whined not half so placatingly as in former days. Buck never came
near Spitz without snarling and bristling menacingly. In fact,
his conduct approached that of a bully, and he was given to
swaggering up and down before Spitz's very nose.

The breaking down of discipline likewise affected the dogs in
their relations with one another. They quarrelled and bickered
more than ever among themselves, till at times the camp was a
howling bedlam. Dave and Sol-leks alone were unaltered, though
they were made irritable by the unending squabbling. Francois
swore strange barbarous oaths, and stamped the snow in futile
rage, and tore his hair. His lash was always singing among the
dogs, but it was of small avail. Directly his back was turned they
were at it again. He backed up Spitz with his whip, while Buck
backed up the remainder of the team. Francois knew he was behind
all the trouble, and Buck knew he knew; but Buck was too clever
ever again to be caught red-handed. He worked faithfully in the
harness, for the toil had become a delight to him; yet it was a
greater delight slyly to precipitate a fight amongst his mates and
tangle the traces.

At the mouth of the Tahkeena, one night after supper, Dub turned
up a snowshoe rabbit, blundered it, and missed. In a second the
whole team was in full cry. A hundred yards away was a camp of
the Northwest Police, with fifty dogs, huskies all, who joined the
chase. The rabbit sped down the river, turned off into a small
creek, up the frozen bed of which it held steadily. It ran
lightly on the surface of the snow, while the dogs ploughed
through by main strength. Buck led the pack, sixty strong, around
bend after bend, but he could not gain. He lay down low to the