Once, the sled broke through, with Dave and Buck, and they were half-frozen and all but drowned by the time they were dragged out.
The usual fire was necessary to save them. They were coated solidly with ice, and the two men kept them on the run around the fire, sweating and thawing (解冻), so close that they were singed (烤焦) by the flames.
At another time Spitz went through, dragging the whole team after him up to Buck, who strained backward with all his strength, his fore paws on the slippery (湿滑的) edge and the ice quivering and snapping all around.
But behind him was Dave, likewise (同样) straining backward, and behind the sled was Francois, pulling till his tendons (肌腱) cracked.
Again, the rim (边缘) ice broke away before and behind, and there was no escape except up the cliff.
Perrault scaled (爬越) it by a miracle, while François prayed for just that miracle; and with every thong (皮鞭；皮带) and sled lashing and the last bit of harness rove (reeve 的过去分词，“把绳索穿过”) into a long rope, the dogs were hoisted, one by one, to the cliff crest (顶).{1} Francois came up last, after the sled and load.
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Then came the search for a place to descend, which descent was ultimately made by the aid of the rope, and night found them back on the river with a quarter of a mile to the day's credit.
By the time they made the Hootalinqua and good ice, Buck was played out. The rest of the dogs were in like condition; but Perrault, to make up lost time, pushed them late and early.
The first day they covered thirty-five miles to the Big Salmon (河名); the next day thirty-five more to the Little Salmon; the third day forty miles, which brought them well up toward the Five Fingers.
Buck's feet were not so compact and hard as the feet of the huskies. His had softened during the many generations since the day his last wild ancestor was tamed (驯化) by a cave-dweller (穴居人) or river man.
All day long he limped (缓慢行进) in agony (痛苦), and camp once made, lay down like a dead dog.
Hungry as he was, he would not move to receive his ration of fish, which Francois had to bring to him.
Also, the dog-driver rubbed (揉搓) Buck’s feet for half an hour each night after supper, and sacrificed (献出) the tops of his own moccasins (鹿皮靴) to make four moccasins for Buck.
This was a great relief, and Buck caused even the weazened face of Perrault to twist itself into a grin one morning, when Francois forgot the moccasins and Buck lay on his back, his four feet waving appealingly in the air, and refused to budge without them.
Later his feet grew hard to the trail, and the worn-out foot-gear was thrown away.
At the Pelly (佩利河) one morning, as they were harnessing up, Dolly, who had never been conspicuous (显著的) for anything, went suddenly mad.
She announced her condition by a long, heartbreaking wolf howl that sent every dog bristling with fear, then sprang straight for Buck.
He had never seen a dog go mad, nor did he have any reason to fear madness; yet he knew that here was horror, and fled away from it in a panic.
Straight away he raced, with Dolly, panting and frothing (吐白沫), one leap behind; nor could she gain on him, so great was his terror, nor could he leave her, so great was her madness.{2}
He plunged through the wooded breast of the island, flew down to the lower end, crossed a back channel filled with rough ice to another island, gained a third island, curved back to the main river, and in desperation started to cross it.{3}
And all the time, though he did not look, he could hear her snarling just one leap behind.
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Francois called to him a quarter of a mile away and he doubled back, still one leap ahead, gasping painfully for air and putting all his faith in that Francois would save him.
The dog-driver held the axe poised in his hand, and as Buck shot past him the axe crashed down upon mad Dolly’s head.
Buck staggered (踉踉跄跄地走) over against the sled, exhausted, sobbing for breath, helpless. This was Spitz's opportunity.
He sprang upon Buck, and twice his teeth sank into his unresisting foe (敌人) and ripped and tore the flesh to the bone.
Then Francois's lash descended, and Buck had the satisfaction of watching Spitz receive the worst whipping as yet administered to any of the teams.
"One devil, dat Spitz," remarked Perrault. "Some dam day heem keel dat Buck."
"Dat Buck two devils, " was Francois's rejoinder (回答). "All de tam I watch dat Buck I know for sure. Lissen: some dam fine day heem get mad lak hell an' den heem chew dat Spitz all up an’ spit heem out on de snow. Sure. I know."{4}
From then on it was war between them. Spitz, as lead-dog and acknowledged master of the team, felt his supremacy (最高地位) threatened by this strange Southland dog.
And strange Buck was to him, for of the many Southland dogs he had known, not one had shown up worthily (可敬地) in camp and on trail. They were all too soft, dying under the toil, the frost, and starvation.
Buck was the exception. He alone endured and prospered, matching the husky in strength, savagery, and cunning (狡猾).
Then he was a masterful (有驾驭能力的) dog, and what made him dangerous was the fact that the club of the man in the red sweater had knocked all blind pluck and rashness out of his desire for mastery.{5}
He was preeminently (显著地) cunning, and could bide his time with a patience that was nothing less than primitive.
It was inevitable (不可避免的) that the clash for leadership should come. Buck wanted it.
He wanted it because it was his nature, because he had been gripped tight by that nameless, incomprehensible (难以名状的) pride of the trail and trace--that pride which holds dogs in the toil to the last gasp, which lures (引诱) them to die joyfully in the harness, and breaks their hearts if they are cut out of the harness.
This was the pride of Dave as wheel-dog, of Sol-leks as he pulled with all his strength;
the pride that laid hold of them at break of camp, transforming them from sour (坏脾气的) and sullen brutes into straining, eager, ambitious creatures;
the pride that spurred (激励) them on all day and dropped them at pitch of camp at night, letting them fall back into gloomy unrest and uncontent.
This was the pride that bore up Spitz and made him thrash (毒打) the sled-dogs who blundered (犯大错) and shirked in the traces or hid away at harness-up time in the morning.
Likewise it was this pride that made him fear Buck as a possible lead-dog. And this was Buck's pride, too.
He openly threatened the other's leadership. He came between him and the shirks he should have punished. And he did it deliberately.
