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1To Buck's surprise these dogs manifested no jealousy toward him. They seemed to share the kindliness and largeness of
2John Thornton. As Buck grew stronger they enticed him into all sorts of ridiculous games, in which Thornton himself
3could not forbear to join; and in this fashion Buck romped through his convalescence and into a new existence. Love,
4genuine passionate love, was his for the first time. This he had never experienced at Judge Miller's down in the
5sun-kissed Santa Clara Valley. With the Judge's sons, hunting and tramping, it had been a working partnership; with the
6Judge's grandsons, a sort of pompous guardianship; and with the Judge himself, a stately and dignified friendship. But
7love that was feverish and burning, that was adoration, that was madness, it had taken John Thornton to arouse. This man
8had saved his life, which was something; but, further, he was the ideal master. Other men saw to the welfare of their
9dogs from a sense of duty and business expediency; he saw to the welfare of his as if they were his own children,
10because he could not help it. And he saw further. He never forgot a kindly greeting or a cheering word, and to sit down
11for a long talk with them ("gas" he called it) was as much his delight as theirs. He had a way of taking Buck's head
12roughly between his hands, and resting his own head upon Buck's, of shaking him back and forth, the while calling him
13ill names that to Buck were love names. Buck knew no greater joy than that rough embrace and the sound of murmured
14oaths, and at each jerk back and forth it seemed that his heart would be shaken out of his body so great was its
15ecstasy. And when, released, he sprang to his feet, his mouth laughing, his eyes eloquent, his throat vibrant with
16unuttered sound, and in that fashion remained without movement, John Thornton would reverently exclaim, "God! you can
17all but speak!" Buck had a trick of love expression that was akin to hurt. He would often seize Thornton's hand in his
18mouth and close so fiercely that the flesh bore the impress of his teeth for some time afterward. And as Buck understood
19the oaths to be love words, so the man understood this feigned bite for a caress. For the most part, however, Buck's
20love was expressed in adoration. While he went wild with happiness when Thornton touched him or spoke to him, he did not
21seek these tokens. Unlike Skeet, who was wont to shove her nose under Thornton's hand and nudge and nudge till petted,
22or Nig, who would stalk up and rest his great head on Thornton's knee, Buck was content to adore at a distance. He would
23lie by the hour, eager, alert, at Thornton's feet, looking up into his face, dwelling upon it, studying it, following
24with keenest interest each fleeting expression, every movement or change of feature. Or, as chance might have it, he
25would lie farther away, to the side or rear, watching the outlines of the man and the occasional movements of his body.
26And often, such was the communion in which they lived, the strength of Buck's gaze would draw John Thornton's head
27around, and he would return the gaze, without speech, his heart shining out of his eyes as Buck's heart shone out. For a
28long time after his rescue, Buck did not like Thornton to get out of his sight. From the moment he left the tent to when
29he entered it again, Buck would follow at his heels. His transient masters since he had come into the Northland had bred
30in him a fear that no master could be permanent. He was afraid that Thornton would pass out of his life as Perrault and
31François and the Scotch half-breed had passed out. Even in the night, in his dreams, he was haunted by this fear. At
32such times he would shake off sleep and creep through the chill to the flap of the tent, where he would stand and listen
33to the sound of his master's breathing. But in spite of this great love he bore John Thornton, which seemed to bespeak
34the soft civilizing influence, the strain of the primitive, which the Northland had aroused in him, remained alive and
35active. Faithfulness and devotion, things born of fire and roof, were his; yet he retained his wildness and wiliness. He
36was a thing of the wild, come in from the wild to sit by John Thornton's fire, rather than a dog of the soft Southland
37stamped with the marks of generations of civilization. Because of his very great love, he could not steal from this man,
38but from any other man, in any other camp, he did not hesitate an instant; while the cunning with which he stole enabled
39him to escape detection. His face and body were scored by the teeth of many dogs, and he fought as fiercely as ever and
40more shrewdly. Skeet and Nig were too good-natured for quarrelling,--besides, they belonged to John Thornton; but the
41strange dog, no matter what the breed or valor, swiftly acknowledged Buck's supremacy or found himself struggling for
42life with a terrible antagonist. And Buck was merciless. He had learned well the law of club and fang, and he never
43forewent an advantage or drew back from a foe he had started on the way to Death. He had lessoned from Spitz, and from
44the chief fighting dogs of the police and mail, and knew there was no middle course. He must master or be mastered;
45while to show mercy was a weakness. Mercy did not exist in the primordial life. It was misunderstood for fear, and such
46misunderstandings made for death. Kill or be killed, eat or be eaten, was the law; and this mandate, down out of the
47depths of Time, he obeyed. He was older than the days he had seen and the breaths he had drawn. He linked the past with
48the present, and the eternity behind him throbbed through him in a mighty rhythm to which he swayed as the tides and
49seasons swayed. He sat by John Thornton's fire, a broad-breasted dog, white-fanged and long-furred; but behind him were
50the shades of all manner of dogs, half-wolves and wild wolves, urgent and prompting, tasting the savor of the meat he
51ate, thirsting for the water he drank, scenting the wind with him, listening with him and telling him the sounds made by
52the wild life in the forest, dictating his moods, directing his actions, lying down to sleep with him when he lay down,
53and dreaming with him and beyond him and becoming themselves the stuff of his dreams. So peremptorily did these shades
54beckon him, that each day mankind and the claims of mankind slipped farther from him. Deep in the forest a call was
55sounding, and as often as he heard this call, mysteriously thrilling and luring, he felt compelled to turn his back upon
56the fire and the beaten earth around it, and to plunge into the forest, and on and on, he knew not where or why; nor did
57he wonder where or why, the call sounding imperiously, deep in the forest. But as often as he gained the soft unbroken
58earth and the green shade, the love for John Thornton drew him back to the fire again. Thornton alone held him. The rest
59of mankind was as nothing. Chance travellers might praise or pet him; but he was cold under it all, and from a too
60demonstrative man he would get up and walk away. When Thornton's partners, Hans and Pete, arrived on the long-expected
61raft, Buck refused to notice them till he learned they were close to Thornton; after that he tolerated them in a passive
62sort of way, accepting favors from them as though he favored them by accepting. They were of the same large type as
63Thornton, living close to the earth, thinking simply and seeing clearly; and ere they swung the raft into the big eddy
64by the saw-mill at Dawson, they understood Buck and his ways, and did not insist upon an intimacy such as obtained with
65Skeet and Nig.
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