CHAPTER FOUR

The Leadership

The next morning Francois awoke to find that Spitz was missing while Buck stood covered in cuts and blood. "What? I say, I was speaking the truth when I said that Buck is two devils." He took Buck closer to the fire so that Perrault could look at the wounds from the fight.

"That Spitz sure fights like hell, though," said Perrault, as he looked Buck over from head to toe.

"Yeah, but Buck, he fights like two hells," was Francois' answer. "And now we can make good time and travel faster. There won't be anymore trouble now that Spitz is gone."

Perrault packed up the camp while Francois started to harness the dogs. Buck ran up to the place that Spitz used to have as the leader, but Francois didn't notice this and brought Sol-leks up, instead. Francois believed that Sol-leks should be the next dog for leadership, because of his strength and experience. But Buck thought differently, and he jumped upon Sol-leks in anger, driving him back and standing in his place.

"Eh? Look at this!" Francois cried. "Look at that Buck. He killed Spitz and now he thinks that he can take his job, too!"

"Go away!" he yelled at Buck, but Buck refused to move.

He took Buck by the back of his neck and dragged Buck, who was growling, back to Sol-leks' old place in the line. Sol-leks did not like this, and plainly showed that he was afraid of Buck. Francois had made up his mind, but when he turned his back, Sol-lek was again in his old place while Buck was at the front.

Now Francois was angry. "Now get back or I'll fix you!" he cried, coming back with a heavy club in his hand.

Buck remembered the man in the red sweater and slowly moved away from Francois. Still, he circled in anger and bitterness, waiting to move aside if Francois decided to use the dub. When Francois tried to harness Buck in front of Dave, Buck moved back a few steps. Francois thought that Buck was afraid of the club and put it down. Then he went back to the harness but Buck refused to come.

Buck was in open revolt against them. He did not fear the club. He wanted leadership, a position he felt he had a right to, one that he had won. He had earned it, and wouldn't be happy with anything less.

Perrault decided to help Francois. For the better part of an hour they chased after him and threw clubs at him, but they couldn't get him even close to the harness. They cursed him while he ran between them, keeping out of their reach. He did not try to run away, but circled the camp, letting both men know that when his wishes were met, he would come in and be good.

Francois sat down and scratched his head. Then Perrault looked at his watch and started to curse. Time was flying and they should have been traveling for an hour by now. Francois scratched his head again and looked questioningly at Perrault. Perrault only lifted his shoulders, as if to say they were beaten. So Francois went up to Sol-leks and moved him back to his old place by Dave. From a distance Buck saw this and laughed, as dogs laugh. But he still kept far away.

"Throw down your club," Perrault said to Francois.

Francois did this, and Buck came running in, laughing in victory. He moved into his position at the head of the team. He was fastened to the harness and the sled broke out, starting its journey on the river trail.

Francois soon realized, while the day was still young, that he had under-valued Buck's skill. Buck immediately took up the duties and responsibilities of leadership. He showed that he was a better leader than Spitz, whom Francois had never seen an equal.

But it was in giving out the law and making his mates live up to it that Buck showed his true self. Dave and Sol-leks did not mind the change in leadership. Their business was to work, and all else mattered little. The rest of the team, however, had grown undisciplined during Spitz's rule and were now greatly surprised as Buck started to get them into shape.

Pike, who never put in more effort than was required, was disciplined for being lazy. Before the end of the first day, he was pulling more than he had ever pulled in his whole life. The first night in camp, bad natured Joe was punished, which was a thing that Spitz had never succeeded in doing. Buck, because of his enormous size, simply sat on top of Joe until he whined for mercy and agreed to behave himself.

The general state of the team picked up immediately. It again found its unity and the dogs once more leaped together as one dog. At the Rink Rapids, two native huskies, Teek and Koona, were added; the skill and quickness with which Buck established the rules with them took Francois' breath away.

"Never have I seen a dog like Buck!" he cried. "No, never! He's worth a thousand dollars, by God! What do you say, Perrault?"

Perrault nodded his head in agreement. He was ahead of the record then, and gaining day by day. The trail was in excellent condition, and there was no new fallen snow to slow them down. It was not too cold. Both men and dogs rode on satisfied.

The Thirty Mile River was almost covered with ice, and they managed to ride out in one day what had taken them 10 days going in. In one run they made sixty miles from the foot of Lake Le Barge to the White Horse Rapids. Across seventy miles of lakes they rode so hard that one of the men had to hang on to a rope to keep up with the sled. On the last night of the second week, they made it over White Pass and saw the lights of Skagway below them.

It was a record run. Each day, for fourteen days, they averaged about forty miles. For three days Perrault and Francois had invitations to drink, while the team was the constant center of attention for a worshipping crowd. But official orders for work soon arrived, and Francois called to Buck, threw his arms around him, and cried over him. That was the last of Francois and Perrault. Like other men, they passed out of Buck's life for good.

A man from Scotland took charge of Buck and his team, and accompanied by six other dog teams, he started on the tiring trail back to Dawson. It was no longer any light running, but heavy work every day with a heavy load behind them. This was the mail train, carrying written word from the world to the men who looked for gold in the frozen Northlands.

Buck did not like it, but he did well, taking pride in his job, like Dave and Sol-leks. It was often boring, with every day the same as the other. At a certain time each morning fires were built, breakfast was cooked, and eaten, and they broke out of camp, on their way an hour or so before the darkness gave way to the dawn. At night, camp was made and the dogs were fed.

There was little trouble from the other 50 or so dogs that they traveled with. A couple of times Buck had to fight to show his leadership, but often a growl was enough to stop others.

Best of all, Buck loved to lie near the fire, his back legs under him-with his, front ones stretched out. He would look dreamily into the flames. Sometimes he thought of Judge Miller's big house in the sunny valley, and of Ysabel and Toots, the two dogs he used to see there. But more often he remembered the man in the red sweater, the death of Curly, the great fight with Spitz, and all the good things he had eaten. The Sunland was becoming distant in his memory, and these memories no longer had any power over him. Far stronger were the memories of his ancestors, which made many new things seem familiar. His instincts quickened and became alive again.

Sometimes as he sat by the file, it seemed that the flames were of another fire, and he would see a different man than the Scotsman beside him. This man had shorter legs and longer arms, and his hair was long and low art his forehead. He made strange sounds, and seemed very afraid of the darkness. He always raised his club high over his head whenever he heard any sounds in the dark. This man wore little clothing, but on his body there was much hair. In some places, like his chest and shoulders, this hair looked almost like thick fur. He did not stand up straight and walk on legs that were bent at the knees.

At times this hairy man sat by the fire with his head between his legs and slept. His elbows would rest on his knees and his arms would cover his head. Beyond the fire Buck could see many shining pairs of eyes, and he knew these were the eyes of huge animals who wanted to eat the man. He could hear their bodies crashing through the trees and the noises they made at night. And dreaming there by the fire, these sights and sounds of another world would make the hair stand up along his back and neck, till he growled softly. Then the Scotsman would shout at him, "Hey Buck, wake up!" The other world disappeared and the real world would come to his eyes, and Buck would get up and stretch himself.

It was a hard trip and the work wore the dogs down. They had lost weight and were in poor condition by the time they pulled into Dawson. They should have had at least a week's or ten days' rest. But in two days, they were on the trail again, loaded with letters for the outside. The dogs were tired, the owners in a bad way, and to make matters worse, it snowed every day. This meant a soft trail and heavier pulling for the dogs. Yet the drivers, were fair, and did their best for the dogs.

Each night the dogs ate before the men did. And no man would go to sleep without first checking on the dogs' feet. Still, the strength of the team went down. Since the beginning of winter they had traveled eighteen hundred miles, and eighteen hundred miles will wear down the strongest of teams. Buck did well, keeping the other dogs up to their work. Billee cried regularly in his sleep each night. Joe was sourer than ever, and Sol-leks, completely unfriendly.

But it was Dave who suffered the most. Something had gone wrong with him. The drivers had to feed him in his hole, and he did not get on his feet again until harness time in the morning. Sometimes, when the sled took a sudden turn, he would cry out with pain. The driver examined him; something was wrong inside, but they could not find any broken hones. His condition began to puzzle the whole team.

By the time they reached Cassiar Bar, Dave was so weak that he kept falling down. The driver took him out of the team, so as to let Dave run free behind the sled. Sick as he was, Dave did not like being taken out, and he whined broken-heartedly when Sol-leks replace him. Dave could not bear that another dog should do his work, and this was the pride that would make him work until he was dead.

When the sled started again, Dave started to attack Sol-leks, trying to get between him and the sled, all the while whining and crying with pain. The driver used the whip, but Dave paid no attention, and the man did not have the heart to strike harder. Then exhaustion finally got the best of Dave, and he fell in the snow, howling as the sled went by.

With the last bit of his strength, Dave managed to run behind the sled until they made a stop. He walked until he was standing by Sol-leks. The driver looked at Dave while he lit his pipe. After resting for a while, he made the signal for the dogs to start. They ran quickly off, then turned around and stopped in surprise. The driver was surprised, too; the sled had not moved. Bending down to look at the ropes, he saw that Dave had bitten through Sol-leks' harness and was standing directly in front of the sled in his proper place.

His eyes showed that he wanted to remain there. The driver was confused. He had heard that a dog could break its heart if it wasn't allowed to work. Even if it mean death, an old or injured dog would continue. The driver decided that if Dave was to die anyway, he should die in his place, with his heart easy and content. So he harnessed Dave again, and proudly did he pull, even though he cried out in pain several times. He fell down several times, but he held through until they reached camp.

The driver made Dave a place by the fire. By morning he was too weak to travel. He tried to crawl to his place in front of the sled, slowly moving his front and then his back legs. His strength left him and the last the others saw of him, he lay struggling for breath in the snow. But they could hear his sad howling till they passed beyond a belt of trees.

Here they stopped. The Scotsman slowly walked back the way they had come. The other men stopped talking. A gun-shot rang out in the air. The Scotsman came quickly back. The whip snapped, the small bells on the ropes rang, and the sleds moved along the trail. But Buck knew, and every dog knew, what had taken place behind the belt of trees.

(end of section)