CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

A True Hero

At this time, a very frightening man escaped from a prison near Sierra Vista. There were many stories about the escape in every newspaper. He was a very fierce and terrible man who lived a terrible life. Society did not like him. He was a beast.

When he was in prison, he was terrible. The prison guards often punished him, but the punishment did not change him. He would often fight with the other prisoners or guards, and win the fights. The prison guards would beat him or starve him. He never changed.

The man's name was Jim Hall. He had a difficult life. His hard life had made him the way that he was. Therefore, it wasn't entirely his fault. Once, while in jail, one of the guards was very bad to him. The guard lied to him many times. The guard also lied to the prison officials. He told them many things about Jim Hall that were not true. Therefore, Jim Hall was very angry. One day, when he got the chance, he jumped on the guard and killed the guard.

After killing the guard, Jim Hall lived in a new room in the prison. He lived in the room alone. For three years, he never left the room. Also, he never saw the sky, sunshine, or stars. There was no light in the room. He was almost always in the dark. He never saw any other person. He never talked. This experience made him crazy. It made him a beast.

One night, he escaped. No one knew how. One day a guard noticed that the room was empty. He also saw the dead bodies of three prison guards that Jim Hall had killed lying on the floor.

When Jim Hall escaped, he took the dead guard's guns. Therefore, he was very dangerous. The California government offered a lot of money to anyone who could find Jim Hall. Many people and their dogs searched the state for him. No one ever found him. He had disappeared.

Everyone was very afraid. Every day, they read the newspaper hoping that Jim Hall was back in prison. People at Sierra Vista were particularly afraid. They had a reason to be afraid. Weeden Scott's father, Judge Scott, was a judge. He worked in the courtroom where Jim Hall had his trial. Therefore, Judge Scott decided that Jim Hall should go to prison for fifty years. Therefore, Jim Hall blamed Judge Scott for his horrible life in prison. Before he went to prison, Jim Hall said that he would kill Judge Scott if he ever got out of prison. Therefore, now that Jim Hall had escaped, the Scott Family was very worried. Only one Scott family member, White Fang, was not worried. He did not know anything about Jim Hall.

White Fang and Weeden Scott's wife had a secret. Every night, after the people at Sierra Vista had gone to sleep, she would open up the front door of the house and let White Fang come inside. Then, in the mornings, she would get up early and put White Fang outside before anyone woke up.

One night, as White Fang was sleeping inside the big house, he awoke. He smelled the air. Something was not right. He smelled a man that he did not know. Then, he heard the man moving. Then, White Fang saw the man. As the man moved, White Fang followed him. Because White Fang was a good hunter, he knew how to secretly follow the man. He was waiting to attack the man.

The man stopped at the stairs. He was waiting to walk up the stairs. He listened. Weeden Scott and his family were upstairs. White Fang wanted to protect them, so he would not allow the man to walk up the stairs. As the man put his leg on the first step, White Fang attacked. He jumped on the man's back. He bit the man's neck. The man then fell. White Fang fell with him, but before they got to the floor, White Fang jumped.

Everyone in the house awoke. They were afraid and surprised. They heard White Fang's fierce growl downstairs. Then they heard a gun. A man was screaming. Furniture and glass were breaking.

After five minutes, the noise stopped. The Scott family was at the top of the stairs. Weeden Scott turned on the light. Suddenly, the Scott family saw what had happened. They saw a man's body lying at the bottom of the stairs. The man's neck was very bloody. He was dead. Judge and Weeden Scott walked downstairs.

Judge Scott looked at the man. "It's Jim Hall." he said. He looked at his son for a long moment. He was shocked to see Jim Hall's body.

Then, the two men looked at White Fang. White Fang was lying on the floor. He was on his side. His eyes were halfway closed. He could hardly move. The man had shot White Fang with the gun. White Fang was close to death.

Weeden Scott sadly said, "He's going to die."

"No, he won't! Not if I can help him!" shouted Judge Scott. Then, Judge Scott ran to the telephone to make a phone call.

Soon, a doctor arrived at Sierra Vista. After working on White Fang for an hour and a half, he said, "He has one chance in a thousand. He will probably die."

The entire Scott family was with the doctor as he told them about White Fang. He said, "White Fang has a broken leg and three broken ribs. He was shot three times with the man's gun and he has almost no blood in his body now."

"Then we must do everything that we can!" shouted Judge Scott. "We will take him to the city and have many doctors help him!"

"I understand. But for now, we need to watch him. Make sure that his temperature doesn't change. Someone must watch him all of the time. I will be back tomorrow at 10 AM," said the doctor.

All night and all morning, Weeden Scott, his wife, and his sisters stayed with White Fang. White Fang did not die. Because the doctor was used to working with weak, sick patients, he thought White Fang would die. However, White Fang's body was very strong. Therefore, White Fang had an advantage over the doctor's usual patients.

For many weeks, White Fang's body was covered in bandages. He could not move. He slept a lot. He dreamed a lot. He had many dreams about Kiche, Gray Beaver, and Beauty Smith. The most frightening dream was about the city with its large buildings and many cars. He also dreamed about the dark luggage car on the train. It was terrifying.

At last, the day came when the doctor took off White Fang's bandages. Weeden Scott was so happy that he took White Fang in his arms. Everyone was very happy and excited. Because White Fang did not move his body for several weeks, he was very weak. When he tried to stand up, he fell. This happened many times.

The doctor was also there. He said, "He will learn to walk again. Take him outside so he can practice walking."

White Fang went outside. Every person at Sierra Vista was watching. Because White Fang was weak, he lay on the ground many times to rest. Then, he got up and walked again. White Fang walked until he saw Collie. Collie was lying in the doorway of the barn. There were many tiny puppies lying with her. Since White Fang had not seen the puppies before, he stopped and lay down to watch them. Weeden Scott then put one of the puppies next to White Fang. He stared at the puppy. He smelled the puppy. At the same time, the puppy smelled him. Their noses touched. Then the puppy licked his nose with its warm tongue. White Fang did not know why, but he licked the puppy's face.

Everyone was pleased to see White Fang with his puppies. They clapped their hands and cheered. White Fang was confused by this, and looked at the people. Suddenly, all of the puppies ran to him. They licked and smelled him. Then, they jumped and climbed on his body. White Fang was very happy. For the rest of the afternoon, White Fang lay in the sunshine with his puppies.

(end of section)