Kitabı oku: «The Call of the Wild / Зов предков», sayfa 9

A shout from Francois greeted his appearance. “What I say? That Buck learns quickly.”

Perrault nodded. As a courier for the Canadian Government, bearing important despatches, he was anxious to have the best dogs, and he was particularly glad that he had Buck.

Three more huskies were added to the team within an hour, making a total of nine, and in quarter of an hour they were in harness and on the trail toward the Dyea Canon. Buck was glad to be gone, and though the work was hard he found he did not dislike it. The eagerness of the whole team communicated to him; but more surprising was the change in Dave and Solleks. They were totally transformed by the harness. All passiveness was gone from them. The toil of the traces seemed all that they lived for, the only thing in which they took delight.

Dave was a wheeler, pulling in front of him was Buck, then came Solleks; the rest of the team was ahead, in a single file,¹⁹ to the leader, Spitz.

Buck had been placed between Dave and Solleks so that he might receive instruction. He was a good learner, and they were good teachers. Once, during a stop, when he got tangled in the traces and delayed the start, both Dave and Solleks flew at him and gave a good trouncing.²⁰ The resulting tangle was even worse, but Buck kept the traces clear from that moment on, so Francois’s whip snapped less frequently, and Perrault even honoured Buck by examining his feet.

It was a hard day’s run. They made their way past mountains, forests, glaciers and down the chain of lakes which fills the craters of dead volcanoes, and late that night arrived to the huge camp at the head of Lake Bennett, with thousands of goldseekers. Buck made his hole in the snow and slept the exhausted sleep.

Next day they made forty miles, as the trail was packed; but the next day, and for many more days, they were not so successful. As a rule, Perrault travelled in front of the team, packing the snow with webbed shoes²¹ to make it easier for them. Francois sometimes exchanged places with him, but not often. Perrault was in a hurry, and he prided himself on his knowledge of ice.