeasement was of noavail, and cried (still appeasingly) when 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 diabolicallygleaming--the incarnation of belligerent fear. So terrible was hisappearance that Spitz was forced to forego disciplining him; but to coverhis own discomfiture he turned upon the inoffensive and wailing Billeeand drove him to the confines of the camp.
By evening Perrault secured another dog, an old husky, long andlean and gaunt, with a battle-scarred face and a single eye which flasheda warning of prowess that commanded respect. He was called Sol-leks,which means the Angry One. Like Dave, he asked nothing, gave nothing,expected nothing; and when he marched slowly 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 slashed his shoulder to the bone for threeinches up and down. Forever after Buck avoided his blind side, and tothe last of their comradeship had no more trouble. His only apparentambition, like Dave's, was to be left alone; though, as Buck wasafterward to learn, each of them possessed one other and even more vitalambition.
That night Buck faced the great problem of sleeping. The tent,illumined by a candle, glowed warmly in the midst of the white plain;and when he, as a matter of course, entered it, both Perrault and Francoisbombarded him with curses and cooking utensils, till he recovered 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. Miserable anddisconsolate, he wandered about among the many tents, only to find thatone place was as cold as another. Here and there savage dogs rushedupon him, but he bristled his neck-hair and snarled (for he was learningfast), and they let him go his way unmolested.
Finally an idea came to him. He would return and see how his ownteam-mates were making out. To his astonishment, they haddisappeared. Again he wandered about through the great camp,looking for them, and again he returned. Were they in the tent? No,that could not be, else he would not have been driven out. Then wherecould 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 reassured him, and hewent back to investigate. A whiff of warm air ascended to his nostrils,and there, curled up under the snow in a snug ball, lay Billee. Hewhined placatingly, squirmed and wriggled to show his good will andintentions, and even ventured, as a bribe for peace, to lick Buck's facewith his warm wet tongue.
Another lesson. So that was the way they did it, eh? Buckconfidently selected a spot, and with much fuss and waste effortproceeded to dig a hole for himself. In a trice the heat from his bodyfilled the confined space and he was asleep. The day had been longand arduous, and he slept soundly and comfortably, though he growledand barked and wrestled with bad dreams.
Nor did he open his eyes till roused by the noises of the wakingcamp. At first he did not know where he was. It had snowed duringthe night and he was completely buried. The snow walls pressed himon every side, and a great surge of fear swept through 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 himself fear it. The muscles of his whole bodycontracted spasmodically and instinctively, the hair on his neck andshoulders stood on end, and with a ferocious snarl he bounded straightup into the blinding day, the snow flying about him in a flashing cloud.
Ere he landed on his feet, he saw the............