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1906 white fang jack london - pinkmonke - Pink Monkey

1906 white fang jack london - pinkmonke - Pink Monkey

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104<br />

away. Not one succeeded in laying a hand on him, and it was well<br />

that they did not.<br />

White Fang soon learned that very few of these gods- not more<br />

than a dozenlived at this place. Every two or three days a steamer<br />

(another and colossal manifestation of power) came in to the bank<br />

and stopped for several hours. The <strong>white</strong> men came from off these<br />

steamers and went away on them again. There seemed untold<br />

numbers of these <strong>white</strong> men. In the first day or so, he saw more of<br />

them than he had seen Indians in all life; and as the days went by<br />

they continued to come up the river, stop, and then go on up the<br />

river and out of sight.<br />

But if the <strong>white</strong> gods were all-powerful, their dogs did not amount<br />

to much.<br />

This White Fang quickly discovered by mixing with those that<br />

came ashore with their masters. They were of irregular shapes and<br />

sizes. Some were short-leggedtoo short; others were long-leggedtoo<br />

long. They had hair instead of fur, and a few had very little<br />

hair at that. And none of them knew how to fight.<br />

As an enemy of his kind, it was in White Fang’s province to fight<br />

with them.<br />

This he did, and he quickly achieved for them a mighty contempt.<br />

They were soft and helpless, made much noise, and floundered<br />

around clumsily, trying to accomplish by main strength what he<br />

accomplished by dexterity and cunning. They rushed bellowing at<br />

him. He sprang to the side. They did not know what had become<br />

of him; and in that moment he struck them on the shoulder; rolling<br />

them off their feet and delivering his stroke at the throat.<br />

Sometimes this stroke was successful, and a stricken dog rolled in<br />

the dirt, to be pounced upon and torn to pieces by the pack of<br />

Indian dogs that waited. White Fang was wise. He had long since<br />

learned that the gods were made angry when their dogs were<br />

killed. The <strong>white</strong> men were no exception to this. So he was content,<br />

when he had overthrown and slashed wide the throat of one of<br />

their dogs, to drop back and let the pack go in and do the cruel<br />

finishing work. It was then that the <strong>white</strong> men rushed in, visiting<br />

their wrath heavily on the pack, while White Fang went free. He<br />

would stand off at a little distance and look on, while stones, clubs,<br />

axes, and all sorts of weapons fell upon his fellows. White Fang<br />

was very wise.<br />

But his fellows grew wise, in their own way; and in this White<br />

Fang grew wise with them. They learned that it was when a<br />

steamer first tied to the bank that they had their fun. After the first<br />

two or three strange dogs had been downed and destroyed, the<br />

<strong>white</strong> men hustled their own animals back on board and wreaked

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