Chapter 8 John Thornton.
Although it was beautiful spring weather, the dogs and humans did not notice it.
Each day the sun rose earlier and set later.
It was dawn by three in the morning and stayed light until nine at night.
From every hill came a trickle of running water.
The ice was beginning to melt everywhere.
Air holes formed in the ice.
Cracks opened and spread apart while thin sections of ice fell through into the river underneath.
With the dogs falling, Mercedes crying, Hal yelling angrily and Charles's eyes watering, they staggered into John Thornton's camp at the mouth of White River.
When they stopped, their dogs dropped to the ground.
Mercedes dried her eyes and looked at John Thornton.
Charles sat on a log to rest.
He sat very slowly and carefully because his body was so stiff.
Hal did the talking.
John Thornton was whittling an axe handle.
He whittled and listened, gave short replies, and, when asked, even shorter pieces of advice.
He knew what these people were like right away, and when he gave his advice he was sure they would not follow it.
They told us the ice was breaking on the trail, the bottom dropping out, and the best thing for us to do was wait, Hal said, after Thornton warned them not to risk going over the ice.
They told us we couldn't make it to White River, and here we are.
And they told you the truth, John Thornton answered.
The bottom's going to drop out at any moment.
Only fools with the blind luck of fools could have made it this far.
I wouldn't risk my life on 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.
Get up there, Buck.
Hey, get up there.
Mush on.
Thornton went on whittling.
He knew it was a waste of time to try to stop a fool, and two or three less fools in the world would not be such a bad thing.
But the team did not get up at Hal's command.
He pushed and kicked the dogs and used his whip.
John Thornton pressed his lips together tightly.
Solex was the first to crawl to his feet.
Teak followed.
Joe came next, yelping with pain.
Pike fell over twice before he was able to stand.
Buck made no effort.
He lay quietly where he had fallen.
No matter what Hal did, Buck did not move.
Neither did he whine or struggle.
Several times Thornton started to speak but changed his mind.
As Hal continued to treat Buck badly, Thornton stood and walked back and forth.
This was the first time Buck had failed, and this made Hal very angry.
Buck still refused to move.
Like his teammates, he was barely able to get up.
He had made up his mind not to get up.
He had a feeling that something bad was going to happen.
He felt it when they stopped at John Thornton's camp.
All day, the thin ice under his feet had seemed like it was about to break.
He was experienced and smart enough to recognize the feeling.
He refused to move.
He had suffered so much, and he was so tired that nothing hurt him now, even Hal's blows.
Suddenly, without warning, John Thornton jumped at Hal and knocked him backward.
Mercedes screamed.
Charles looked on sadly, wiped his eyes, but did not get up because of his stiffness.
John Thornton stood over Buck and struggled to control himself, too angry to speak.
If you hurt that dog again, I'll hit you again, he finally said.
It's my dog, Hal replied, wiping his mouth as he came back.
Get out of my way or I'll fix you.
I'm going to Dawson.
Not with that dog, Thornton said.
Be careful, Hal, Mercedes cried out in fear.
We don't want any trouble.
You keep out of this, Hal answered her.
All this while, Thornton stood between Hal and Buck and made no move to get out of the way.
Hal lifted his whip.
Thornton hit Hal's knuckles with the axe handle, knocking the whip to the ground.
He wrapped Hal's knuckles again as he tried to pick it up.
Thornton stooped, picked it up, and threw it away.
Then he took out his knife and cut Buck loose from the harness.
Hal was too tired to fight, and Buck was too tired to keep on the team anyway.
All right, Hal finally said to Thornton.
You win.
Keep that worthless dog.
We don't need him anyway.
A few minutes later, they pulled out from the camp and along the ice that covered the river.
Buck heard them go and raised his head to watch.
The dogs were limping and staggering.
Mercedes was riding the sled.
Hal guided, and Charles stumbled along behind them.
Thornton knelt beside Buck and, with rough, kind hands, searched for any injuries.
He and Buck watched the sled on the ice.
Suddenly, they saw its back end drop down.
They heard Mercedes scream, saw Charles turn and make a step to run back, and then a whole section of ice gave way as the dogs and humans disappeared.
The ice had broken.
The bottom had dropped out of the trail.
They saw the team struggle out without the sled or any of their belongings.
They dragged themselves and the dogs to the far bank.
Without calling to Thornton for help, the team started back in the direction they had come from, toward the next camp where they would dry off and warm up before heading back home.
John Thornton and Buck looked at each other.
You poor devil, said John Thornton, and Buck licked his hand.
The previous December, John Thornton's feet had gotten wet and they had frozen in the cold.
His partners had made him comfortable and then left him to get well while they traveled up the river to get a raft headed for Dawson.
He was still limping a little when he rescued Buck, but as the weather became warmer he stopped limping.
Like John Thornton, Buck used these days to heal.
Lying by the riverbank through the long spring afternoons, watching the running water and listening to the songs of birds and the hum of nature, he slowly won back his strength.
A rest feels good after traveling 3000 miles and Buck felt lazy as his wounds healed, his muscles swelled out and the flesh came back to cover his bones.
They were all feeling lazy Buck, John Thornton, Skeet and Vig waiting for the raft to come and carry them down to Dawson.
Skeet was a smaller dog, and she made friends quickly with Buck. who was too tired to turn her away.
She was like a doctor to him, in much the same way that a mother cat washes her kittens.
Skeet would wash and clean Buck's wounds.
Each morning after he had finished his breakfast, she took care of him until he began to look forward to these treatments.
As for Vig, he was a huge black dog.
Vig was just as friendly as Skeet, but he did not show it as much.
To Buck's surprise, these dogs never treated him badly or competed with him.
They seemed to be just as kind and generous as John Thornton.
Buck started to feel love for the first time.
He had never experienced it at Judge Miller's house down in the sunny Santa Clara Valley.
With the judge's sons, when they hunted together, he had felt like a partner.
With the judge's grandsons he had felt like a guardian, and with the judge he had felt like a friend.
But Buck felt love for John Thornton.
This man had saved his life.
Buck knew he would not have survived the trail with Hal, Charles, and Mercedes.
John Thornton was also the best master.
Other men looked after their dogs because it made sense.
Thornton looked after his as if they were his own children, because he could not help it.
And he did more.
He always spoke kindly with them.
He had a way of taking Buck's head roughly between his hands, resting his own head on Buck's and shaking him back and forth.
While he did this, he would call Buck bad names just for fun.
Buck knew nothing better than that rough embrace and the sound of Thornton's words.
At each shake it seemed like Buck's heart would be shaken out of his body because he felt so much happiness.
And when Thornton let go, Buck sprang to his feet, his mouth laughing and his eyes bright, and stood still.
John Thornton would stare at him and say, Boy!
You can all but speak.
Buck showed his love in a way that was almost like being angry.
He would often take Thornton's hand in his mouth and pretend to bite.
Buck understood that Thornton called him bad names just for fun, and Thornton understood that these pretend bites were like a hug.
Buck went wild with happiness when Thornton touched him or spoke to him, but Buck did not chase after this.
Skeet was different and would shove her nose under Thornton's hand and nudge and nudge until he petted her.
Vig would stalk up and rest his large head on Thornton's knee.
Buck was happy to adore Thornton at a distance.
He would lie and wait at Thornton's feet, eager and alert, looking up into his face and studying it, interested in every expression, every movement or change, or he would lie farther away watching the movements of Thornton's body.
The man and dog were so close that when Buck would stare at him, Thornton would feel it turn his head and stare back without speaking.
For a long time after his rescue.
Buck did not even like Thornton to get out of his sight, and so Buck followed him everywhere.
All of the previous masters had left him and he was afraid that Thornton would leave, just as Perrault and Francois and the Scottish driver had left.
Even at night in his dreams he was afraid.
When this happened, he would shake off sleep and creep through the cold night to the flap of the tent.
There he would stand and listen to the sound of his master's breathing.
Even though he felt great love toward John Thornton, Buck also felt wild and sneaky from his life on the trail.
Because of his great love, he could not steal from this man, but from any other man in any other camp.
He would not wait a moment to steal, and his great cunning allowed him to do it without ever getting caught.
His face and body were scarred from all of his fights with the other dogs, and he still fought as fiercely as ever.
Skeet and Vig were too friendly to fight with him and besides they belonged to John Thornton.
But Buck tried to fight with any other dog he met.
He looked and felt older than he really was.
He was becoming more and more like a wild dog.
Sometimes, sitting by the fire next to John Thornton Buck, would feel the urge to run into the dark forest.
He did not know where he was going or why he had to run, but he knew he had to do it.
Then he would remember his love for John Thornton and return to the fire again.
Thornton was the only thing that kept Buck from running away.
All other people meant nothing to him.
Travelers might pet him, but he didn't care.
From an overly friendly man, he would get up and walk away.
When Thornton's partners Hans and Pete finally arrived on their raft, Buck refused to notice them until he learned they were close to Thornton.
After that, he behaved like he was doing them a favor by letting them be nice to him.
By the time their raft arrived at Dawson.
They understood Buck in his ways and they did not try to be as friendly with him as they were with Skeet and Vig.
For Thornton, however, his love seemed to grow and grow.
Thornton was the only man who could put a pack on Buck's back when they traveled in the summer.
Nothing was too great for Buck to do if Thornton asked him to do it.
One day, the men and dogs were sitting near the edge of a cliff that went straight down into a rocky canyon three hundred feet below.
John Thornton was sitting closest to the edge.
Buck at his shoulder.
Thornton had an idea.
He asked Hans and Pete just how devoted they thought Buck was to him.
"'I've never seen a dog so loyal,' Hans said as Pete nodded his head in agreement.
Let me show you just how loyal he really is, Thornton said.
Watch this.
Thornton turned to Buck, who had kept his eyes on his master the whole time.
Jump, Buck, he commanded, pointing out and over the cliff.
The next instant he was pulling Buck back from the edge, with Hans and Pete helping him.
It's amazing, Pete said, after it was over and they were all safe.
Thornton shook his head. know.
It is good that he would listen to me, but it is terrible, too.
Sometimes it makes me afraid.
'I would not want to be the man who lays hands on you while he's around', Pete said, nodding his head toward Buck.
"'He's as loyal and fierce a friend as anyone could have.'
"'By Jingo!'
Hans chined in.
"'I agree with Pete.'
That dog is worth an army.
I pity the man who has to find that out the hard way.
It was at Circle City before the end of the year that Pete's worries came true.
Black Burton was a bad-tempered man and a mean man and he had been picking a fight with a newcomer at the hotel when Thornton stepped in to break them up.
Buck was lying in the corner, as he always did. head on his paws, watching every move his master made.
Burton struck out without warning and knocked Thornton over.
The people who were watching heard a sound that was not a bark or a yelp, but something that was closer to a roar, and they saw Buck rise in the air as he jumped on Burton.
Burton was hurled back with Buck on top of him.
The crowd had to pull Buck away and while they checked on Burton's injuries, Buck prowled up and down, growling furiously, trying to rush in and being forced back by dozens of men.
Finally, Burton was able to stagger back on his feet.
I've never seen a dog like that, he gasped, and I pray I will never see another one like him again.
From that day on, Buck's name spread through every camp in Alaska.
Later on in the fall of that year, he saved John Thornton's life in a very different way.
The three partners were trying to move a small boat past the rapids on Forty Mile Creek.
Hans and Pete were on the land, holding a rope that was attached to the boat.
Thornton was in the boat, moving it carefully across the river and shouting directions to the men on shore.
Buck was on the land, worried. watching the boat.
At a bad spot, the boat and the rope became tangled and the boat flipped over.
Thornton was swept downstream into the worst part of the rapids.
Buck jumped in at that very moment and, in the mad swirl of water, managed to catch Thornton.
When he felt him grasp his tail, Buck headed for the shore, swimming with all his strength.
But it was slow going and the rapids were too strong.
Thornton knew it would be impossible to reach the shore.
He tried to hold onto the rocks, missed several times, and then caught hold of one.
He let go of Buck and, above the roar of water, shouted, Go, Buck!
Go!
Buck was pulled farther downstream and could not swim back to his master.
When he heard Thornton command him again, he turned and headed toward the land.
He swam powerfully and was pulled ashore by Hans and Pete.
They knew Thornton could not hold onto the rock for long, and they ran upstream quickly.
They tied a rope to Buck, and he jumped in.
He swam toward Thornton, but aimed wrong and missed him.
Hans pulled Buck back to shore.
He lay there, exhausted from swimming in the rapids, but as soon as he heard Thornton's voice, Buck sprang to his feet and ran back up the shoreline.
He jumped in again with a rope attached to him, and this time he knew how to avoid making the same mistake.
He swam until the current pulled him toward Thornton, who put his arms around Buck's shaggy neck.
Then Hans and Pete pulled on the rope, Buck and Thornton were pulled underwater, where they crashed into rocks until they reached the shore.
Thornton woke up first, being shaken by Hans and Pete, and the first thing he did was look for Buck.
Fig and Skeet were standing over Buck, who was lying on the ground and breathing heavily.
Even though he was also hurt badly.
Thornton went over to Buck's body to check for injuries and he found that Buck had three broken ribs.
That settles it, he said.
We camp right here.
And camp they did until Buck's ribs healed and he was able to travel again.
