[adapted]

by
Jack London

Chapter I.
Into the Wild

Buck did not read newspapers. He did not know that men had found gold in the North. Thousands of men were going there. They needed strong dogs with thick fur. Buck was one of those dogs.

Buck lived in Santa Clara Valley at Judge Miller’s house. It was a large and beautiful place. There were trees, fields, stables, and many servants. Buck was born there. He had lived there for four years. He was not a house dog or a kennel dog. The whole place was his. He swam in the tank. He hunted with the Judge’s sons. He walked with the Judge’s daughters. At night he lay by the fire near the Judge. He was proud and strong. His father, Elmo, was a big St. Bernard. His mother, Shep, was a Scotch shepherd dog. Buck weighed one hundred and forty pounds. Everyone respected him. He felt like a king.

In the fall of 1897, trouble came. Manuel, a helper in the garden, had a gambling problem. He needed money. One night, when the Judge was away, Manuel took Buck for a walk. Buck trusted him. They went to a small train station called College Park. A stranger waited there. Money passed between the two men. Manuel put a rope around Buck’s neck and gave the rope to the stranger.

Buck growled. He did not like this. The rope tightened. He could not breathe. He fought with all his strength. The man threw him down and choked him. Buck had never been treated this way. At last he fainted. The men threw him into a train baggage car.

When Buck woke, he was still tied. He was angry and confused. He tried to attack the man again. The man beat him and choked him until he fainted. Later, in San Francisco, Buck was put into a wooden crate. His collar was cut off. He was left in a shed. He waited for Judge Miller, but the Judge did not come.

In the morning, men carried the crate away. Buck traveled from place to place. He had no food and no water for two days. People teased him. He became very angry. His throat hurt. His eyes turned red. He decided that no one would ever put a rope on him again.

At last, in Seattle, the crate was carried into a small yard. A strong man in a red sweater came out with a club and a hatchet. He broke open the crate. Buck rushed at him in fury. The man hit him hard with the club. Buck fell down. He attacked again and again. Each time the club struck him. The pain was terrible. Blood ran from his nose and mouth. Still he tried to fight.

Finally, one heavy blow knocked him senseless.

When Buck woke, he was weak. The man spoke calmly to him. He gave him water and raw meat. Buck understood something new. A man with a club was master. This was a law. Buck was beaten, but he was not broken. He would obey, but he would not lose his pride.

Other dogs came into the yard. Buck watched them fight and lose against the club. One dog refused to obey and was killed. Buck learned the lesson well.

One day a small man named Perrault came. He spoke broken English. He paid three hundred dollars for Buck. Buck was taken away with a good-natured dog named Curly. They left Seattle on a ship called the Narwhal. Buck never saw the warm South again.

On the ship, Perrault and a large man named François took care of the dogs. They were fair but strict. Buck respected them. On board were two other dogs. One was Spitz, a white dog who looked friendly but was not. He stole Buck’s food, but François punished him with a whip. Buck saw that this was fair. The other dog was Dave. Dave was quiet and wanted to be left alone.

The ship moved north. The air grew colder each day. At last the ship stopped. François led the dogs onto the deck. Buck stepped onto a cold white surface. His feet sank into it. More white pieces fell from the sky. He sniffed it and licked it. It bit his tongue and disappeared. The men laughed.

It was Buck’s first time in snow.

Chapter II.
The Law of Stick and Teeth

Buck’s first day on Dyea beach felt like a bad dream. He had left a safe life and entered a hard place. Here, men and dogs lived by force. A club ruled, and teeth finished the fight. Buck learned fast because he had to.

Curly, the friendly Newfoundland, tried to greet a husky. The husky was like a wolf. He attacked without warning. He jumped in and tore Curly’s face, then jumped away. Curly rushed him again. The husky hit her in a way that knocked her down. The moment she fell, many huskies rushed in. They tore her while she screamed. François and three men with clubs fought the pack off, but Curly was already dead.

Buck did not forget this. There was no fair play. If you fell, you died. Buck also saw Spitz watching with his red tongue out, as if he laughed. From that moment, Buck hated Spitz.

Soon after, François put a harness on Buck. Buck had seen harness on horses, but he had never pulled anything. Now he had to pull a sled. His pride hurt, but he did the work. François demanded quick obedience and used his whip. Dave, an old sled dog, bit Buck when he made mistakes. Spitz led the team and corrected Buck with growls and sudden pulls. Buck learned the trail words. “Ho” meant stop. “Mush” meant go. He learned to take turns wide and to stay clear of the sled behind him.

That afternoon Perrault brought two more huskies, brothers named Billee and Joe. Billee was too friendly and tried to make peace. Joe was harsh and always ready to fight. Spitz attacked both to show power. Billee cried and ran. Joe faced Spitz with teeth and fury. Spitz could not scare Joe, so he turned and drove Billee away instead.

Later Perrault added another dog. His name was Sol-leks, which meant the Angry One. He was old, lean, and scarred. He had only one eye. Even Spitz left him alone. Buck learned one rule about Sol-leks the hard way. Sol-leks hated anyone who came near his blind side. Buck did not know this and moved there once. Sol-leks slashed Buck’s shoulder. After that, Buck kept away from the blind side.

That night Buck tried to sleep in the warm tent. Perrault and François threw things at him and cursed until he ran out. The cold wind bit his wounded shoulder. Buck tried to sleep on the snow, but he shook with cold. He wandered through camp. Strange dogs rushed him, but he bristled and snarled. They backed off.

At last Buck went back near the tent. He saw where his team had gone. The snow suddenly gave way under his feet. Something moved beneath. Buck jumped back, ready to fight. Then he heard a friendly yelp. It was Billee, curled under the snow in a warm nest. Buck understood. He dug his own hole. It took time and effort, but the heat of his body warmed the small space. He fell asleep at once.

In the morning, Buck woke buried by new snow. For a moment he felt trapped and panicked. He burst upward through the snow and stood in the open air. He saw the camp and remembered everything. François shouted that Buck learned quickly. Perrault looked pleased, because he needed strong dogs for government messages.

More huskies joined the team. Soon there were nine dogs. They started up the trail toward Dyea Canyon. Buck felt glad to leave the beach. The work was hard, but the team pulled with eager energy. Dave and Sol-leks changed in the harness. They became sharp and focused. They cared about one thing: the sled moving well. If anything slowed the team, they grew angry.

Buck ran between Dave and Sol-leks so they could teach him. When he tangled the traces once, they both attacked him and punished him. Buck learned to keep the straps clear. François used his whip less as Buck improved. Perrault even lifted Buck’s feet and checked them with care.

The trail was long and cruel. They climbed through snow and ice, over high passes, and into deeper cold. At last they reached the camp at Lake Bennett, where many men were building boats for spring. Buck dug his snow bed and slept, but before long they woke him in the dark and put him back in harness.

Some days the packed trail let them go far. Other days they broke fresh snow and moved slowly. Perrault often walked ahead on snowshoes to pack the trail. François guided the sled. Thin ice was dangerous, and open water could appear at any time. Still they pushed on, day after day. They started before dawn and stopped after dark. They ate dry fish and slept in the snow.

Buck was always hungry. His ration was a pound and a half of dried salmon each day, but it never felt enough. The other dogs ate less and stayed strong, because they were born to this life. Buck learned to eat fast. If he ate slowly, the others stole his food. Fighting them did not help, because while he fought, someone else swallowed the rest.

Hunger also pushed Buck to steal. He watched a dog named Pike steal bacon when Perrault looked away. The next day Buck did the same and stole a whole piece. No one blamed him. Another dog, Dub, was clumsy and got punished instead.

Buck changed quickly in the North. He grew tougher. He wasted nothing in his body. He could eat almost anything and use it. His senses sharpened. He learned to break ice with his feet when he needed water. He learned to bite ice from between his toes. He learned to smell a coming wind and choose a sheltered place to sleep.

Old instincts woke inside him. The soft life at Judge Miller’s house fell away. He remembered, in his blood, how wild dogs fought and lived. At night he sometimes lifted his nose to the cold stars and howled. It was not a pet’s sound. It was a wolf sound, coming from deep inside him.

All of this happened because men wanted gold, and because Manuel had sold him. Now Buck belonged to the North, and the North was teaching him its law.

Chapter III.
The Fight to Lead

Something old and strong grew inside Buck on the trail. He did not show it at once. He stayed calm and careful. He did not start fights. He avoided trouble when he could. But Spitz never stopped testing him. Spitz was lead dog, and he saw Buck as a danger. He bullied Buck and tried to force a fight.

One night they made camp on Lake Le Barge. Snow blew hard, and the wind cut like a knife. There was a rock wall behind them, and they had to sleep on the lake ice. They had no tent now. The men made a small fire with driftwood. It burned down into the ice, and they ate in the dark.

Buck dug a warm nest under the rock. When François gave out the fish, Buck left his nest to eat. When he came back, Spitz was in Buck’s place. Spitz snarled a warning. Buck had held back until now, but this time he rushed at Spitz. They burst out of the nest and began to circle, teeth showing. François saw what happened and shouted for Buck to give Spitz what he deserved.

Then a new danger hit the camp. Starving huskies came in from the dark, many of them. They had smelled the food. Perrault and François swung clubs, but the wild dogs fought back. One dog had its head in the food box. Perrault hit it, and the box spilled bread and bacon on the snow. The starving dogs fell on the food and ate fast while the clubs rained down.

The team dogs were attacked next. Buck saw how thin the wild dogs were. Their eyes burned, and their teeth dripped. Hunger made them fearless. The team was driven back toward the cliff. Buck fought three at once and got cut on head and shoulders. Dave and Sol-leks fought side by side, bleeding. Joe snapped like a demon. Pike jumped on a hurt dog and killed it. Buck grabbed one attacker by the throat and felt warm blood in his mouth.

In the middle of the fight, Spitz attacked Buck from the side. He tried to pull Buck down so the pack could finish him. Buck knew the danger. If he fell, he would die. When the others began to run, Buck ran too. The team fled out onto the lake, then into the forest.

Later the nine dogs found each other in the trees. All were wounded. Some were badly hurt. When daylight came, they limped back to camp. The wild dogs were gone, but much food was gone too. They had chewed straps and canvas. They had even eaten Perrault’s moccasins and part of François’s whip. François looked at his dogs and worried about sickness from the bites.

They had to go on. The next part of the trail was the worst yet. The Thirty Mile River was wide open in many places. The ice was thin, and fast water broke it. For six days they fought their way through those thirty miles. Again and again Perrault broke through ice bridges and saved himself with a pole. Each time he had to make a fire and dry his clothes, because the cold was deadly.

Once the sled broke through with Buck and Dave. Men dragged them out, half frozen. Ice coated their bodies. The men ran them near the fire until they thawed, so close that the flames singed them. Another time Spitz went through and pulled the whole team after him. Buck braced himself on the edge and held, while Dave held behind him and François pulled at the back. At another break, ice cracked in front and behind. The only escape was up a cliff. The men made a rope from straps and lashings. They hauled the dogs up one by one, then the sled and load, and climbed up last themselves. That night they gained only a little distance, but they stayed alive.

When they reached better ice, the dogs were exhausted. Perrault pushed them hard to regain time. Buck’s feet hurt the most. His paws were softer than the huskies’ paws. He limped all day and dropped at camp. François had to bring fish to him. Each night François rubbed Buck’s feet and made moccasins from his own gear. Buck liked them so much that one morning he refused to stand without them. Later Buck’s feet hardened, and they threw the worn moccasins away.

At the Pelly River, Dolly went mad. She gave a long wolf cry and rushed at Buck, foam on her mouth. Buck ran in terror. Dolly stayed one leap behind him. He raced through trees and over rough ice, turning and twisting, but she kept coming. At last Buck ran toward François, trusting him. François lifted an axe. Buck flashed past, and the axe crashed down on Dolly’s head. Dolly fell dead.

Buck staggered to the sled, shaking and out of breath. Spitz saw his chance. He jumped Buck and tore him twice before Buck could rise. Then François’s whip struck Spitz, and Spitz got the worst beating he had ever received.

After that, open war began between Buck and Spitz. Spitz was leader, and he feared Buck. Buck did not rush into foolish fights. He waited and used his head. He also started to break Spitz’s power. He stepped in when Spitz tried to punish the weaker dogs. He did it on purpose. Once, after a heavy snowfall, Pike hid under snow to avoid the harness. François searched for him. Spitz found him and rushed to punish him, but Buck slammed into Spitz and knocked him off his feet. Pike attacked Spitz at once. Buck attacked too. François pulled Buck off with his whip and beat him back, then let Spitz punish Pike. Still, the message was clear.

After that, the team changed. The dogs feared Spitz less. They stole and fought more. They challenged Spitz, and Buck protected them. François cursed and whipped, but the trouble returned as soon as he turned away. Buck worked well in harness, but he also enjoyed making fights and tangling the team.

They reached Dawson, and Buck saw a town full of dogs working like horses. He heard the huskies sing at night. The sound stirred something deep in him, and he joined it.

After a week they turned back down the Yukon. Perrault wanted a fast record trip. The trail was packed now, and food waited in places. The team was rested, but discipline was broken. Pike stole food under Buck’s protection. Dub and Joe fought Spitz and got away with it. Even Billee changed and stopped whining so much. Buck walked near Spitz with his neck bristling, showing his challenge.