The Canadian Mail sledge, with Buck and the other dogs, arrived in Skaguay.
They looked and felt very tired. Buck was very thin. The dogs' feet had cuts on them
and they [bad word]  After thirty days without a rest, they were very weak. [bad word]  my friends," said the driver. "This is the end. Now we'll have a long
rest—a very long rest."
But there were letters in Skaguay for the men in the North, and the mail sledge
had to leave again. The dogs only had a three-day rest. They were tired and weak,
and now they couldn't pull the heavy sledge. The men had to buy new, strong dogs,
so the Scottish man sold Buck and the other dogs. He didn't ask for a lot of money
because the dogs couldn't work very hard.
Two American men, Charles and Hal, bought the tired dogs and their
harnesses. Charles was forty-five years old and he had weak, watery eyes. Hal was a
younger man of about twenty. He wasn't a kind man. He always carried a gun and a
big knife with him. The two men looked strange in the North, and they didn't
understand life there.
Hal and Charles took Buck and the other dogs to their new camp. Buck saw a
woman, Mercedes, there, and a very large sledge. Hal put the dogs into their
harnesses and the dogs waited. The men put a lot of bags and boxes onto the sledge,
and it got heavier and heavier.
man walked past and looked at their sledge.
"You have a very big, heavy sledge there," he said to Hal. "It's too heavy. Do
you really think it will move?"
"Of course—now go away!" shouted Hal, and he took out his club. "Mush!
Go! Move!" he shouted to the dogs. The dogs jumped and tried to move the sledge.
But it was too heavy and they couldn't move it.
"You stupid dogs! You aren't pulling hard!" shouted Hal. "I'll kill you!" And
Hal started to hit the weak dogs with his club.
Some men came and watched Hal.
"Those dogs are tired. They want a rest," said one man.
"Be quiet!" shouted Hal, and he started to hit the dogs again.
Another man watched angrily. "Those poor dogs," he thought. "That man is
very stupid, but I have to help those dogs." So he shouted to Hal, "Break the ice
under the sledge. The dogs want to work hard, so don't hit them. Help them, and
your sledge will move."
Hal didn't want to listen to the man, but his dogs couldn't move. So he broke
the ice, and the sledge slowly moved down the street. But the road suddenly, turned
left and the large sledge fell over. Bags and boxes went everywhere. Then the
harnesses broke from the sledge, and the dogs ran away.
Many nice people came and helped Hal, Charles, and Mercedes. They found
their things and brought the dogs back.
One man said, "You'll have to buy more dogs. Your sledge is very heavy."
So Charles bought more dogs, and now they had fourteen animals. They
started again, and the men felt happy and important.
The heavy sledge moved slowly down the street. The dogs worked as hard as
they could.
The trip back to Dawson was very bad. Hal, Charles, and Mercedes fought
every day. They didn't have any plans and they didn't know about this cold country.
They started late in the morning and finished early in the afternoon. So they didn't go
many kilometers in a day. They hated the cold, the snow, and the Yukon.
They also didn't know about dogs, so they didn't bring much food for them.
The dogs began to die because they were tired, weak, and very hungry. In one week,
six dogs died, and the other dogs were almost dead.
It was beautiful spring weather. The sun came up early and went down late
every day. The birds sang, and the trees were green again. The ice on the river
started to break. But through these wonderful days, with new life everywhere, the
two men, the woman, and