Part 7 (1/2)

But Beauty S One day a nuathered about the pen Beauty Smith entered, club in hand, and took the chain off fro turned loose and tore around the pen, trying to get at the nificently terrible Fully five feet in length, and standing two and one-half feet at the shoulder, he far outweighed a wolf of corresponding size From his , so that he weighed, without any fat and without an ounce of superfluous flesh, over ninety pounds It was allflesh in the finest condition

The door of the pen was being opened again White Fang paused So He waited The door was opened wider Then a huge dog was thrust inside, and the door was sla (it was a mastiff); but the size and fierce aspect of the intruder did not deter hi, not wood nor iron, upon which to wreak his hate He leaped in with a flash of fangs that ripped down the side of the rowled hoarsely, and plunged at White Fang But White Fang was here, there, and everywhere, always evading and eluding, and always leaping in and slashi+ng with his fangs and leaping out again in time to escape punishment

The men outside shouted and applauded, while Beauty S andThere was no hope for the mastiff from the first He was too ponderous and slow In the end, while Beauty Sed out by its owner Then there was a payment of bets, andca of the ht; and this was the only way that was now vouchsafed hi the life that was in him Tormented, incited to hate, he was kept a prisoner so that there was no way of satisfying that hate except at the tiainst him Beauty Smith had estimated his poell, for he was invariably the victor One day, three dogs were turned in upon hiht froh the door of the pen And on still another day two dogs were set against hih in the end he killed the it

In the fall of the year, when the first snoere falling and e for hi on a stea had now achieved a reputation in the land As ”the Fighting Wolf” he was known far and wide, and the cage in which he was kept on the steaed and snarled at them, or lay quietly and studied them with cold hatred Why should he not hate them? He never asked himself the question He knew only hate and lost himself in the passion of it Life had become a hell to him He had not been made for the close confinement wild beasts endure at the hands of men And yet it was in precisely this way that he was treated Men stared at him, poked sticks between the bars to hed at him

They were his environ the clay of hi than had been intended by Nature Nevertheless, Nature had given him plasticity Where many another animal would have died or had its spirit broken, he adjusted himself and lived, and at no expense of the spirit Possibly Beauty S White Fang's spirit, but as yet there were no signs of his succeeding

If Beauty S had another; and the two of thely In the days before, White Fang had had the wisdom to cower down and submit to a man with a club in his hand; but this wisdoht of Beauty Smith was sufficient to send him into transports of fury And when they came to close quarters, and he had been beaten back by the club, he went on growling and snarling, and showing his fangs The last growl could never be extracted from him No rowl; and when Beauty Srowl followed after hi his hatred

When the stea went ashore But he still lived a public life, in a cage, surrounded by curiousWolf,” and iven no rest Did he lie down to sleep, he was stirred up by a sharp stick--so that the audience et its , he was kept in a rage most of the time But worse than all this, was the atarded as the most fearful of wild beasts, and this was borne in to hie Every word, every cautious action, on the part of the men, impressed upon him his own terrible ferocity It was so much added fuel to the flame of his fierceness There could be but one result, and that was that his ferocity fed upon itself and increased It was another instance of the plasticity of his clay, of his capacity for being moulded by the pressure of environ exhibited he was a professional fighting anied, he was taken out of his cage and led off into the woods a few ht, so as to avoid interference from the , when daylight had coht arrived In this ht all sizes and breeds of dogs It was a savage land, the hts were usually to the death

Since White Fang continued to fight, it is obvious that it was the other dogs that died He never knew defeat His early training, when he fought with Lip-lip and the whole puppy-pack, stood hi to the earth No dog couldThis was the favourite trick of the wolf breeds--to rush in upon him, either directly or with an unexpected swerve, in the hope of striking his shoulder and overthrowing his, huskies and Malemutes--all tried it on hi Men told this to one another, and looked each ti always disappointed theave hionists Noexperience, they had never encountered a dog that moved so swiftly as he Also to be reckoned with, was the i was accustorowling, and the average dog was knocked off his feet and finished before he had begun to fight or recovered from his surprise So often did this happen, that it beca went through its preliood and ready, and even es in White Fang's favour, was his experience He knew s that faced hihts, kne to meet more tricks and methods, and had more tricks himself, while his own method was scarcely to be improved upon

As the tihts Men despaired ofhim with an equal, and Beauty Sainst him These were trapped by the Indians for the purpose, and a fight between White Fang and a as always sure to draw a crowd Once, a full-grown feht for his life Her quickness ht 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 no ht--at least, there was none considered worthy of fighting with hi, when one Tim Keenan, a faro-dealer, arrived in the land With hi that had ever entered the Klondike That this dog and White Fang should coether was inevitable, and for a week the anticipated fight was theof conversation in certain quarters of the town

CHAPTER IV

--THE CLINGING DEATH

Beauty Smith slipped the chain fro did not make an immediate attack He stood still, ears pricked forward, alert and curious, surveying the strange ani before Ti forith a muttered ”Go to it” The animal waddled toward the centre of the circle, short and squat and ungainly He ca

There were cries from the crowd of, ”Go to him, Cherokee! Sick 'm, Cherokee! Eat 'ht He turned his head and blinked at thehis stuood-naturedly He was not afraid, but merely lazy Besides, it did not see he saw before hi, and he aiting for the

Ti hiainst the grain of the hair and that -forward estions Also, their effect was irritating, for Cherokee began to growl, very softly, deep down in his throat There was a correspondence in rhythrowls and the rowl rose in the throat with the culof the next movement The end of eachabruptly and the growling rising with a jerk

This was not without its effect on White Fang The hair began to rise on his neck and across the shoulders Tiain As the impetus that carried Cherokee forward died down, he continued to go forward of his own volition, in a swift, bow-legged run Then White Fang struck A cry of startled adone in ; and with the sas and leaped clear

The bull-dog was bleeding back of one ear fron, did not even snarl, but turned and followed after White Fang The display on both sides, the quickness of the one and the steadiness of the other, had excited the partisan spirit of the crowd, and the ain, and yet again, White Fang sprang in, slashed, and got away untouched, and still his strange foe followed after hireat haste, not slowly, but deliberately and determinedly, in a businesslike sort of way There was purpose in hisand fro could distract him

His whole demeanour, every action, was sta Never had he seen such a dog It had no hair protection It was soft, and bled easily There was no thick 's teeth as they were often baffled by dogs of his own breed Each ti flesh, while the ani thing was that it made no outcry, such as he had been accustorowl or a grunt, the dog took its punish in its pursuit of him

Not that Cherokee was slow He could turn and whirl swiftly enough, but White Fang was never there Cherokee was puzzled, too He had never fought before with a dog hich he could not close The desire to close had always beenand dodging here and there and all about And when it did get its teeth into hiain

But White Fang could not get at the soft underside of the throat The bull-dog stood too short, while itsdarted in and out unscathed, while Cherokee's wounds increased Both sides of his neck and head were ripped and slashed He bled freely, but showed no signs of being disconcerted He continued his plodding pursuit, though once, for the moment baffled, he came to a full stop and blinked at thehis stuht

In thatripping his trier, Cherokee took up the pursuit again, running on the inside of the circle White Fang was 's throat The bull-dog missed by a hair's-breadth, and cries of praise went up as White Fang doubled suddenly out of danger in the opposite direction

The ti, leaping in and out, and ever inflicting darim certitude, toiled after hirip that would win the battle In the meantime, he accepted all the punishment the other could deal him His tufts of ears had become tassels, his neck and shoulders were slashed in a score of places, and his very lips were cut and bleeding--all frouarding

Ti had attempted to knock Cherokee off his feet; but the difference in their height was too great Cherokee was too squat, too close to the ground White Fang tried the trick once too often The chance cas He caught Cherokee with head turned away as he whirleddrove in upon it: but his own shoulder was high above, while he struck with such force that his momentum carried him on across over the other's body For the first ti lose his footing His body turned a half-somersault in the air, and he would have landed on his back had he not twisted, catlike, still in the air, in the effort to bring his feet to the earth As it was, he struck heavily on his side The next instant he was on his feet, but in that instant Cherokee's teeth closed on his throat

It was not a good grip, being too loard the chest; but Cherokee held on White Fang sprang to his feet and tore wildly around, trying to shake off the bull-dog's body It ht It bound his movements, restricted his freedom It was like the trap, and all his instinct resented it and revolted against it It was a mad revolt For several minutes he was to all intents insane The basic life that was in hied over him He was doence was gone It was as though he had no brain His reason was unseated by the blind yearning of the flesh to exist and move, at all hazards to move, to continue to move, for movement was the expression of its existence

Round and round he went, whirling and turning and reversing, trying to shake off the fifty-pound weight that dragged at his throat The bull- dog did little but keep his grip Soet his feet to the earth and for aBut the nextaround in the whirl of one of White Fang's yrations Cherokee identified hiht thing by holding on, and there came to him certain blissful thrills of satisfaction At such moments he even closed his eyes and allowed his body to be hurled hither and thither, willy-nilly, careless of any hurt that rip was the thing, and the grip he kept

White Fang ceased only when he had tired hi, and he could not understand Never, in all his fighting, had this thing happened The dogs he had fought with did not fight that way With theet away He lay partly on his side, panting for breath Cherokee still holding his grip, urged against hi resisted, and he could feel the jaws shi+fting their grip, slightly relaxing and co rip closer to his throat The bull-dog's method was to hold what he had, and when opportunity favoured to work in forreled, Cherokee was contentback of Cherokee's neck was the only portion of his body that White Fang's teeth could reach He got hold toward the base where the neck co , nor were his jaws adapted to it He spass for a space Then a change in their position diverted hied to roll hi on to his throat, was on top of hi bowed his hind-quarters in, and, with the feet digging into his ene-strokes Cherokee ht well have been diseot his body off of White Fang's and at right angles to it

There was no escaping that grip It was like Fate itself, and as inexorable Slowly it shi+fted up along the jugular All that saved White Fang from death was the loose skin of his neck and the thick fur that covered it This served to forh defied his teeth But bit by bit, whenever the chance offered, he was getting more of the loose skin and fur in hisThe latter's breath was draith greater and greater difficulty as the h the battle were over The backers of Cherokee waxed jubilant and offered ridiculous odds White Fang's backers were correspondingly depressed, and refused bets of ten to one and twenty to one, though one er of fifty to one Thisand pointed his finger at White Fang Then he began to laugh derisively and scornfully This produced the desired effect White Fang ith rage He called up his reserves of strength, and gained his feet As he struggled around the ring, the fifty pounds of his foe ever dragging on his throat, his anger passed on into panic The basic life of hience fled before the will of his flesh to live Round and round and back again, stu at ti his foe clear of the earth, he struggled vainly to shake off the clinging death

At last he fell, toppling backward, exhausted; and the bull-dog promore severely than ever Shouts of applause went up for the victor, and there were many cries of ”Cherokee!” ”Cherokee!” To this Cherokee responded by vigorous wagging of the stump of his tail But the clamour of approval did not distract him There was no sympathetic relation between his tail and his , but the others held their terrible grip on White Fang's throat

It was at this tile of bells Dog-mushers' cries were heard Everybody, save Beauty S upon the with sled and dogs They were evidently coht of the crowd they stopped their dogs and came over and joined it, curious to see the cause of the excite-erof his blood and the running in the frosty air

White Fang had practically ceased struggling Now and again he resisted spaset little air, and that little grew less and less under the htened In spite of his ar since been torn open, had not the first grip of the bull-dog been so lon as to be practically on the chest It had taken Cherokee a long tirip upward, and this had also tended further to clog his jaith fur and skin-fold

In theinto his brain andthe small bit of sanity that he possessed at best When he saw White Fang's eyes beginning to glaze, he knew beyond doubt that the fight was lost Then he broke loose He sprang upon White Fang and began savagely to kick him There were hisses from the crowd and cries of protest, but that was all While this went on, and Beauty S, there was a co his way through, shouldering entleness When he broke through into the ring, Beauty S another kick All his weight was on one foot, and he was in a state of unstable equilibriu blow full in his face Beauty Sround, and his whole body seemed to lift into the air as he turned over backward and struck the snow The newcomer turned upon the crowd

”You cowards!” he cried ”You beasts!”

He was in a rage hirey eyes seemed metallic and steel-like as they flashed upon the crowd Beauty S and cowardly The new-comer did not understand He did not kno abject a coward the other was, and thought he was co So, with a ”You beast!” he smashed Beauty Smith over backith a second blow in the face Beauty Smith decided that the snoas the safest place for hiet up

”Co-

Both , ready to pull when Cherokee's jaws should be loosened This the younger 's jaws in his hands and trying to spread theed and wrenched, he kept exclai with every expulsion of breath, ”Beasts!”

The crowd began to grow unruly, and so of the sport; but they were silenced when the newcolared at them

”You damn beasts!” he finally exploded, and went back to his task

”It's no use, Mr Scott, you can't break 'm apart that way,” Matt said at last

The pair paused and surveyed the locked dogs