temerity and swiftness of attack. He stood, gazing stupidly across at White
Fang, the raw, red shin-bone between them.
Baseek was old, and already he had come to know the increasing valour of
the dogs it had been his wont to bully. Bitter experiences these, which,
perforce, he swallowed, calling upon all his wisdom to cope with them. In
the old days he would have sprung upon White Fang in a fury of righteous
wrath. But now his waning powers would not permit such a course. He
bristled fiercely and looked ominously across the shin-bone
at White
Fang. And White Fang, resurrecting quite a deal of the old awe, seemed to
wilt and to shrink in upon himself and grow small, as he cast about in his
mind for a way to beat a retreat not too inglorious.
And right here Baseek erred. Had he contented himself with looking fierce
and ominous, all would have been well. White Fang, on the verge of retreat,
would have retreated, leaving the meat to him. But Baseek did not wait. He
considered the victory already his and stepped forward to the meat. As he
bent his
head carelessly to smell it, White Fang bristled slightly. Even then it
was not too late for Baseek to retrieve the situation. Had he merely stood
over the meat, head up and glowering, White Fang would ultimately have
slunk away. But the fresh meat was strong in Baseek’s nostrils, and greed
urged him to take a bite of it.
This was too much for White Fang. Fresh upon his months of mastery over
his own team-mates, it was beyond his self-control to stand idly by while
another devoured the meat that belonged to him. He struck, after his
custom, without warning.
With the first slash, Baseek’s right ear was ripped
into ribbons. He was astounded at the suddenness of it. But more things,
and most grievous ones, were happening with equal suddenness. He was
knocked off his feet. His throat was bitten. While he was struggling to his
feet the young dog sank teeth twice into his shoulder. The swiftness of it
was bewildering. He made a futile rush at White Fang, clipping the empty air
with an outraged snap. The next moment his nose was laid open, and he
was staggering backward away from the meat.
The situation was now reversed. White Fang stood
over the shin-bone,
bristling and menacing, while Baseek stood a little way off, preparing to
106
retreat. He dared not risk a fight with this young lightning-flash, and again
he knew, and more bitterly, the enfeeblement of oncoming age. His
attempt to maintain his dignity was heroic. Calmly turning his back upon
young dog and shin-bone, as though both were beneath his notice and
unworthy of his consideration, he stalked grandly away. Nor, until well out
of sight, did he stop to lick his bleeding wounds.
The effect on White Fang was to give him a greater faith in himself, and a
greater pride. He walked less softly among the grown dogs; his attitude
toward them was less compromising. Not that he went out of his way
looking for trouble. Far from it. But upon his way he demanded
consideration. He stood upon his right to go his way unmolested and to
give trail to no dog. He had
to be taken into account, that was all. He was
no longer to be disregarded and ignored, as was the lot of puppies, and as
continued to be the lot of the puppies that were his team-mates. They got
out of the way, gave trail to the grown dogs, and gave up meat to them
under compulsion. But White Fang, uncompanionable, solitary, morose,
scarcely looking to right or left, redoubtable, forbidding of aspect, remote
and alien, was accepted as an equal by his puzzled elders. They quickly
learned to leave him alone, neither venturing hostile acts nor making
overtures of friendliness.
If they left him alone, he left them alone—a state
of affairs that they found, after a few encounters, to be pre-eminently
desirable.
In midsummer White Fang had an experience. Trotting along in his silent
way to investigate a new tepee which had been erected on the edge of the
village while he was away with the hunters after moose, he came full upon
Kiche. He paused and looked at her. He remembered her vaguely, but
he
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