Buck and the other dogs arrived in Skaguay thirty days after they left Dawson. They were in a very bad state. They were extremely tired and weak. Buck weighed 140 pounds before the trip. Now he weighed only 115 pounds. The other dogs lost even more weight.
Pike was a lazy dog who often pretended to be hurt. Now, his leg really was hurt. Sol-leks walked with a limp. Dub had a very bad shoulder. All the dogs had sore feet. They had no strength left.
This was not a short tiredness. This was a "dead-tiredness." It came from months of very hard work. In five months, the dogs traveled 2,500 miles. In the last part of the trip, they only rested for five days. They could barely pull the sled (a vehicle for snow pulled by dogs).
"Keep going, poor dogs," the driver said. He was kind to them. "This is the end. Soon you will have a long rest."
The drivers expected to stop for a long time. They were also very tired. But there was too much mail. The government wanted to send the mail quickly. They decided to sell the tired dogs and buy new ones.
Three days later, two men bought Buck and his team. Their names were Hal and Charles. Charles was a middle-aged man with a mustache. Hal was a young man of nineteen. Hal wore a big revolver (a type of small gun) and a large knife on his belt.
These men did not know anything about the North. Buck saw the men pay the money. He knew that François, Perrault, and the Scotch man were gone forever. Buck and the dogs went to the new camp.
The camp was very messy. The dishes were dirty and the tent was not straight. A woman named Mercedes was there. She was Charles’s wife and Hal’s sister. Buck watched them load the sled. They did not do it well.
They rolled the tent into a very big, messy bundle. They put dirty dishes in boxes. Mercedes talked all the time and gave bad advice. They put things on the sled and then took them off again.
Three men from a nearby tent watched them. They laughed at the messy work. "That is a very heavy load," one man said. "You should not take that tent. It is spring. It is not cold now."
"I must have my tent!" Mercedes cried. She was very upset.
Charles and Hal put more things on the top of the sled. It looked like a mountain. "The dogs can pull this all day," Hal said. He picked up his whip. "Mush! Move!" he shouted.
The dogs pulled hard. They put their bodies close to the snow. But the sled did not move. "They are lazy!" Hal cried. He wanted to hit them with the whip.
Mercedes stopped him. "Oh, Hal, you must not be mean!" she said.
"You know nothing about dogs," Hal said. "They are lazy. You must whip them."
A man watching them spoke. "The dogs are not lazy," he said. "They are very weak. They are 'done.' They need a rest."
Hal did not listen. Mercedes told Hal to ignore the man. Hal whipped the dogs again. The dogs tried with all their strength. But the sled stayed in the snow. It was like an anchor.
Mercedes dropped to her knees near Buck. She had tears in her eyes. "You poor dogs, why don't you pull hard?" she asked. Buck did not like her, but he was too tired to move.
"I will help you," another man said. "The runners (the long wooden pieces under a sled) are frozen to the ice. Push the sled to the side to break it free."
Hal followed the advice. He pushed the sled, and it finally moved. But the sled was too heavy and tall. When they turned a corner, the sled fell over. Half of the things fell out.
The dogs were angry. They did not stop. They ran up the street, and the sled stayed on its side. More things fell out of the sled. People in the town caught the dogs.
"You need to take less stuff and get more dogs," the people said.
Hal, Charles, and Mercedes were unhappy. They threw away some things. Mercedes cried when they threw away her clothes. Then they bought six more dogs. Now they had fourteen dogs.
But the new dogs were not strong. They did not know how to pull a sled. Buck and his old mates were very tired. Fourteen dogs was too many dogs for one sled. One sled could not carry enough food for fourteen dogs. But Hal and Charles did not know this.
The next morning, the trip began. Buck was very unhappy. He knew the trail was long and hard. He did not trust the two men and the woman. They were not organized.
They were very slow every day. They took a long time to start in the morning. They did not travel many miles. They gave the dogs too much food at first. Then, they saw the food was almost gone.
Hal began to give the dogs very little food. The dogs became starving (dying because they have no food). They were not just tired now; they were hungry.
Dub was the first dog to die. He had a bad shoulder and could not pull. Hal shot him with his revolver. Then the six new dogs died because they were not strong like Buck.
The three people were miserable. They were always cold and tired. They began to argue all the time. They said mean things to each other. They forgot to be kind.
Mercedes was very selfish. She was tired, so she wanted to ride on the sled. She weighed 120 pounds. This was too much for the weak dogs. Charles and Hal told her to walk, but she cried.
Once, they pulled her off the sled. She sat on the snow and did not move. The men had to go back and pick her up. She stayed on the sled for many days.
The food was all gone. Hal traded his gun for some old horse skin. The dogs tried to eat the skin, but it was not good food. It was like eating wood.
Buck looked like a skeleton (a body that is only bones). You could see all his ribs. His fur was dirty and full of dried blood. He was very weak, but his heart was still strong.
The other dogs were also like "bags of bones." When the sled stopped, they fell down like they were dead. When the whip hit them, they stood up slowly.
One day, Billee fell down. He could not get up. Hal used an axe to kill him. The next day, Koona died. Only five dogs were left: Joe, Pike, Sol-leks, Teek, and Buck.
It was a beautiful spring. The sun was hot. The birds were singing. The ice on the river was beginning to melt. There was water on top of the ice. But the people and the dogs did not see the beauty. They were walking toward death.
They reached the camp of a man named John Thornton. When they stopped, the dogs fell to the ground. John Thornton was making a handle for an axe. He listened to Hal.
"People told us the ice was thin," Hal said. "But we made it here!" He was proud.
"The ice is very dangerous," John Thornton said. "Do not go on the river. The ice will break soon."
"I am not a fool," Hal said. "We are going to Dawson." He picked up his whip. "Get up, Buck! Mush!"
The other dogs stood up slowly. But Buck did not move. He stayed on the ground. Hal hit Buck with the whip, but Buck stayed down.
Buck had a bad feeling. He felt the thin ice under his feet all day. He knew there was danger ahead. He decided not to get up.
Hal became very angry. He picked up a heavy club. He hit Buck again and again. Buck was numb (unable to feel anything). The blows did not hurt anymore. He felt like his body was very far away. He was almost dead.
Suddenly, John Thornton screamed like an animal. He jumped on Hal. He pushed Hal back with great strength.
"If you hit that dog again, I will kill you!" Thornton shouted. He was very angry.
"He is my dog," Hal said. He had blood on his face. He took out his long knife.
John Thornton hit Hal’s hand with his axe handle. The knife fell to the ground. Thornton picked up the knife. He quickly cut the leather straps to free Buck.
Hal did not fight. He was too weak. He helped Mercedes onto the sled and started the team. Buck stayed on the ground with Thornton. Pike, Sol-leks, Joe, and Teek pulled the sled onto the river ice.
John Thornton looked at Buck for broken bones. He saw that Buck was only starving and bruised. They watched the sled. It was a quarter of a mile away.
Suddenly, the back of the sled dropped down. Mercedes screamed. Charles turned around to run. Then, a big piece of ice broke. The sled, the dogs, and the people fell into the dark water. They disappeared.
The ice was gone. There was only a hole in the river.
John Thornton and Buck looked at each other.
"You poor dog," Thornton said softly. Buck licked the man’s hand.