The Call of the Wild: Selected Short Stories by Jack London

Chapter 4 Love Life (3)
A sound came from behind him, like wheezing or coughing.He turned sideways very slowly, seeing nothing.His body was too weak and too stiff to move now, so all he could do was wait.The wheezing sound came again.He seemed to see a gray wolf.The wolf was within twenty feet of him between two rocks.Its ears are pointed but not straight; its eyes are bloodshot and dull; its head droops weakly.It kept blinking, as if there was something in the eye.Then, it gasped again.

These must be true!Thinking like this, he turned over to see the real world under his illusion just now.That luminous sea, the ship on that sea is still clearly visible.This is not an illusion, this is real existence.He closed his eyes, recalled the road he had traveled, and finally figured it all out.It should have gone like this: To correct his course, he kept going east, so that he left the Diss Divide and entered the Copper Valley—the bottom of the valley he had just crossed; The source of the little river in the city is the Coppermine River, and the bright sea in the distance is the terminus of the Coppermine River-the Arctic Ocean; The ship, because it deviated from its course to the east, had to dock here-Coronation Bay.Such an explanation is completely reasonable, because he has seen the map of the Hudson's Bay Company, and everything now matches his memory.

Take a look at yourself first.He sat up and checked everything about himself.The feet are all torn, and there is no good flesh left, because the blanket covering the feet has long since worn out.There were no blankets available.Guns, hunting knives and hats were lost somewhere.The pack of matches in the hat ring was also lost along with the hat. Fortunately, the other matches were still there, and they were still dry.The watch was still running, and he never forgot to put it on. It was eleven o'clock in the morning.

His body was extremely weak, but this did not cause him pain.He wasn't hungry and he didn't have the pleasure he used to think about food.Now he is very calm and does everything with reason.To wrap the injured feet first, he tore off the two trouser legs from the knees to wrap the feet.The tin can was still there, and he wanted to drink some hot water before heading for the boat.It must have been a scary ride!
His body trembled incessantly, kind of like hemiplegia.He can only move very slowly.He wanted to find some dry moss to start the fire, only to realize that he could no longer stand.He tried many times without success, so he had to crawl on hands and knees.His movements are slow.He trembled as if paralyzed.When he was about to collect dry moss, he realized that he could no longer stand up.He tried and tried, but finally gave up, and crawled around on his hands and knees.While gathering dry moss, he saw the wolf up close.Once he crawled beside the wolf.The beast seemed to be sick, because its tongue was not a healthy red but a dull yellow, as if it was covered with a layer of half-dried rough mucous membrane.Seeing him approaching, the wolf reluctantly avoided it while licking its own gums with its feeble tongue.

After drinking the hot water, he felt he could stand, even walk—like he imagined a dying person would do.His gait was weak, and he wobbled like the wolf behind him, forcing him to stop and rest every minute or two.it's dark.The sea was completely enveloped by night.He had only traveled less than four miles.

At night, he often heard the sound of the wolf coughing, and occasionally the cry of the reindeer.All around him were strong, living beings, unlike him, who was just a dying patient.And the sick wolf followed him for food.The next day, he opened his eyes and saw the wolf staring at him hungrily.The beast squatted on the ground with its tail between its legs, its pitiful appearance looked like an unlucky dog.The cold wind blew by, and it was shivering with cold.As long as the person in front of him yelled in a low voice, it would show its teeth, but it didn't have any energy.

The sun rose and illuminated the earth brightly.The weather is very nice.It is late autumn, a short season at high latitudes.This kind of weather may last for a week, or it may be gone tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.All morning, he had been stumbling toward the ship at anchor.

In the afternoon, he saw the trace of another person, because it was left by crawling, and he was walking.He thought about it. It might be Bill's.But that's all, he is not curious and has long since lost interest in pursuing it.Rested his tormented stomach and nerves so he didn't feel the pain.Although he was exhausted to the extreme, the life within him was unwilling to die, and forced him to keep moving forward.To keep his inner life alive so he could go on, he replenished his strength by swallowing berries and minnows from the moor, boiled hot water for drinking whenever he could, and kept an eye on the sick wolf.

Following the traces of the same struggling man, he soon saw the target.Only what he saw was a pile of gnawed bones scattered on the damp moss.There are still many footprints on the ground - obviously this is not a wolf, and there is a buckskin pocket just like myself that has been bitten.Although his hands had lost all strength, he still lifted the bag.This is what Bill carried with him to the end of his life!Ridiculous Bill!

And he lost his pocket long ago, so he survived.Now he can live on and walk to the boat in the sea with the bag.He laughed like a crow, in a harsh and terrible voice.The wolf also followed him, howling.The laughter stopped abruptly.Even if these red and white, gnawed bones were really Bill, what right did he have to make fun of Bill?
Thinking of this, he left.As he staggered forward, he thought to himself that although Bill abandoned him first, he would not take the bag of gold, let alone suck Bill's bones.If Bill had been him, he might have done it; but he couldn't.

There was a puddle here, and he bent down to look for the minnow, and when he looked up suddenly, he saw his own face reflected in the water.He seemed to have been poked by something, and the terrible expression in the water made him regain consciousness and was very shocked.He saw three minnows in the pit.The puddle is too big to scoop out water.He used tin cans to catch them, but he didn't catch them once.Fearing that he might fall into the water and drown because he was too weak, he gave up catching fish.That's why he didn't get on the side-by-side logs that flowed down the stream and floated along the sandbar.

After a day of hard work, he made another three miles toward the boat.Walked two miles the next day.He was crawling forward now, just as Bill had been before.Five days were going on, and he couldn't move a mile a day, and he was still seven miles away from the boat.How to do it?I can only continue to crawl forward, but fortunately the sky is still sunny.Crawl, pass out, keep crawling.The blood from his knees and feet left a long trail of blood on the moss and rocks he had crawled over, and he tore off his shirt to pad his knees, but that didn't stop the dripping blood.The wolf followed him non-stop, coughing and wheezing now and then.When it was hungry, it licked the blood on the ground, and once he happened to look back.This also allowed him to see his future ahead of time, either the wolf would die or he would die.In order to survive, a cruel scene was staged in the wilderness.In this way, the two creatures both dragged their sickly bodies, one was crawling, the other was limping, and both wanted to take the other's life.

He might be a little picky, but the thought of being eaten by a sick, dying wolf resented him, and he would have been fine with a healthy wolf.His nerves were a little deranged so that he was hallucinating again, and his sanity became more and more unclear.

In a coma, he was awakened once, it was a gasping sound, leaning on his ear.Seeing him wake up, the sick wolf limped back and jumped back.Because it was too weak, it accidentally fell down.If it was before, he would definitely find it funny, but now he can't laugh at all.Maybe now, there is nothing to scare or laugh at him.He was lying there, thinking very clearly, and he had to think about how to go next.

There were still four miles before he could reach the boat.Rubbing his eyes, he clearly saw the ship moored in the bright sea and the white sail blown by the wind and waves.He knew very well that he had no strength left to climb to the boat.Still, he didn't lose his mind.Although he couldn't move at all, he didn't want to die like this, he wanted to live.He has gone through all kinds of difficulties and dangers until now. Although there is only one breath left, it is too unreasonable to die like this. God is really too harsh on him.He didn't want to die, maybe in the eyes of others, he was already crazy, but even if death grabbed his throat, he still had to use his last bit of strength to fight, and he couldn't just die like this.

Closing his eyes, after his mood slowly calmed down, tiredness surged up from his whole body like a tide.This tiredness, like a rising tide, slowly engulfed his consciousness, almost suffocating him.Don't let it overwhelm his fresh energy, he shouted in his heart.In order to escape from the dark sea as soon as possible, he rowed forward with his weak hands.Sometimes, it seems that there is a magical effect guiding him in his heart, allowing him to find the strength to move forward.

He lay there on his back, motionless.The sick wolf slowly approached him.He could clearly hear its panting.The wolf approached him step by step, and it seemed to him that this period of time seemed endless.He still didn't move, even though the wolf was close to his ear.Just as the wolf stuck out its rough tongue to lick his face, he stretched out his hands suddenly.His fingers were bent like eagle claws. Without the support of perseverance, he couldn't even extend his fingers.Even so, he still didn't catch the wolf.Because he doesn't have the strength to grab quickly and accurately.

The patience of this man is as terrible as that of that wolf!He lay there motionless for a long time.He struggled with stupor, waiting for the wolf to come near him again.He wanted to eat the wolf, and the wolf wanted to kill him.Whenever fatigue swept over him like a tidal wave, he would fall into long dreams.However, whether he was awake or in a coma, he never forgot the wolf next to him. He was always waiting for the opportunity, waiting to hear the wolf's panting, waiting for that rough tongue to lick him.

However, after waiting for a long time, the wolf's panting sound did not appear.As he was waking up, he felt something licking his hand.He knew it was the wolf's tongue, and it came at last.He held his breath and waited calmly.The wolf opened its mouth, slowly clasped his hand, and bit down with all its strength.opportunity finally arises!He has been waiting for this moment for a long time.I saw him grabbing the wolf's teeth with his backhand. Even though his hand had been bitten, he still didn't relax. The wolf struggled weakly.The strength with which he was pinching the wolf was dying, when his other hand reached out and grabbed it. Five minutes passed, and the wolf was firmly under his body.His face pressed tightly against the wolf's throat. Although he didn't have enough strength to strangle the wolf, he could still use his mouth, and now he had bitten the wolf's fur.He bites like this, and after 5 minutes, a stream of liquid flows into his mouth.This liquid was like lead liquid, it was forced into his stomach completely by will.Although it wasn't tasty at all, it at least made him feel warm.After daring to finish the pour, he rolled over and fell asleep.

There were a few members of the scientific expedition standing on the deck of the Bedford--a whaling ship--looking out to the coast.I saw something on the beach, which was slowly moving into the sea.Due to the distance, they could not identify its species. For the purpose of scientific research, they decided to go ashore to check.So they reached the shore in a whaleboat.Then they saw this "animal".

When the members of the scientific expedition team discovered "it", it could only be regarded as an animal. Although it was still alive, it was already difficult to call it a human being.It was lying on the ground, unable to see anything, and without feeling at all, it swayed and squirmed forward like a big bug.As hard as it is, most of it is useless.It twists and turns forward continuously like this, and can move forward twenty feet an hour.

After being rescued on board, he rested for three weeks.Although he could only lie on the bunk, he had regained his sanity.He tearfully spoke his name and what he had been through for so long.In his narration, he sometimes spoke vaguely about his mother, the sunshine of Southern California, and his hometown, which was full of orange trees and large flower bushes.

It didn't take long for him to wake up before he could go to the ground.When it was time to eat, he was able to sit with the people on the boat.Whenever the food was brought to the table, he was hungry.Anxiously watching so many delicious things on the table being eaten by others bite by bite, he will express deep regret.Although his mind is clear, every time he eats, he just hates these people for eating the food for no reason.The famine experience in the past left him with deep fear: What should I do if there is no food again one day?He inquired everywhere about the food reserves on board, and even though the cook, waiter and captain had repeatedly assured him that there was absolutely no problem with the supply of food, he would sneak a peek at the storage room without reassurance.

He is getting a little fatter every day than the day before, and everyone on the boat can see this.Those members of the scientific expedition team thought that if he continued to gain weight like this, it would do him no good.So they proposed limiting his meals.But even with restricted meals, he is still gaining weight: his waistline is increasing and his body is expanding.

These scientists don't know what makes him so fat.The sailors on board knew what was going on, but they just grinned.In order to find out the truth of the matter, these scientists had no choice but to send someone to follow him.I saw him walking listlessly on the boat after breakfast, and when he met a sailor, he would stretch out his hand like a beggar, and then he would get a piece of hard bread from the sailor.He grabbed it and looked at it like a miser at gold.When the other sailors saw him stretch out his hand, they would all give him a piece of hard bread, and just grinned.He stuffed them all into his shirt and took them back to where he slept.

Knowing this, these scientists, out of prudence, did not interfere with his doing so.Sometimes they would check on his bunk.These breads not only occupied his bed, but also filled the mattress on the bed.All the places that can put things are filled with these breads.In the end, these scientists concluded that he was frightened by the previous famine, so he made this abnormal behavior in a sane state to prevent the famine from happening again.However, this situation will pass sooner or later.

Subsequent facts also verified this statement of scientists.He was back to normal before the Bedford reached San Francisco Bay.

(End of this chapter)