The Toil1 of Trace and TrailThirty days from the time it left Dawson, the Salt Water Mail, withBuck and his mates at the fore3, arrived at Skaguay. They were in awretched state, worn out and worn down. Buck2's one hundred andforty pounds had dwindled4 to one hundred and fifteen. The rest of hismates, though lighter5 dogs, had relatively6 lost more weight than he.
Pike, the malingerer7, who, in his lifetime of deceit, had oftensuccessfully feigned9 a hurt leg, was now limping in earnest. Sol-lekswas limping, and Dub10 was suffering from a wrenched11 shoulder-blade.
They were all terribly footsore. No spring or rebound13 was left inthem. Their feet fell heavily on the trail, jarring their bodies anddoubting the fatigue14 of a day's travel. There was nothing the matterwith them except that they were dead tired. It was not the dead-tiredness that comes through brief and excessive effort, from whichrecovery is a matter of hours; but it was the dead-tiredness that comesthrough the slow and prolonged strength drainage of months of toil.
There was no power of recuperation left, no reserve strength to call upon.
It had been all used, the last least bit of it. Every , every fibre,every cell, was tired, dead tired. And there was reason for it. In lessthan five months they had travelled twenty-five hundred miles, duringthe last eighteen hundred of which they had had but five days' rest.
When they arrived at Skaguay they were apparently16 on their last legs.
They could barely keep the traces taut17, and on the down grades justmanaged to keep out of the way of the sled.
"Mush on, poor sore feets," the driver encouraged them as theytottered down the main street of Skaguay. "Dis is de las'. Den18 we getone long res'. Eh? For sure. One bully19 long res'."The drivers confidently expected a long stopover. Themselves,they had covered twelve hundred miles with two days' rest, and in thenature of reason and common justice they deserved an interval20 of loafing.
But so many were the men who had rushed into the Klondike, and somany were the sweethearts, wives, and kin21 that had not rushed in, thatthe congested mail was taking on Alpine22 proportions; also, there wereofficial orders. Fresh batches23 of Hudson Bay dogs were to take theplaces of those worthless for the trail. The worthless ones were to begot24 rid of, and, since dogs count for little against dollars, they were to be sold.
Three days passed, by which time Buck and his mates found howreally tired and weak they were. Then, on the morning of the fourthday, two men from the States came along and bought them, harness andall, for a song. The men addressed each other as "Hal" and "Charles."Charles was a middle-aged25, lightish-colored man, with weak and wateryeyes and a mustache that twisted fiercely and vigorously up, giving thelie to the limply drooping27 lip it concealed28. Hal was a youngster ofnineteen or twenty, with a big Colt's revolver and a hunting-knifestrapped about him on a belt that fairly bristled29 with cartridges30. Thisbelt was the most salient thing about him. It advertised his callowness--a callowness sheer and unutterable. Both men were manifestly out ofplace, and why such as they should adventure the North is part of themystery of things that passes understanding.
Buck heard the chaffering, saw the money pass between the man andthe Government agent, and knew that the Scotch31 half-breed and themail-train drivers were passing out of his life on the heels of Perrault andFrancois and the others who had gone before. When driven with hismates to the new owners' camp, Buck saw a slipshod and slovenly32 affair,tent half stretched, dishes unwashed, everything in disorder33; also, he sawa woman. "Mercedes" the men called her. She was Charles's wifeand Hal's sister--a nice family party.
Buck watched them apprehensively34 as they proceeded to take downthe tent and load the sled. There was a great deal of effort about theirmanner, but no businesslike method. The tent was rolled into anawkward bundle three times as large as it should have been. The tindishes were packed away unwashed. Mercedes continually fluttered inthe way of her men and kept up an unbroken chattering35 of remonstranceand advice. When they put a clothes-sack on the front of the sled, shesuggested it should go on the back; and when they had put it on the back,and covered it over with a couple of other bundles, she discoveredoverlooked articles which could abide36 nowhere else but in that very sack,and they unloaded again.
Three men from a neighboring tent came out and looked on, grinningand winking37 at one another.
"You've got a right smart load as it is," said one of them; "and it's notme should tell you your business, but I wouldn't tote that tent along if I was you.""Undreamed of!" cried Mercedes, throwing up her hands in daintydismay. "However in the world could I manage without a tent?""It's springtime, and you won't get any more cold weather," the man replied.
She shook her head decidedly, and Charles and Hal put the last oddsand ends on top the mountainous load.
"Think it'll ride?" one of the men asked.
"Why shouldn't it?" Charles demanded rather shortly.
"Oh, that's all right, that's all right," the man hastened meekly39 to say.
"I was just a-wonderin', that is all. It seemed a mite40 top-heavy."Charles turned his back and drew the lashings down as well as hecould, which was not in the least well.
"An' of course the dogs can hike along all day with that contraptionbehind them," affirmed a second of the men.
"Certainly," said Hal, with freezing politeness, taking hold of the ustn't," as shecaught hold of the whip and wrenched it from him. "The poor dears!
Now you must promise you won't be harsh with them for the rest of thetrip, or I won't go a step.""Precious lot you know about dogs," her brother sneered43; "and I wishyou'd leave me alone. They're lazy, I tell you, and you've got to whipthem to get anything out of them. That's their way. You ask any one.
Ask one of those men."Mercedes looked at them imploringly44, untold45 repugnance46 at sight ofpain written in her pretty face.
"They're weak as water, if you want to know," came the reply fromone of the men. "Plum tuckered out, that's what's the matter. They need a rest.""Rest be blanked," said Hal, with his beardless lips; and Mercedessaid, "Oh!" in pain and sorrow at the oath.
But she was a clannish47 creature, and rushed at once to the defence ofher brother. "Never mind that man," she said pointedly48. "You'redriving our dogs, and you do what you think best with them."Again Hal's whip fell upon the dogs. They threw themselvesagainst the breast-bands, dug their feet into the packed snow, got downlow to it, and put forth49 all their strength. The sled held as though it werean anchor. After two efforts, they stood still, panting. The whip waswhistling savagely51, when once more Mercedes interfered52. She droppedon her knees before Buck, with tears in her eyes, and put her armsaround his neck.
"You poor, poor dears," she cried sympathetically, "why don't youpull hard?--then you wouldn't be whipped." Buck did not like her, but hewas feeling too miserable53 to resist her, taking it as part of the day'smiserable work.
One of the onlookers54, who had been clenching55 his teeth to suppresshot speech, now spoke56 up:--"It's not that I care a whoop57 what becomes of you, but for the dogs'
sakes I just want to tell you, you can help them a mighty58 lot by breakingout that sled. The runners are froze fast. Throw your weight againstthe gee-pole, right and left, and break it out."A third time the attempt was made, but this time, following theadvice, Hal broke out the runners which had been frozen to the snow.
The overloaded59 and unwieldy sled forged ahead, Buck and his matesstruggling frantically60 under the rain of blows. A hundred yards aheadthe path turned and sloped steeply into the main street. It would haverequired an experienced man to keep the top-heavy sled upright, and Halwas not such a man. As they swung on the turn the sled went over,spilling half its load through the loose lashings. The dogs neverstopped. The lightened sled bounded on its side behind them. Theywere angry because of the ill treatment they had received and the unjustload. Buck was raging. He broke into a run, the team following hislead. Hal cried "Whoa! whoa!" but they gave no heed61. He trippedand was pulled off his feet. The capsized sled ground over him, and thedogs dashed on up the street, adding to the gayety of Skaguay as theyscattered the remainder of the outfit62 along its chief thoroughfare.
Kind-hearted citizens caught the dogs and gathered up the scatteredbelongings. Also, they gave advice. Half the load and twice the dogs,if they ever expected to reach Dawson, was what was said. Hal and hissister and brother-in-law listened unwillingly64, pitched tent, andoverhauled the outfit. Canned goods were turned out that made menlaugh, for canned goods on the Long Trail is a thing to dream about.
"Blankets for a hotel" quoth one of the men who laughed and helped.
"Half as many is too much; get rid of them. Throw away that tent, andall those dishes,--who's going to wash them, anyway? Good Lord, doyou think you're travelling on a Pullman?"And so it went, the inexorable elimination65 of the superfluous66.
Mercedes cried when her clothes-bags were dumped on the ground andarticle after article was thrown out. She cried in general, and she criedin particular over each discarded thing. She clasped hands about knees,rocking back and forth broken-heartedly. She averred67 she would not goan inch, not for a dozen Charleses. She appealed to everybody and toeverything, finally wiping her eyes and proceeding68 to cast out evenarticles of apparel that were imperative69 necessaries. And in her zeal,when she had finished with her own, she attacked the belongings63 of hermen and went through them like a tornado70.
This accomplished71, the outfit, though cut in half, was still aformidable bulk. Charles and Hal went out in the evening and boughtsix Outside dogs. These, added to the six of the original team, andTeek and Koona, the huskies obtained at the Rink Rapids on the recordtrip, brought the team up to fourteen. But the Outside dogs, thoughpractically broken in since their landing, did not amount to much.
Three were short-hairegee-pole with one hand and swinging his whip from the other. "Mush!"he shouted. "Mush on there!"The dogs sprang against the breast-bands, strained hard for a fewmoments, then relaxed. They were unable to move the sled.
"The lazy brutes73, I'll show them," he cried, preparing to lash41 out atthem with the whip.
But Mercedes interfered, crying, "Oh, Hal, you mustn't," as shecaught hold of the whip and wrenched it from him. "The poor dears!
Now you must promise you won't be harsh with them for the rest of thetrip, or I won't go a step.""Precious lot you know about dogs," her brother sneered; "and I wishyou'd leave me alone. They're lazy, I tell you, and you've got to whipthem to get anything out of them. That's their way. You ask any one.
Ask one of those men."Mercedes looked at them imploringly, untold repugnance at sight ofpain written in her pretty face.
"They're weak as water, if you want to know," came the reply fromone of the men. "Plum tuckered out, that's what's the matter. Theyneed a rest.""Rest be blanked," said Hal, with his beardless lips; and Mercedessaid, "Oh!" in pain and sorrow at the oath.
But she was a clannish creature, and rushed at once to the defence ofher brother. "Never mind that man," she said pointedly. "You'redriving our dogs, and you do what you think best with them."Again Hal's whip fell upon the dogs. They threw themselvesagainst the breast-bands, dug their feet into the packed snow, got downlow to it, and put forth all their strength. The sled held as though it werean anchor. After two efforts, they stood still, panting. The whip waswhistling savagely, when once more Mercedes interfered. She droppedon her knees before Buck, with tears in her eyes, and put her armsaround his neck.
"You poor, poor dears," she cried sympathetically, "why don't youpull hard?--then you wouldn't be whipped." Buck did not like her, but hewas feeling too miserable to resist her, taking it as part of the day'smiserable work.
One of the onlookers, who had been clenching his teeth to suppresshot speech, now spoke up:--"It's not that I care a whoop what becomes of you, but for the dogs'
sakes I just want to tell you, you can help them a mighty lot by breakingout that sled. The runners are froze fast. Throw your weight againstthe gee-pole, right and left, and break it out."A third time the attempt was made, but this time, following theadvice, Hal broke out the runners which had been frozen to the snow.
The overloaded and unwieldy sled forged ahead, Buck and his matesstruggling frantically under the rain of blows. A hundred yards aheadthe path turned and sloped steeply into the main street. It would haverequired an experienced man to keep the top-heavy sled upright, and Halwas not such a man. As they swung on the turn the sled went over,spilling half its load through the loose lashings. The dogs neverstopped. The lightened sled bounded on its side behind them. Theywere angry because of the ill treatment they had received and the unjustload. Buck was raging. He broke into a run, the team following hislead. Hal cried "Whoa! whoa!" but they gave no heed. He trippedand was pulled off his feet. The capsized sled ground over him, and thedogs dashed on up the street, adding to the gayety of Skaguay as theyscattered the remainder of the outfit along its chief thoroughfare.
Kind-hearted citizens caught the dogs and gathered up the scatteredbelongings. Also, they gave advice. Half the load and twice the dogs,if they ever expected to reach Dawson, was what was said. Hal and hissister and brother-in-law listened unwillingly, pitched tent, andoverhauled the outfit. Canned goods were turned out that made menlaugh, for canned goods on the Long Trail is a thing to dream about.
"Blankets for a hotel" quoth one of the men who laughed and helped.
"Half as many is too much; get rid of them. Throw away that tent, andall those dishes,--who's going to wash them, anyway? Good Lord, doyou think you're travelling on a Pullman?"And so it went, the inexorable elimination of the superfluous.
Mercedes cried when her clothes-bags were dumped on the ground andarticle after article was thrown out. She cried in general, and she criedin particular over each discarded thing. She clasped hands about knees,rocking back and forth broken-heartedly. She averred she would not goan inch, not for a dozen Charleses. She appealed to everybody and toeverything, finally wiping her eyes and proceeding to cast out evenarticles of apparel that were imperative necessaries. And in her zeal,when she had finished with her own, she attacked the belongings of hermen and went through them like a tornado.
This accomplished, the outfit, though cut in half, was still aformidable bulk. Charles and Hal went out in the evening and boughtsix Outside dogs. These, added to the six of the original team, andTeek and Koona, the huskies obtained at the Rink Rapids on the recordtrip, brought the team up to fourteen. But the Outside dogs, thoughpractically broken in since their landing, did not amount to much.
Three were short-haired pointers, one was a Newfoundland, and theother two were mongrels of indeterminate breed. They did not seem toknow anything, these newcomers. Buck and his comrades looked uponthem with disgust, and though he speedily taught them their places andwhat not to do, he could not teach them what to do. They did not takekindly to trace and trail. With the exception of the two mongrels, theywere bewildered and spirit-broken by the strange savage50 environment inwhich they found themselves and by the ill treatment they had received.
The two mongrels were without spirit at all; bones were the only thingsbreakable about them.
With the newcomers hopeless and forlorn, and the old team worn outby twenty-five hundred miles of continuous trail, the outlook wasanything but bright. The two men, however, were quite cheerful. Andthey were proud, too. They were doing the thing in style, with fourteendogs. They had seen other sleds depart over the Pass for Dawson, orcome in from Dawson, but never had they seen a sled with so many asfourteen dogs. In the nature of Arctic travel there was a reason whyfourteen dogs should not drag one sled, and that was that one sled couldnot carry the food for fourteen dogs. But Charles and Hal did not knowthis. They had worked the trip out with a pencil, so much to a dog, somany dogs, so many days, Q.E.D. Mercedes looked over theirshoulders and nodded comprehensively, it was all so very simple.
Late next morning Buck led the long team up the street. There wasnothing lively about it, no snap or go in him and his fellows. They werestarting dead weary. Four times he had covered the distance betweenSalt Water and Dawson, and the knowledge that, jaded75 and tired, he wasfacing the same trail once more, made him bitter. His heart was not inthe work, nor was the heart of any dog. The Outsides were timid andfrightened, the Insides without confidence in their masters.
Buck felt vaguely76 that there was no depending upon these two menand the woman. They did not know how to do anything, and as thedays went by it became apparent that they could not learn. They wereslack in all things, without order or discipline. It took them half thenight to pitch a slovenly camp, and half the morning to break that campand get the sled loaded in fashion so slovenly that for the rest of the daythey were occupied in stopping and rearranging the load. Some daysthey did not make ten miles. On other days they were unable to getstarted at all. And on no day did they succeed in making more thanhalf the distance used by the men as a basis in their dog-food computation.
It was inevitable77 that they should go short on dog-food. But theyhastened it by overfeeding, bringing the day nearer when underfeedingwould commence. The Outside dogs, whose digestions78 had not beentrained by chronic79 famine to make the most of little, had voraciousappetites. And when, in addition to this, the worn- out huskies pulledweakly, Hal decided38 that the orthodox ration15 was too small. Hedoubled it. And to cap it all, when Mercedes, with tears in her prettyeyes and a quaver in her throat, could not cajole him into giving the dogsstill more, she stole from the fish-sacks and fed them slyly. But it wasnot food that Buck and the huskies needed, but rest. And though theywere making poor time, the heavy load they dragged sapped theirstrength severely80.
Then came the underfeeding. Hal awoke one day to the fact thathis dog-food was half gone and the distance only quarter covered;further, that for love or money no additional dog-food was to beobtained. So he cut down even the orthodox ration and tried toincrease the day's travel. His sister and brother-in-law seconded him;but they were frustrated81 by their heavy outfit and their ownincompetence. It was a simple matter to give the dogs less food; but itwas impossible to make the dogs travel faster, while their own inabilityto get under way earlier in the morning prevented them from travellinglonger hours. Not only did they not know how to work dogs, but theydid not know how to work themselves.
The first to go was Dub. Poor blundering thief that he was, alwaysgetting caught and punished, he had none the less been a faithful worker.
His wrenched shoulder-blade, untreated and unrested, went from bad toworse, till finally Hal shot him with the big Colt's revolver. It is asaying of the country that an Outside dog starves to death on the rationof the husky, so the six Outside dogs under Buck could do no less thandie on half the ration of the husky. The Newfoundland went first,followed by the three short-haired pointers, the two mongrels hangingmore grittily on to life, but going in the end.
By this time all the amenities82 and gentlenesses of the Southland hadfallen away from the three people. Shorn of its glamour83 and romance,Arctic travel became to them a reality too harsh for their manhood andwomanhood. Mercedes ceased weeping over the dogs, being toooccupied with weeping over herself and with quarrelling with herhusband and brother. To quarrel was the one thing they were never tooweary to do. Their irritability84 arose out of their misery85, increased withit, doubled upon it, outdistanced it. The wonderful patience of the trailwhich comes to men who toil hard and suffer sore, and remain sweet ofspeech and kindly74, did not come to these two men and the woman.
They had no inkling of such a patience. They were stiff and in pain;their muscles ached, their bones ached, their very hearts ached; andbecause of this they became sharp of speech, and hard words were firston their lips in the morning and last at night.
Charles and Hal wrangled86 whenever Mercedes gave them a chance.
It was the cherished belief of each that he did more than his share ofthe work, and neither forbore to speak this belief at every opportunity.
Sometimes Mercedes sided with her husband, sometimes with herbrother. The result was a beautiful and unending family quarrel.
Starting from a dispute as to which should chop a few sticks for the fire(a dispute which concerned only Charles and Hal), presently would belugged in the rest of the family, fathers, mothers, uncles, cousins, peoplethousands of miles away, and some of them dead. That Hal's views onart, or the sort of society plays his mother's brother wrote, should haveanything to do with the chopping of a few sticks of firewood, passescomprehension; nevertheless the quarrel was as likely to tend in thatdirection as in the direction of Charles's political prejudices. And thatCharles's sister's tale-bearing tongue should be relevant to the buildingof a Yukon fire, was apparent only to Mercedes, who disburdenedherself of copious87 opinions upon that topic, and incidentally upon a fewother traits unpleasantly peculiar88 to her husband's family. In themeantime the fire remained unbuilt, the camp half pitched, and the dogs unfed.
Mercedes nursed a special grievance89--the grievance of sex. She waspretty and soft, and had been chivalrously90 treated all her days. But thepresent treatment by her husband and brother was everything savechivalrous. It was her custom to be helpless. They complained.
Upon which impeachment91 of what to her was her most essential sex-prerogative, she made their lives unendurable. She no longerconsidered the dogs, and because she was sore and tired, she persisted inriding on the sled. She was pretty and soft, but she weighed onehundred and twenty pounds--a lusty last straw to the load dragged by theweak and starving animals. She rode for days, till they fell in the tracesand the sled stood still. Charles and Hal begged her to get off and walk,pleaded with her, entreated92, the while she wept and importuned93 Heavenwith a recital94 of their brutality95.
On one occasion they took her off the sled by main strength. Theynever did it again. She let her legs go limp like a spoiled child, and satdown on the trail. They went on their way, but she did not move.
After they had travelled three miles they unloaded the sled, came backfor her, and by main strength put her on the sled again.
In the excess of their own misery they were callous96 to the sufferingof their animals. Hal's theory, which he practised on others, was thatone must get hardened. He had started out preaching it to his sister andbrother-in-law. Failing there, he hammered it into the dogs with a club.
At the Five Fingers the dog-food gave out, and a toothless old squawoffered to trade them a few pounds of frozen horse-hide for the Colt'srevolver that kept the big hunting-knife company at Hal's hip42. A poorsubstitute for food was this hide, just as it had been stripped from thestarved horses of the cattlemen six months back. In its frozen state itwas more like strips of galvanized iron, and when a dog wrestled97 it intohis stomach it thawed98 into thin and innutritious leathery strings99 and intoa mass of short hair, irritating and indigestible.
And through it all Buck staggered along at the head of the team as ina nightmare. He pulled when he could; when he could no longer pull,he fell down and remained down till blows from whip or club drove himto his feet again. All the stiffness and gloss100 had gone out of hisbeautiful furry101 coat. The hair hung down, limp and draggled, or mattedwith dried blood where Hal's club had bruised102 him. His muscles hadwasted away to knotty104 strings, and the flesh pads had disappeared, sothat each rib12 and every bone in his frame were outlined cleanly throughthe loose hide that was wrinkled in folds of emptiness. It washeartbreaking, only Buck's heart was unbreakable. The man in the redsweater had proved that.
As it was with Buck, so was it with his mates. They wereperambulating skeletons. There were seven all together, including him.
In their very great misery they had become insensible to the bite of thelash or the bruise103 of the club. The pain of the beating was dull anddistant, just as the things their eyes saw and their ears heard seemed dulland distant. They were not half living, or quarter living. They weresimply so many bags of bones in which sparks of life fluttered faintly.
When a halt was made, they dropped down in the traces like dead dogs,and the spark dimmed and paled and seemed to go out. And when theclub or whip fell upon them, the spark fluttered feebly up, and theytottered to their feet and staggered on.
There came a day when Billee, the good-natured, fell and could notrise. Hal had traded off his revolver, so he took the axe72 and knockedBillee on the head as he lay in the traces, then cut the carcass out of theharness and dragged it to one side. Buck saw, and his mates saw, andthey knew that this thing was very close to them. On the next dayKoona went, and but five of them remained: Joe, too far gone to bemalignant; Pike, crippled and limping, only half conscious and notconscious enough longer to malinger8; Sol-leks, the one-eyed, stillfaithful to the toil of trace and trail, and mournful in that he had so littlestrength with which to pull; Teek, who had not travelled so far thatwinter and who was now beaten more than the others because he wasfresher; and Buck, still at the head of the team, but no longer enforcingdiscipline or striving to enforce it, blind with weakness half the time andkeeping the trail by the loom105 of it and by the dim feel of his feet.
It was beautiful spring weather, but neither dogs nor humans wereaware of it. Each day the sun rose earlier and set later. It was dawnby three in the morning, and twilight106 lingered till nine at night. Thewhole long day was a blaze of sunshine. The ghostly winter silencehad given way to the great spring murmur107 of awakening108 life. Thismurmur arose from all the land, fraught109 with the joy of living. It camefrom the things that lived and moved again, things which had been asdead and which had not moved during the long months of frost. Thesap was rising in the pines. The willows110 and aspens were bursting outin young buds. Shrubs111 and vines were putting on fresh garbs112 of green.
Crickets sang in the nights, and in the days all manner of creeping,crawling things rustled113 forth into the sun. Partridges and woodpeckerswere booming and knocking in the forest. Squirrels were chattering,birds singing, and overhead honked114 the wild-fowl driving up from thesouth in cunning wedges that split the air.
From every hill slope came the trickle115 of running water, the music ofunseen fountains. AU things were thawing116, bending, snapping. TheYukon was straining to break loose the ice that bound it down. It ateaway from beneath; the sun ate from above. Air-holes formed, fissuressprang and spread apart, while thin sections of ice fell through bodilyinto the river. And amid all this bursting, rending117, throbbing118 ofawakening life, under the blazing sun and through the soft-sighingbreezes, like wayfarers119 to death, staggered the two men, the woman, andthe huskies.
With the dogs falling, Mercedes weeping and riding, Hal swearinginnocuously, and Charles's eyes wistfully watering, they staggered intoJohn Thornton's camp at the mouth of White River. When they halted,the dogs dropped down as though they had all been struck dead.
Mercedes dried her eyes and looked at John Thornton. Charles satdown on a log to rest. He sat down very slowly and painstakingly120 whatof his great stiffness. Hal did the talking. John Thornton waswhittling the last touches on an axe-handle he had made from a stick ofbirch. He whittled122 and listened, gave monosyllabic replies, and,when it was asked, terse123 advice. He knew the breed, and he gave hisadvice in the certainty that it would not be followed.
"They told us up above that the bottom was dropping out of the trailand that the best thing for us to do was to lay over," Hal said in responseto Thornton's warning to take no more chances on the rotten ice. "Theytold us we couldn't make White River, and here we are." This last with asneering ring of triumph in it.
"And they told you true," John Thornton answered. "The bottom'slikely to drop out at any moment. Only fools, with the blind luck offools, could have made it. I tell you straight, I wouldn't risk my carcasson that ice for all the gold in Alaska.""That's because you're not a fool, I suppose," said Hal. "All the same,we'll go on to Dawson." He uncoiled his whip. "Get up there, Buck! Hi!
Get up there! Mush on!"Thornton went on whittling121. It was idle, he knew, to get between afool and his folly124; while two or three fools more or less would not alterthe scheme of things.
But the team did not get up at the command. It had long sincepassed into the stage where blows were required to rouse it. The whipflashed out, here and there, on its merciless errands. John Thorntoncompressed his lips. Sol-leks was the first to crawl to his feet. Teekfollowed. Joe came next, yelping125 with pain. Pike made painfulefforts. Twice he fell over, when half up, and on the third attemptmanaged to rise. Buck made no effort. He lay quietly where he hadfallen. The lash bit into him again and again, but he neither whined126 norstruggled. Several times Thornton started, as though to speak, butchanged his mind. A moisture came into his eyes, and, as the whippingcontinued, he arose and walked irresolutely127 up and down.
This was the first time Buck had failed, in itself a sufficient reason todrive Hal into a rage. He exchanged the whip for the customary club.
Buck refused to move under the rain of heavier blows which now fellupon him. Like his mates, he barely able to get up, but, unlike them, hehad made up his mind not to get up. He had a vague feeling ofimpending doom128. This had been strong upon him when he pulled in tothe bank, and it had not departed from him. What of the thin and rottenice he had felt under his feet all day, it seemed that he sensed disasterclose at hand, out there ahead on the ice where his master was trying todrive him. He refused to stir. So greatly had he suffered, and so fargone was he, that the blows did not hurt much. And as they continuedto fall upon him, the spark of life within flickered129 and went down. Itwas nearly out. He felt strangely numb130. As though from a greatdistance, he was aware that he was being beaten. The last sensations ofpain left him. He no longer felt anything, though very faintly he couldhear the impact of the club upon his body. But it was no longer hisbody, it seemed so far away.
And then, suddenly, without warning, uttering a cry that wasinarticulate and more like the cry of an animal, John Thornton sprangupon the man who wielded131 the club. Hal was hurled132 backward, asthough struck by a failing tree. Mercedes screamed. Charles looked onwistfully, wiped his watery26 eyes, but did not get up because of hisstiffness.
John Thornton stood over Buck, struggling to control himself, tooconvulsed with rage to speak.
"If you strike that dog again, I'll kill you," he at last managed to sayin a choking voice.
"It's my dog," Hal replied, wiping the blood from his mouth as hecame back. "Get out of my way, or I'll fix you. I'm going to Dawson."Thornton stood between him and Buck, and evinced no intention ofgetting out of the way. Hal drew his long hunting-knife. Mercedesscreamed. cried, laughed, and manifested the chaotic133 abandonment ofhysteria. Thornton rapped Hal's knuckles134 with the axe-handle,knocking the knife to the ground. He rapped his knuckles again as hetried to pick it up. Then he stooped, picked it up himself, and with twostrokes cut Buck's traces.
Hal had no fight left in him. Besides, his hands were full with hissister, or his arms, rather; while Buck was too near dead to be of furtheruse in hauling the sled. A few minutes later they pulled out from thebank and down the river. Buck heard them go and raised his head tosee, Pike was leading, Sol-leks was at the wheel, and between were Joeand Teek. They were limping and staggering. Mercedes was ridingthe loaded sled. Hal guided at the gee-pole, and Charles stumbledalong in the rear.
As Buck watched them, Thornton knelt beside him and with rough,kindly hands searched for broken bones. By the time his search haddisclosed nothing more than many bruises135 and a state of terriblestarvation, the sled was a quarter of a mile away. Dog and manwatched it crawling along over the ice. Suddenly, they saw its backend drop down, as into a rut, and the gee-pole, with Hal clinging to it,jerk into the air. Mercedes's scream came to their ears. They sawCharles turn and make one step to run back, and then a whole section ofice give way and dogs and humans disappear. A yawning hole was allthat was to be seen. The bottom had dropped out of the trail.
John Thornton and Buck looked at each other.
"You poor devil," said John Thornton, and Buck licked his hand.
收听单词发音 |
1
toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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buck
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| n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃 | |
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3
fore
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| adv.在前面；adj.先前的；在前部的；n.前部 | |
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dwindled
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| v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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5
lighter
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| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
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relatively
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| adv.比较...地，相对地 | |
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malingerer
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| n.装病以逃避职责的人 | |
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malinger
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| v.装病以逃避工作 | |
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feigned
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| a.假装的，不真诚的 | |
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dub
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| vt.（以某种称号）授予，给...起绰号，复制 | |
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wrenched
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| v.（猛力地）扭( wrench的过去式和过去分词 )；扭伤；使感到痛苦；使悲痛 | |
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rib
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| n.肋骨，肋状物 | |
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rebound
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| v.弹回；n.弹回，跳回 | |
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fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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ration
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| n.定量(pl.)给养，口粮；vt.定量供应 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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taut
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| adj.拉紧的，绷紧的，紧张的 | |
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den
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| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
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bully
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| n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮 | |
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interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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kin
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| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
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alpine
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| adj.高山的；n.高山植物 | |
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23
batches
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| 一批( batch的名词复数 )； 一炉； （食物、药物等的）一批生产的量； 成批作业 | |
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begot
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| v.为…之生父( beget的过去式 )；产生，引起 | |
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middle-aged
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| adj.中年的 | |
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26
watery
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| adj.有水的，水汪汪的；湿的，湿润的 | |
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drooping
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| adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
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concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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bristled
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| adj. 直立的，多刺毛的 动词bristle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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cartridges
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| 子弹( cartridge的名词复数 )； （打印机的）墨盒； 录音带盒； （唱机的）唱头 | |
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scotch
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| n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
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32
slovenly
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| adj.懒散的，不整齐的，邋遢的 | |
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disorder
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| n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调 | |
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apprehensively
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| adv.担心地 | |
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35
chattering
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| n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式 | |
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36
abide
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| vi.遵守；坚持；vt.忍受 | |
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37
winking
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| n.瞬眼，目语v.使眼色( wink的现在分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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meekly
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| adv.温顺地，逆来顺受地 | |
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40
mite
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| n.极小的东西；小铜币 | |
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41
lash
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| v.系牢；鞭打；猛烈抨击；n.鞭打；眼睫毛 | |
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42
hip
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| n.臀部，髋；屋脊 | |
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43
sneered
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| 讥笑，冷笑( sneer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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44
imploringly
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| adv. 恳求地, 哀求地 | |
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45
untold
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| adj.数不清的，无数的 | |
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46
repugnance
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| n.嫌恶 | |
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47
clannish
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| adj.排他的，门户之见的 | |
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48
pointedly
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| adv.尖地，明显地 | |
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49
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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50
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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51
savagely
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| adv. 野蛮地，残酷地 | |
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52
interfered
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| v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉 | |
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53
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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54
onlookers
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| n.旁观者，观看者( onlooker的名词复数 ) | |
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55
clenching
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的现在分词 ) | |
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56
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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57
whoop
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| n.大叫，呐喊，喘息声；v.叫喊，喘息 | |
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58
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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59
overloaded
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| a.超载的，超负荷的 | |
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60
frantically
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| ad.发狂地, 发疯地 | |
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61
heed
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| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
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62
outfit
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| n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装 | |
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63
belongings
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| n.私人物品，私人财物 | |
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64
unwillingly
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| adv.不情愿地 | |
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65
elimination
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| n.排除，消除，消灭 | |
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66
superfluous
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| adj.过多的，过剩的，多余的 | |
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67
averred
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| v.断言( aver的过去式和过去分词 )；证实；证明…属实；作为事实提出 | |
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68
proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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69
imperative
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| n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的 | |
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70
tornado
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| n.飓风，龙卷风 | |
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71
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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72
axe
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| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
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73
brutes
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| 兽( brute的名词复数 )； 畜生； 残酷无情的人； 兽性 | |
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74
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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75
jaded
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| adj.精疲力竭的；厌倦的；（因过饱或过多而）腻烦的；迟钝的 | |
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76
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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77
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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78
digestions
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| n.消化能力( digestion的名词复数 )；消化，领悟 | |
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79
chronic
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| adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的 | |
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80
severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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81
frustrated
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| adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧 | |
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82
amenities
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| n.令人愉快的事物；礼仪；礼节；便利设施；礼仪( amenity的名词复数 )；便利设施；（环境等的）舒适；（性情等的）愉快 | |
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83
glamour
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| n.魔力，魅力；vt.迷住 | |
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84
irritability
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| n.易怒 | |
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85
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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86
wrangled
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| v.争吵，争论，口角( wrangle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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87
copious
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| adj.丰富的，大量的 | |
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88
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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89
grievance
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| n.怨愤，气恼，委屈 | |
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90
chivalrously
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| adv.象骑士一样地 | |
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91
impeachment
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| n.弹劾；控告；怀疑 | |
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92
entreated
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| 恳求，乞求( entreat的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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93
importuned
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| v.纠缠，向（某人）不断要求( importune的过去式和过去分词 )；（妓女）拉（客） | |
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94
recital
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| n.朗诵，独奏会，独唱会 | |
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95
brutality
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| n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮 | |
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96
callous
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| adj.无情的，冷淡的，硬结的，起老茧的 | |
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97
wrestled
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| v.（与某人）搏斗( wrestle的过去式和过去分词 )；扭成一团；扭打；（与…）摔跤 | |
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98
thawed
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| 解冻 | |
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99
strings
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| n.弦 | |
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100
gloss
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| n.光泽，光滑；虚饰；注释；vt.加光泽于；掩饰 | |
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101
furry
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| adj.毛皮的；似毛皮的；毛皮制的 | |
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102
bruised
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| [医]青肿的，瘀紫的 | |
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103
bruise
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| n.青肿，挫伤；伤痕；vt.打青；挫伤 | |
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104
knotty
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| adj.有结的，多节的，多瘤的，棘手的 | |
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105
loom
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| n.织布机，织机；v.隐现，(危险、忧虑等)迫近 | |
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106
twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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107
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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108
awakening
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| n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的 | |
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109
fraught
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| adj.充满…的，伴有(危险等)的；忧虑的 | |
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110
willows
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| n.柳树( willow的名词复数 )；柳木 | |
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111
shrubs
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| 灌木( shrub的名词复数 ) | |
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112
garbs
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| vt.装扮（garb的第三人称单数形式） | |
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113
rustled
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| v.发出沙沙的声音( rustle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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114
honked
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| v.（使）发出雁叫似的声音，鸣（喇叭），按（喇叭）( honk的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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115
trickle
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| vi.淌，滴，流出，慢慢移动，逐渐消散 | |
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116
thawing
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| n.熔化，融化v.（气候）解冻( thaw的现在分词 )；（态度、感情等）缓和；（冰、雪及冷冻食物）溶化；软化 | |
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117
rending
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| v.撕碎( rend的现在分词 )；分裂；（因愤怒、痛苦等而）揪扯（衣服或头发等）；（声音等）刺破 | |
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118
throbbing
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| a. 跳动的,悸动的 | |
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119
wayfarers
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| n.旅人，（尤指）徒步旅行者( wayfarer的名词复数 ) | |
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120
painstakingly
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| adv. 费力地 苦心地 | |
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121
whittling
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| v.切，削（木头），使逐渐变小( whittle的现在分词 ) | |
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122
whittled
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| v.切，削（木头），使逐渐变小( whittle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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123
terse
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| adj.(说话，文笔)精炼的，简明的 | |
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124
folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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125
yelping
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| v.发出短而尖的叫声( yelp的现在分词 ) | |
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126
whined
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| v.哀号( whine的过去式和过去分词 )；哀诉，诉怨 | |
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127
irresolutely
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| adv.优柔寡断地 | |
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128
doom
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| n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定 | |
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129
flickered
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| （通常指灯光）闪烁，摇曳( flicker的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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130
numb
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| adj.麻木的，失去感觉的；v.使麻木 | |
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131
wielded
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| 手持着使用（武器、工具等）( wield的过去式和过去分词 )； 具有； 运用（权力）； 施加（影响） | |
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132
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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133
chaotic
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| adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的 | |
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134
knuckles
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| n.（指人）指关节( knuckle的名词复数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝v.（指人）指关节( knuckle的第三人称单数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝 | |
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135
bruises
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| n.瘀伤，伤痕，擦伤( bruise的名词复数 ) | |
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