This new, wild animal in Buck was strong, but Buck's new life was very
dangerous.
He never fought with the other dogs, but Spitz hated him.
Spitz was the most important dog. He knew the sledge best. He always taught
the new dogs to work hard. And the other dogs were afraid of him. He was the
strongest, the most intelligent and the most dangerous. He wanted to fight with Buck
because every day Buck got stronger and more dangerous. But Spitz had to be the
best, so he had to kill Buck.
One cold, windy evening, they stopped next to a river. Buck was very tired
and he quickly made a warm bed in the snow. He wasn't happy when Francois
shouted, [bad word] eat your fish!" He didn't want to leave his warm bed, but he
was very hungry. So he ran to the food box and quickly ate his dinner.
But when he turned around, he saw Spitz. The other dog was in Buck's bed.
He looked at Buck and laughed. Buck barked at him, and the wild animal inside him
went crazy.
He quickly jumped at Spitz. Spitz was very surprised because Buck was never
angry.
Francois was also surprised when the two dogs started fighting.
"Fight him, Buck! You can win!" shouted Francois. "Get him, get Spitz, that
bad dog!"
But the fight never finished, because Perrault shouted. Everybody heard the
noise of Perrault's club and the cry of a dog. The camp was suddenly full of strange,
thin dogs. There were eighty or a hundred of them, and they wanted food. The two
men hit the dogs with their clubs, but the dogs didn't leave.
They found the food box, and they went crazy. The noise was very loud and
the sledge dogs were afraid.
The strange dogs finished the food and then attacked the sledge dogs. They
hurt them very badly. They hurt Dolly's neck and cut Dub's leg. They took out Joe's
eye and almost cut off Billies ear.
Billie cried in pain and ran away, over the icy river. The other sledge dogs
followed Billie, and they all looked for a quiet place to sleep.
In the morning, the dogs walked slowly back to the camp.
"Oh, my friends," said Francois sadly.
The dogs were in a lot of pain, and they looked very bad.
"Maybe you'll go crazy. Because those dogs attacked you, maybe you're crazy
now. What do you think, Perrault?"
"No! They'll be fine," said Perrault. "We have many days of work so the dogs
have to be all right!"
But the dogs weren't all right, and one morning, Dolly went crazy. She
stopped in front of her harness and sat down. She howled loudly. Then she looked at
Buck and jumped at him.
Buck was afraid! He didn't know any crazy dogs. And he liked Dolly—he
didn't want to see this. He quickly ran away from Dolly, but she was only one jump
behind him. He ran through the trees, across some ice and back to the river. Dolly
barked crazily behind him, but she couldn't catch him. [bad word] here, [bad word] to me!" shouted Francois. Buck turned and ran
back to the camp. He was very tired now and had a lot of pain in his legs.
"I'll have to help Buck," thought Francois, and he found his club. Buck ran
past him and Francois's club came down very hard on Dolly's head.
Buck stopped and fell near the sledge. Spitz saw Buck and quickly attacked
him. But Francois saw this and he hit Spitz with his club, many, many times.
"Spitz is a dangerous dog," said Perrault. "He really hates Buck. One day he's
going to kill him!"
"But Buck's more dangerous," answered Francois. "I always watch him, and I
know. One day he'll get very angry and he'll eat Spitz for dinner. He'll kill him easily.
I know it."
The weather got warmer and the trip got very difficult. The dogs couldn't fight —there was no time. The ice got very thin in some places and the sledge broke
through it