Evening star., 1924-08-16
Continued from Yesterdays Star.)

NSontlnued from Yesterdays starr
these things. He was not conscious
OF them. Yet it is upon feeling, more
often than thinking. that animals act;
and every act White Fang now per-
that the white men were the superior
gods. In the first place he was very
suspicious of them. There was no
telling telling what what unknown terrors were
theirs, what unknown hurts they
could administer. He was curious to
observe them, fearful of being noticed
by them. For the first few hours he
atSns. Vas fGnse1t is with sir sinking aro"nd and
Then he saw that no harm befell the
dogs that were near to them, and he
came in closer.
In turn he was an object of great
curiosity to them. His woltish ap-
pearance caught their eyes at once,
and they pointed him out to one an
other. This act of pointing put White
tried to approach him he showed his
teeth and backed away. Not one sue
ceeded in laying a hand on him. and
1t was well that they did not.
White Fang soon learned that very
few of these gods-not more than
dozen-lived at this place. Every
two or three days a steamer (an-
power) came in to the bank and
stopped for several hours. The
white men came from off these
steamer, steamers % and went away on them
bers of these white men. In the
first day or so he saw more of them
than he had seen Indians in all his
life; and as the days went by they
continued to come up the river. stop.
and then go on up the river and out
of sight.
But If the white gods were all
powerful, their dogs did not amount
N@ -h H.. LN,y, lob "
discovered by mixing with those that
came ashore with their masters.
They were of irregular shapes and
sizes Some were short-legsed-too
short; others were long-legged-too
long. They had hair instead of fur.
and few had very little hair at
that. And none of them knew how
to fight.
White Fang's province to fight with
them. This he did, and he quickly
achieved for them mighty contempt.
They were soft and helpless. made
much noise and floundered around
ciumsily. trying to accomplish by
main strength what he accomplished
by dexterity ard cunning. They
rushed believing at him. He sprang
to the side They did not know what
had become of him, and at that mo-
ment he struck them on the shoulder,
rolling them off their feet and de-
livering his stroke at the throat
sometimes TINS stroke was success
full. and a stricken dog rolled in the
dirt, to be pounced upon and torn to
pieces by the pack of Indian dogs
that waited. White Fang was wise.
He had long since learned that the
gods were made angry when their
dogs were killed. The white men
were no exception to this. So he was
content. when he had overthrown
and slashed wide the throat of one
of their dogs, to drop back and let
the pack go in and do the cruel fin
ishing work. 1t was then that the
white men rushed in. visiting their
wrath heavily upon the pack, while
White Fang went free. He would
stand off at little distance and look
on while stones. clubs, axes and all
sorts of weapons fell upon his fell
lows. White Fang was very wise.
But his fellows grew wise in their
own way. and in this White Fang
grew wise with them. They learned
that it was when a steamer first tied
to the bank that they had their fun.
After the first two three strange
dogs had been downed and destroyed
the white men hustled their own ami
mails back on board and wreaked
savage vengeance on the offenders.
One white man, having seen his dog,
setter. torn to pieces before his
eyes. drew revolver. He fired
rapidly. six times. and six Of the
pack lay dead or dying-another
manifestation of power than sank
deep into White Fang's conscious
ness.
White Fang enjoyed it all. He did
not love his kind. and he was shrewd
enough to escape hurt himself. At
FIRST the killing of the white mems
dogs had been diversion. After
a time it became his occupation.
Gray Beaver was busy trading and
getting wealthy. SO White Fang
hung around the landing with the
disreputable gang of Indian dogs.
rival Of a steamer the fun began.
After a few minutes, by the time the
white men had got over their sur
prise, the gang scattered. The fun
was over until the next steamer
should arrive.
But it can scarcely be. said that
White Fang was a member of the
gang. He did not mingle with 1t.
but remained .aloof. always himself.
and was even feared by it. 1t is true.
he worked with it. He picked the
quarrel with the strange dog while
the gang waited And when he had
overthrown the strange dog the gang
went in to finish it. But it is equally
true that he then withdrew, leaving
the gang to receive the punishment
of the outraged gods.
1t did not require much exertion to
pick these quarrelS. All he had to do
when the strange dogs came ashore
was to show himself. When they
saw him they rushed for him. 1t
was their instinct. He was the wild,
the unknown, the terrible, the ever
menacing, the thing that prowled in
the darkness around the fires of the
primeval world when they, covering
close to the fires, were reshapng
their instincts. learning to fear the
wild out of which they had come and
which they had deserted and be-
trayed. Generation by generation,
down all the generations, had this
fear of the wild been stamped into
their natures. For centuries the
wild had stood for terror and de-
struction. And during all this time
free license had been theirs. from