fashion that tumbled her off her feet. She never regained them. This
was what the onlooking huskies had waited for. They closed in upon her,
snarling and yelping, and she was buried, screaming with agony, beneath
the bristling mass of bodies.
So sudden was it, and so unexpected, that Buck was taken aback. He saw
Spitz run out his scarlet tongue in a way he had of laughing; and he
saw Francois, swinging an axe, spring into the mess of dogs. Three men
with clubs were helping him to scatter them. It did not take long. Two
minutes from the time Curly went down, the last of her assailants were
clubbed off. But she lay there limp and lifeless in the bloody,
trampled snow, almost literally torn to pieces, the swart half-breed
standing over her and cursing horribly. The scene often came back to
Buck to trouble him in his sleep. So that was the way. No fair play.
Once down, that was the end of you. Well, he would see to it that he
never went down. Spitz ran out his tongue and laughed again, and from
that moment Buck hated him with a bitter and deathless hatred.
Before he had recovered from the shock caused by the tragic passing of
Curly, he received another shock. Francois fastened upon him an
arrangement of straps and buckles. It was a harness, such as he had
seen the grooms put on the horses at home. And as he had seen horses
work, so he was set to work, hauling Francois on a sled to the forest
that fringed the valley, and returning with a load of firewood. Though
his dignity was sorely hurt by thus being made a draught animal, he was
too wise to rebel. He buckled down with a will and did his best, though
it was all new and strange. Francois was stern, demanding instant
obedience, and by virtue of his whip receiving instant obedience; while
Dave, who was an experienced wheeler, nipped Buck s hind quarters
whenever he was in error. Spitz was the leader, likewise experienced,
and while he could not always get at Buck, he growled sharp reproof now
and again, or cunningly threw his weight in the traces to jerk Buck
into the way he should go. Buck learned easily, and under the combined
tuition of his two mates and Francois made remarkable progress. Ere
they returned to camp he knew enough to stop at ho, to go ahead at
mush, to swing wide on the bends, and to keep clear of the wheeler
when the loaded sled shot downhill at their heels.
T ree vair good dogs, Francois told Perrault. Dat Buck, heem pool
lak hell. I tich heem queek as anyt ing.
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