【正文】 cing him, brought Solleks to the coveted position. In his judgment, Solleks was the best leaddog left. Buck sprang upon Solleks in a fury, driving him back and standing in his place. Eh? Eh? Francois cried, slapping his thighs gleefully. Look at dat Buck. Him kill dat Spitz, him think to take de job. Go 39。 nor did he attempt to charge in when Solle ks was once more brought forward. But he circled just beyond the range of the club, snarling with bitterness and rage。 and he answered curse w ith snarl and kept out of their reach. He did not try to run away, but retreated around and around the camp, advertising plainly that when his desire was met, he would e in and be good. Francois sat down and scratched his head. Perrault looked at his watch and swore. T ime was flying, and they should have been on the trail an hour gone. Francois scratched his head again. He shook it and grinned sheepishly at the courier, who shrugged his shoulders in sign that they were beaten. Then Francois went up to where Solleks stood and called to Buc k. Buc k laughed, as dogs laugh, yet kept his distance. Francois unfastened Sol leks39。 and where judgment was required, and quick thinking and quick acting, he showed himself the superior even of Spitz, of whom Francois had never seen an equal. But it was in giving the law and making his mates live up to it, that Buck excelled. Dave and Solle ks did not mind the change in leadership. It was none of their business. Their business was to toil, and toil mightily, in the traces. So long as that was not interfered with, they did not care what happened. Billee, the goodnatured, could lead for all they cared, so long as he kept order. The rest of the team, however, had grown unruly during the last days of Spitz, and their surprise was great now that Buck proceeded to lick them into shape. Pike, who pulled at Buc k39。 and ere the first day was done he was pulling more than ever before in his life. The first night in camp, Joe, the sour one, was punished soundly a thing that Spitz had never succeeded in doing. Buc k simply smothered him by virtue of superior weight, and cut him up till he ceased snapping and began to whine for mercy. The general tone of the team picked up immediately. It recovered its oldtime solidarity, and once more the dogs leaped as one dog in the traces. At the Rink Rapids two native huskies, Tee k and Koona, were added。s breath. Never such a dog as dat Buck! he cried. No, never! Him worth one thousand dollair, by Gar! Eh? What you say, Perrault? And Perrault nodded. He was ahead of the record then, and gaining day by day. The trail was in excellent condition, well packed and hard, and there was no newfallen snow w ith which to contend. It was not too cold. The temperature dropped to fifty below zero and remained there the whole trip. The men rode and ran by turn, and the dogs were kept on the jump, with but infrequent stoppages. The Thirty Mile River was paratively coated with ice, and they covered in one day going out what had taken them ten days c oming in. In one run they made a sixty mile dash from the foot of Lake LeBarge to the White Horse Rapids. Across Marsh, Tagis h, and Bent (seventy miles of la kes), they flew so fast that the man whose turn it was to run towed behind the sled at the end of a rope. And on the last night of the second week they topped White Pass and dropped down the sea slope with the lights of Skaguay and of the shipping at their feet. It was a record run. Each day for fourteen days they had averaged forty miles. For three days Perrault and Francois threw che sts up and dow n the main street of Skaguay and were deluged with invitations to drink, while the team was the constant center of a worshipful crowd of dogbusters and mushers. Then three or four western bad men aspired to clean out the town, were riddled like pepperboxes for their pains, and public interest turned to other idols. Next came official orders. Francois called Buc k to him, threw his arms around him, wept over him. And that was the last of Francois and Pe rrault. L ike other men, they passed out of Buck39。 for this was the mail train, carrying word from the world to the men who sought gold under the shadow of the Pole. Buc k did not like it, but he bore up well to the wor k, ta king pride in it after the manner of Dave and Solle ks, and seeing that his mates, whether they prided in it or not, did their fair share. It was a monotonous life, operating with machinelike regularity. One day was very like another. At a certain time each morning the cooks turned out, fires were built, and br eakfast was eaten. Then, while some broke camp, others harnessed the dogs, and they were under way an hour or so before the darkness fell which gave warning of dawn. A t night, camp was made. Some pitched the tents, others cut fir ewood and pine boughs for the beds, and still others carried water or ice for the cooks. A lso, the dogs were fed. To them, this was the one feature of the day, though it was good to loaf around, after the fish was eaten, for an hour or so w ith the other dogs, of which there were fivescore and odd. There were fierce fighters among them, but three battles with the fiercest brought Buck to mastery, so that when he bristled and showed his teeth, they got out of his way. Best of all, perhaps, he loved to lie near the fire, hind legs crouched under him, fore legs stretched out in front, head raised, and eyes blinking drearily at the flames. Sometimes he thought of Judge Miller39。 bu t oftener he remembered the man in the red sweater, the death of Curly, the great fight with Spitz and the good things he had eaten or w ould like to eat. He was not homesick. The Sunland was very dim and distant, and such memories had no power over him. Far more potent were the memories of his heredity that gave things he had never seen before a seeming familiar