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1Buck remembered the man in the red sweater, and retreated slowly; nor did he attempt to charge in when Sol-leks was once
2more brought forward. But he circled just beyond the range of the club, snarling with bitterness and rage; and while he
3circled he watched the club so as to dodge it if thrown by François, for he was become wise in the way of clubs. The
4driver went about his work, and he called to Buck when he was ready to put him in his old place in front of Dave. Buck
5retreated two or three steps. François followed him up, whereupon he again retreated. After some time of this, François
6threw down the club, thinking that Buck feared a thrashing. But Buck was in open revolt. He wanted, not to escape a
7clubbing, but to have the leadership. It was his by right. He had earned it, and he would not be content with less.
8Perrault took a hand. Between them they ran him about for the better part of an hour. They threw clubs at him. He
9dodged. They cursed him, and his fathers and mothers before him, and all his seed to come after him down to the remotest
10generation, and every hair on his body and drop of blood in his veins; and he answered curse with snarl and kept out of
11their reach. He did not try to run away, but retreated around and around the camp, advertising plainly that when his
12desire was met, he would come in and be good. François sat down and scratched his head. Perrault looked at his watch and
13swore. Time was flying, and they should have been on the trail an hour gone. François scratched his head again. He shook
14it and grinned sheepishly at the courier, who shrugged his shoulders in sign that they were beaten. Then François went
15up to where Sol-leks stood and called to Buck. Buck laughed, as dogs laugh, yet kept his distance. François unfastened
16Sol-leks's traces and put him back in his old place. The team stood harnessed to the sled in an unbroken line, ready for
17the trail. There was no place for Buck save at the front. Once more François called, and once more Buck laughed and kept
18away. "T'row down de club," Perrault commanded. François complied, whereupon Buck trotted in, laughing triumphantly, and
19swung around into position at the head of the team. His traces were fastened, the sled broken out, and with both men
20running they dashed out on to the river trail. Highly as the dog-driver had forevalued Buck, with his two devils, he
21found, while the day was yet young, that he had undervalued. At a bound Buck took up the duties of leadership; and where
22judgment was required, and quick thinking and quick acting, he showed himself the superior even of Spitz, of whom
23François had never seen an equal. But it was in giving the law and making his mates live up to it, that Buck excelled.
24Dave and Sol-leks did not mind the change in leadership. It was none of their business. Their business was to toil, and
25toil mightily, in the traces. So long as that were not interfered with, they did not care what happened. Billee, the
26good-natured, could lead for all they cared, so long as he kept order. The rest of the team, however, had grown unruly
27during the last days of Spitz, and their surprise was great now that Buck proceeded to lick them into shape. Pike, who
28pulled at Buck's heels, and who never put an ounce more of his weight against the breast-band than he was compelled to
29do, was swiftly and repeatedly shaken for loafing; and ere the first day was done he was pulling more than ever before
30in his life. The first night in camp, Joe, the sour one, was punished roundly--a thing that Spitz had never succeeded in
31doing. Buck simply smothered him by virtue of superior weight, and cut him up till he ceased snapping and began to whine
32for mercy. The general tone of the team picked up immediately. It recovered its old-time solidarity, and once more the
33dogs leaped as one dog in the traces. At the Rink Rapids two native huskies, Teek and Koona, were added; and the
34celerity with which Buck broke them in took away François's breath. "Nevaire such a dog as dat Buck!" he cried. "No,
35nevaire! Heem worth one t'ousan' dollair, by Gar! Eh? Wot you say, Perrault?" And Perrault nodded. He was ahead of the
36record then, and gaining day by day. The trail was in excellent condition, well packed and hard, and there was no
37new-fallen snow with which to contend. It was not too cold. The temperature dropped to fifty below zero and remained
38there the whole trip. The men rode and ran by turn, and the dogs were kept on the jump, with but infrequent stoppages.
39The Thirty Mile River was comparatively coated with ice, and they covered in one day going out what had taken them ten
40days coming in. In one run they made a sixty-mile dash from the foot of Lake Le Barge to the White Horse Rapids. Across
41Marsh, Tagish, and Bennett (seventy miles of lakes), they flew so fast that the man whose turn it was to run towed
42behind the sled at the end of a rope. And on the last night of the second week they topped White Pass and dropped down
43the sea slope with the lights of Skaguay and of the shipping at their feet. It was a record run. Each day for fourteen
44days they had averaged forty miles. For three days Perrault and François threw chests up and down the main street of
45Skaguay and were deluged with invitations to drink, while the team was the constant centre of a worshipful crowd of
46dog-busters and mushers. Then three or four western bad men aspired to clean out the town, were riddled like
47pepper-boxes for their pains, and public interest turned to other idols. Next came official orders. François called Buck
48to him, threw his arms around him, wept over him. And that was the last of François and Perrault. Like other men, they
49passed out of Buck's life for good. A Scotch half-breed took charge of him and his mates, and in company with a dozen
50other dog-teams he started back over the weary trail to Dawson. It was no light running now, nor record time, but heavy
51toil each day, with a heavy load behind; for this was the mail train, carrying word from the world to the men who sought
52gold under the shadow of the Pole. Buck did not like it, but he bore up well to the work, taking pride in it after the
53manner of Dave and Sol-leks, and seeing that his mates, whether they prided in it or not, did their fair share. It was a
54monotonous life, operating with machine-like regularity. One day was very like another. At a certain time each morning
55the cooks turned out, fires were built, and breakfast was eaten. Then, while some broke camp, others harnessed the dogs,
56and they were under way an hour or so before the darkness fell which gave warning of dawn. At night, camp was made. Some
57pitched the flies, others cut firewood and pine boughs for the beds, and still others carried water or ice for the
58cooks. Also, the dogs were fed. To them, this was the one feature of the day, though it was good to loaf around, after
59the fish was eaten, for an hour or so with the other dogs, of which there were fivescore and odd. There were fierce
60fighters among them, but three battles with the fiercest brought Buck to mastery, so that when he bristled and showed
61his teeth they got out of his way. Best of all, perhaps, he loved to lie near the fire, hind legs crouched under him,
62fore legs stretched out in front, head raised, and eyes blinking dreamily at the flames. Sometimes he thought of Judge
63Miller's big house in the sun-kissed Santa Clara Valley, and of the cement swimming-tank, and Ysabel, the Mexican
64hairless, and Toots, the Japanese pug; but oftener he remembered the man in the red sweater, the death of Curly, the
65great fight with Spitz, and the good things he had eaten or would like to eat. He was not homesick. The Sunland was very
66dim and distant, and such memories had no power over him. Far more potent were the memories of his heredity that gave
67things he had never seen before a seeming familiarity; the instincts (which were but the memories of his ancestors
68become habits) which had lapsed in later days, and still later, in him, quickened and become alive again.
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