Exercises

The Call of the Wild (2)

By Jack London

The wild animal was strong in Buck, and as he traveled across the snow, it grew stronger and stronger. And as Buck grew stronger, he hated Spitz more and more, although he was careful never to start a fight.

But Spitz was always showing his teeth to Buck. And Buck knew that if he and Spitz fought, one of them would die.

The fight almost happened one night when they stopped by a lake. There was heavy snow and it was very cold. The lake was frozen and Franois, Perrault, and the dogs had to spend the night on the ice, under a big rock. Buck had made a warm hole in the snow and was sorry to leave it to get his piece of fish. But when he had eaten, and returned to his hole, he found Spitz in it. Buck had tried not to fight Spitz before, but this was too much. He attacked him angrily. Spitz was surprised. He knew Buck was big, but he didn't know he was so wild. Franois was surprised too, and guessed why Buck was angry.

"Go on, Buck!" he shouted. "Fight him, the dirty thief!"

Spitz was also ready to fight, and the two dogs circled one another, looking for the chance to jump in. But suddenly there was a shout from Perrault, and they saw eighty or a hundred dogs around the sledge. The dogs came from an Indian village, and they were searching for the food that they could smell on the sledge. Perrault and Franois tried to fight them off with their clubs but the dogs, made crazy by the smell of the food, showed their teeth and fought back.

Buck had never seen dogs like these. They were all skin and bone, but hunger made them fight like wild things. Three of them attacked Buck and in seconds his head and legs were badly bitten. Despite this, Buck fought bravely. He caught a dog by the neck and tasted blood. He threw himself on the next one, and then felt teeth in his own neck. It was Spitz, attacking him from the side.

Perrault and Franois came to help with clubs, but then they had to run back to save the food. It was safer for the sledge-dogs to run away across the lake. Several of them were badly hurt, and they spent an unhappy night hiding among the trees.

At first light they returned to the sledge and found Perrault and Franois tired and angry. Half their food was gone. The Indian dogs had even eaten one of Perrault's shoes. Franois looked at his dogs unhappily.

Perrault said nothing. They still had six hundred kilometres to travel, and he hoped very much that his sledge-dogs had not caught rabies from the Indian dogs.

The harness was torn and damaged and it was two hours before they were moving, traveling slowly and painfully over the most difficult country that they had been in.

The Thirty Mile River was not frozen. It ran too fast to freeze. They spent six days trying to find a place to cross, and every step was dangerous for dogs and men. Once, the sledge fell through the ice, with Dave and Buck, and they were covered in ice by the time Perrault and Franois pulled them out of the river and had to light a fire to dry and warm them, as the temperature was 45 degrees below zero. Another time, Spitz and the dogs in front fell through the ice－Buck and Dave and Francois at the sledge had to pull backwards. That day they traveled only four hundred metres.

When they got to the good ice, Buck and the other dogs were very, very tired. But they were late, so Perrault made them run faster. In three days they went a hundred and eighty kilometres and reached the Five Fingers.

The other dogs had hard feet from years of pulling sledges, but Buck's feet were still soft from his easy life down south. All day he ran painfully, and when they camped for the night, he lay down like a dead dog. He was hungry, but he was too tired to walk to the fish, so Franois brought it to him. One day Franois made four little shoes for him, and this made Buck much more comfortable. Franois forgot the shoes one morning, and Buck refused to move. He lay on his back with his feet in the air, until Franois put the shoes on. Later his feet grew harder and the shoes were not needed.

    One morning, at the Pelly River, a dog called Dolly went suddenly mad, and jumped at Buck. Buck ran, with Dolly one step behind him. She could not catch him, but he could not escape from her. They ran half a kilometre, and then Buck heard Franois call to him. He turned and ran towards the man, sure that Franois would save him. Franois stood, holding his ax, and as Buck passed, the ax crashed down on Dolly's head.

Buck fell down by the sledge, too tired to move. Immediately, Spitz attacked him and bit his helpless enemy twice, as hard as he could. But Franois saw this, and gave Spitz a terrible beating for it.

"He's a wild dog, that Spitz," said Perrault. "One day he'll kill Buck."

"Buck is wilder," replied Franois. "I've been watching him. One day he'll get very angry and he'll fight Spitz; and he'll win."

Franois was right. But the days passed without a chance for a fight, and soon they were pulling into Dawson City on a cold gray afternoon.

    They stayed in Dawson for seven days. When they left, Perrault was carrying more very important papers, and he wanted to travel back as fast as possible.

They traveled eighty kilometres the first day, and the same the second. But it was difficult work for Franois. Buck and Spitz hated each other, and every time Buck went near Spitz, he growled and the hair on his back stood up angrily. The other dogs fought in their harnesses and Franois often had to stop the sledge. He knew that Buck was the problem, but Buck was too clever for him and Franois never saw him actually starting a fight.

One night in camp, the dogs saw a snow rabbit and in a second they were all chasing it, with Spitz in front. Nearby was another camp, with fifty dogs, who also joined the chase. The rabbit was running fast on top of the snow, but the snow was soft, and it was more difficult for the dogs. When Spitz caught the rabbit, throwing it in the air with his teeth, Buck was just behind. Spitz stopped, and Buck hit him, very hard. The two dogs fell in the snow. Spitz bit Buck very quickly, twice, and then jumped away, watching carefully.

The time had come, and Buck knew that either he or Spitz must die. They watched one another, circling slowly. The moon was shining brightly on the snow, and in the cold still air not a leaf moved on the trees. The other dogs finished eating the rabbit and then turned to watch.

Spitz was a good fighter. He was full of hate and anger, but he was also intelligent. Every time Buck tried to bite his throat, he met Spitz's own teeth. Then, each time Buck attacked, Spitz moved and bit him on the side as he passed. After a few minutes, Buck was covered in blood. He attacked again, but this time turned at the last minute and went under Spitz, biting his left front leg. The bone broke, and Spitz was standing on three legs. Buck tried to knock Spitz down, and then repeated his earlier attack and broke Spitz's right front leg.

There was no hope for Spitz now. Buck got ready for his final attack, while the circle of sixty dogs watched, and crowded nearer and nearer, waiting for the end. At last Buck jumped, in and out, and Spitz went down in the snow. A second later the waiting pack was on top of him, and Spitz had disappeared. Buck stood and watched. The wild animal had made its kill.

"And we'll travel faster now. No more Spitz, no more trouble," said Francois the next morning when he discovered that Spitz had disappeared and that Buck was covered in blood.

Franois started to harness the dogs. He needed a new lead-dog. "Look at Buck!" said Franois, laughing. "He's killed Spitz, and now he wants to be lead-dog. Go away, Buck! I'll show you!" he cried, and went to get a heavy club from the sledge.

Buck remembered the man in the red coat, and moved away. He kept a few metres away and circled around Franois carefully. But when Franois called him to his old place in front of Dave, Buck refused. He had won his fight with Spitz and he wanted to be lead-dog.

For an hour the two men tried to harness him. Buck did not run away, but he did not let them catch him. Finally, Franois sat down, and Perrault looked at his watch. It was getting late. The two men looked at one another and smiled. All the other dogs were harnessed and the only empty place was now the one at the front. But Buck did not move.

"Put down the club," said Perrault.

Franois dropped the club, and immediately Buck came up to the front of the team. Franois harnessed him, and in a minute the sledge was moving.

(1,605 words)

(From The Call of the Wild, by Jack London, simplified by Nick Bullard, Oxford University Press, 1995 )

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