第4章 The Law of Club and Fang 弱肉强食

Buck's first day on the Yea beach was like a nightmare. Every hour was filled with shock and 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 neither peace, nor rest, nor a moment's safety. All was confusion and action, and every moment life and limb were in peril. There was imperative need to be constantly alert; for these dogs and men were not town dogs and men. They 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 experience taught him an unforgettable 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 near the log store, where she, in her friendly way, made advances to a husky dog the size of a full-grown wolf, though not half so large as she. There was no warning, only a leap in like a flash, a metallic clip of teeth, a leap out equally swift, and Curly's 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 surrounded the combatants in an intent and silent circle. Buck did not comprehend that silent intentness, nor the eager way with which they were licking their chops. Curly rushed her antagonist, who struck again and leaped aside. He met her next rush with his chest, in a peculiar fashion that tumbled her off her feet. She never regained them. This was what the onlooking huskies had waited for. They closed in upon her, snarling and yelping, and she was buried, screaming with agony, beneath the bristling mass of bodies.

So sudden was it, and so unexpected, 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 scene 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 and deathless hatred.

Before he had recovered from the shock caused by the tragic passing of Curly, he received another shock. Francois fastened upon him an arrangement 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 fringed the valley, and returning 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 Buck's 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 cunningly threw his weight in the traces to jerk Buck into the way he should go. Buck learned easily, and under the combined tuition of his two mates and Francois made remarkable progress. Ere they returned to camp he knew enough to stop at“ho,”to go ahead at“mush,”to swing wide on the bends, and to keep clear of the wheeler when the loaded sled shot downhill at their heels.

“Three very good dogs,”Francois told Perrault.“Dat Buck, him pull like hell. I teach him quick as anything.”

By afternoon, Perrault, who was in a hurry to be on the trail with his dispatches, returned with two more dogs.“Billee”and“Joe”he called them, two brothers, and true huskies both. Sons of the one mother though they were, they were different as day and night. Billee's one fault was his excessive good nature, while Joe was the very opposite, sour and introspective, with a perpetual snarl and a malignant eye. Buck received them in comradely fashion, Dave ignored them, while Spitz proceeded to thrash first one and then the other. Billee wagged his tail appeasingly, turned to run when he saw that appeasement was of no avail, and cried (still appeasingly) when Spitz's sharp teeth scored his flank. But no matter how Spitz circled, Joe whirled around on his heels to face him, mane bristling, ears laid back, lips writhing and snarling, jaws clipping together as fast as he could snap, and eyes diabolically gleaming-the incarnation of belligerent fear. So terrible was his appearance that Spitz was forced to forego disciplining him; but to cover his own discomfiture he turned upon the inoffensive and wailing Billee and drove him to the confines of the camp.

By evening Perrault secured another dog, an old husky, long and lean and gaunt, with a battle-scarred face and a single eye which flashed a warning of prowess that commanded respect. He was called Sol-leks, which means the Angry One. Like Dave, he asked nothing, gave nothing, expected nothing: and when he marched slowly and deliberately into their midst, even Spitz left him alone. he had one peculiarity which Buck was unlucky enough to discover. He did not like to be approached on his blind side. Of this offense Buck was unwittingly guilty, and the first knowledge he had of his indiscretion was when Sol-leks whirled upon him and slashed his shoulder to the bone for three inches up and down. Forever after Buck avoided his blind side, and to the last of their comradeship had no more trouble.a His only apparent ambition, like Dave's, was to be left alone; though, as Buck was afterward to learn, each of them possessed one other and even more vital ambition.

That night Buck faced the great problem of sleeping. The tent, illumined by a candle, glowed warmly in the midst of the white plain; and when he, as a matter of course, entered it, both Perrault and Francois bombarded him with curses and cooking utensils, till he recovered from his consternation and fled ignominiously into the outer cold. A chill wind was blowing that nipped him sharply and bit with especial venom into his wounded shoulder. He lay down on the snow and attempted to sleep, but the frost soon drove him shivering to his feet. Miserable and disconsolate, he wandered about among the many tents, only to find that one place was as cold as another. Here and there savage dogs rushed upon him, but he bristled his neck-hair and snarled (for he was learning fast) and they let him go his way unmolested.

Finally an idea came to him. He would return and see how his own teammates were making out. To his astonishment, they had disappeared. Again he wandered about through the great camp, looking for them, and again he returned. Were they in the tent? No, that could not be, else he would not have been driven out. Then where could they possibly be? With drooping tail and shivering body, very forlorn indeed, he aimlessly circled the tent. Suddenly the snow gave way beneath his fore legs and he sank down. Something wriggled under his feet. He sprang back, bristling and snarling, fearful of the unseen and unknown. But a friendly little yelp reassured him, and he went back to investigate. A whiff of warm air ascended to his nostrils, and there, curled up under the snow in a snug ball, lay Billee. He whined placatingly, squirmed and wriggled to show his good will and intentions, and even ventured, as a bribe for peace, to lick Buck's face with his warm wet tongue.

Another lesson. So that was the way they did it, eh? Buck confidently selected a spot, and with much fuss and wasted effort proceeded to dig a hole for himself. In a trice the heat from his body filled the confined space and he was asleep. The day had been long and arduous, and he slept soundly and comfortably, though he growled and barked and wrestled with bad dreams.

Nor did he open his eyes till roused by the noises of the waking camp. At first he did not know where he was. It had snowed during the night and he was completely buried. The snow walls pressed him on every side, and a great surge of fear swept through him-the fear of the wild thing for the trap. It was a token that he was harking back through his own life to the lives of his forebears; for he was a civilized dog, an unduly civilized dog and of his own experience knew no trap and so could not of himself fear it. The muscles of his whole body contracted spasmodically and instinctively, the hair on his neck and shoulders stood on end, and with a ferocious snarl he bounded straight up into the blinding day, the snow flying about him in a flashing cloud. Ere he landed on his feet, he saw the white camp spread out before him and knew where he was and remembered all that had passed from the time he went for a stroll with Manuel to the hole he had dug for himself the night before.

A shout from Francois hailed his appearance.“What I say?”the dog-driver cried to Perrault.“Dat Buck for sure learn quick as anything.”

Perrault nodded gravely. As courier for the Canadian Government, bearing important dispatches, he was anxious to secure the best dogs, and he was particularly gladdened by the possession of Buck.

Three more huskies were added to the team inside an hour, making a total of nine, and before another quarter of an hour had passed they were in harness and swinging up the trail toward the Yea Canyon. Buck was glad to be gone, and though the work was hard he found he did not particularly despise it. He was surprised at the eagerness which animated the whole team and which was communicated to him; I but still more surprising was the change wrought in Dave and Sol-leks. They were new dogs, utterly transformed by the harness. All passiveness and unconcern had dropped from them. They were alert and active, anxious that the work should go well, and fiercely irritable with whatever, by delay or confusion, retarded that work. The toil of the traces seemed the supreme expression of their being, and all that they lived for and the only thing in which they took delight.

Dave was wheeler or sled dog, pulling in front of him was Buck, then came Sol-leks;the rest of the team was strung out ahead, single file, to the leader, which position was filled by Spitz.

Buck had been purposely placed between Dave and Sol-leks so that he might receive instruction. Apt scholar that he was, they were equally apt teachers, never allowing him to linger long in error, and enforcing their teaching with their sharp teeth. Dave was fair and very wise. He never nipped Buck without cause, and he never failed to nip him when he stood in need of it. As Francois’whip backed him up, Buck found it to be cheaper to mend his ways than to retaliate. Once, during a brief halt, when he got tangled in the traces and delayed the start, both Dave and Sol-leks flew at him and administered a sound trouncing. The resulting tangle was even worse, but Buck took good care to keep the traces clear thereafter; and ere the day was done, so well had he mastered his work, his mates about ceased nagging him. Francois’whip snapped less frequently, and Perrault even honored Buck by lifting up his feet and carefully examining them.

It was a hard day's run, up the Canyon, through Sheep Camp, past the Scales and the timber line, across glaciers and snowdrifts hundreds of feet deep, and over the great Chilcoot Divide, which stands between the salt water and the fresh and guards forbiddingly the sad and lonely North. They made good time down the chain of lakes which fills the craters of extinct volcanoes, and late that night pulled into the huge camp at the head of Lake Bennett, where thousands of gold-seekers were building boats against the breakup of the ice in the spring. Buck made his hole in the snow and slept the sleep of the exhausted just, but all too early was routed out in the cold darkness and harnessed with his mates to the sled.

That day they made forty miles, the trail being packed; but the next day, and for many days to follow, they broke their own trail, worked harder, and made poorer time. As a rule, Perrault traveled ahead of the team, packing the snow with webbed shoes to make it easier for them. Francois, guiding the sled at the gee-pole, sometimes exchanged places with him, but not often. Perrault was in a hurry, and he prided himself on his knowledge of ice, which knowledge was indispensable, for the fall ice was very thin, and where there was swift water, there was no ice at all.

Day after day, for days unending, Buck toiled in the traces. Always, they broke camp in the dark, and the first gray of dawn found them hitting the trail with fresh miles reeled off behind them. And always they pitched camp after dark, eating their bit of fish, and crawling to sleep into the snow. Buck was ravenous. The pound and a half of sundried salmon, which was his ration for each day, seemed to go nowhere. He never had enough, and suffered from perpetual hunger pangs. Yet the other dogs, because they weighed less and were born to the life, received a pound only of the fish and managed to keep in good condition.

He swiftly lost the fastidiousness which had characterized his old life. A dainty eater, he found that his mates, finishing first, robbed him of his unfinished ration. There was no defending it. While he was fighting off two or three, it was disappearing down the throats of the others. To remedy this, he ate as fast as they; and, so greatly did hunger compel him, he was not above taking what did not belong to him. He watched and learned. When he saw Pike, one of the new dogs, a clever malingerer and thief, slyly steal a slice of bacon when Perrault's back was turned, he duplicated the performance the following day, getting away with the whole chunk. A great uproar was raised, but he was unsuspected; while Dub, an awkward blunderer who was always getting caught, was punished for Buck's misdeed.

This first theft marked Buck as fit to survive in the hostile Northland environment. It marked his adaptability, his capacity to adjust himself to changing conditions, the lack of which would have meant swift and terrible death. It marked, further, the decay or going to pieces of his moral nature, a vain thing and a handicap in the ruthless struggle for existence. It was all well enough in the Southland, under the law of love and fellowship, to respect private property and personal feeling; but in the Northland, under the law of club and fang, whoso took such things into account was a fool, and in so far as he observed them he would fail to prosper.

Not that Buck reasoned it out. He was fit, that was all, and unconsciously he accommodated himself to the new mode of life. All his days, no matter what the odds, he had never run from a fight. But the club of the man in the red sweater had beaten into him a more fundamental and primitive code. Civilized, he could have died for a moral consideration, say the defense of Judge Miller's riding whip; but the completeness of his decivilization was now evidenced by his ability to flee from the defense of a moral consideration and so save his hide. He did not steal for joy of it, but because of the clamor of his stomach. He did not rob openly, but stole secretly and cunningly, out of respect for club and fang. In short, the things he did were done because it was easier to do them than not to do them.

His development (or retrogression) was rapid. His muscles became hard as iron, and he grew callous to all ordinary pain. He achieved an internal as well as external economy. He could eat anything, no matter how loathsome or indigestible; and, once eaten, the juices of his stomach extracted the last least particle of nutriment; and his blood carried it to the farthest reaches of his body, building it into the toughest and stoutest of tissues. Sight and scent became remarkably keen, while his hearing developed such acuteness that in his sleep he heard the faintest sound and knew whether it heralded peace or peril. He learned to bite the ice out with his teeth when it collected between his toes; and when he was thirsty and there was a thick scum of ice over the water hole, he would break it by rearing and striking it with stiff fore legs. His most conspicuous trait was an ability to scent the wind and forecast it a night in advance. No matter how breathless the air when he dug his nest by tree or bank, the wind that later blew inevitably found him to leeward, sheltered and snug.

And not only did he learn by experience, but instincts long dead became alive again. The domesticated generations fell from him. In vague ways he remembered back to the youth of the breed, to the time the wild dogs ranged in packs through the primeval forest and killed their meat as they ran it down. It was no task for him to learn to fight with cut and slash and the quick wolf snap. In this manner had fought forgotten ancestors. They quickened the old life within him, and the old tricks which they had stamped into the heredity of the breed were his tricks. They came to him without effort or discovery, as though they had been his always. And when, on the still cold nights, he pointed his nose at a star and howled long and wolf-like, it was his ancestors, dead and dust, pointing nose at star and howling down through the centuries and through him. And his cadences were their cadences, the cadences which voiced their woe and what to them was the meaning of the stillness, and the cold, and dark.

Thus, as token of what a puppet thing life is, the ancient song surged through him and he came into his own again; and he came because men had found a yellow metal in the North, and because Manuel was a gardener's helper whose wages did not lap over the needs of his wife and divers small copies of himself.

巴克在迪亚海滩上的第一天就像一场噩梦。每时每刻都充满了震惊和意外。它突然被拽出了文明的中心，并被抛入了原始的中心。这里并没有阳光照耀、无所事事的懒洋洋的生活，有的只是游荡无聊。这里既没有宁静，没有休息，也没有片刻的安全。一切都在混乱和你争我斗的状态，生命和身体随时都处在危险当中。因此，非常有必要不断保持警惕，因为这里的狗和人都不是城里的。它们非常野蛮，所有的人，除了棍棒和犬牙法则，都不懂任何法则。

它从来没有见过狗像狼那样打得如此厉害，第一次经历就给它上了难忘的一课。的确，这是别人的体验，否则它就不会活着从中受益了。柯莉就是一个受害者。它们被临时安顿在原木仓库附近，柯莉在这里友好地和一条爱斯基摩狗拉套近乎。尽管那条狗还没有柯莉一半大，但已有成年狼大小，没有任何警告，它像闪电一样跳来，牙齿发出金属般的击打声，同样飞快地闪开，因此柯莉的脸从眼睛到下颚都被撕破了。

那是狼的搏斗方式，袭击后跳开，但是，事儿远不止于此。三四十条爱斯基摩狗跑到现场，目不转睛、悄无声息地团团包围了两条搏斗的狗。巴克不了解它们为什么那样目不转睛、悄无声息，也不了解它们为什么那样迫不及待、垂涎欲滴。柯莉突袭对手，对手再次袭击后跳到旁边。它用胸部迎接柯莉的下一次突袭，用一种奇特的方式把柯莉绊倒在地。柯莉再也没有站起来。那些旁观的爱斯基摩狗等的就是这个。它们狂吠着逼上前来，一群毛发倒竖的身体淹没了痛苦尖叫的柯莉。

事儿太突然、太意外了，巴克目瞪口呆。它看到斯皮茨吐出猩红的舌头，就像是在哈哈大笑。它还看到弗朗索瓦挥舞斧头，纵身跳进混乱不堪的狗群。三个手拿棍子的男人在帮助他驱散狗群。没费多长时间。从柯莉倒下到最后一个袭击者被打跑，就两分钟。但是，柯莉瘫倒在血肉模糊、踩满爪印的雪地上已经断气了，差不多完全被撕成了碎片。那个皮肤黝黑的混血儿站在柯莉的身边破口大骂。那个情景时常萦绕在巴克的梦中，让它心神不安。原来是这样。根本没有公平对待可言。一旦倒下，你就完了。好了，它要务必注意千万不能倒下。斯皮茨吐出舌头，又一次笑了起来。从那个时刻起，巴克对它怀着刻骨铭心、不共戴天的仇恨。

还没有从柯莉惨死引起的震惊中恢复过来，它就受到了又一次冲击。弗朗索瓦在它的身上套上了一套带扣的皮带。这是一副挽具，就像它在家时看到马夫们套在马的身上的那些东西一样。正如它看到过的马干活那样，它也开始干起了活，用力拉着坐在雪橇上的弗朗索瓦前往位于山谷边的森林，回来时拉一雪橇柴火。尽管它被当成拉套的牲口，自尊受到了严重伤害，但它非常明智，没有反抗。尽管一切都新鲜陌生，但它竭尽全力、专心致志。弗朗索瓦非常严厉，要求令行禁止，而且凭借他的鞭子收到了令行禁止的效果。戴夫是一条富有经验的雪橇狗，只要巴克出错，它就咬巴克的后腿。斯皮茨是领头狗，同样富有经验。尽管它并不能总是去咬巴克，但它不时发出刺耳的吼叫怒斥巴克，或是巧妙地用身体的重量牵动缰绳，将巴克拽到它应走的道路上去。巴克学得非常轻松，在它的两个同伴和弗朗索瓦的共同教导下，取得了显著的进步。他们还没有返回营地，它就明白了“喔”是停，“驾”是走，转弯时绕大圈，载重雪橇下坡时紧随其后，跟驾橇狗保持距离。

“三条狗真棒，”弗朗索瓦对佩罗说，“那个巴克，拉起套来不要命。我教给它什么都很快。”

到了下午，佩罗要匆匆上路去送急件，又带回了两条狗。他把它们叫作“比勒”和“乔”。它们是兄弟俩，而且都是纯种爱斯基摩狗。尽管它们是一母同胞，但它们像白天和黑夜一样截然不同。比勒的一个毛病就是脾气过分得好，乔则正好相反，内向易怒，不停吠叫，眼神恶毒。巴克友好地对待它们，戴夫对它们却视而不见，斯皮茨则继续咬完这个又咬那个。比勒摇着尾巴想息事宁人，当它看到这种息事宁人的做法无济于事时转身就跑。当斯皮茨的利齿咬到它的侧面时，它叫了起来（还是那样息事宁人）。但无论斯勒茨如何转圈，乔都飞快地转动身体面对着它，毛发竖起，耳朵后贴，龇牙咧嘴，汪汪狂叫，上下颚飞快地咬着，眼露凶光——是既好战又恐惧的典型化身。它的样子非常可怕，斯皮茨被迫放弃惩罚它，但为了掩饰自己的尴尬，它转向没有恶意、哀号不止的比勒，把它赶到了营地的边界。

傍晚时分，佩罗又弄到一条狗，是一条老爱斯基摩犬，瘦长憔悴，脸上战伤累累，一只独眼闪闪发亮，警告着它力量过人，令人肃然起敬。它名叫索尔雷克斯，意思是“愤怒者”。像戴夫一样，它一无所求，一无所献，一无所期；当它慢条斯理、从容不迫挺进它们中间时，连斯皮茨都没有去招惹它。它有一个怪癖，是在巴克倒了一次霉后才发现的。那就是它不喜欢别人从它的瞎眼那边靠近。巴克无意中冒犯了它；巴克刚一意识到自己的鲁莽，索尔雷克斯就飞扑向它，把它的肩膀被撕开了一道上下三英寸深到骨头的口子。从此以后，巴克再也没有靠近过它的瞎眼那边，因此直到最后它们的伙伴关系都没有再出现过麻烦。索尔雷克斯唯一明显的奢望就是像戴夫一样独自待着；不过，巴克后来明白，它们两个心里都还有一个甚至更大的野心。

那天夜里，巴克面临的大问题就是睡觉。帐篷里点着一支蜡烛，在雪白的平原中发出温暖的光亮，而当巴克照例走进去时，佩罗和弗朗索瓦都一股脑儿冲它破口大骂，还用厨具打它，直到它从惊愕中醒过神来，无地自容地逃到了外面的寒冷中。凄厉的寒风吹来，寒冷刺骨，尤其是它受伤的肩膀疼得像刀割一样。它躺在雪地上试图睡觉，但严寒很快就让它浑身颤抖。它站起来，可怜巴巴、闷闷不乐地绕着许多帐篷转悠，结果发现到处都寒冷无比。到处都会有一些野蛮的狗冲向它，但它竖起颈毛，狂吠几声（因为它学得很快），它们就不敢伤害它，放它走。

最后，它想到了一个办法。它要回去看看自己的同队队员们是怎么睡的。让它惊讶的是，它们都不见了。它又在大营地中走来走去，寻找它们，之后再次返回。它们会在帐篷里吗？不，那不可能，否则它就不会被撵出去。那它们可能会去哪里呢？它拖着尾巴，浑身哆嗦，漫无目的地绕着帐篷转圈，简直成了丧家犬。突然，它前腿陷入雪里，掉了下去。它的爪子下面有什么东西在扭动。它竖起毛发狂吠着向后跃起，对看不见的未知东西感到恐惧。但是，一个小小的友好吠叫使它放下心来。于是，它走回去想看个究竟。一阵热气钻进了它的鼻孔，原来是比勒蜷缩着身体温暖地躺在积雪下面。它安抚似的哀鸣，扭动身体表达善意，为了安宁，甚至斗胆用温暖湿润的舌头去舔巴克的脸。

又学了一课。噢，原来它们是这样干的？巴克自信地选了一块地方，忙乱了好一阵子，费了好大劲儿，才为自己挖好一个洞。转眼间，它身上的热气就充满了这个小小的空间，进入了梦乡。白天漫长艰难，所以尽管在噩梦中咆哮、吼叫和搏斗，但它还是睡得酣畅自在。

直到营地清晨的喧闹声把它吵醒，它才睁开眼睛。起初，它不知道自己是在哪里。夜间下过雪，它被完全埋住了。雪墙从四面八方压向它，一阵强烈的恐惧掠过它的全身——野兽对陷阱的恐惧。这是它通过自己的生活向祖先们的生活回归的一种标志，因为它是一条文明狗，一条文明过头的狗，根据自己的经验，它根本不知道什么是陷阱，所以它自己不可能害怕陷阱。它全身的肌肉断断续续本能地收缩，脖子和肩部的毛发竖起，发出一声凶猛的吼叫，径直跃入炫目的白昼，雪在它四周像闪光的云一样飞舞。落地之前，它看到白色营地展现在眼前，才明白了它在哪里，想起了它和曼努埃尔溜达以来到昨天晚上为自己挖洞期间发生的一切。

弗朗索瓦大声欢呼它的出现。“我说什么来着？”这个赶狗人对佩罗喊道，“这个巴克的确什么都学得很快。”

佩罗神情严肃地点了点头。作为加拿大政府的信使，带着重要急件，他渴望搞到最棒的狗，所以他为拥有巴克而格外高兴。

不出一小时，这支队伍便又增加了三条爱斯基摩狗，使总数达到了九条；又过了不到十五分钟，它们就被套上了缰绳，踏上了通往狄亚峡谷的小路。巴克很高兴离开这里，尽管工作艰苦，但它发现并不是特别讨厌。它对这种急切的心情感到惊讶，这种心情鼓舞了全队，也传给了它，但更令它吃惊的是戴夫和索尔雷克斯身上发生的变化。这是新来的两条狗，挽具完全改变了它们。它们所有的消极和淡漠都已经消失了。它们机警活跃，一心想着工作进展顺利，无论是耽搁还是混乱，只要延误工作，它们就会大发雷霆。它们在路上的辛劳似乎是它们存在的最高体现，也是它们所有的生活目标和乐在其中的唯一事儿。

戴夫是驾辕狗或叫拉雪橇狗，巴克在它前面拉套，然后是索尔雷克斯；其他狗都排成一行套在领头狗后面，领头狗由斯皮茨充当。

巴克被特意安排在戴夫和索尔雷克斯中间，这样它可以得到指点。它擅长学习，它们同样善于施教，从来不让它错很久，而且它们用利齿进行教导。戴夫公正，非常聪明，绝不会无缘无故地咬巴克，而当它需要教导时，又绝不会不咬。因为弗朗索瓦的鞭子为戴夫撑腰，所以巴克发现改过要比报复更划算。有一次，短暂停留期间，它被缰绳绊住，耽误了出发，戴夫和索尔雷克斯一起朝它飞奔而来，痛打了它一顿，结果缰绳缠得更厉害，但从那以后巴克更加小心翼翼，不再让缰绳缠住。这一天还没有结束，巴克就熟练掌握了工作，周围的两个同伴不再挑剔它了。弗朗索瓦的鞭子响得不那么频繁了，佩罗甚至尊敬巴克，抬起它的蹄子，仔细查看。

它们辛苦跑了一天，上峡谷，穿羊寨，过天梯和森林边界，跨过一道道深数百英尺的冰川和雪堆，翻过奇尔分水岭，它耸立在咸水和淡水之间，令人生畏地守卫着暗淡偏僻的北方。它们沿着一连串充满死火山口的湖飞快前进，深夜时分赶到了班尼特湖口的大营地。那里有成千上万的淘金者在造小船，为春天的冰雪融化做准备。巴克在雪地里挖了一个洞，睡觉时筋疲力尽，但主人一大早天黑地冻时就把它赶出来，把它和伙伴们套上了雪橇。

那天，它们在压得结实的路上跑了四十英里；但第二天和以后的许多天，它们自己开道，更加辛苦，跑的路越来越少。通常，佩罗脚穿一双带蹼的靴子走在队伍前面，把雪踩实，使它们跑起来比较轻松。弗朗索瓦驾着雪橇，有时和佩罗轮换一下，但不常换。佩罗行色匆匆，对自己了解冰雪知识引以为自豪。这种了解必不可少，因为秋天的冰很薄，而且在水流湍急的地方根本没有冰。

巴克套着缰绳艰苦跋涉，日复一日，没有尽头。它们总是在黑暗中拔营，当黎明的第一道曙光出现时，已跑完几英里的路程。它们总是天黑后扎营，吃一点鱼，然后钻进雪里睡觉。巴克饿极了。它每天的口粮是一磅半晒干的鲑鱼，吞进肚里就像没吃东西一样。它从来没有吃饱过，长久忍受着饿肚子的阵阵疼痛。然而，别的狗因为体重较轻，生来就过这种生活，所以只吃一磅干鱼，就活得好好的。

它很快改掉了原来挑三拣四的生活习惯。它挑食，结果发现伙伴们先吃完，然后又抢走了它没来得及吃完的口粮。防不胜防。在它击退两三条狗的同时，它的口粮就进了另外几条狗的肚子。为了改变这一情况，它吃得像它们一样快；饥肠辘辘，迫使它屈服，它不再不屑于抢夺不属于自己的东西。它观察学习。看到一条新来的名叫派克的狗偷奸耍滑装病开小差，趁佩罗转身时暗地偷了一片咸肉后，它第二天就如法炮制，偷走了整块咸肉。尽管引起了轩然大波，但它没有受到怀疑。笨手笨脚、冒冒失失的达布总是被逮住，替巴克受过。

第一次行窃表明巴克适合生存在北部地区的恶劣环境中，表明它具有适应能力，有能力随变化的环境进行自我调整，缺乏这种能力就意味着很快就会毁灭。此外，这还表明了它道德品性的衰退或瓦解，道德品性在无情的生存斗争中毫无价值，反而是一种障碍。尊重私有财产和个人感情，在以博爱与友谊为准则的南部地区，是再好不过的事儿，但是，在以棍棒与犬牙为法则的北部地区，谁考虑这些东西，谁就是傻瓜，谁说这些东西，谁就会失败。

巴克没有想明白，它只知道适者生存，仅此而已，而且它不知不觉使自己适应了这种新的生活方式。无论成败的可能性有多大，它长这么大，从来没有当过逃兵。然而，那个穿红毛衣的人的棍子已经把一条更重要、更原始的规则敲进了它的脑海。作为文明狗，它本可以为道义而死，比如说，捍卫米勒法官的马鞭，但是，现在为了免受惩罚，它可以在捍卫道义时临阵脱逃，这表明它完全丧失了文明。它不是为了好玩而偷东西，而是因为肚子咕咕叫。它没有公开抢夺，而是背地巧妙地偷，这是出于对棍棒和利齿的敬畏。总之，它之所以干这些事，是因为干比不干更容易。

它进步（或退步）飞快，肌肉变得像铁一样硬，对所有普通的疼痛都渐渐没有了感觉。它无论体内还是体外都能充分利用食物，无论是多么难以下咽还是多么难以消化，它什么都能吃，而且，一旦吃下去，它的胃液连最后的一点营养都会吸得一干二净。它的血液会把最后的营养输送到身体的最远区域，使其成为最坚韧、最结实的身体组织。视觉和嗅觉变得异常敏锐，听觉也变得十分灵敏，它睡梦中都听得到最细微的声响，明白这声响预示着平安还是危险。当脚趾间结冰时，它学会用牙齿把冰咬出来；当它口渴，但水坑上结了一层厚冰时，它就会后腿立起，用坚硬的前腿砸碎厚冰。它最突出的本领就是嗅出风的气息，能提前一夜预知。当它在树边或堤旁挖巢时，无论当时空气怎样静止，过后起风时，它总在下风头，有遮有挡，温暖舒适。

它不仅通过经验学习，而且早已消失的本能死而复生。世世代代受到驯养的本性从它的身上消失了。它模模糊糊地回想起了狗类的青年时代，当时野生狗成群结队在原始森林中游荡，追到猎物就咬死吃肉。对它来说，学会撕咬和狼一样的速战速决并非难事。被遗忘的祖先们就是以这种方式战斗的。它们鼓舞了它内心的古老活力，而祖先们已经打上物种遗传烙印的那些古老诀窍成了它的独门绝技。它不用费力，也不用发现，这些诀窍就浮现在了它的脑海里，就像它们始终就是它的一样。在静寂的寒夜，当它扬鼻指向一颗星星，发出像狼一样的长嗥时，那正是那些早已化为尘土的祖先们穿越几百年通过它扬鼻指向一颗星星时发出的嗥叫。它的腔调也是祖先们的腔调，这些腔调表达了它们的悲哀，对它们来说，这意味着寂静、寒冷和黑暗。

因此，作为生命是一种多么不由自主的象征，古老的歌儿涌遍了它的全身，它又回到了自我。它之所以回归，是因为人类在北方发现了一种黄色金属，是因为曼努埃尔是一个园林主的助手，工钱满足不了他的妻子和那几个小家伙的需要。