【正文】 e saw Buck e up out of the snow．‘That Buck learns quickly．’Perrault smiled slowly． He was carrying important papers，and he needed good dogs． He was very pleased to have Buck．They bought three more dogs that morning，and a quarter of an hour later all nine dogs were in harness and on their way up the Dyea Canyon． Buck was not sorry to be moving，and although it was hard work，he almost enjoyed it． He was also surprised to see that Dave and Sol－leks no longer looked bored and miserable．Pulling in a harness was their job，and they were happy to do it．Dave was sledge－dog，the dog nearest to the sledge．In front of him was Buck，then came Solleks． In front of them were the six other dogs，with Spitz as leader at the front． Francois had put Buck between Dave and Sol－leks because they could teach him the work．Buck learnt well，and they were good teachers． When Buck pulled the wrong way，Dave always bit his leg，but only lightly． Once，when they stopped，Buck got tied up in his harness，and it took ten minutes to get started again．Both Dave and Sol－leks gave him a good beating for that mistake． Buck understood，and was more careful after that．It was a hard day39。ll kill Buck．’‘Buck is wilder，’replied Francois．‘I39。s killed Spitz，and now he wants to be lead－dog． Go away，Buck！’He pulled Buck away and tried to harness Sol－leks again．Solleks was unhappy too． He was frightened of Buck，and when Francois turned his back，Buck took Solleks’ place again． Now Francois was angry．‘I39。s house in California．More of ten he remembered the man in the red coat and his club，the death of Curly，the fight with Spitz，and the good things that he had eaten But sometimes he remembered other things These were things that he remembered through his parents，and his parents parents，and all the dogs which had lived before him．Sometimes as he lay there，he seemed to see，in a waking dream，a different fire． And he saw next to him，not the Indian cook，but another man，a man with shorter legs，and longer arms． This man had long hair and deep eyes，and madestrange noises in his throat He was very frightened of the dark，and looked around him all the time，holding a heavy stone in his hand ．He wore the skin of an animal on his back，and Buck could see thick hair all over his body．Buck sat by the fire with this hairy man，and in the circling darkness beyond the fire he could see many eyes—the eyes of hungry animals waiting to attack． And he growled softly in his dream until the Indian cook shouted，‘Hey，Buck，wake up！’Then the strange world disappeared and Buck39。 below zero，and didn39。ll win．’ Francois was right． Buck wanted to be leaddog．Spitz knew this and hated him． Buck started to help the other dogs when Spitz punished them for being lazy．One morning，Pike refused to get up，and Spitz looked for him everywhere． When he found him，he jumped at him．But suddenly，Buck at－tacked Spitz． The other dogs saw this，and it became more and more difficult for Spitz to lead them．But the days passed without a chance for a fight，and soon they were pulling into Dawson City on a cold grey afternoon．They stayed in Dawson for seven days． When they left，Perrault was carrying some more very important papers，and he wanted to travel back as fast as possible．They travelled eighty kilometres the first day，and the same the second． But it was difficult work for Francois． Buck and Spitz hated each other，and the other dogs were not afraid of Spitz any more． One night Pike stole half a fish from Spitz，and ate it standing next to Buck． 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 Francois often had to stop the sledge．He knew that Buck was the problem，but Buck was too clever for him and Francois 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 e，and Buck knew that either he or Spitz must die． They watched one another，circling slowly． Themoon 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 Spitz39。 below zero，and each time Perrault fell into the water，he had to light a fire to dry and warm himself． Once，the sledge fell through the ice，with Dave and Buck，and they were covered in ice by the time Perrault and Francois pulled them out of the river．Again，a fire was needed to save them．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 travelled only four hundred metres．When they got to the Hootalinqua and 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 hun－dred and eighty kilometres and reached the Five Fingers．The other dogs had hard feet from years of pulling sledges，but Buck39。s first day at Dyea Beach was terrible． Every hour there was some new，frightening surprise． There was no peace，no rest—only continual noise and movement． And every minute there was danger，because these dogs and men were not town dogs and men． They knew only the law of club and tooth．Buck had never seen dogs fight like these dogs； they were like wolves． In a few minutes he learnt this from watching Curly． She tried to make friends with a dog，a big one，al－though not as big as she was． There was