Nor did he open his eyes till roused by the noises of the waking camp. At first he did not know where he was.
It had snowed during the night and he was completely buried. The snow walls pressed him on every side, and a great surge of fear swept through him--the fear of the wild thing for the trap.
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It was a token (象征) that he was harking back through his own life to the lives of his forebears (祖先); for he was a civilized dog, an unduly (过度地) civilized dog, and of his own experience knew no trap and so could not of himself fear it.
The muscles of his whole body contracted (收缩) spasmodically (断续性地) and instinctively (本能地), the hair on his neck and shoulders stood on end, and with a ferocious snarl (嚎叫) he bounded (跳) straight up into the blinding day, the snow flying about him in a flashing cloud.
Ere he landed on his feet, he saw the white camp spread out before him and knew where he was and remembered all that had passed from the time he went for a stroll (漫步) with Manuel to the hole he had dug for himself the night before.
A shout from Francois hailed his appearance. "Wot (即 what) I say?" the dog-driver cried to Perrault. "Dat Buck for sure learn queek as anyt'ing."
Perrault nodded gravely. As courier for the Canadian Government, bearing important despatches, he was anxious to secure (获得) the best dogs, and he was particularly gladdened (高兴) by the possession of Buck.
Three more huskies were added to the team inside an hour, making a total of nine, and before another quarter of an hour had passed they were in harness and swinging up the trail toward the Dyea Canon.
Buck was glad to be gone, and though the work was hard he found he did not particularly despise it.
He was surprised at the eagerness which animated (使有活力) the whole team and which was communicated to him; but still more surprising was the change wrought in Dave and Sol-leks.
They were new dogs, utterly transformed by the harness. All passiveness (被动) and unconcern had dropped from them.
They were alert and active, anxious that the work should go well, and fiercely irritable (暴躁的) with whatever, by delay or confusion, retarded (阻碍) that work.{1}
The toil (苦活) of the traces seemed the supreme expression of their being, and all that they lived for and the only thing in which they took delight.{2}
Dave was wheeler or sled dog, pulling in front of him was Buck, then came Sol-leks; the rest of the team was strung out ahead, single file, to the leader, which position was filled by Spitz.{4}
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Buck had been purposely placed between Dave and Sol-leks so that he might receive instruction.
Apt scholar that he was, they were equally apt (合适的) teachers, never allowing him to linger (逗留) long in error, and enforcing their teaching with their sharp teeth.
Dave was fair and very wise. He never nipped Buck without cause, and he never failed to nip him when he stood in need of it.
As Francois's whip backed him up, Buck found it to be cheaper to mend his ways than to retaliate (报复).
Once, during a brief halt, when he got tangled (缠结) in the traces and delayed the start, both Dave and Sol-leks flew at him and administered a sound trouncing (痛击).
The resulting tangle was even worse, but Buck took good care to keep the traces clear thereafter; and ere the day was done, so well had he mastered his work that his mates about ceased nagging (责骂不休) him.
Francois's whip snapped less frequently, and Perrault even honored Buck by lifting up his feet and carefully examining them.
It was a hard day’s run, up the Canon, through Sheep Camp, past the Scales and the timberline (森林边界), across glaciers (冰川) and snowdrifts (雪堆) hundreds of feet deep,
and over the great Chilcoot Divide, which stands between the salt water and the fresh and guards forbiddingly the sad and lonely North.{5}
They made good time down the chain of lakes which fills the craters (火山口) of extinct volcanoes (火山), and late that night pulled into the huge camp at the head of Lake Bennett, where thousands of gold seekers (淘金者) were building boats against the break-up (融化) of the ice in the spring.
Buck made his hole in the snow and slept the sleep of the exhausted just, but all too early was routed (发送) out in the cold darkness and harnessed with his mates to the sled.{3}
That day they made forty miles, the trail (路) being packed (压实); but the next day, and for many days to follow, they broke their own trail, worked harder, and made poorer time.
As a rule, Perrault travelled ahead of the team, packing the snow with webbed shoes to make it easier for them.
Francois, guiding the sled at the gee-pole (雪橇杆), sometimes exchanged places with him, but not often.
Perrault was in a hurry, and he prided himself on his knowledge of ice, which knowledge was indispensable (必需的), for the fall ice was very thin, and where there was swift water, there was no ice at all.
Day after day, for days unending, Buck toiled (努力工作) in the traces.
Always, they broke camp in the dark, and the first gray of dawn (黎明) found them hitting the trail with fresh miles reeled off behind them.
And always they pitched (搭帐篷) camp after dark, eating their bit of fish, and crawling to sleep into the snow.
Buck was ravenous (极其饥饿的). The pound and a half of sun-dried salmon (鲑鱼), which was his ration (配给量) for each day, seemed to go nowhere.
He never had enough, and suffered from perpetual (永无休止的) hunger pangs. Yet the other dogs, because they weighed less and were born to the life, received pound only of the fish and managed to keep in good condition.
He swiftly lost the fastidiousness (过分讲究) which had characterized his old life. A dainty (优雅的) eater, he found that his mates, finishing first, robbed him of his unfinished ration.
There was no defending it. While he was fighting off two or three, it was disappearing down the throats of the others.
To remedy (补救) this, he ate as fast as they; and, so greatly did hunger compel (迫使) him, he was not above taking what did not belong to him.
He watched and learned. When he saw Pike, one of the new dogs, a clever malingerer (装病的人) and thief, slyly steal a slice of bacon when Perrault's back was turned, he duplicated the performance the following day, getting away with the whole chunk (厚块).
A great uproar was raised, but he was unsuspected; while Dub, an awkward blunderer (粗心的人) who was always getting caught, was punished for Buck's misdeed.
