THE LAW OF CLUB AND FANG
Bucks first day on the Yea beach was like a nightmare. Every hour was filled with shod surprise. He had been suddenly jerked from the heart of civilization and flung into the heart of things primordial. No lazy, sun-kissed life was this, with nothing to do but loaf and be bored. Here was her peaor rest, nor a moments safety. All was fusion and a, and every moment life and limb were in peril. There was imperative o be stantly alert; for these dogs and men were not town dogs ahey 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, and his first experieaught him an unfettable lesson. it is true, it was a vicarious experience, else he would not have lived to profit by it. Curly was the victim. They were camped he log store, where she, in her friendly way, made advao a husky dog the size of a full-grown wolf, though not half se as she. There was n, only a leap in like a flash, a metallic clip of teeth, a leap out equally swift, and Curlys face was ripped open from eye to jaw.
It was the wolf manner of fighting, to strike and leap away; but there was more to it than this. Thirty or forty huskies ran to the spot and surrouhe batants in an i and silent circle. Buck did not prehend that silent iness, nor the eager way with which they were lig their chops. Curly rushed her antagonist, who struck again and leaped aside. He met her rush with his chest, in a peculiar fashion that tumbled her off her feet. She never regaihem. This was what the onlooking huskies had waited for. They closed in upon her, snarling and yelping, and she was buried, screaming with agony, beh the bristling mass of bodies.
So sudden was it, and so ued, that Buck was taken aback. He saw Spitz run out his scarlet tongue in a way he had of laughing; and he saw Francois, swinging an axe, spring into the mess of dogs. Three men 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 assailants were clubbed off. But she lay there limp and lifeless in the bloody, trampled snow, almost literally torn to pieces, the swart half-breed standing over her and cursing horribly. The se often came back to Buck 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 he never went down. Spitz ran out his tongue and laughed again, and from that moment Buck hated him with a bitter ahless hatred.
Before he had recovered from the shock caused by the tragic passing of Curly, he received another shock. Francois fastened upon him an arra of straps and buckles. It was a harness, such as he had seen the grooms put on the horses at home. And as he had seen horses work, so he was set to work, hauling Francois on a sled to the forest that frihe valley, aurning with a load of firewood. Though his dignity was sorely hurt by thus being made a draught animal, he was too wise to rebel. He buckled down with a will and did his best, though it was all new and strange. Francois was stern, demanding instant obedience, and by virtue of his whip receiving instant obedience; while Dave, who was an experienced wheeler, nipped Bucks hindquarters whenever he was in error. Spitz was the leader, likewise experienced, and while he could not always get at Buck, he growled sharp reproof now and again, or ingly threw his weight iraces to jerk B