Evening star., 1924-08-18
CONTINUED from Yesterdays Starr


plauded, while Beauty Smith. in an
ecstasy of delight, gloated over the
ripping and mangling performed by
White Fang. There was no hope for
the mastiff from the first. He was
too ponderous and slow. In the end,
while Beauty Smith beat White Fang
back with club, the mastiff was
dragged out by its owner. Then
there was a payment of bets and
money clinked in Beauty Smiths
hand.
White Fang came to look forward
eagerly to the gathering of the men
around his pen. 1t meant a fight
and this was the only way that was
now vouchsafed him of expressing
the life that was in him. Tormented,
melted to hate, he was kept a pris-
oner SO that there was no way of
satisfying that hate except at the
times his master saw fit to put
another dog against him. Beauty
Smith had estimated his powers well.
for he was invariably the victor. One
day three dogs were turned in upon
him In succession. Another day i
full-grown wolf fresh-caught from
the wild, was showed in through the
door of the pen. And on still another
day two dogs were set against him
at the same time. This was his
severest fight and. although in the
end he killed them both, he was him
self half killed in doing it.
In the fall of the year, when the
first SHOWS were falling and mush-
ice was running in the river, Beauty
Smith took passage for himself and
White Fang on steamboat bound
up the Yukon to Dawson. White
Fang had now achieved a reputation
in the land. AS 1.-The Fighting Wolf"
he was known far and wide, and the
cage in which he was kept on the
steamboats, deck was usually sur
rounded by curious men. He ragged
and Snarled at them, or lay quietly
and studied them with cold hatred.
Why should he not hate them? He
never asked himself the question. He
knew only hate and lost himself in
the passion of it. Life had becom.
n hell to him. He had not been
made for the close confinement wild
beasts endure at the hands Of men.
And yet it was in precisely this wav
that he was treated. Men stared at
him. poked sticks between the bars
to make him snarl, and then laughed
at him.
They were his environment. these
men. and they were molding the clay
of him into a more ferocious thing
than had been intended by nature.
Nevertheless. nature had given him
Elasticity. Where many another ami
NAL would have died or had it's spirit
broken, he adjusted himself and lived.
and at no expense of the spirit. Pos
sbly Beauty Smith, arch fiend and
tormentor. was capable of breaking
White Fang's spirit. but as yet there
were no signs of his succeeding.
If Beauty Smith had in him a devil
White Fang had another, and the two
of them ragged against each other un-
ceasingly. In the days before White
Fang had had the wisdom to cover
down and submit to a man with a
club in his hand; but this wisdom
now left him. The mere sight of
Beauty Smith was sufficient to send
him into transports of fury. And
when they came to close quarters,
and he had been beaten back by the
club, he went on growing and snarl-
ing and showing his fangs. The last
growl could never be extracted from
him. No matter how terribly he was
beaten. he had always another growl:
and when Beauty Smith gave up and
withdrew the defiant growl followed
after him, or White Fangs sprang at
the bars Of the cage believing his
hatred.
When the steamboat arrived at
Dawson White Fang went ashore.
But he still lived a public life, in a
cage, ny CuTlOuS HELL f1r
was exhibited as The Fighting
Wolf" and men paid so cents in gold
dust to see him. He was given no
rest. Did he lie down to sleep he
was stirred up by a sharp stick-so
that the audience might get its
moneys worth. In order to make the
exhibition interesting. he was kept
in rage most of the time. But worse
than all this was the atmosphere in
ioI, he hx-ad To 1o1
the most fearful of wild beasts and
this was borne in to him through
the bars of the cage. Every word,
every cautious action, on the part of
the men, impressed upon him his own
terrible ferocity. 1t was so much
added fuel to the flame of his fierce
ness. There could be but one result
and that was that his ferocity fed
uron itself and increased. 1t was
another instance of the Elasticity of
his clay, of his capacity for bein,,
nodded by the pressure of environ
ment.
In addition to being exhibited, he
was a professional fighting animal.
At irregular intervals, whenever
fight could be arranged. he was taken
Sut of his cage and led off into the
woods a few miles from town. Usual
iy this occurred at night. so as to
avoid interference from the mounted
police of the territory. After a few
hours of waiting, when daylight had
come, the audience and the dog with
which he was to fight arrived. In
this manner it came about that he
fought all sizes and breeds of dogs
It was a savage land. the men were
savage and the fights were usually
10 the death.
Since White Fang continued to
fight 1t is obvious that it was the
other dogs that died. He never knew
uefeat. His early training, when he
fought with Liplip and the whole
ruppy-pack, stood him in good stead
There was the tenacity with which
he clung to the earth. No dog could
make him lose his footing.
This was the favorite trick Of the
wolf breeds-to rush in upon him,
either directly or with an unexpected
shoulder and overthrowing him.
Mackenzie hounds, Eskimo and
Labrador dogs, huskies and Male
mutes-all tried it on him, and all
failed. He was never known to lose
4 his footing. Men told this to one
Ranother, and looked each time to see
bt happen; but White Fang always
disappointed them.
Then there was his lightning
quickness. 1t gave him a tremendous
advantage over his antagonists. No
matter what their fighting expert
ence, they had never encountered q
dog that moved SO swiftly as he.
Also to be reckoned with was the
immediateness of his attack. The
average dog was accustomed to the
preliminaries of snarling and
bristling and growing, and the
average dog was knocked off his feet
and finished before he had begun to