By the time they made the Hootalinqua and good ice, Buck was played
out. The rest of the dogs were in like condition; but Perrault, to make
up lost time, pushed them late and early. The first day they covered
thirty-five miles to the Big Salmon; the next day thirty-five more to
the Little Salmon; the third day forty miles, which brought them well
up toward the Five Fingers.
Buck s feet were not so compact and hard as the feet of the huskies.
His had softened during the many generations since the day his last
wild ancestor was tamed by a cave-dweller or river man. All day long he
limped in agony, and camp once made, lay down like a dead dog. Hungry
as he was, he would not move to receive his ration of fish, which
Francois had to bring to him. Also, the dog-driver rubbed Buck s feet
for half an hour each night after supper, and sacrificed the tops of
his own moccasins to make four moccasins for Buck. This was a great
relief, and Buck caused even the weazened face of Perrault to twist
itself into a grin one morning, when Francois forgot the moccasins and
Buck lay on his back, his four feet waving appealingly in the air, and
refused to budge without them. Later his feet grew hard to the trail,
and the worn-out foot-gear was thrown away.
At the Pelly one morning, as they were harnessing up, Dolly, who had
never been conspicuous for anything, went suddenly mad. She announced
her condition by a long, heartbreaking wolf howl that sent every dog
bristling with fear, then sprang straight for Buck. He had never seen a
dog go mad, nor did he have any reason to fear madness; yet he knew
that here was horror, and fled away from it in a panic. Straight away
he raced, with Dolly, panting and frothing, one leap behind; nor could
she gain on him, so great was his terror, nor could he leave her, so
great was her madness. He plunged through the wooded breast of the
island, flew down to the lower end, crossed a back channel filled with
rough ice to another island, gained a third island, curved back to the
main river, and in desperation started to cross it. And all the time,
though he did not look, he could hear her snarling just one leap
behind. Francois called to him a quarter of a mile away and he doubled
back, still one leap ahead, gasping painfully for air and putting all
his faith in that Francois would save him. The dog-driver held the axe
poised in his hand, and as Buck shot past him the axe crashed down upon
mad Dolly s head.
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