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

Chapter 9 The Call of the Wild (5)
Another time, Spitz also fell, and in this way all the dogs behind were dragged into the water.Booker and Dev were at the back. Seeing this situation, they hurriedly pulled hard, and the muscles and bones on their shoulders rattled due to the excessive force.In order to prevent falling in, Booker firmly grasped the edge of the ice hole with his front paws.Unexpectedly, the force of its grip was too great, causing the ice layer under its body to shake, and there were endless crackling noises around it, and the ice cubes cracked.Fortunately, they rescued them in time. Although the scene was very dangerous, with their joint efforts, the dog team was finally pulled up.

It was also very thrilling once, and it was in a place where the current was turbulent.They saw that the ice on the shore was splitting, and if they wanted to go over, they could only make a detour from the cliff.At this moment, Blott suddenly thought of a way to pass it cleverly.He gathered both the straps and the twine, and joined each other so that they had one long rope.Next, he took the lead, climbing up the cliff first, and then pulling the dogs over.Finally, when the sleighs, the food, and the letters had passed, Frankie went again.Similarly, when coming down, it is also with the help of the rope.

Although they simply went up and down, they spent quite a long time on it.

It wasn't until it was completely dark that they stood on the river again.At the end of the day, their journey was only 400 meters.To reach Daosheng, the journey in the middle is very difficult.The road will be easy only when they reach Hudalika. The snow track there is very strong on the frozen river, and they don't have so many scruples when walking on it.

After these few days of hard work, Booker and the other companions were exhausted to the extreme.But time has been delayed for too long.So Brott had to urge them to move on without stopping for a moment.

In the following days, in order to speed up the journey, they ran with all their strength.On the first day they reached the Great Salmon River and walked 35 miles.Traveling at the same speed, they reached Little Salmon the next day.The next day, they picked up the pace and walked an extra five miles.Wuzhishan is just ahead.

Living in the south before, the grass under his feet was very soft, and Booker was used to that feeling.Now that he is in the ice and snow, and has to move forward endlessly, Booker's feet are deformed.Under the torment of pain, it has to walk forward with a limp every day.As soon as it stopped to rest, it collapsed to the ground, motionless.

It is tired and thin.Frankie and Brott saw it and felt pity in their hearts.It's excellent, and the journey isn't over yet.It was not Frankie and Brott's wish to lose it.

In order to make it easier for it to eat, Frankie would bring it special food for dinner.Every day after dinner, Brott would come to massage its feet, each time lasting about half an hour.Brott had snow boots, and he simply cut off a part of them. Although the area was not large, it was enough to make four simple leather shoes for Booker.

After the leather shoes were ready, Booker put them on his feet. When his feet stepped on the snowy road and moved forward, the pain on his feet was relieved.One morning, when everyone was getting ready to go, Franca forgot to put her shoes on.So it lay down on the ground and stretched out all four feet.It kept shaking its body, as if to say, if you don't wear shoes, it won't go.Its playful and shameless look is very cute.Blott usually has a sullen face, but seeing this scene, he couldn't help smiling.

After walking like this for a long time, Booker's feet have become extremely tough after being honed by the snow track, no different from those of huskies.Even walking on glaciers and snow is easy, just like stepping on soft grass.And the pair of shoes specially made for it were worn out, and there was no need to wear them, so they were thrown away.

That day they reached the Berry River.While they were harnessing the sled, Dolly yelled like a wolf and jumped on Buck, and Dolly had always kept his own place, which was a surprise to everyone.It seems that Dolly has gone mad!
This was the first time Booker had seen mad dogs, and he had no way of knowing how they went mad.It's just that Dori's current appearance is very scary, and Booker ran away in a panic.

Booker didn't dare to relax, and kept running forward, while Dory followed closely behind, foaming from his mouth.

There was a hillside on the island, and after Buck crossed the hillside, he ran into the woods.Then it crossed a river and ran to another island.The river was full of broken ice.Then it crossed another island.It did not turn back to the River Berry until it rounded three more islands.

At this time, Frankie's shout came, so Booker went back the same way.It ran all the way without even looking back.But it was very clear that Dory had been following him, because Dory's growling and panting were clearly audible.

Booker ran to Frankie, nervous and struggling.Seeing it run past, Frankie raised her ax and struck Dolly right on the body.Dory is dead.

Buck was worn out from the long run, and he staggered to the sled, panting.At first Spitz was just watching, but suddenly, he realized that this was the right time to beat Booker.So, it rushed towards Booker decisively.But Booker was defenseless at this time, and was bitten by it.

This was something Booker didn't expect. Although he was hit twice, he no longer had the strength to fight back.Annoyed, he could only respond with a roar.At the sound of it, Frankie turned her head away, and saw Spitz bite Buck.This Spitz is so cunning that he even engaged in a sneak attack at this time.He was so angry that he took the whip and whipped it at Spitz.The whip came down hard on Spitz, and Booker was satisfied.Spitz was whipped and had to run away from Booker.

"Spitz is a devil! Booker will die at his hands sooner or later." Brott said with certainty.

Frankie did not agree with Brott's point of view: "After a long period of observation, I found that compared with Booker, Spitz is far behind. If Spitz is the devil, then Booker is the brother of the two devils." Complex. Woe to Spitz if Booker gets his way. Then he'll eat Spitz alive and throw him away. You'll see, it will happen sooner or later. God bless! "

The role of team leader is not something Spitz calls himself.One is because of its strong body and rich experience, and the other is that it is also the first one in order of counting. The other dogs are after it, and they all follow it.After Booker arrived, the more Spitz got to know him, the more he felt that it would compete with him for dominance.Spitz's experience tells him that in the cold weather in the north, those dogs from the south are not capable of surviving, because they cannot adapt to the environment of hunger and cold.This situation does not apply to Booker. It has a strong adaptability. In just a few days, it not only survived, but also became stronger day by day.

With Booker's current physical condition, no kind of blizzard can help him.Compared with the pure Alaskan Malamute, it is as fierce and cunning as any of them.As for the position of team leader, it is also fully capable.

The man in the red shirt had told Booker's body what power meant when it was being bludgeoned mercilessly.Since then, he has been looking forward to taking over the dog team and one day replacing Spitz.

There was already a conflict between it and Spitz, and this conflict intensified, and its desire to rule became stronger and stronger.In their next trip, its desire slowly emerged.For the inadvertent mistakes of some dogs, Spitz always punished them.At this time, Booker will block it.And Booker's approach is a provocation to Spitz's dominance, and it is blatant.Frankie gave it a good beating for this.

It snowed heavily at night.The next morning, when everyone was getting ready for the road, Pike was missing.It has always been famous for pretending to be sick and lazy, but at that time, it was lying in the snow cave.The warm nest makes it reluctant to part.It also ignored Frankie's calls.Spitz was very angry and looked around like crazy.Everywhere in the camp, as long as there is any doubt, it smells it and then digs it out.Pike was so frightened that he couldn't help shaking.At last it couldn't hold on anymore, so it mustered all the courage to climb out of the snow cave.As soon as it showed its head, Spitz rushed over at a flying speed.Seeing that Spitz's teeth were about to bite Pike, Booker suddenly ran over, even faster.Things happened suddenly, and Booker blocked the way aggressively again. Spitz couldn't help but backed up. After taking a few steps back, he fell to the ground.

Before that, Pike's body kept shaking due to fear.At this time, with Booker at the side being emboldened, it no longer accepted it, turned its head and rushed towards Spitz on the ground.Booker jumped on it too.This is obviously very unfair to Spitz, but what is fair?Booker no longer remembers.So in the snow, the three dogs staged a fight scene.

Things turned to this, very unexpectedly.Seeing from the side that Booker was so brave, Frankie felt very pleased and smiled.However, he is a referee and does not favor anyone.So, his whip fell on Booker.Under the repeated whipping of the whip, Booker was forced to retreat.As for Spitz, he got his wish and was able to punish Pike.Who makes it always look for trouble.

There are still a few days until the end of the trip.During this period, Booker occasionally blocked Spitz when he wanted to punish his culpable teammates.But that was only when Franca was out of sight.With Booker's secret support, all the dogs in the dog team began to rebel against Cheese Spitz, only Dev and Soloks remained the same.Slowly, they no longer obey discipline, they keep making noise, but only for some trivial things.As a result, the normal movement of the sled team was affected and time wasted.

A showdown between Booker and Spitz was inevitable.Frankie knew this very well.The tension between them made Frankie feel uneasy.When exactly did this fight take place?Will the sled team's mission be affected by this?He didn't know these things.Every night, if Frankie heard any unusual movement, even the slightest, she would get up immediately.After confirming that it was not the sound of Booker and Spitz fighting, he relaxed and went to sleep.

Worrying is all worrying, but this battle never broke out.It's not that they don't want to fight, it's just that the time has not come yet.In this way, they arrived at Daosheng.

(Third Quarter) Showdown

Finally arrived at the destination.It happened to be afternoon when they entered Daosheng City.The air was very cold and they were all exhausted.There are many miners in the city, they all come from far away; there are also countless dogs, responsible for transporting goods.

In the city they stayed for seven days.During this period, Frankie and Brott worked from morning to night, every day.Every day, they go out early, with a pile of letters and official documents in their arms, which they have to deliver one by one.When they come back at night, they will bring back a stack of official documents and letters. Those letters are all sent by people in the city to their family members, relatives and friends.In addition, they have to prepare food for the return trip, both human and dog.

And Booker and his companions have been staying next to the hotel.Sometimes Frankie and the others took them for a walk, but most of the time they were there.They have worked very hard along the way and need a break.Only after a good rest can their physical strength recover as soon as possible.

What Booker often did was to lie on his stomach by the door of the hotel, his eyes squinted, and look at the dogs.They keep running on the streets, in a hurry, just as busy as humans.Their main job is to deliver timber and firewood to the mine, and besides that, they also undertake additional heavy work.They all had bells around their necks, and they jingled all the time, even at night.

Seeing these dogs, Booker thought, how hard they are!

Booker saw that many of these dogs were from the South.However, the most common type of dog is the husky, which has wolf blood in its veins.Every day, they will sing a song.The song is different, it is handed down from their ancestors.From one o'clock to nine o'clock, twelve o'clock, and three o'clock in the morning, the singing will sound on time in these three time periods.This singing made Booker very curious.After listening to it a few times, I felt very cordial, so I sang along with it.

That kind of song is unpredictable, it seems to be challenging life, and it seems to be lamenting survival.This song is very old and tells the struggle of their ancestors.They are born wild and passed down from generation to generation.

As long as Booker sings this song with them, his mood will be difficult to calm down. The root cause is that the wildness in his heart resonates with the singing.They are connected by blood, but they have not yet appeared.

time flies.Whenever life is light and pleasant, it feels even more so.Seven days passed quickly.On the eighth day, they set off early on their way home.The same as when they came, they first walked up the Yukang Snow Track from the cliff of the Bales River, and then headed towards Daiya and Yanhai.

On the way back, under the urging of Brott, the sled team kept speeding up, as if they had urgent documents.He is not only strong-willed, but also dares to be the first.This time, he wanted to catch up with the highest transmission speed of the year.To achieve this goal, he actually has many favorable conditions.First of all, after resting, Booker and his companions were all in good spirits; secondly, the snow track is now very solid, so they don't need to open it themselves; and there are some storage places along the way.These pantries were built by police departments for people and dogs to store food.These have provided great help for their smooth progress.

On the first day they arrived at Sixty Mile Bay and traveled fifty miles; on the second day they ran from Yukang Snow Track to Berry River.The constant problems in the dog team have delayed some journeys that they would otherwise have been able to reach.

Starting from Booker, the other dogs also rebelled, and the situation of concerted efforts in the dog team no longer exists.Booker got off to a bad start. The dogs, who were usually submissive, became wayward under Booker's influence.In this way, the sled team can only stop and go.Because you can only move forward if you deal with them first.

Under Booker's provocation, Spitz no longer had the prestige to command everything.No dog would regard him as a leader any longer, let alone fear him.In the past, Spitz was not only unreasonable, but also bullied other companions.Now, in order to make it pay for it, people are constantly fighting against it, and it is almost exhausting.As for Booker, as long as he walked past Spitz, he would be proud.The hair stood tall, and a growl came out of his mouth, the voice was low, but it seemed to be a threat.

In fact, what Booker did at this time was unreasonable.In Spitz's presence, it often holds its head high and strides forward with a domineering air.It is biding its time to pick a fight.The discipline of the dog team could not be maintained normally, and as a result, the incidents of quarrels among the dogs increased day by day.In many cases, they have made the camp a mess.

Dev and Thoroks were very angry at their bickering.Nevertheless, they decided to remain neutral.Booker was going to rebel, so let it be, and as for Spitz, they weren't going to help either.

Frankie and Brott were not so good-tempered. When they got angry, they began to curse loudly, stamping their feet while cursing.Frankie kept waving the whip in his hand, but it had little effect.Because as soon as he retracted his whip, the noise would continue.

Although Spitz had Frankie's support, the whip didn't stop Booker, and it continued to encourage everyone to rebel.The clever Booker knew that Frankie knew everything he did.Therefore, as long as Frankie was around, he never acted rashly.It works very hard on weekdays, and it does its best to pull the sled.Now pulling the sled was one of Booker's pleasures.However, there is something more enjoyable for him, and that is to cause chaos in the team, which of course has to be done very secretly.

It was evening when they reached the Takina River.So they rested there.After dinner, the sled dogs all went to find a place to sleep.Suddenly, a little white rabbit ran over from nowhere, and Dabu saw it first.But it didn't react at that time, and was stunned for a moment.When it came back to its senses, it realized that the little white rabbit was gone.It immediately chased forward.When the other dogs saw it, they followed closely behind, chasing and roaring.There were also huskies at the Northwest Police Station, fifty of them altogether, a hundred yards away.After hearing the sound, they also chased the rabbit together.

The little white rabbit was very frightened and fled forward quickly.After it ran down the river, it stepped onto the frozen river.It kept running, trying its best.It has a light body, and it seems to be flying when it runs.And those dogs are huge, and the snow on the ground often makes them deeply trapped. Although they tried their best to catch up, it was very hard.

Under the leadership of Booker, these dogs chased after the little white rabbit all the way, with great momentum.There are many bends on the road, and they have to go around one by one.In order to get their prey, they persevere and keep chasing!

Booker's body has the primitive nature of slaughter and bloodthirsty, these are its instincts, but it has always been hidden deep in its heart.Naturally, he longed to catch up with the rabbit, to hold it under his teeth, and moisten his throat with its blood.The blood should still be warm.While catching up, Booker enjoyed the thrill of the chase.

(End of this chapter)