Another lesson. So that was the way they did it, eh? Buck confidently selected
a spot, and with much fuss and waste effort proceeded to dig a hole for
himself. In a trice the heat from his body filled the confined space and he
was asleep. The day had been long and arduous, and he slept soundly and
comfortably, though he growled and barked and wrestled with bad dreams.
Nor did he open his eyes till roused by the noises of the waking camp. At
first he did not know where he was. It had snowed during the night and he was
completely buried. The snow walls pressed him on every side, and a great surge
of fear swept through him-the fear of the wild thing for the trap. It was a
token that he was harking back through his own life to the lives of his
forebears, for he was a civilized dog, an unduly civilized dog and of his own
experience knew no trap and so could not of himself fear it. The muscles of
his whole body contracted spasmodically and instinctively, the hair on his
neck and shoulders stood on end, and with a ferocious snarl he bounded
straight up into the blinding day, the snow flying about him in a flashing
cloud. Ere he landed on his feet, he saw the white camp spread out before him
and knew where he was and remembered all that had passed from the time he went
for a stroll with Manuel to the hole he had dug for himself the night before.
A shout from Francois hailed his appearance. "Wot I say?" the dog driver cried
to Perrault. "Dat Buck for sure learn queek as anyt'ing."
Perrault nodded gravely. As courier for the Canadian Government, bearing
important despatches, he was anxious to secure the best dogs, and he was
particularly gladdened by the possession of Buck.
Three more huskies were added to the team inside an hour, making a total of
nine, and before another quarter of an hour had passed they were in harness
and swinging up the trail toward the Dyea Canon. Buck was glad to be gone, and
though the work was hard he found he did not particularly despise it. He was
surprised at the eagerness which animated the whole team and which was
communicated to him; but still more surprising was the change wrought in Dave
and Sol-leks. They were new dogs, utterly transformed by the harness. All
passiveness and unconcern had dropped from them. They were alert and active,
anxious that the work should go well, and fiercely irritable with whatever, by
delay or confusion, retarded that work. The toil of the traces seemed the
supreme expression of their being, and all that they lived for and the only
thing in which they took delight.