By afternoon, Perrault, who was in a hurry to be on the trail with his
despatches, returned with two more dogs. Billee and Joe he called
them, two brothers, and true huskies both. Sons of the one mother
though they were, they were as different as day and night. Billee s one
fault was his excessive good nature, while Joe was the very opposite,
sour and introspective, with a perpetual snarl and a malignant eye.
Buck received them in comradely fashion, Dave ignored them, while Spitz
proceeded to thrash first one and then the other. Billee wagged his
tail appeasingly, turned to run when he saw that appeasement was of no
avail, and cried (still appeasingly) when Spitz s sharp teeth scored
his flank. But no matter how Spitz circled, Joe whirled around on his
heels to face him, mane bristling, ears laid back, lips writhing and
snarling, jaws clipping together as fast as he could snap, and eyes
diabolically gleaming the incarnation of belligerent fear. So terrible
was his appearance that Spitz was forced to forego disciplining him;
but to cover his own discomfiture he turned upon the inoffensive and
wailing Billee and drove him to the confines of the camp.
By evening Perrault secured another dog, an old husky, long and lean
and gaunt, with a battle-scarred face and a single eye which flashed a
warning of prowess that commanded respect. He was called Sol-leks,
which means the Angry One. Like Dave, he asked nothing, gave nothing,
expected nothing; and when he marched slowly and deliberately into
their midst, even Spitz left him alone. He had one peculiarity which
Buck was unlucky enough to discover. He did not like to be approached
on his blind side. Of this offence Buck was unwittingly guilty, and the
first knowledge he had of his indiscretion was when Sol-leks whirled
upon him and slashed his shoulder to the bone for three inches up and
down. Forever after Buck avoided his blind side, and to the last of
their comradeship had no more trouble. His only apparent ambition, like
Dave s, was to be left alone; though, as Buck was afterward to learn,
each of them possessed one other and even more vital ambition.
That night Buck faced the great problem of sleeping. The tent,
illumined by a candle, glowed warmly in the midst of the white plain;
and when he, as a matter of course, entered it, both Perrault and
Francois bombarded him with curses and cooking utensils, till he
recovered from his consternation and fled ignominiously into the outer
cold. A chill wind was blowing that nipped him sharply and bit with
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