Chapter I. Into the Primitive “ Old longings nomadic leap , Chafing at custom 's chain ; Again from its brumal sleep Wakens the ferine strain . ”
Buck did not read the newspapers , or he would have known that trouble was brewing , not alone for himself , but for every tide-water dog , strong of muscle and with warm , long hair , from Puget Sound to San Diego .
Because men , groping in the Arctic darkness , had found a yellow metal , and because steamship and transportation companies were booming the find , thousands of men were rushing into the Northland .
These men wanted dogs , and the dogs they wanted were heavy dogs , with strong muscles by which to toil , and furry coats to protect them from the frost .
Buck lived at a big house in the sun-kissed Santa Clara Valley .
Judge Miller 's place , it was called .
It stood back from the road , half hidden among the trees , through which glimpses could be caught of the wide cool veranda that ran around its four sides .
The house was approached by gravelled driveways which wound about through wide-spreading lawns and under the interlacing boughs of tall poplars .
At the rear things were on even a more spacious scale than at the front .
There were great stables , where a dozen grooms and boys held forth , rows of vine-clad servants ' cottages , an endless and orderly array of outhouses , long grape arbors , green pastures , orchards , and berry patches .
Then there was the pumping plant for the artesian well , and the big cement tank where Judge Miller 's boys took their morning plunge and kept cool in the hot afternoon .
And over this great demesne Buck ruled .
Here he was born , and here he had lived the four years of his life .
It was true , there were other dogs , There could not but be other dogs on so vast a place , but they did not count .
They came and went , resided in the populous kennels , or lived obscurely in the recesses of the house after the fashion of Toots , the Japanese pug , or Ysabel , the Mexican hairless , -- strange creatures that rarely put nose out of doors or set foot to ground .
On the other hand , there were the fox terriers , a score of them at least , who yelped fearful promises at Toots and Ysabel looking out of the windows at them and protected by a legion of housemaids armed with brooms and mops .
But Buck was neither house-dog nor kennel-dog .
The whole realm was his .
He plunged into the swimming tank or went hunting with the Judge 's sons ; he escorted Mollie and Alice , the Judge 's daughters , on long twilight or early morning rambles ; on wintry nights he lay at the Judge 's feet before the roaring library fire ; he carried the Judge 's grandsons on his back , or rolled them in the grass , and guarded their footsteps through wild adventures down to the fountain in the stable yard , and even beyond , where the paddocks were , and the berry patches .
Among the terriers he stalked imperiously , and Toots and Ysabel he utterly ignored , for he was king , -- king over all creeping , crawling , flying things of Judge Miller 's place , humans included .
His father , Elmo , a huge St. Bernard , had been the Judge 's inseparable companion , and Buck bid fair to follow in the way of his father .
He was not so large , -- he weighed only one hundred and forty pounds , -- for his mother , Shep , had been a Scotch shepherd dog .
Nevertheless , one hundred and forty pounds , to which was added the dignity that comes of good living and universal respect , enabled him to carry himself in right royal fashion .
During the four years since his puppyhood he had lived the life of a sated aristocrat ; he had a fine pride in himself , was even a trifle egotistical , as country gentlemen sometimes become because of their insular situation .
But he had saved himself by not becoming a mere pampered house-dog .
Hunting and kindred outdoor delights had kept down the fat and hardened his muscles ; and to him , as to the cold-tubbing races , the love of water had been a tonic and a health preserver .
And this was the manner of dog Buck was in the fall of 1897 , when the Klondike strike dragged men from all the world into the frozen North .
But Buck did not read the newspapers , and he did not know that Manuel , one of the gardener 's helpers , was an undesirable acquaintance .
Manuel had one besetting sin .
He loved to play Chinese lottery .
Also , in his gambling , he had one besetting weakness -- faith in a system ; and this made his damnation certain .
For to play a system requires money , while the wages of a gardener 's helper do not lap over the needs of a wife and numerous progeny .
The Judge was at a meeting of the Raisin Growers ' Association , and the boys were busy organizing an athletic club , on the memorable night of Manuel 's treachery .
No one saw him and Buck go off through the orchard on what Buck imagined was merely a stroll .
And with the exception of a solitary man , no one saw them arrive at the little flag station known as College Park .
This man talked with Manuel , and money chinked between them .
“ You might wrap up the goods before you deliver 'm , ” the stranger said gruffly , and Manuel doubled a piece of stout rope around Buck 's neck under the collar .
“ Twist it , an ' you 'll choke 'm plentee , ” said Manuel , and the stranger grunted a ready affirmative .
Buck had accepted the rope with quiet dignity .
To be sure , it was an unwonted performance : but he had learned to trust in men he knew , and to give them credit for a wisdom that outreached his own .
But when the ends of the rope were placed in the stranger 's hands , he growled menacingly .
He had merely intimated his displeasure , in his pride believing that to intimate was to command .
But to his surprise the rope tightened around his neck , shutting off his breath .
In quick rage he sprang at the man , who met him halfway , grappled him close by the throat , and with a deft twist threw him over on his back .
Then the rope tightened mercilessly , while Buck struggled in a fury , his tongue lolling out of his mouth and his great chest panting futilely .
Never in all his life had he been so vilely treated , and never in all his life had he been so angry .
But his strength ebbed , his eyes glazed , and he knew nothing when the train was flagged and the two men threw him into the baggage car .
The next he knew , he was dimly aware that his tongue was hurting and that he was being jolted along in some kind of a conveyance .
The hoarse shriek of a locomotive whistling a crossing told him where he was .
He had travelled too often with the Judge not to know the sensation of riding in a baggage car .
He opened his eyes , and into them came the unbridled anger of a kidnapped king .
The man sprang for his throat , but Buck was too quick for him .
His jaws closed on the hand , nor did they relax till his senses were choked out of him once more .
“ Yep , has fits , ” the man said , hiding his mangled hand from the baggageman , who had been attracted by the sounds of struggle .
“ I 'm takin ' 'm up for the boss to ' Frisco .
A crack dog-doctor there thinks that he can cure 'm . ”
Concerning that night 's ride , the man spoke most eloquently for himself , in a little shed back of a saloon on the San Francisco water front .
“ All I get is fifty for it , ” he grumbled ; “ an ' I would n't do it over for a thousand , cold cash . ”
His hand was wrapped in a bloody handkerchief , and the right trouser leg was ripped from knee to ankle .
“ How much did the other mug get ? ”
the saloon-keeper demanded .
“ A hundred , ” was the reply .
“ Would n't take a sou less , so help me . ”
“ That makes a hundred and fifty , ” the saloon-keeper calculated ; “ and he 's worth it , or I 'm a squarehead . ”
The kidnapper undid the bloody wrappings and looked at his lacerated hand .
“ If I do n't get the hydrophoby -- ” “ It 'll be because you was born to hang , ” laughed the saloon-keeper .
“ Here , lend me a hand before you pull your freight , ” he added .
Dazed , suffering intolerable pain from throat and tongue , with the life half throttled out of him , Buck attempted to face his tormentors .
But he was thrown down and choked repeatedly , till they succeeded in filing the heavy brass collar from off his neck .
Then the rope was removed , and he was flung into a cagelike crate .
There he lay for the remainder of the weary night , nursing his wrath and wounded pride .
He could not understand what it all meant .
What did they want with him , these strange men ?
Why were they keeping him pent up in this narrow crate ?
He did not know why , but he felt oppressed by the vague sense of impending calamity .
Several times during the night he sprang to his feet when the shed door rattled open , expecting to see the Judge , or the boys at least .
But each time it was the bulging face of the saloon-keeper that peered in at him by the sickly light of a tallow candle .
And each time the joyful bark that trembled in Buck 's throat was twisted into a savage growl .
But the saloon-keeper let him alone , and in the morning four men entered and picked up the crate .
More tormentors , Buck decided , for they were evil-looking creatures , ragged and unkempt ; and he stormed and raged at them through the bars .
They only laughed and poked sticks at him , which he promptly assailed with his teeth till he realized that that was what they wanted .
Whereupon he lay down sullenly and allowed the crate to be lifted into a wagon .
Then he , and the crate in which he was imprisoned , began a passage through many hands .
Clerks in the express office took charge of him ; he was carted about in another wagon ; a truck carried him , with an assortment of boxes and parcels , upon a ferry steamer ; he was trucked off the steamer into a great railway depot , and finally he was deposited in an express car .