The Call of the Wild: Chapters 1–2

These men wanted dogs, and the dogs they wanted were heavy dogs, with strong muscles by which to toil, and furry coats to protect them from the frost.

Hunting and kindred outdoor delights had kept down the fat and hardened his muscles; and to him, as to the cold-tubbing races, the love of water had been a tonic and a health preserver.

The Judge was at a meeting of the Raisin Growers' Association, and the boys were busy organizing an athletic club, on the memorable night of Manuel's treachery.

More tormentors, Buck decided, for they were evil-looking creatures, ragged and unkempt; and he stormed and raged at them through the bars.

It was all very silly, he knew; but therefore the more outrage to his dignity, and his anger waxed and waxed.

He had been suddenly jerked from the heart of civilization and flung into the heart of things primordial.

There was imperative need to be constantly alert; for these dogs and men were not town dogs and men.

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.

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.

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.

Miserable and disconsolate, he wandered about among the many tents, only to find that one place was as cold as another.

The day had been long and arduous, and he slept soundly and comfortably, though he growled and barked and wrestled with bad dreams.

He was fit, that was all, and unconsciously he accommodated himself to the new mode of life.

His muscles became hard as iron, and he grew callous to all ordinary pain.

In vague ways he remembered back to the youth of the breed, to the time the wild dogs ranged in packs through the primeval forest and killed their meat as they ran it down.