Under the tutelage of the mad god, White Fang1 became a fiend. Hewas kept chained in a pen at the rear of the fort, and here Beauty Smithteased and irritated and drove him wild with petty torments2. The man earlydiscovered White Fang's susceptibility to laughter, and made it a pointafter painfully tricking him, to laugh at him. This laughter was uproariousand scornful, and at the same time the god pointed4 his finger derisively5 atWhite Fang. At such times reason fled from White Fang, and in histransports of rage he was even more mad than Beauty Smith.
Formerly, White Fang had been merely the enemy of his kind, withal aferocious enemy. He now became the enemy of all things, and moreferocious than ever. To such an extent was he tormented8, that he hatedblindly and without the faintest spark of reason. He hated the chain thatbound him, the men who peered in at him through the slats of the pen, thedogs that accompanied the men and that snarled10 malignantly11 at him in hishelplessness. He hated the very wood of the pen that confined him. And,first, last, and most of all, he hated Beauty Smith.
But Beauty Smith had a purpose in all that he did to White Fang. Oneday a number of men gathered about the pen. Beauty Smith entered, clubin hand, and took the chain off from White Fang's neck. When his masterhad gone out, White Fang turned loose and tore around the pen, trying toget at the men outside. He was magnificently terrible. Fully3 five feet inlength, and standing12 two and one-half feet at the shoulder, he faroutweighed a wolf of corresponding size. From his mother he hadinherited the heavier proportions of the dog, so that he weighed, withoutany fat and without an ounce of superfluous13 flesh, over ninety pounds. Itwas all muscle, bone, and sinew-fighting flesh in the finest condition.
The door of the pen was being opened again. White Fang paused.
Something unusual was happening. He waited. The door was openedwider. Then a huge dog was thrust inside, and the door was slammed shutbehind him. White Fang had never seen such a dog (it was a mastiff); butthe size and fierce aspect of the intruder did not deter14 him. Here was something, not wood nor iron, upon which to wreak15 his hate. He leaped in witha flash of fangs16 that ripped down the side of the mastiff's neck. The mastiffshook his head, growled18 hoarsely19, and plunged20 at White Fang. But WhiteFang was here, there, and everywhere, always evading21 and eluding22, andalways leaping in and slashing23 with his fangs and leaping out again in timeto escape punishment.
The men outside shouted and applauded, while Beauty Smith, in anecstasy of delight, gloated over the rippling24 and manging performed byWhite Fang. There was no hope for the mastiff from the first. He was tooponderous and slow. In the end, while Beauty Smith beat White Fang backwith a club, the mastiff was dragged out by its owner. Then there was apayment of bets, and money clinked in Beauty Smith's hand.
White Fang came to look forward eagerly to the gathering25 of the menaround his pen. It meant a fight; and this was the only way that was nowvouchsafed him of expressing the life that was in him. Tormented, incitedto hate, he was kept a prisoner so that there was no way of satisfying thathate except at the times his master saw fit to put another dog against him.
Beauty Smith had estimated his powers well, for he was invariably thevictor. One day, three dogs were turned in upon him in succession.
Another day a full- grown wolf, fresh-caught from the Wild, was shovedin through the door of the pen. And on still another day two dogs were setagainst him at the same time. This was his severest fight, and though in theend he killed them both he was himself half killed in doing it.
In the fall of the year, when the first snows were falling and mush-icewas running in the river, Beauty Smith took passage for himself and WhiteFang on a steamboat bound up the Yukon to Dawson. White Fang had nowachieved a reputation in the land. As "the Fighting Wolf" he was knownfar and wide, and the cage in which he was kept on the steam-boat's deckwas usually surrounded by curious men. He raged and snarled at them, orlay quietly and studied them with cold hatred26. Why should he not hatethem? He never asked himself the question. He knew only hate and losthimself in the passion of it. Life had become a hell to him. He had notbeen made for the close confinement27 wild beasts endure at the hands ofmen. And yet it was in precisely28 this way that he was treated. Men staredat him, poked29 sticks between the bars to make him snarl9, and then laughed at him.
They were his environment, these men, and they were moulding theclay of him into a more ferocious7 thing than had been intended by Nature.
Nevertheless, Nature had given him plasticity. Where many anotheranimal would have died or had its spirit broken, he adjusted himself andlived, and at no expense of the spirit. Possibly Beauty Smith, arch-fiendand tormentor30, was capable of breaking White Fang's spirit, but as yetthere were no signs of his succeeding.
If Beauty Smith had in him a devil, White Fang had another; and thetwo of them raged against each other unceasingly. In the days before,White Fang had had the wisdom to cower31 down and submit to a man witha club in his hand; but this wisdom now left him. The mere6 sight of BeautySmith was sufficient to send him into transports of fury. And when theycame to close quarters, and he had been beaten back by the club, he wenton growling32 and snarling33, and showing his fangs. The last growl17 couldnever be extracted from him. No matter how terribly he was beaten, hehad always another growl; and when Beauty Smith gave up and withdrew,the defiant34 growl followed after him, or White Fang sprang at the bars ofthe cage bellowing35 his hatred.
When the steamboat arrived at Dawson, White Fang went ashore36. Buthe still lived a public life, in a cage, surrounded by curious men. He wasexhibited as "the Fighting Wolf," and men paid fifty cents in gold dust tosee him. He was given no rest. Did he lie down to sleep, he was stirred upby a sharp stick - so that the audience might get its money's worth. Inorder to make the exhibition interesting, he was kept in a rage most of thetime. But worse than all this, was the atmosphere in which he lived. Hewas regarded as the most fearful of wild beasts, and this was borne in tohim through the bars of the cage. Every word, every cautious action, onthe part of the men, impressed upon him his own terrible ferocity. It wasso much added fuel to the flame of his fierceness. There could be but oneresult, and that was that his ferocity fed upon itself and increased. It wasanother instance of the plasticity of his clay, of his capacity for beingmoulded by the pressure of environment.
In addition to being exhibited he was a professional fighting animal.
At irregular intervals37, whenever a fight could be arranged, he was takenout of his cage and led off into the woods a few miles from town. Usuallythis occurred at night, so as to avoid interference from the mounted policeof the Territory. After a few hours of waiting, when daylight had come, theaudience and the dog with which he was to fight arrived. In this manner itcame about that he fought all sizes and breeds of dogs. It was a savageland, the men were savage38, and the fights were usually to the death.
Since White Fang continued to fight, it is obvious that it was the otherdogs that died. He never knew defeat. His early training, when he foughtwith Lip-lip and the whole puppy-pack, stood him in good stead. Therewas the tenacity39 with which he clung to the earth. No dog could make himlose his footing. This was the favourite trick of the wolf breeds - to rush inupon him, either directly or with an unexpected swerve40, in the hope ofstriking his shoulder and overthrowing41 him. Mackenzie hounds, Eskimoand Labrador dogs, huskies and Malemutes - all tried it on him, and allfailed. He was never known to lose his footing. Men told this to oneanother, and looked each time to see it happen; but White Fang alwaysdisappointed them.
Then there was his lightning quickness. It gave him a tremendousadvantage over his antagonists42. No matter what their fighting experience,they had never encountered a dog that moved so swiftly as he. Also to bereckoned with, was the immediateness43 of his attack. The average dog wasaccustomed to the preliminaries of snarling and bristling44 and growling,and the average dog was knocked off his feet and finished before he hadbegun to fight or recovered from his surprise. So often did this happen,that it became the custom to hold White Fang until the other dog wentthrough its preliminaries, was good and ready, and even made the first attack.
But greatest of all the advantages in White Fang's favour, was hisexperience. He knew more about fighting than did any of the dogs thatfaced him. He had fought more fights, knew how to meet more tricks andmethods, and had more tricks himself, while his own method was scarcelyto be improved upon.
As the time went by, he had fewer and fewer fights. Men despaired ofmatching him with an equal, and Beauty Smith was compelled to pitwolves against him. These were trapped by the Indians for the purpose,and a fight between White Fang and a wolf was always sure to draw acrowd. Once, a full-grown female lynx was secured, and this time WhiteFang fought for his life. Her quickness matched his; her ferocity equalledhis; while he fought with his fangs alone, and she fought with her sharp-clawed feet as well.
But after the lynx, all fighting ceased for White Fang. There were nomore animals with which to fight - at least, there was none consideredworthy of fighting with him. So he remained on exhibition until spring,when one Tim Keenan, a faro-dealer, arrived in the land. With him camethe first bull-dog that had ever entered the Klondike. That this dog andWhite Fang should come together was inevitable45, and for a week theanticipated fight was the mainspring of conversation in certain quarters ofthe town.
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fang
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| n.尖牙，犬牙 | |
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torments
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| （肉体或精神上的）折磨，痛苦( torment的名词复数 )； 造成痛苦的事物[人] | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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derisively
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| adv. 嘲笑地，嘲弄地 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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ferocious
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| adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的 | |
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tormented
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| 饱受折磨的 | |
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snarl
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| v.吼叫，怒骂，纠缠，混乱；n.混乱，缠结，咆哮 | |
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snarled
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| v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的过去式和过去分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说 | |
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malignantly
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| 怀恶意地； 恶毒地； 有害地； 恶性地 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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superfluous
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| adj.过多的，过剩的，多余的 | |
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deter
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| vt.阻止，使不敢，吓住 | |
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wreak
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| v.发泄；报复 | |
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fangs
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| n.（尤指狗和狼的）长而尖的牙( fang的名词复数 )；（蛇的）毒牙；罐座 | |
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growl
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| v.（狗等）嗥叫，（炮等）轰鸣；n.嗥叫，轰鸣 | |
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growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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hoarsely
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| adv.嘶哑地 | |
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plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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evading
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| 逃避( evade的现在分词 )； 避开； 回避； 想不出 | |
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eluding
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| v.（尤指机敏地）避开( elude的现在分词 )；逃避；躲避；使达不到 | |
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slashing
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| adj.尖锐的；苛刻的；鲜明的；乱砍的v.挥砍( slash的现在分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减 | |
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rippling
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| 起涟漪的，潺潺流水般声音的 | |
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gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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confinement
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| n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限 | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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poked
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| v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交 | |
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tormentor
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| n. 使苦痛之人, 使苦恼之物, 侧幕 =tormenter | |
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cower
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| v.畏缩，退缩，抖缩 | |
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growling
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| n.吠声, 咆哮声 v.怒吠, 咆哮, 吼 | |
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snarling
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| v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的现在分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说 | |
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defiant
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| adj.无礼的，挑战的 | |
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bellowing
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| v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的现在分词 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
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ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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tenacity
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| n.坚韧 | |
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swerve
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| v.突然转向，背离；n．转向，弯曲，背离 | |
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overthrowing
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| v.打倒，推翻( overthrow的现在分词 )；使终止 | |
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42
antagonists
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| 对立[对抗] 者，对手，敌手( antagonist的名词复数 )； 对抗肌； 对抗药 | |
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immediateness
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| 直接，立刻 | |
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bristling
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| a.竖立的 | |
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inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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