1906 white fang jack london - pinkmonke - Pink Monkey

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marred and scarred by the teeth of the pack, and as continually he
left his own marks upon the pack. Unlike most leaders, who, when
camp was made and the dogs were unhitched, huddled near to the
gods for protection, White Fang disdained such protection. He
walked boldly about the camp, inflicting punishment in the night
for what he had suffered in the day. In the time before he was
made leader of the team, the pack had learned to get out of his
way. But now it was different. Excited by the day-long pursuit of
him, swayed subconsciously by the insistent iteration on their
brains of the sight of him fleeting away, mastered by the feeling of
mastery enjoyed all day, the dogs could not bring themselves to
give way to him. When he appeared amongst them, there was
always a squabble. His progress was marked by snarl and snap
and growl. The very atmosphere he breathed was surcharged with
hatred and malice, and this but served to increase the hatred and
malice without him.
When Mit-sah cried out his command for the team to stop, White
Fang obeyed. At first this caused trouble for the other dogs. All of
them would spring upon the hated leader, only to find the tables
turned. Behind him would be Mitsah, the great whip singing in his
hand. So the dogs came to understand that when the team stopped
by order, White Fang was to be let alone. But when White Fang
stopped without orders, then it was allowed them to spring upon
him and destroy him if they could. After several experiences,
White Fang never stopped without orders. He learned quickly. It
was in the nature of things that he must learn quickly, if he were to
survive the unusually severe conditions under which life was
vouchsafed him.
But the dogs could never learn the lesson to leave him alone in
camp. Each day, pursuing him and crying defiance at him, the
lesson of the previous night was erased, and that night would have
to be learned over again, to be as immediately forgotten. Besides,
there was a greater consistence in their dislike of him.
They sensed between themselves and him a difference of kindcause
sufficient in itself for hostility. Like him, they were
domesticated wolves. But they had been domesticated for
generations. Much of the Wild has been lost, so that to them the
Wild was the unknown, the terrible, the ever menacing and ever
warring. But to him, in appearance and action and impulse, still
clung the Wild. He symbolized it, was its personification; so that
when they showed their teeth to him they were defending
themselves against the powers of destruction that lurked in the
shadows of the forest and in the dark beyond the campfire.