aware of it each day the sun earlier and set later it was dawn by three � the morning and twilight lingered till nine at night � the whole long day was a blaze of sunshine � ghostly winter silence had given way to the great � spring murmur of awakening life this from all the land with the joy of � living it came from the things that lived and moved again things which had been as dead and which had not moved during the long months of the sap was rising in the pines the � the call of the wild and were bursting out hi young shrubs and vines were putting on fresh of green sang in the nights and in the days all manner of creeping crawling things forth into the sun and were and knocking in the forest were chattering birds singing and overhead the wild fowl driving up from the south in cunning that split the air from every hill slope came the of running water the music of unseen fountains all things were bending snapping the was straining to break loose the ice that bound it down it ate away from beneath the sun ate from above air holes formed sprang and spread apart while thin sections of ice fell through bodily r the f trace trail s the river and amid all bursting of awakening life under the blazing sun md through the soft sighing breezes like o death staggered the two men the woman he with the dogs falling weeping and riding swearing and charles yes wistfully watering they staggered into s camp at the mouth of white when they halted the dogs dropped down as had all been struck dead dried her eyes and looked at john sat down on a log to rest he sat down p ery slowly and what of his great did the talking john was the last touches on an axe handle he hat � � the call of the wild made from a stick of he and listened gave replies and when it was asked advice he knew the breed and he gave his advice in the certainty that it would not be followed they fold us up above that the bottom was dropping out of the trail and that the best thing for us to do was to lay over said in response to s warning to take no more chances on the rotten ice they told us we couldn t make white river and here we are this last with a ring of triumph in it and they told you true john answered the bottom s likely to drop out at any moment only fools with the blind luck of fools could have made it i tell you straight i wouldn t risk my on that ice for all the gold in that s because you re not a fool i suppose said all the same we ll go on to he his whip get up there buck hi get up there on went on it was idle he i knew to get between a fool and his while two or three fools more or less would not alter the scheme of things but the team did not get up at the command it had long since passed into the stage where blows were required to rouse it the whip flashed out here and there on its merciless errands john compressed his lips was the first to crawl to his feet followed joe came next with pain made painful efforts twice he fell over when half up and on the third attempt managed to rise buck made no effort he lay quietly where he had fallen the lash bit into him again and again but he neither nor struggled several times started as though to speak but changed his mind a moisture came into his eyes and as the continued he arose and walked up and down this was the first time buck had failed in itself a sufficient reason to drive into a rage he exchanged the whip for the customary club buck refused to move under the rain of heavier blows which now fell upon him like his mates he was barely the call of able to get up but unlike them he had made up his mind not to get up he had a vague of impending doom this had been strong upon him when he pulled in to the bank and it had not departed from him what of the thin and rotten ice he had felt under his feet all day it seemed that he disaster close at hand out there ahead on the ice where his master was crying to drive him he refused to stir so greatly had he suffered and so far gone was he that the blows did not hurt much and as they continued to fall upon him the spark of life within and went down it was nearly out he felt strangely as though from a great distance he was aware that he was � of pain left him ml � thing though very faintly he could hear the of club upon his but it was no long his body it seemed so far away the toil f and then sudden a cry that was cry of an animal man who the ward as though screamed his watery eyes but his john st control himself too if you strike that at last managed to say it s my dog h from his mouth as he way or i ll fix you i stood between him and buck and evinced no intention of getting out of the way drew his long knife screamed cried � ua ce trail y without warning and more like th n sprang upon th club was hurled back ck by a falling tree looked on wistfully did not get up because o od over buck struggling tc 