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1And not only did he learn by experience, but instincts long dead became alive again. The domesticated generations fell
2from him. In vague ways he remembered back to the youth of the breed, to the time the wild dogs ranged in packs through
3the primeval forest and killed their meat as they ran it down. It was no task for him to learn to fight with cut and
4slash and the quick wolf snap. In this manner had fought forgotten ancestors. They quickened the old life within him,
5and the old tricks which they had stamped into the heredity of the breed were his tricks. They came to him without
6effort or discovery, as though they had been his always. And when, on the still cold nights, he pointed his nose at a
7star and howled long and wolflike, it was his ancestors, dead and dust, pointing nose at star and howling down through
8the centuries and through him. And his cadences were their cadences, the cadences which voiced their woe and what to
9them was the meaning of the stiffness, and the cold, and dark. Thus, as token of what a puppet thing life is, the
10ancient song surged through him and he came into his own again; and he came because men had found a yellow metal in the
11North, and because Manuel was a gardener's helper whose wages did not lap over the needs of his wife and divers small
12copies of himself. Chapter III. The Dominant Primordial Beast The dominant primordial beast was strong in Buck, and
13under the fierce conditions of trail life it grew and grew. Yet it was a secret growth. His newborn cunning gave him
14poise and control. He was too busy adjusting himself to the new life to feel at ease, and not only did he not pick
15fights, but he avoided them whenever possible. A certain deliberateness characterized his attitude. He was not prone to
16rashness and precipitate action; and in the bitter hatred between him and Spitz he betrayed no impatience, shunned all
17offensive acts. On the other hand, possibly because he divined in Buck a dangerous rival, Spitz never lost an
18opportunity of showing his teeth. He even went out of his way to bully Buck, striving constantly to start the fight
19which could end only in the death of one or the other. Early in the trip this might have taken place had it not been for
20an unwonted accident. At the end of this day they made a bleak and miserable camp on the shore of Lake Le Barge. Driving
21snow, a wind that cut like a white-hot knife, and darkness had forced them to grope for a camping place. They could
22hardly have fared worse. At their backs rose a perpendicular wall of rock, and Perrault and François were compelled to
23make their fire and spread their sleeping robes on the ice of the lake itself. The tent they had discarded at Dyea in
24order to travel light. A few sticks of driftwood furnished them with a fire that thawed down through the ice and left
25them to eat supper in the dark. Close in under the sheltering rock Buck made his nest. So snug and warm was it, that he
26was loath to leave it when François distributed the fish which he had first thawed over the fire. But when Buck finished
27his ration and returned, he found his nest occupied. A warning snarl told him that the trespasser was Spitz. Till now
28Buck had avoided trouble with his enemy, but this was too much. The beast in him roared. He sprang upon Spitz with a
29fury which surprised them both, and Spitz particularly, for his whole experience with Buck had gone to teach him that
30his rival was an unusually timid dog, who managed to hold his own only because of his great weight and size. François
31was surprised, too, when they shot out in a tangle from the disrupted nest and he divined the cause of the trouble.
32"A-a-ah!" he cried to Buck. "Gif it to heem, by Gar! Gif it to heem, the dirty t'eef!" Spitz was equally willing. He was
33crying with sheer rage and eagerness as he circled back and forth for a chance to spring in. Buck was no less eager, and
34no less cautious, as he likewise circled back and forth for the advantage. But it was then that the unexpected happened,
35the thing which projected their struggle for supremacy far into the future, past many a weary mile of trail and toil. An
36oath from Perrault, the resounding impact of a club upon a bony frame, and a shrill yelp of pain, heralded the breaking
37forth of pandemonium. The camp was suddenly discovered to be alive with skulking furry forms,--starving huskies, four or
38five score of them, who had scented the camp from some Indian village. They had crept in while Buck and Spitz were
39fighting, and when the two men sprang among them with stout clubs they showed their teeth and fought back. They were
40crazed by the smell of the food. Perrault found one with head buried in the grub-box. His club landed heavily on the
41gaunt ribs, and the grub-box was capsized on the ground. On the instant a score of the famished brutes were scrambling
42for the bread and bacon. The clubs fell upon them unheeded. They yelped and howled under the rain of blows, but
43struggled none the less madly till the last crumb had been devoured. In the meantime the astonished team-dogs had burst
44out of their nests only to be set upon by the fierce invaders. Never had Buck seen such dogs. It seemed as though their
45bones would burst through their skins. They were mere skeletons, draped loosely in draggled hides, with blazing eyes and
46slavered fangs. But the hunger-madness made them terrifying, irresistible. There was no opposing them. The team-dogs
47were swept back against the cliff at the first onset. Buck was beset by three huskies, and in a trice his head and
48shoulders were ripped and slashed. The din was frightful. Billee was crying as usual. Dave and Sol-leks, dripping blood
49from a score of wounds, were fighting bravely side by side. Joe was snapping like a demon. Once, his teeth closed on the
50fore leg of a husky, and he crunched down through the bone. Pike, the malingerer, leaped upon the crippled animal,
51breaking its neck with a quick flash of teeth and a jerk, Buck got a frothing adversary by the throat, and was sprayed
52with blood when his teeth sank through the jugular. The warm taste of it in his mouth goaded him to greater fierceness.
53He flung himself upon another, and at the same time felt teeth sink into his own throat. It was Spitz, treacherously
54attacking from the side. Perrault and François, having cleaned out their part of the camp, hurried to save their
55sled-dogs. The wild wave of famished beasts rolled back before them, and Buck shook himself free. But it was only for a
56moment. The two men were compelled to run back to save the grub, upon which the huskies returned to the attack on the
57team. Billee, terrified into bravery, sprang through the savage circle and fled away over the ice. Pike and Dub followed
58on his heels, with the rest of the team behind. As Buck drew himself together to spring after them, out of the tail of
59his eye he saw Spitz rush upon him with the evident intention of overthrowing him. Once off his feet and under that mass
60of huskies, there was no hope for him. But he braced himself to the shock of Spitz's charge, then joined the flight out
61on the lake. Later, the nine team-dogs gathered together and sought shelter in the forest. Though unpursued, they were
62in a sorry plight. There was not one who was not wounded in four or five places, while some were wounded grievously. Dub
63was badly injured in a hind leg; Dolly, the last husky added to the team at Dyea, had a badly torn throat; Joe had lost
64an eye; while Billee, the good-natured, with an ear chewed and rent to ribbons, cried and whimpered throughout the
65night. At daybreak they limped warily back to camp, to find the marauders gone and the two men in bad tempers. Fully
66half their grub supply was gone. The huskies had chewed through the sled lashings and canvas coverings. In fact,
67nothing, no matter how remotely eatable, had escaped them. They had eaten a pair of Perrault's moose-hide moccasins,
68chunks out of the leather traces, and even two feet of lash from the end of François's whip. He broke from a mournful
69contemplation of it to look over his wounded dogs.
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