Evening star., 1924-08-12

tne nper or White Fang's being that
mace maze TINS iordship a thing. to be de-
pack from the Wild when he did to
| tender his allegiance There were
hheeps heep In his nature which had never
esTassng touch Of ,be kind hand
part of Gray Beaver, might have
sounded these deeps; but Gray
Beaver did not caress nor speak kind
WORDS: 1t was not his way. His
ruled, administering justice with a
club, Furnishing transgression with
the pain of blow and rewardfng
merit. not by blindness, but by with
So white Fang knew nothing of
the heaven mans hand might con-
tain for him. Besides, he did not
like the hands of the man-animals.
ne was suspicious of them. 1t was
put more often they gave au-,
from. They hurled stones. welded
sticks site is,sr.d and uSiu clubs and whips. ad
when they touched him. were cunning
to hurt with pinch and twist and
wrench. In strange villages he had
encountered the hands of the children
and learned that they were cruel to
| hurt. Also, he had once nearly had
| an eye poked out by toddling
papoose. From these experiences he
became suspicious of all children.
He could not tolerate them. When
hands. he got up.
1t was in a village at the Great
Slave Lake that, in the course of
resenting the evil of the hands of the
law that he had learned from Gray
Beaver: namely, that the unpardon-
able crime was to bite one of the
gods. In this village. after the GUS
Fang went foraging for food A
boy was chopping frozen moose-meat
with an axe, and the chips were fly
ing IN the snow. White Fang. slid
ing by In quest Of meat, stopped and
the boy lay down the axe and take up
stout club White Fang sprang
clear just in time to escape the
descending blow. The boy pursued
lage, fed between two tepees, to find
himself cornered against a high
earth bank.
There was no escape for White
Fang: The only way out was between
guarded. Holding his club prepared to
strike, he drew in on his cornered
quarry. White Fang was furious. He
faced the boy. bristling and snarling.
his sense of justice outraged. H"
knew the law of forage. All the was
age OF meat. such as the frozen chips.
belonged to the dog that found IT,
He had done no wrong, broken II.
law, yet here, was this boy prepar
Fang scarcely knew what happened
He did it in surge of rage. And h"
did it so quickly THAI the boy did
not know. either. All the boy knew
was that he had in some unaccount-
snow, and that his club-hand ha'
been ripped wide open By Whit.
Fang's teeth.
But White Fang knew that he had
broken the law of the gods He had
driven his teeth into the sacred fiesF
of one of them, ard could expect moth
ing but most terrible punishment
He fed away to Gray Beaver, behind
when the bitten boy and the boy.
family came, demanding vengeancc
But they went away with vengeanc.
unsatisfied. Gray Beaver defended
Kloo-kooch. White Fang. listening t"
the wordy war and watching tfr-
angry gestures. knew that his act
was justified. And SO it came that h
learned there were gods and god
There were his gods. and there wer'
other gods. and between them ther,
was difference. Justice or injustice
1t was all the same. he must take All
things from the hands of his owr
gods. But he was not compelled t."
take injustice from the other gods. j.
was his privilege to resent it witt,
his teeth. And this also was a Law
of the gods.
Before the day was out White Fan-
Mit-sah. alone. gathering firewood in
the forest. encountered the boy thai
had been bitten With him were
ne all the 0y Boys Aa, aed rnfh 1t
was going hard with him. Blows
were raining upon him from all sides.
White Fang looked on at first. This
was an "a aar hs Of the gods ard IN, no
this was Mit-sah. one of his own
particular gods, who was being NAL
treated. 1t was no reasoned impulse
that made White Fang do what he
him ieaping in amongst the com
batants. Five minutes later the
landscape was covered with fleeing
boys. many of whom dripped blood
upon up the snow in token that White
When Mit-sah told his story in
camp Gray Beaver ordered meat 10
be given to White Fang. He ordered
much meat to be given. and White
Fang, gorged and sleepy by the fire.
knew that the law had received it
verification.
1t was in line with these expert
ences that White Fang came to learn
the law of property and the duty Of
protection Of his gods body to the
protection of his gods possession
was a step and this step he made.
What was his gods was to be de-
Tended against all the world-ever
to the extent of biting other gods
Not only was such an act Sacrilegi
in its nature. but 1t was fraught with
peril. The gods were all-powerful
and a dog was no match against
them; yet White Fang learned to
face them, fiercely belligerent and
unafraid. Duty rose above fear. and
thieving gods learned to leave Gray
Beavers property alone
One thing in this connection
White Fang quickly learned. and
that was that a thieving god was
usually a cowardly god and prone
to run away at the sounding of the
alarm. Also, he learned that but
brief time elapsed between his
sounding Of the alarm and Gray
Beavers coming to his aid He came
to know that 1t was not fear Of him
that drove the thief away. but fear
of Gray Beaver White Fang did not
give the alarm by barking. He
never barked. His method was TO
drive straight at the intruder. and to,
sink his teeth in if he could. Be-
cause he was moroSe and solitary
having nothing to do with the other
dogs. he was unusually fitted to
guard his masters property: and in
this he was encouraged and trained
by Gray Beaver. One result of this
was to make White Fang more